Base Building

It has been about 4 weeks since Twin Cities Marathon, and I am back on the Trials of Miles...  I think I was around 110 for last week and will continue to build up towards 140 miles/week.  We haven't been doing any workouts, so it is a bit easier to hit higher mileage.  This past sunday, there was a big group of us.  There were about four Americans and four Africans with us on our 18 mile long run.  We went 6 miles easy, 6 miles a little faster, and the last 6 was very, very fast...  But, it felt great!  

Things are shaping up, and I am very excited to focus on one thing this winter, which will be the USA Cross Country Championships.  I will do a few indoor races, but the main goal is to make a National Team.  Workouts will come in a few weeks, and I'll jump into a few races for fun.  And the quote of the month between all of us has been: "More is Better!"  

Twin Cities Marathon

As I keep reading about the Elite Fields for the Twin Cities Marathon, and the American hopefuls to win this event, it becomes very inspiring.  The race is only 11 days away and I can't wait for it to start.  The two American hopefuls are Luke Watson and Jason Hartman, both very talented runners.  This will be Watson's debut marathon, so it will be interesting to see how he does, and Hartman was 10th at the 2007 Olympic Trials.  That combination makes for a pretty decent American Field.  I just hope to be in the mix with those guys.  At this point, I feel very confident in racing my own race, and not worrying about things I can't control.  

So, as far as training goes, last week (9/14/09) went really well.  We had one fartlek workout on tuesday, which consisted of 5 sets of 3-2-1.  The rest of the week leading up to sunday's long run/tempo was just easy mileage.  Now, sunday's long run/tempo was interesting.  As usual, we start late because Kris and I are off marking a 10k loop that we will run marathon goal pace at, at the end of our long run.  Once that "course" it set up, we leave some water bottles and fuel, and head over to meet up with the rest of the gang.  The long run starts off fine, with everyone: Me, Kris, Robby, Dustin, and Josh goofing off and trotting along the river for 12 miles.  Oh, and every so often Kris gets a bright idea to throw in a surge for a minute to spice things up... Well, once we finish 12 miles (or so), we head over to "the course" and start the last 10k of our long run.  Unfortunately, I started us off a little too quick and forgot to start my watch (so we had no idea how fast we were going), but I think it went well.  The course had a few turns through some neighborhoods, past some pit-bulls that wanted us dead, a few disgruntled sunday morning drivers and finished by a lovely fire station... All and all, it could have been worst.  I actually liked the course and I think we will use it for more of these marathon simulation workouts.  But, as I was saying, we didn't get a full time on the 10k loop, but I'm pretty sure we got the last 2 miles, which were in 11:11.

On tuesday, our other semi-last workout of the season, we just did 5x1000m at Albuquerque Academy.  This was another makeshift workout, since lanes 1-3 were blocked.  We had to calculate the correct stager in lane 4 and stay in lane 4.  That workout went well and Kris, Allen and I worked together on it.  

As we have 11 days till the marathon, I just hope to stay healthy and hungry to race.  "Tapering" is an interesting experience, and I don't even know if we are doing it right, but either way I know we'll be ready at the start of that marathon.              

3 Weeks and Counting/Hood to Coast

So, there are only three weeks left till my marathon debut.  I am both excited and nervous about this ordeal.  At times I feel like I could use another month of training, or just pick another marathon, but I'm sure the Twin Cities Marathon is a fine choice.  Kris and I have been preparing very well for this, and a few weeks ago we just completed the Hood to Coast relay.  Although, Kris and I were on different teams and different lengths the effort was still there, as well as the confidence.

The Hood to Coast relay was a logistical nightmare; fun, but insane...  This "experience" transpired back in March when I got an email from Steve Dekoker, a Brooks Sports Marketing guy, and talented runner.  His emailed explained how Brooks has been putting together a team every year at this NIKE Hood To Coast relay in Oregon.  This relay is "The mother of all relays", as it says on the back of the corny T-Shirts.  Well, Steve had invited a few Brooks athletes to be on this team, as well as local Brooks guys.  And with the lure of gear incentives, travel and free food, why wouldn't I take this opportunity.  Not to mention that the entire relay covers 198 miles from Mt. Hood to Seaside, mostly done at night. It was a nightmare, but fun!  Our team, the "Brooks Beast" won in a time of 16 hours and 55 minutes, an average of 5:09 miles.  Two years ago the Brooks team took 3rd to 2 Nike teams, Last year they were 2nd to the Nike team and finally, this year we won.  So, needless to say, it was a great experience!

Now, its roughly 2 1/2 weeks till the marathon.  Last week I tapped out at 124 miles for the week, which was the most I've ever done.  Hopefully I can post as much as possible leading up to the marathon.

Coming into Form

Things have been going pretty well the last couple of weeks.  I think I've been hitting 90 plus miles for the last 2 weeks and over 100 for this past week.  A teammate and I are slowly creeping up towards 120 miles for this week.  The reason for this is due to the amount of success other runners had when increasing their mileage.  Just as long as we do it smart and under a fine microscope.  The workouts have been good, but only a few of them a week.  

This past sunday we did a 20 miler with the last 8 at around tempo pace.  It didn't go as great as I planned, since I started off too fast and died toward the end, but only to recover the last mile in the fastest mile of the day.  So not a complete failure.  It was also good for us to practice fuel intake.  We grabbed some water bottles and a GU to take during the tempo portion, and I was able to take it without any problems.

So, this week should be the most mileage I've ever done, then a slight drop in mileage next week for the half marathon in San Diego.  This half marathon should be a stepping stone towards the marathon.  It's going to be fun, being back at home to see my family and friends.  I'm looking forward to it!  Kris, Dustin and I should have a good time out there and preform fairly well, if the weather isn't as hot as some say its going to be.  Nonetheless, everyone has to run in it, and I think I'm going to compete in this race as suppose to going after a time.  

Should be fun!

Flu and another Epic Run

A few weeks ago I got the flu which totally put a damper on my training.  But now in my second week back I am feeling 100 percent and ready to be more consistent with my training.  After a moderate 95 mile week after having about a week off from the flu, I was ready to run with our team.  That week included an unexpected Epic run... well, it was expected just not from me coming back from a sickness.  Regardless, we decided to get back on our marathon schedule which entailed a lovely Epic run up La Luz and back.  When I got word of this on saturday night, I contacted a few other team members: Kris (who planned this epic run), Juan (who has joined us before in a 35 mile run to Belen),  and two newer members Josh (who ran one Epic run before and can't get enough of them) and Dustin (who moved here from North Carolina to train for the marathon).  Yes, our crew has grown from 3 to 5 insane individuals...

This run was more of a mental challenge than anything else.  Even though it took us 3:25 to cover the 9000ft of accent and decent over 24 miles, it still was a culminating factor of mental toughness and physical toughness.  I was happy to see everyone get through this run without any injuries.  There were doubts and frustration at times, but in the end it was a great experience.  It was also surprising that we finished 20 minutes faster than the last time we did this God forsaken run.  And I didn't feel completely dead at the top, compared to last time.  Everyone was in good posture...

Now, with that run under our belts a few of us have 12 or 13 weeks till our marathon.  These should be the crucial weeks leading up to the race, so I'm hoping things will continue to progress as they have and the Dukes Track Club get better throughout the months.  Things are taking form and it's real exciting to see new addictions to the team.