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.