I did this run tonight. I was in a metric mood, and I do enjoy the 15k distance. It's not quite a long run, but it's definitely long enough to make you feel like you're running, for sure. I have to say, I felt remarkably spry tonight- the weather was perfect, the air was dry, I was well rested, everything came together to give me an amazing run. Here's the damage:

15k (9.3 miles) in 1:18:57 (8:28 pace)

including:
Mile 1- 8:40.95
Mile 2- 17:06.01 (8:25.06 mile)
Mile 3- 25:29.61 (8:23.60 mile)
Mile 4- 34:30.41 (9:00.80 mile)
(Mile 5 mark was missed)
Mile 6- 51:26.95 (2 miles in 16:56.54)
Mile 7- 59:54.16 (8:27.21 mile)
Mile 8- 1:08:14 (8:20.37 mile)
Mile 9- 1:16:29 (8:15.38 mile)
9.3- 1:18:57 (2:27.60 three-tenths)

Because my right achilles tendon was kind of sore, I went back and forth between heel and mid-foot striking. There were no other issues that came up to that end.

I had a 10oz cran-apple juice between miles 3 and 5 and that was it, I didn't feel I needed anything else because I felt so good and everything felt real relaxed. Lauren called around mile 6.5 and that was a huge boost and lifted my spirits for the last third. It was a nice, new, longer route (a lot of my runs, even the long runs, have been on repeated 3 and 4 mile routes, this was a full 9.3). I remember thinking to myself around mile 8.5 that I was sad to see this run end, and that it had not felt like I just ran as far as I did already. I remember seeing Curt at the gym later and mentioning that I had only done an easy 15k, and realizing that that's not a mileage that most people think of in terms of "only" or "easy". We long distance runners are a rare and different breed. HAPPY RUNNING INDEED!

Tonight I set off to do a run at an easy pace and it worked marvelously. The hot-ish weather helped keep me there, but at any rate I'm proud of myself. I did the route I ran the evening of my last 5k, it's a good route that takes me all around campus- by the Towers, Main St, the Green, the Beach. I picked a perfect time to go, too, as the weather had cooled off from the very overbearing heat of the mid-afternoon. The run itself was nothing special, as in- nothing particularly interesting happened. I got some looks for my short shorts, but no catcalls or insults this time.

Oh, I DID run without a knee strap or anything on either knee for the first time in as long as I can remember, I think since January. And my knees felt FINE! Because I was midfoot striking, my achilles and calves got a little tight towards the end and around mile 6 I stopped to stretch them out. I didn't mean to speed up at the end, I wanted to maintain an even pace, but oh well, it ain't no thing. Here's the damage:

7.5 miles in 1:04:54 (8:39 pace)

including:
Mile 1- 8:35.35
Mile 2- 17:26.55 (8:51.20 mile)- included ~20s stretching
Mile 3- 25:42.94 (8:16.39 mile)
Mile 4- 34:31.19 (8:48.25 mile)
Mile 5- 43:08.99 (8:37.80 mile)
Mile 6- 52:06.59 (8:57.60 mile)
Mile 7- 1:01:00 (8:54.23 mile)
7.5- 1:04:54 (3:53.87 half mile)

Went for my very first run of any significance since the marathon tonight. After the race, my left knee had been bothering me, I suspected the patella tendon was inflamed and so I figured a week of doing nothing would help. This was to be my first attempt at anything more than a brisk jog for more than a few meters at a time. I was both nervous and excited to finally get my legs some exercise that they've been craving. I knew, and was reminded by Laur, that I had to take it easy today. No 8:00 miles, no 9:00 miles even! My goal was somewhere around 9:45-10:00 pace. This was also the first run in as long as I can remember that I did just that, run. I timed it because I was shooting for a 45 minute-ish run, but I had NO IDEA where I was going. I didn't want to map a route because then I'd probably be tempted to speed up or try to get a mile done in x minutes and I just didn't want to think about any of that. I wanted to run easy and enjoy the gorgeous weather and the gorgeous campus.

(The serious runners out there will appreciate this aside:)
So I went to the Little Bob to change, stopped in the IM office where I was going to leave my clothes so I didn't have to get a lock and thus be trapped in the building because I'd have to give my student ID which meant I wouldn't have it to get back into the building. The IM program always gives away random crap like deodorant, foot powder, etc. Today I noticed they had a new giveaway- sport beans. They're supposed to be like Energy Gels but they're jelly beans that have a lot of electrolytes, carbs, etc. I decided to give them a try on my run, eating a bag a half hour before I left and then I was going to pop one bean every few minutes during the run. I didn't anticipate running low on energy but I figured I'd see if they sat well with my stomach at the least.
I started chatting with Adam, the Grad Assistant who I'm pretty good friends with from last year, and Kate, one of the office girls who works there. The conversation first centered around how I quit the football team in 11th grade to start a hackey sack club with my friends and there was the appropriate ridicule that came from that revelation. Then as I started to get ready for my run they started asking me questions about running. Adam asked about my marathon and I told them how I did and Kate asked if that was good. I explained it was an 8:00/mile pace which she seemed impressed by as she mentioned she probably couldn't do one mile that fast. I said that one mile at 8:00 would be an easy run for me, but after 26.2 it hurt. Adam then asked me, "Well then how fast could you run just one mile right now." I put some thought into it seeing as how I haven't gone all out on a mile since high school. I said that my 5k time trial a week before the marathon was run at 6:25/mi pace and I estimated that I could probably gun it to about a 5:30 mile right now if I put everything into it. (I AM curious about this and maybe I'll have to have a mile time trial sometime in the next few weeks) Then they asked me about my run this evening, so I mentioned that I was looking forward to it and that it was the first run back since the marathon so it would be easy and relaxed and I couldn't wait. Kate and Adam both seemed surprised by my enthusiasm for running in general and almost in unison asked, "You actually like running?" To which I matter-of-factly replied, "Of course...I've loved running since I lapped everyone in my class in the mile in 3rd grade." (true story). I mentioned how granted, I only seriously got into running in middle school but nonetheless there has always been an attraction to using my legs to propel myself through space faster than a jog for prolonged periods of time. After I had said that, Kate just looked at me with utter consternation and asked, simply, "But why? Why do you enjoy it so much, why do you do it?" Instantly I thought of my favorite running quote ever, "People ask why I run. I say, 'If you have to ask, you will never understand'. It is something only those select few know. Those who put themselves through pain, but know, deep down, how good it really feels." I just shook my head and said, "I just do, it's something you either get or you don't."

With that I was out and off. As far as the run goes, here's the damage:

easy running for 51:31, which amounted to ~5.2 miles, ~10:00 pace

These aren't exact measurements because I just ran where I pleased and the mapping websites were being weird last night. At one point I was tempted to run around the green in what I knew to be a mile loop to see how fast I was going but I veered off and went to the Harrington Beach instead because I didn't care and I felt like it. It was such a liberating feeling and while my left knee was a little sore, it stopped hurting immediately after I finished which I take to be a good sign. I'm going to take it easy and try some cross-training the rest of this week and next to be in top shape for my 10k race April 5th in Plainview.

This weekend was EXACTLY what my body needed! I spent most of it horizontal in bed with Laur (get your minds out of the gutter...or not). I had planned on doing the inaugural Caesar Rodney 5k which took place an hour before the half marathon start. The very same half marathon that I chose to make my debut to the world of distance running almost exactly a year ago, on shoes that were totally wrong for me, knees that had been breaking down, and training that could be considered pathetic and scattered and unfocused at best. And yet I managed to slog through 13.1 miles in 1:37:30, a 7:27/mi pace. This time around I'm doing double the distance but I've also quadrupled the training, in amount of miles put in and in the focus, thanks in large part to the wonderful advice gleaned from runners, especially travelogger.

So the plan was to do the 5k Sunday morning as a tuneup race of sorts before the marathon. But with daylight savings and the fact that we didn't get to bed til roughly 6am, I figured it best to skip the official race and do a time trial of sorts today. Granted, this would be different, nothing can exactly match the way a race feels- the adrenaline, the crowds, the support, that nauseous feeling right before the start and the thrill of crossing the finish line and seeing your results posted later. Regardless, I was still very psyched to run this "Inaugural Mark Run 5k As Fast As He Can Race". Partly because it would give me a chance to really open my stride and see what all these months of training have accomplished, if they would, in fact, pay off finally. It gave me an excuse and a chance to go fast, really fast, to test my limits and my considerable VO2 max that I had tested- 5.02L O2/min (64.9 mL O2/kg/min) in case you were wondering, well above average- (I love being an exercise physiology grad student and doing these kinds of tests for class that some people pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for, bee tee dubs!) Also, I was looking for a confidence boost that running a fast time here would give me. And finally I had a time goal, or really a pace goal that would translate into a time goal...6:30-6:35 pace which meant I'd be happy with anything under 21:00. I remembered the day I ran 3 miles with Kenny at the MacArthur track and how I did it in 20:05 and I was shot at the end. This would have to be faster. I also remembered that my last official 5k that I ran as fast as I could was only the third or fourth time I had run since being cleared of mono, September 30th, 22:40, 7:17 pace. I remember being dead on the final stretch there too.

I didn't have a flat place to run, let alone a track. I opted to run on the James F. Hall trail because it was marked every 0.1 mile and it wouldn't be crowded, I wouldn't have to wait for cars or slow people or anything. I was going to go out 1.5, turn around to the beginning, turn around and do 0.1 to finish. The way it worked out, I would be starting headed downhill for the first ~0.3 miles, so I knew my time for the first mile would probably be slightly higher than my goal pace and I was ok with that because I knew that coming back I'd have to deal with it going uphill. In fact, going out felt much more downhill than up and vice versa for coming back in. Fortunately that meant the last 0.1 would be downhill, my reward for doing 2.7-3.0 at the steepest incline of the course.

The weather for the run was PERFECT. A little chilly but not terribly so. I had to do a 2 mile warmup first, so I parked my car across the street in the Pep Boys lot and jogged a mile in and a mile back on the trail, going over what splits I needed to hit and psyching myself up. A mile into my warm up I sucked down a PowerGel and then I got back to my car, stripped to just shorts, t-shirt, knee-strap, gloves, and hat and headed back to the start. I made a split decision to lose the t-shirt- I didn't want to be running at the end bogged down with a sweaty, clingy tee. Shirt off, a few rubs of my legs and imaginary gun went off in my head! Here's the damage:

5k (3.1 miles) in 19:56 (PR BY 2:44!!!)

including:
0.5- 2:55.27
1.0- 6:05.53 (3:10.26 split)
1.5- 9:23.85 (3:18.32 split)
2.0- 12:43.65 (3:19.80 split, 6:38.12 mile)
2.5- 16:02.43 (3:18.78 split)
3.0- 19:19.23 (3:16.80 split, 6:35.58 mile)
3.1- 19:56.42 (37.19 tenth of a mile)

WOO-FRAKKIN'-HOO!!!! ::allows self a minute of celebration::

Like I figured, I started the first part faster even then I figured on going. From the first step, my legs felt spry and quick but it was a comfortable feeling, as if they realized that I was allowing them to push their limits for the first time in months, actually- like I had never really pushed them before. I went through the first half mile (which included a moderate uphill from 0.3-0.45, at 5:50 pace and was really shocked but I knew that was the "fast section" so I allowed my body to maintain the effort level. I remembered at this point reading an article about a study done that found when a group of girls was told to go a little faster than planned at the beginning of a 5k, they wound up running a faster overall race. I figured I'd do that too and hope for the best.

Blew through mile 1 feeling good, and about 30 seconds faster than my goal pace. I knew I wasn't going to negative split this and I was ok with that. From 1.0-1.5 was fairly flat, a little rolling. I took the turn at 1.5 without slowing down considerably and I knew I had done almost half, that was an encouraging thought. On the way back from 1.5-2.0 it felt a little more uphill, around this time I was thanking myself for deciding to go shirtless because I was dripping. Right after the turnaround I also took off my hat and shoved it in the side of my shorts to cool myself a bit better. Coming to mile 2, I felt my lungs working harder to suck in the necessary oxygen and I knew I was running right around my anaerobic threshold. More uncomfortable was my stomach, not so much GI distress, just a tightness in it as my body moved up and down quickly and forced air into my chest cavity. I dealt with it.

I was really looking forward to 2.5-2.6 as it was a downhill now, and ahead of me I saw the 2.7 mark which signaled the start of the climb to 3.0 that felt so nice going down. I hit the uphill and really focused on maintaining pace by increasing effort and my stride. I felt my quads powering as they pushed my legs off the incline with my goal so close at hand. I had been keeping track of my splits and I knew that after the first mile my splits were all over 6:30 pace and I didn't want it to get away from me. I worried for a brief moment about bonking so close and quickly pushed the thought of slowing down or failing to meet my goal out of my head. Right after 2.8 the trail turns left and I got a view of the last 0.2 to the start.

As I was approaching 2.9 I thought to myself maybe I would just turn around there and thus give myself a 0.2 mile downhill finish instead of having to go up the steepest part to 3.0 and only going downhill for the last 0.1 mile. After giving this a second or two of consideration, another voice chimed in "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! THIS ISN'T A RACE! THIS IS A TRAINING RUN! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO WORRIED ABOUT MAKING IT EASY OR RUNNING A FASTER TIME!? YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE A FUCKING WIMP! YOU ARE GOING TO RUN UP THE FUCKING INCLINE AND FINISH STRONG! NOW! GO!"

And that's just what I did. I went all out and attacked the uphill. At 2.9 I had noticed it was still in the 18:00s and that I may have a shot a 20:00. That was the first moment I had entertained the thought of breaking 20 minutes. When I reached the 3 mile mark and hit the split button, I glanced down as I was turning for home. "19:19! Holy crap, I can do this, but I'm gonna have to go all out, I can't slow down now!"

I opened my stride further and was running as fast as I could at that point, letting gravity aid me. I knew it was going to be close and I just kept repeating "DON'T SLOW DOWN! DON'T SLOW DOWN!" I hit the "tape" and stopped the watch and looked down as I slowed to a jog...SUB 20:00!!! I HAD DONE IT! I lost it, totally lost it. I jumped as high as my tired legs would let me and pumped my fist in the air and let out a loud, excited YES! I just kept bouncing up and down (actually it probably looked more like seizing because my legs didn't have the energy to properly bounce) and yelling "YES" "WOO!" and some expletives. I could not believe what I had just done. An almost 3 minute PR. I know this wasn't an official race, but I ACTUALLY ran the distance and that's how long it took me. I was thrilled. I still AM thrilled. This was the biggest confidence boost yet for the marathon this weekend. I of course immediately called Lauren as I was walking around campus to cool down and regaled her with the nitty gritty details. In a way, I couldn't have done it without her, the positive encouragement that she gives me on a daily basis, how proud I know she is of my achievements, her support and love really have pushed me to get a bit higher than I would've gotten on my own. This running thing is most definitely a team effort.

So that's that. I'm already thinking ahead to the next official 5k I can run, thoughts of age group placing dancing through my head and maybe someday even an overall place! Wow! Amazing what one run can do. Happy running indeed!

There's going to be a lot of lasts from now until marathon day. Today was the last interval track workout. The weather was not being very cooperative- it was drizzling to full on raining all day- but the temp wasn't freezing and that's all I care aboot. I went to the UD track, which I had never been on, although Kenny and I went down to it one night but it was locked. So today I got there and had the track pretty much to myself. Two football players showed up while I was warming up, looked like they were doing some sprint workout themselves for spring conditioning. I did my warmup and stripped off my sweats and psyched myself up mentally. It's not that I don't like sprints, I actually do...they are quick and hard and then they're done. Repeats suck but I realize they play an integral role in increasing overall speed via VO2 max improvement and improved oxygen uptake efficiency in the muscles.

This workout called for 8x400 at 5k race pace
Here's the damage:

Lap 1- 1:24.48
Lap 2- 1:28.50
Lap 3- 1:25.80
Lap 4- 1:26.85
Lap 5- 1:26.07
Lap 6- 1:25.50
Lap 7- 1:26.53
Lap 8- 1:24.07

I gave myself ~50-55 seconds rest in between each one. Like I mentioned, it was raining light to moderate the entire time with ~10-15 mph winds.

On the whole it was a pretty difficult workout, as well it should have been! I went a little too fast but was also very strong through last lap. The pace for those (~5:40-6:00) is not really where I anticipate my 5k race pace being at (6:30-6:40) but I'm happy I didn't slow considerably and ran consistent splits from start to finish. Great final speedwork session! Now for a relaxing weekend with my lovely girlfriend!

Tonight was the last longish run of marathon training for me. I decided that I wanted to run on campus again and I enjoyed breaking up my last Delaware long run into smaller, repeated segments, so I mapped out this four mile route:


I'm getting pretty fancy here with this embedding routes in my blog and everything now, huh? go me. Anyway, I got myself a new knee strap, The McDavid Jumper's Knee Strap, which I found worked phenomenally- it stayed on my knee and didn't slip AT ALL and it helped alleviate some kneecap pain on my left knee. Here's the damage:

The schedule called for:
12 miles, easy, w/last 8 miles @ goal marathon pace (8:00/mi)

12 miles in 1:39:03 (8:15 pace)

including:
Mile 1- 9:21
Mile 2- 18:12 (8:51 mile)
Mile 3- 29:19 (11:07 mile)
Mile 4- 39:06 (9:47 mile)
Mile 5- 46:40 (7:34 mile)
Mile 6- 54:28 (7:48 mile)
Mile 7- 1:02:03 (7:35 mile)
Mile 8- 1:09:43 (7:40 mile)
Mile 9- 1:17:16 (7:33 mile)
Mile 10- 1:24:38 (7:22 mile)
Mile 11- 1:35:04 (7:26 mile)
Mile 12- 1:39:03 (6:59 mile)

1st 4 miles- 39:06 (9:46 pace)
last 8 miles- 59:57 (7:30 pace)

1st half- 54:28 (9:04 pace)
2nd half- 44:35 (7:28 pace)

So as you can see, I went out very leisurely the first 4 miles, I was steeling myself for the last 8, I wanted to make sure this was a good, solid run and a confidence booster so close to show time. I stopped a few times during the first 4 miles, twice to pee, a few times to stretch out my legs and rub down various sore parts. My legs were tight, especially my right leg, around the back of the knee. I can't tell if it's a hamstring tendon, a knee stabilizer, or something else but I know it doesn't feel quite right. But it didn't get worse as I went along, just annoying, so I took that to mean it's ok to run on it and I'm not worsening anything.

Once I hit the 4 mile mark on Main St, I turned the speed up a notch or two. I had sucked down a PowerBar PowerGel, which I'm really starting to like, around 3 miles, and then had another one right before I started the final 4 miles. These really helped. I also finished my water bottle around the 8 mile mark. I wanted to run strong and my legs felt better almost as soon as I started opening up my stride and moving at the faster pace. I have to say, I'm really pleased with the last 8 miles. I ran consistent times for each one of them and got faster and stronger as I went along. I was really cruising down Main St. at the end there and remember hitting the watch, glancing down and seeing a sub 7:00 and doing a little jump/fist-pump combo and letting out a "YES!" much to the bewilderment of the Wednesday night bar crowd at Kate's and Iron Hill. Oh well, none of them had just run a 7:28 pace for the last 8 miles of their 12 miler. I know this was over half a minute faster than goal marathon pace but it felt SO GOOD to push it like this- incidentally I'm almost positive the final 8 miles set a PR for me for any 8 mile run, ever- this was a HUGE confidence booster and really encourages me for the marathon. Afterwards I walked around the parking lot area excitedly relaying the details of my run to Laur and preventing venous pooling in my legs. There's only one more pretty hard workout and then one moderate workout left and the rest are easy to really easy runs before the 26.2 in Va Beach. A run like tonight has me really stoked for it

Today was unseasonably warm in Wark (that's Newark, DE for short) and I took advantage of it to do an easy 6 miler on campus. Today marks what I guess could be considered the official start of my marathon taper. I've been cutting back some for a few weeks now though- there was one Mon-Sun week where I only logged 18 miles!- but those were unintentionally forced to by my body, whereas this cut back will be intentional, so as to get my legs fresh for the marathon. I know come March 16th , I'm going to be bouncing off walls with anticipation and energy. Fortunately I did this run in the am, before we got a bit of miserable drizzle. I mapped a 3 mile loop that toured some of the pretty parts of campus (Main St, the north and south Greens).The route is here in case you were wondering. So I had every intention on running this nice and easy, but at the same time, in the back of my head I was thinking that I hadn't had anything close to even 9:00 pace in almost a week and that sort of worried me, not that it should have. My plan got a little bolloxed by a combination of how good I felt and the fact that towards the end classes were letting out and we all know how I tend to speed up when I'm running past people, it's a subconscious-I-don't-want-to-embarrass-myself thing. Here's the damage:

6 miles in 47:38.58 (7:55 pace)

including:
Mile 1- 7:35.08
Mile 2- 15:44.86 (8:09.78 mile)
Mile 3- 23:56.31 (8:11.45 mile)
Mile 4- 32:00.84 (8:04.53 mile)
Mile 5- 40:17.56 (8:16.72 mile)
Mile 6- 47:38.58 (7:21.02 mile)

1st half- 23:56.31 (7:58 pace)
2nd half- 23:42.27 (7:54 pace)

I felt good, the first mile didn't feel hard at all, struggled to keep even pacing, had to slow to adjust knee strap a few times, my right leg (back of knee area, inside) felt tight towards end, but was able to comfortably push during last mile. Like I said the weather was warm, and somewhat muggy: 63 degree, 65% humidity, overcast outside- big jump from what it's been.

Of note is that I was running with two brand spanking new pieces of running equipment: My New Balance 768s and my Timex IronMan watch. I walked from the Newark shopping center on Main St. to Smith Hall and then to the start on Main & S. College. That was my warmup and my attempt to break them in a little. They felt FANTASTIC! They feel like they stay on my feet a little better and snugger than the 767s, especially in the heel. I feel like I don't have to lace them as tightly to get a snug fit and when I land, my foot feels like it's landing evenly and smoothly.

The watch is also awesome. You'll notice my splits are far more exact than usual, that's the watch's doing. It also records up to 30 splits and is lighter and less clunky on my wrist, plus it doesn't do that annoying "I started but then stopped immediately fucking up the timing of your run" thing the old one did. Can you tell I'm thrilled with my new purchases? Thank you Laur for picking the watch out!

Anyway, so the run was pretty good, I ran pretty evenly throughout and had quite a good deal of energy at the end. Success.

Tonight, exactly one week after the debacle that was the 20 miler with an attempt at running the last 5 at marathon goal pace, I set off on a similar run with optimism in tact. I got a bit of a late jump on it, not starting the watch until 2110ish. It didn't matter though because my evening prior was spent preparing and having good conversation, and furthermore I don't have anything I need to be awake for Thursday, just Clinical Measures in Exercise Physiology at 4pm (in which we will be putting Justin through a full PFT and VO2 test...I'm really looking forward to this, this class is so much fun!)

Learning from last week's weather issues, I was more prepared this time. I was not going to let the fact that I was freezing to death affect my run appreciably. So I had my UnderArmor coldgear long sleeve, my Livestrong t-shirt, and then my awesome, bright orange vest that dad gave me last weekend. I also had on my tights and my knee strap on my left knee (which frustratingly kept slipping down). I went to Pathmark before my run and picked up some Powerbar PowerGels in strawberry banana flavor. I also picked up a Detour Runner Bar for some more solid food for the run. And I downed a Chocolate flavored Nutrament shake about 2 hours prior.

I was supposed to do 18 miles w/ last 6 miles @ goal marathon pace (8:00/mi). I'll get into specifics of the run in a sec. Here's the damage:

18 miles in 3:00:27 (10:01 pace)

including:
first 12 miles in 2:14:05 (~11:00 pace)
last 6 miles in 46:22 (7:43 pace)

Now the first 12 were supposed to be easy, and the 11:00/mi pace definitely indicates that was the case, but I can tell you they were far from easy for the most part. Factored in to that 2:14:05 is multiple and somewhat frequent stops to adjust my kneestrap or give my aching right knee a rest. Right before mile 1, I felt a searing pain shooting up my left ankle, from the medial condyle. It hurt to put any weight on it or touch it, I was sure I had just suffered a stress fracture. I was so pissed at this I remember throwing my water bottle at the ground in disgust with my shoe off. Magically, after a few minutes of moving my ankle around and stretching it and rubbing the area, I was able to continue gingerly at first and worked into a more steady pace and it has not bothered me since. Go figure.

More troubling was my right knee which was tight to start. I wasn't sure exactly WHAT was the issue, hamstring, calf, MCL, other. I have a feeling its something of a combination but the tightness is centered around the medial side and to the back of the knee and most pronounced when I push off. hm.

So all of that and the fact that it was frakkin' cold conspired to slow me down considerably during the first two 6 miles loops of the UD campus. I had one powergel at mile 3, then again around mile 8ish, I downed 2 bottles of water in the first 12 miles and I ate the Detour Runner bar at the end of mile 6. At mile 6, I also popped 2 Advil in hopes that it would kick in at least by my last 6 miles (which it did!) I paused to call Laur and tell her I'd be a little late in calling at the end of my run at mile 12, before I started the last 6 which I was a bit nervous about given how poorly last week went and how slow I'd been running to that point tonight. I wound up walking around my car a bit and downed half a bottle of water because I didn't want to bring it with me, I also had the third powergel then hoping it would give me energy enough to carry me home.

I started my last 6 feeling good, my breathing was relaxed, my stride felt comfortable and the pacing was right on. Throughout the last 6 miles I felt like I was getting stronger and the knees became less and less of an issue which was great! I started going under marathon pace and I just told myself to run comfortably and see what happens. Around mile 1.5 I turned onto Delaware Ave and was hit with strong winds which sucked but when I turned onto The Green the wind was with me and definitely helped some. Running into the wind as I was going west on Main Street right near the end also sucked, but at that point I started repeating to myself what laur had told me on the phone earlier, "NO ROOM FOR WHAT IF!" Over and over again I said it and thought of her and Kenny cheering me on near the finish line and the adrenaline boost that provided really helped me not to slow down and instead speed up until I got to the crosswalk, crossed Main St. and started running back East toward the high school and the finish, with the wind. I finished strong, and :17 on marathon pace! I'm happy about it but my knees are really tightening up now, I'll deal with them tomorrow which figures to be an easy day.

A few miscellaneous things from the run that I remember:
-running near the light at Main St & S. College Ave. and some girl yelling "RUN FORREST RUN!" out her window, ha!
-I mentioned this to Laur as I drove home: Along Main St. the run takes me past Iron Hill Brewery. Every time I passed it, there was a line of college kids, probably 30-40 deep, waiting outside in the sub-freezing temperature and cold gusting winds to get in. Some of the girls were wearing stereotypical sorostitute outfits- high heels or uggz (UGH!), mini skirts that were a little too mini, and tops that they were spilling out of, however unflattering they may be. As I ran up to the crowd and past it, I could see many of them turning and looking at me with a look like I was absolutely insane. I mean who runs in this weather and at this hour?! Well to me, what's more insane, being out in this weather running, burning kcals and thus producing heat, or those people standing on line out in the freezing cold? hmmmm, I KNOW I'm crazy, so I guess we all were!
-the powergels tasted pretty darn good!
-UD has such a pretty campus!
-A quick phone conversation w/ Laur was the next best thing to a kiss
-I overheard after I ran past a number of people walking along Main St them stop their conversations and start saying something about how crazy that guy must be to be running now, or who the hell does that, or something that was clearly about me and what I was doing, mostly all in an incredulous manner. It made me feel like I was doing something special, which I know I am, and something that nary a soul on campus was also doing at the same time I think it's safe to assume. :)

so good run overall. I just have to make sure this knee tightness doesn't get worse and the next few days will thusly be pretty easy and relaxed and involve lots of stretching, hot showers, and sugar scrub. Happy running!

Today didn't exactly go as planned but that's alright really, in the end. I thought I was going to do a longer run, but time issues caused me to postpone that, and instead I wound up doing what I had wanted to do yesterday before the treadmill-overheating-vomit debacle. The schedule called for 45 minutes @ half-marathon pace with last 15 minutes @ 10k race pace Because it was wet, and because it's in a sort of shady area, I didn't want to do it at the Newark High track, and I didn't want to even think about doing it on a treadmill at the CSB, so I went to the James F. Hall bike trail, admittedly not the greatest place to run speedwork but it IS marked every 0.1 mi so I could keep track of my pace. The biggest issue with the trail is that its undulating, and at some points, especially miles 2.5-3, and 5.5-6.0 last night, there was a fairly steep uphill. That meant finishing going up on somewhat tired legs when I'm supposed to be running the fastest. Yikes! Here's the damage:

6 miles in 42:37 (7:06 pace)

including:
mile 1- 7:17
mile 2- 14:37 (7:20 mile)
mile 3- 21:43 (7:06 mile)
mile 4- 28:50 (7:07 mile)
mile 5- 35:52 (7:02 mile)
mile 6- 42:37 (6:45 mile)

1st half- 21:43 (7:14 pace)
2nd half- 20:54 (6:58 pace)

Wow! For a track, this would have been a good workout for me. On the trail, with the issues that I previously mentioned, this is an INCREDIBLE workout! Granted, after the first 2 miles I quickly dropped to low 7:00 min/miles and only dropped a few seconds between 4-5 and then only one mile under 7:00 at the end. But first, I ran the whole second half in sub 7:00 pace, which is what I'd imagine would be my 10k race pace, and second, I ran the last mile in 6:45 when I DEFINITELY wasn't feeling all that strong, and like I mentioned, the last half mile was fairly steeply uphill. I remember turning for the last uphill stretch with about .25 mile left and feeling like I wanted to slow down and thinking to myself, "THERE'S A FUCKING QUARTER MILE TO GO, THAT'S IT, YOU ARE NOT SLOWING DOWN DAMMIT RUN FASTER!!!!! When I hit the end and looked at my watch, the math took a bit longer than if I weren't exhausted but then I realized I got under 7:00 and was thrilled. I immediately called Laur as I was driving home to share in the good news and temporarily distract her.

Also a positive, my knees felt a little off but didn't get worse. My left knee had been bothering me all day and actually felt fine during and after. My right MCL was tight after but nothing some stretches and ib200 can't fix I'm sure. Positive energy from working my ass off. YES!

So if Sunday was super encouraging and uplifting and other words of a similar vein, today was pretty much the opposite. I realize that not every run is going to be the best run ever, some runs are going to feel hard and miserable and I'm going to have to suffer just to get through them. I suppose this becomes even more likely when there are big distances involved. For example, the 20 miler I did today.

The schedule called for 20 miles easy with last 5 miles @ goal marathon pace. For me, I've come to the conclusion that goal marathon pace is 8:00/mi based on a predicted 3:30 finishing time which has seemed more and more reasonable of late. So my goal going into this run was to do an easy 15 miles through the University of Delaware campus and surrounding neighborhood and then get to the James F. Hall Trail at mile 15, and do the 5 miles on the trail where I would have 0.1 mile markers the whole way to keep me on pace. This is what happened, sort of, but with some not-so-minor snags.

First the here's the damage, then I'll discuss:

20 miles in 3:05:17 (9:16 pace)

including:
first 15 miles in 2:22:00 (9:28 pace)
last 5 miles in 43:17 (8:39 pace)

So, overall, not a terrible run. The overall pace is comparable to the other two 20 milers I've done, a bit slower but not by much. However, the way I felt at the end, and the epic fail that was the last 5 miles and my attempt at running 8:00 pace, which was abandoned in favor of just finishing the distance, is not really that great or encouraging. In fact, this has the opposite effect, mentally, that my 8x800 workout had...it's created some doubt and apprehension. Feelings I will do my best to push out of my mind and focus on positives and go from here.

I can't say that I went too fast initially, because the 9:28 pace for the first 15 was right around what I feel I should be doing. Other factors came into play that negated my otherwise pretty solid and smart pacing.

A few of these factors I think contributed to this failure at achieving my goals for the run:

First of all, I really underprepared nutrition-wise. I don't think I ate enough during the day leading up to my run (which started a little after 1600) nor did I eat well the night before, as I did before the other two 20 milers... there was no carb-heavy dinner last night. During the run was an even bigger nutrition problem, and one of the largest factors, I feel, towards my ultimate bonking. I had a 16 oz Gatorade that I mixed up from the powder, that was it. And I was done with it by mile 10, halfway through my run. For the rest of it I had nothing to replenish my electrolytes or calories that I was burning. By the end, my muscles were screaming for something, anything and my body had nothing to give them. I could feel this especially so in my calves which felt like they had gone on strike indefinitely.

Secondly, I completely failed to anticipate or account for the weather. At all. When I started, it was snowing a bit, but the temp wasn't terrible, the sun was still up albeit hidden behind clouds and whatnot. I wore shorts (which was not really the issue, my legs were ok and the cold probably did some good in keeping them from overheating), a Dri-Fit t-shirt and a sweatshirt. Gloves and a Dri-Fit skull cap. The biggest problem was the gloves. I have pretty bad circulation in my hands, and it is exacerbated in cold weather- it doesn't take much for my hands to get REALLY cold. It doesn't help that I was holding the water bottle full of cold liquid in them. The gloves were clearly not meant to keep hands warm in very cold weather and my left hand got increasingly number. Around mile 10 I realized that my face was almost completely numb as well and ice crystals had begun forming on my beard. My core felt ok, as it was protected and all the blood was being directed to my legs and to my core, but my head and my hands got really cold. By the time I started my last 5 miles I could feel the effects of hypothermia starting to set in. I was getting that extremely overwhelming tired feeling, making me tempted to just stop and lay down and go to sleep...from which I would never wake up. I began realizing my brain wasn't functioning properly, when I tried to talk out loud I was slurring everything, things were starting to shut down, and I was panicking. By around mile 18 I was earnestly worried that my hand was frostbitten and by the end of the 20 miles I was borderline delirious and had to coach myself through crossing the street, opening my car, and finding something to drink. I left my Lauren an insane voicemail because I was afraid I was going to pass out and not wake up. I think once the sun went down and the weather got much colder, my body felt the effects and like I said, I was caught very underprepared. This is a consideration I need to be mindful of come marathon weekend.

Another factor that I think played some role, though maybe not as big as the first two, was the topography of the route. I've been running on tracks and on the flat streets of Long Island for the past few months. Newark is not exactly NH or CO, but it's much hillier than Wantagh. Not so much on the main campus, but going from campus to up by the Towers and back and parts of the James F. Hall trail are kind of hilly, especially so when legs are tired and glycogen stores are completely depleted and your body is shutting down from the cold. I really felt some of the pretty slight ups and downs on the trail during my last 5 miles that normally wouldn't really register. So while normally this wouldn't be a big deal, this being my first longish run in town and the other factors accounted for, this just exacerbated things.

I dunno what else to say about this run. I'm disappointed and slightly disheartened but I can't do anything about it now. It happened, I have get over it and move on and have a better run next time. There is still 3+ weeks til my marathon, plenty of time for good, quality runs. Better I have a bad run now then March 16th right. And glass-half-fulling here, this is a learning experience. While it would have been nice to hit my pacing precisely and crush this run like most of my previous ones, I can look at what went wrong and take steps to not repeat those mistakes again, in my next few long runs and in the marathon itself.

Not a very interesting workout tonight. First one since the awesome 8x800s Sunday. I am finally officially moved in to my apt in Delaware and into the swing of class and whatnot, now if the people in the graduate department would put through my stuff so that I can register for class! I went to the 24 hour fitness center to run on the treadmill today. It took me forever to work the entry pad thing but once I got in I got to business. It's a decent center, they have a universal machine, 3 treadmills, an elliptical, a recumbent bike, an upright bike, and some dumbbells up to 40 pounds. I jumped on one of the treadmills and did an easy run. Here's the damage:

5 miles in 44:38 (8:55 pace)

including:
Mile 1- 8:57
Mile 2- 17:54 (8:57 mile)
Mile 3- 26:51 (8:57 mile)
Mile 4- 35:48 (8:57 mile)
Mile 5- 44:38 (8:50 mile)

1st half- 22:22 (8:57 pace)
2nd half- 22:16 (8:54 pace)

It all felt ridiculously easy. I listened to my ipod during it to pass the time and tedium of being an oversized hamster. The heat was a bit much but it was better than the sub-freezing outside alternative.

I was still in Delaware tonight, because I had to stick around to find an apartment, which is how I spent the majority of my day today. 0800 meeting in Wilmington at Christiana Care for the job I'm going to be doing, then went to look at three places in the Newark area, one eh place, one dud, and then the place I decided to take...Rockwood Apartments, which is about 7 or so miles south of campus off Rte. 40. It's gorgeous and I get my own room and my own bathroom. SWEET!

Went up to the Little Bob to run the treadmill again tonight because it was the easiest thing to do. Saw Tony and talked to him for longer than I would have liked because I still had to run and get home but oh well. Here's the damage:

5 miles in 40:42 (8:08 pace)

including:
Mile 1- 8:20
Mile 2- 16:33 (8:13 mile)
Mile 3- 24:46 (8:13 mile)
Mile 4- 32:46 (8:00 mile)
Mile 5- 40:43 (7:57 mile)

I ran a negative split throughout, gradually increasingly speed, which is one of the benefits of treadmill running- I can control exactly how fast I go and know that I am only speeding up, not slowing down.

8 minute miles do not feel difficult at all, and I had absolutely no pain anywhere. Hopefully 8 minute miles will feel good at mile 22 as they do through mile 5, the key is going to be not going out and doing the first few miles of the marathon in 7:15-7:30, setting myself up for disaster.

So today was quite surreal. I drove down to UD this morning, and started my search for someplace to live for the next few months as I START GRAD SCHOOL! Yikes. That's still sort of sinking in. And I've already had my first class, Advanced Physiology of Exercise. We learned all about cardiac physiology tonight, the cardiac cycle, what the various squiggles on an electrocardiogram mean, all about stroke volume (get your mind out of the gutters!) and cardiac output. Real interesting stuff....to me and not many others.

So we had ourselves a little ice storm today, everything was super slippery, the sidewalks especially because no salt had been put down. So running outside was not just impractical, it was impossible. That meant I'd have to settle for the treadmills at the Little Bob. Fortunately when I got there, there was one open, I did my half mile warm-up then got into it.

I was supposed to do 20 minutes @ 5 mile race pace.
Here's the damage:

3 miles in 20:10 (6:43 pace)

including:
mile 1- 6:49
mile 2- 13:33 (6:44 mile)
mile 3- 20:10 (6:37 mile)

Pretty consistent with last time, except last time was on the track which I prefer. The treadmill is easy on my knees and all, but the way they're set up at the Little Bob, they face the mirrors so you're running staring at yourself the whole time and that's it. No tv to distract you from acting like a giant hamster, not even facing the workout area so you can stare at people working out to distract you from running in place. And what's even worse than that, the air is oppressive. It's stale and there is little or no ventilation right there. It'd be nice to have some air blowing on you but nope, nothing, stifling, hot air that makes me overheat quicker than I normally would. That being said, I "eased" into the run. The one thing I really like about the treadmill is that you can control the pace exactly, which means I constantly and gradually increased speed, so the entire run was a negative split. Sweet. I finished and did a some ab work, showered and got out of there as the place was closing, so nothing really has changed from last year in that regard.

One funny moment, I was running, about 10 minutes in; at that point there was a treadmill unoccupied to my left, then a girl running at a decent pace, then another unoccupied treadmill. These two stereotypical sorority-type girls came over to the treadmills. I could see int he mirror that they were unenthused about the prospect of not running next to each other. I heard the one say to the other something to the effect of "great, I'm stuck between two serious runners" I chuckled to myself. It seemed that most of the people on the treadmills were using them as their daily cardio, probably not even knowing what that meant really but doing it because they read it in a magazine or something. I know I shouldn't judge, or complain, because the fact that they're there doing something, anything is good, and better than nothing. So long as they don't take up all the treadmills when us "serious" runners need them. ::removes tongue from cheek::

Anyway, good run, feel good, still adjusting to things, a feeling that will probably persist until sometime next week when I'm here for good and settled into a routine and a rhythm.

So today I went to Delaware to meet with Dr. F about grad school. This evening I went to a familiar haunt of mine to do an easy run: The James F. Hall Bikepath. It's awesome; a paved 1.76 mile point-to-point trail that is marked in both directions every 0.1 mile, which helps me figure out splits on a fairly constant basis and helps tremendously with pacing. Plus it goes by 3 nice parks, along the RR tracks and it's quiet and well-lit. Here's the damage:

6 miles in 53:20 (8:52 pace)

Not sure the splits. I entered this into MapMyRun.com but then it deleted the entry and I forget. oh well. it was appropriately relaxed and easy, with mile splits between high 7:00s and low 9:00s.

Feeling good about today, good run, good meeting with Dr. F. Things are looking bright. Keep your fingers crossed they stay that way.

So I was in Newark, DE tonight. Primarily because tomorrow I have to take care of some student loan nonsense that requires me to see an actual UD official in person which hopefully will go smoothly enough and not cause me a headache and/or the desire to shake someone. Secondarily because, well, I miss Delaware sometimes, a lot, and moreso I miss the people that inhabit it. I have a lot more friends there now, than anywhere else. Which is good when I'm there, and makes other places a trifle more lonely. But it also makes for fun times whenever I visit. Like going to Deer Park to see Chorduroy play their awesome cover songs with Kenny and Vanessa.

But I do miss the place too, not just the people. It is a truly beautiful campus, and an area that just begs to be run around. Which is precisely what I did, the longest run I can remember running in Newark ever actually! Here's the damage:

8 miles in 1:08:05 (8:31 pace)

Mile 1: 9:00
Mile 2: 18:05 (9:05 mile)
Mile 3: 26:25 (8:20 mile)
Mile 4: 34:34 (8:09 mile)
Mile 5: 43:00 (8:26 mile)
Mile 6: 51:30 (8:30 mile)
Mile 7: 1:00:06 (8:36 mile)
Mile 8: 1:08:05 (7:59 mile)

first half: 34:34 (8:38 pace)
second half:33:31 (8:22 pace)

I did this 8 mile route through Newark, covering pretty much the whole of south campus which was quite nice and relaxing and a bit nostalgic. Although, I felt significantly better than the last time I was training for a distance event on campus, and was going about things much wiser. I felt great throughout, no injuries, just typical aches and pains associated with 8 miles of running.

Had about 12 oz. of Powerade and a PowerBar Performance Bar along the way, all before mile 5. Obviously I finished strong, with a significant negative split, and definitely had another gear or two I could have gone to easily with little extra effort. Great night, great run