Week 12 Review

This was a rest week for me with only a 12 mile long run on the weekend, and against my better judgment I decided to enter a sprint triathlon in Gulf Shores in addition to the run. More on that later.

The weekday treadmill runs were once again easy, despite my relatively high mileage. The pace I'm training at is getting easier and easier to complete, so I'm taking this as a sign that my endurance is improving. Since I no longer feel like I'm dying on the treadmill, I have plenty of time to think about the direction of my training. Of course my plan is to stay the course until the marathon is over, but I've decided that there's some opportunity for speed work in my future and I'm starting to think about time goals for the half marathon distance next season. This is a topic for a future post, but essentially what keeps those long treadmill runs interesting is planning my racing schedule and goals for next year.

On Saturday, I competed in the Coastal tri-it-on in Gulf Shores, AL. It was a super-sprint triathlon with a 300 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and 2 mile run. It was Haley's first triathlon and I wanted to be there to do it with her; plus, it's simply not that hard to convince me to sign up for a tri.

The swim leg was tough. I managed to finish in 8:46, which makes my pace a slow 2:55 per 100 yards. I can blame nature since the waves were fairly rough that morning, but the bottom line is that I'm simply not a strong swimmer. There's a ton of room for improvement here.

The bike leg was better. I finished the 10 miles in 38:42, which puts my average speed at a little over 15 mph. I don't think that's terrible considering that I've barely ridden my bike since marathon training started and I ride a heavy mountain bike. One of my goals for next season is to work on my cycling, and of course get a proper road bike so I don't get completely hosed on the bike leg of every multi-sport event I enter.

I was pleased with my run performance. I left a lot on the course since I didn't want to undermine my long run the next day, but at 20:24 I was throwing down slightly slower than 10 minute miles--after biking 10 miles! I credit that to the running base I've managed to build over the past several weeks, and I'm looking forward to carrying that strength into next season when I don't have a marathon looming over my head to hold me back.

I had a great time Saturday morning, and a short tri was a great diversion from the monotony of marathon training. I love running, and I consider it my strongest sport, but it was nice to branch out for a change. 

I ran my 12 miles in Daphne, AL on Sunday morning. This was by far my easiest 10+ mile run. I started out slow, but by mile 4 I really hit my stride and I went on to finish the final 6 miles over 10 minutes faster than the first 6 miles. That was the first time I finished a long run with negative splits! I was on pace to finish the half marathon distance in around 2:30:00, which would've been over 20 minutes faster than the best 13.1 mile split on previous long runs. I really feel like I had a breakthrough with that run; it was the best I've felt while running, actually.

It'll be back to the grind next week. My weekday mileage is going up again, and I'll have my second longest run of the training program next Saturday, so it's time to focus on the goal after this week's vacation.

Thanks for reading!

Nick

Week 11 Review

I'm surprised at how easy this week was. My weekday treadmill runs went well despite the higher mileage. I remember when 8 miles was a struggle during the early weeks of training, but I cruised through Wednesday's run. The 4 milers on Tuesday and Thursday were over before I knew it and were easier than some 3 milers from 2 months ago. It's hard to see results day to day, but when I look at where I am now compared to when I started, I'm happy with my progress.

My Saturday 16 miler was a morning run in my home town of Port St. Joe. I started out strong and finished my half marathon split a few minutes quicker than my half split from Week 10. As it heated up, I slowed down a fair bit but still managed to finish the run without stopping. For training runs longer than 16 miles I'm planning to execute my race plan of walking for a few seconds at the aid stations, so this was the longest I intend to run in a single stretch during this training cycle.

On a side note, my iPod shuffle decided to quit on me at mile 12. I've found that it's a great mp3 player for running, except that it doesn't respond well to sweat. It's working now, but I need to find a way to keep it dry during my long runs. Any ideas? I'm thinking of picking up an armband for the nano. Whatever I do, I'm not thrilled with the idea of running 26.2 miles without my tunes, so I have to figure out something in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading!

Nick