4 runs in 5 days, ouch.

Saturday... 21.34 at an 8:41 pace

Bardstown Rd out and back to Blackhorse and Seatonville (through Cedar Look Dr)
Out Hudson/Mary Dell out and back through Vettiner Park
Up Billtown, to end of St. Rene and up Willowview.
Finally, a loop that goes from Longborough to Stillmeadow to Laverne, and home. Steep hills when they were there.


Elevation Gain (ft) +1,286 / -1,284

Monday... 13.33 miles at an 8:28 pace.
Elevation Gain (ft) +858 / -857

Elevation Profile of the Flying Pig vs Hatfield McCoy

The Hatfield McCoy marathon does not look impossibly daunting of a task...
Granted:
1) Flying Pig was 6:30am vs. Hatfield 7:30am start
2) May 4th was unseasonably cool.
3) June 14th is 6 weeks closer to the heart of summer.

Obviously, the noise/granularity of the Flying Pig elevation map exaggerates the elevation totals, or vice versa, but Hatfield/McCoy still looks about even with the Flying Pig.

Flying Pig Elevation change +3,402/-3,337 ft (MotionBased Gravity Web elevation)



Hatfield McCoy Elevation change +3,186 / -3,175 ft (MotionBased Gravity Web elevation)

Note to self: 46 steep, hilly miles, too fast, in 5 days is bad.

Registered for the Hatfield McCoy Marathon.

5:20 AM 12 mile run on Thursday.

Training Log Link



Not too many car fumes at 5:30am. Ran a sub-7'30" mile beginning at the westernmost part of the route (the Stillmeadow Loop). The first part of the mile was uphill, and I had nothing left after completing the mile in under 7'30". I labeled the run an easy run, but an 8'30" average mile for 12 miles is not really easy run territory for me.

I was supposed to stay quite a bit closer to 8'50" pace, but I felt a serious lack of punishment from racing or intervals.

The scale at home weighed me in at 156 lbs after the run.

Rural/Suburban 2-lane Road Saturday morning before 9am

Not a bad section of course early on a Saturday morning. Very few cars out at all.

Second week after the Flying Pig.

Monday's run felt pretty good, but seemed to run long by the last two miles.

Proof than I do not control my pace well on an "easy run". - Tuesday's run was nice because it was outside, but I did not keep my pace under control, and probably canceled out its effect as an easy run. Started with outside foot pain (3 out of 10). Knees, back, and hip felt tight (4 out of 10).

Tried to run a 4 mile tempo run @ 7'26" pace yesterday. Ran out of gas @ 0.8 miles. 8'38" pace for 6 miles. Knees, back, and hip felt tight again (4 out of 10).

Legs still need recovery, but pain is diminishing this morning.

I have lodging for the Hatfield McCoy Marathon... haven't registered for it yet.

Can't get the lead out.

The short morning run

Yes, I *ran* and got donuts. I'm sure more than one of them will show up on my calorie intake log.

Ran ~ 6.8 miles in the neighborhood. Granted, my first mile was a 7'30" pace, but I felt like running, especially uphill, was foreign to me. Staying near 9 minute miles was a challenge most of the time.

My achilles tendon has been tight/sore the last two days, but my knees are mostly ok. I know it's been less than a week, but my marathon pace seems like a challenge to hit, even for short runs.

What has been the difference between my first and second marathons?

1. Mileage - up to 60 miles early, March Triple Crown (a real pain at the time, but kept me in tune with my capable speed).
   
2. Weight - I weighed between 15 and 20 lbs heavier last marathon.
   
3. Pacing - Learned to pace towards even run, pushing negative splits for races up to 13.1.
   
4. Light taper - I ran hard up to 3 days prior, but did reduce mileage the last 2-3 weeks.
   
5. NOT RECOMMENDED... Running a half-marathon the week before. However, it did happen to be a good tune-up and confidence boost.
   
6. Ran a course with early hills-- like KDF, Pig, or the like -- preferably without significant hills the back stretch. The hills kept me on my pace target instead of beyond it like the OBX marathon.
   
7. Run my PR marathon badly, by going out way too fast and crapping out at mile 15.
   
8. Kept a meticulous calorie log to maintain/lose weight.
   
9. Shoes - The new pair of Saucony Trigon Ride 5s really helped... I bought a 3rd pair of these and ran 10 miles or so just before the race. My previous shoe--Mizuno Wave Rider 9s--felt like it lacked cushioning past 20 miles in the marathon.
   

My splits

This was a very consistent run for me. A little pain the last three miles, shortened my gel intake to every 5 miles instead of every hour.

Lap Time Distance 
1 8:34 1.00 
2 7:51 1.00 
3 8:04 1.00 
4 7:51 1.00 
5 7:56 1.00 
6 8:04 1.00 
7 8:44 1.00 <-- Eden park entrance and some of park.
             -- Not too bad.
8 8:27 1.00 
9 8:03 1.00 
10 7:53 1.00 
11 7:42 1.00 
12 8:00 1.00 
13 7:59 1.00 
14 7:49 1.00 
15 8:09 1.00 
16 8:19 1.00 
17 7:54 1.00 
18 8:12 1.00 
19 8:24 1.00 
20 8:24 1.00 
21 8:27 1.00 
22 8:06 1.00 
23 8:14 1.00 
24 8:30 1.00 
25 8:42 1.00 <-- the toughest mile... boring and bad road
26 8:23 1.00 
27 1:52 0.23

Restarted my Garmin after 26.22 passed: 
28 4:30 0.58

Flying Pig 3:39:44

Welcome to my public acknowledgment of a very ambitious goal.

Flying Pig results on Active.com

The course was 0.2514 miles too long due to a fire on the race course. 8'19" miles given the altered course, but I'll live with saying 8'24" was my pace for the marathon.

Beautiful day, 59'F at the end of the race. Wonderful course: Eden Park was the source of a perfectly placed hill which set me on the perfect pace for the rest of the marathon. Received a nice technical shirt, lithograph, and duffel bag at packet pickup, and a face towel at the end... Space blanket had a nice design, too--going to try to keep that. Currently awaiting pictures.

The finish area was a little crowded, but well-stocked with goodies, including ice cream, yogurt, and the usual fare. The was also a public post race festival that was on the same par with a mid-sized city riverfront festival.

Elevation chart from motionbased and my Garmin 305:

Focus on the goal...

I'm going to shoot for a very clear and specific goal: 3:44:06.

That is exactly 50 minutes faster than my 1st marathon time.

8'33" per mile (or just under it).

If I see a 3:45:00 pace bib, I am to push past it.

2 days to Flying Pig

Less than 48 hours from the Pig. Phantom pain in legs, probably a result of standing around for 6 hours for the Pegasus Parade in Louisville. I will be letting Advil and Biofreeze do their jobs--and trying to stay off of my feet as well.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a moderate rest day, at the very least.

Improving Weather Outlook for Flying Pig.

High temps cooling down a little bit and lower rain chances now.

Weather for the Flying Pig

From WCPO:


6 days to go.

Pace Band for 3:45:00 Marathon

3:45 Pace Band

Marathon Pace Guide at runnersworld.com

03:45:00 Pace

Mile  Split
1  00:08:35
2  00:17:10
3  00:25:45
4  00:34:21
5  00:42:56
6  00:51:31
7  01:00:06
8  01:08:42
9  01:17:17
10  01:25:52
11  01:34:27
12  01:43:03
13  01:51:38
14  02:00:13
15  02:08:49
16  02:17:24
17  02:25:59
18  02:34:34
19  02:43:10
20  02:51:45
21  03:00:20
22  03:08:55
23  03:17:31
24  03:26:06
25  03:34:41
26  03:43:16
FINISH  03:45:00

Derby mini-Marathon

Against the good advice of far more experienced runners, I mostly raced the KDF mini-Marathon, and finished the KDF mini-Marathon in 1:46:12. I think I could have probably run sub-8s otherwise, but actually took it easy at the beginning.

Legs are slightly sore, but still work today.

Legs in good shape today.

Wednesday workout

5 miles @ 2%, 3%, 4%, 1%, 0%, successively. 8'28" average pace, 2-4% inclines at 8'49" pace.
1% incline was hard to do any slower than 8'00" pace
0% incline was hard to do slower than 7'30" pace

Marathon Race day weather

Flying Pig race day forecast is on the Weather Channel's 10-day forecast now:
May 3 Saturday
Showers possible. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s.
May 4 Sunday
Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s.

Junk Miles at Lunch.

6.06 miles in 50 minutes. Had one mile in 7:34. Somewhat junk miles, but legs feel pretty good.

Morning & PR

12 days until Flying Pig. The Marathon PR that I'm setting out to beat--4:34:06. If all goes as planned, I'll be breaking 3:50:00.

I'm not considering the concept of missing PR, and I'm shutting out the thought of being over 4 hours at all.

Despite running 10 miles after waking up with knee issues yesterday, legs are feeling pretty good today. Strangely enough, my shoulders and upper arms are sore today.

I felt a little sluggish today, but still ran a pretty easy run. 10 miles in 1:24:39--slightly below my current target marathon pace. Numb ITB

ITBS links

Several of my local running circle are experiencing or have experienced IT Band Syndrome. I have occasionally had tenderness or tightness in the correct area, but never the debilitating pain that immediately halts my run. Because of my experience, I've been collecting links to IT band stretching exercises:

ITBS links

Acronym fun

Acronym thread on RunningAhead.com

What else should I expect?

Note to self... Force a running embargo after long runs of 20 miles or more.

Otherwise, pain ensues.

7.35 miles in 1:05:00 @ 167.6 lbs, Treadmill 1% Incline.

Insanity Plea

I don't know if this is a legitimate goal for me at this point, it presumes a lot.

Qualifying time is 3:20

So... here it is: My long term goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon by the age of 40. Since the Boston qualifying time is stated time plus 59 seconds, my goal will be my 40th birthday + 364 days--beating 3:20:59 before the time my 41st birthday arrives.

That's 26.22 miles at 7'40" per mile.

To qualify between 35 and before 40 (3:15:59), I have to hit 7'29" per mile.

To qualify before 35 (3:10:59), I have to hit 7'18" per mile.