Twin Cities Marathon: It's Goal Time

View from above my tune-up run in Winona this morning

Tomorrow morning I'll be running the Twin Cities Marathon. I'm pretty excited for the race as it will be the first time in several years that I've followed a training plan for a marathon. I wrote the training plan myself, and when I write training plans I draw from a variety of sources, but a lot of what I base my training plans on is from a book by Matt Fitzgerald and Brad Hudson called "Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach." 

This training plan generally involved a speed or interval workout, a tempo run or cruise intervals, a long run, easy runs, and two weightlifting sessions. I started the plan at about 30 miles a week and built up to a peak week of 67 miles.

Since training went so well, my goal for the race is a little loftier than I would have thought when I started this plan a few months ago. I did a few 5Ks during this training plan, and three weeks ago I raced a half marathon as a tune up race. Based on my time of 1:27:06, the VDOT calculator has me predicted to run a 3:01:45, and the McMillan calculator predicts a 3:03:18.

While I'd love to run a 3:01 or a 3:03, I've always been a little faster as the distance gets shorter, so 3:03 sounds a little faster than I think I could do. 

So, here are my A, B, and C goals:

A Goal:
3:05. I think this will be tough, but doable. One cool thing about this goal is that there is a 3:05 pacer, and I know him and have run with him before.

B Goal:
3:09:43. This is the time I would have had to run this year to get into the Boston Marathon.

C Goal:
3:15. Running this time would qualify me for the Boston Marathon, but this year qualifiers needed to run over five minutes faster than their qualifying time to get in (they randomly draw for additional entrants).

I've never hit my A goal in a marathon before, but I feel like I have a good chance tomorrow. I plan on going out with the 3:05 pacer and just seeing what happens.

Thanks to everyone who's offered words of encouragement and support and thanks to all my readers. I'm looking forward to writing about how the race went soon.

Marathon Training

Twin Cities Marathon is almost here. It's been years since I've done a structured training plan for a marathon, and the first time since high school that I've incorporated weightlifting into my training.

Going into this training cycle I planned on getting to a reasonably high weekly mileage, and I was actually able to up my mileage a little more than I was planning. I managed an average of just over 44 miles a week in 14 weeks of training, and my peak week was 67 miles.

Besides running more miles than I have in years, I've also been hitting some pretty solid workouts. For a lot of my training cycle, I did some solid tempo runs between 20 and 30 minutes, and an interval workout just about every week. In 14 weeks of training, I only bailed on two workouts as my legs just weren't feeling it those days.

Besides the tempo runs and interval workouts, I also got in some good long runs. I did three long runs of 20 miles or more, and did a handful of long runs where I ran the last few miles at goal marathon pace.

My highlight long run was a two mile warmup, racing a half marathon at 6:39/mile pace, four easy miles, then two miles at goal marathon pace for a total of 21 miles.

I've really enjoyed this training block, and a big part of that was getting to train with my kiddos. Quite a few times this summer I did the first part of an easy run with my 10 year-old, and as I've mentioned before, he biked with me on several of my long runs. My six year-old daughter also joined me on her bike on a couple of my runs. On our last outing, we were going along and she said, "Three miles is my record."

I said, "How about we go four miles?"

She said, "Let's do six." And she did do six miles. It was great.

It's been a solid three-and-a-half months of training, and I'm feeling pretty good going into the Twin Cities Marathon. I'll give my goals for the race in my next post.

Healthy Human Race Half Marathon

Three weeks before the Twin Cities Marathon, I decided to do a tune-up race and run a half marathon. I'd done a few 5Ks in this training cycle, but I knew a half marathon would give me a more accurate gauge on how fast I could race a marathon.

The morning of the race I decided to ride my bike to the start to get in a little warmup and avoid having to mess with parking. With the days getting shorter, I had to dig through my bike stuff to find my headlight, and I ended up doing the first half of my half hour ride in the dark. 

The race started at 7 AM, and I got to the start with enough time to run a two mile warm up.

After the little jog, I got lined up and chatted with an old friend from a running club in the twin cities. 

The race started, and I settled into what I thought would be a good pace. After a couple miles, I checked my watch and noticed that I was running just a couple of seconds per mile slower than I had been planning.

I was able to pick up the pace a bit, and I felt like I was moving along at a challenging but somewhat comfortable pace. It was a pretty small field, and there were only a couple of people running close to me, and after around five miles I was running by myself other than one guy who was about 30 seconds behind me for most of the race.

The course was pretty flat and I enjoyed running through various parks and along the Zumbro River. The aid stations were adequately spaced, and I took water and Gatorade along with a few Pure Fuel Maple Syrup gels.

With a couple of miles left, I was feeling pretty good and was able to pick up the pace for the last couple miles. I ended up finishing in 1:27:07. My 5K of 19:06 gave me a VDOT equivalent time of 1:27:42, so I feel like my fitness has continued to improve during this training cycle.

Laura and the kids came for the finish of the race, and it was great having them cheer for me as I wrapped up the race.

Like I said, it was a small race, so the Healthy Human Race wasn't overly competitive, but I still felt good about finishing as the sixth place male and second in my age group. My 1:27 was the fastest I've run a half since running the Pensacola Beach Half Marathon in January of 2018, and almost 10 minutes faster than the last half marathon I raced, the Louisiana Half Marathon, in January of 2025.

So, I'm feeling like my training has gone well and I'm feeling optimistic about the Twin Cities Marathon in two weeks. I'll give a recap of my training for Twin Cities in my next post.

Training Update

Training for the Twin Cities Marathon has been going great! Better than I expected. I didn't think I would be in as good of shape as I'm in when I started training seriously a few months ago.

One big key to my success has been my lack of injuries. My foot has been a little sore off and on, but it hasn't hindered my running at all. I also had one day where I started a run and my knee hurt bad enough that I wasn't able to run. I was afraid that I might be derailed, but I took two days off and my knee was fine afterwards.

My weightlifting has also been going OK. I haven't been making big improvements, but I think the strength training has still helped me stay healthy and improved my speed.

I've done four 5Ks since I've started this training plan, and I've gotten faster on each one. I ran 21:32, 20:44, 19:13, and 19:06.

One thing I've really enjoyed during this training cycle is doing my long runs with my kiddo. He's biked with me for 13, 14, 18, and 19 miles. Not only has he provided good company on two hour+ runs, he also carries the water. We usually talk about camping and fishing, but occasionally touch on other topics.

Tomorrow I'll be racing the Healthy Human Race Half Marathon. I've got a goal pace in mind, so we'll see what happens.

If you're interested in my training in detail, here's a link to my training plan for this year's Twin Cities Marathon:

Twin Cities Marathon Training Plan

Washington Running

A couple weeks ago, our family took a trip out to Washington state. It was a wonderful trip for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it was about ten degrees cooler in Washington than it was in Minnesota, and I work outside.

We saw lots of beautiful scenery including Mt. Ranier, various locations at Olympic National Park, and North Cascades National Park. We saw wildlife like elk, marmot, deer, sea lions, seals, otters, and a variety of small marine animals. We got to do several scenic hikes and drives as well as see a Twins vs. Mariners game in Seattle. We also had a chance encounter with my cousin and his family and got to spend time with some friends in Seattle. 

I also had some great running on our trip. On our first morning, I got onto my Garmin Connect app and mapped out a route from our hotel in Port Angeles. I saw that there was a trail along the waterfront that was only about a mile from our hotel, so I took off and ran through town and down to the water.

As I was running along the water, I saw something near shore. I paused and took a closer look. It was otters. Not something I see when running on the Douglas Trail in Rochester. 

The next morning I took my son with me and we drove to the trail this time, and more otters showed up along with sea lions, eagles, and herons.

I also got to go on a couple runs in Leavenworth, running through the mountains. 

My last run was the Renton parkrun. The course ran along a river and was mostly shaded. It was an out-and-back and it was very flat. At the half mile mark I took my first peek at my watch and saw that I was averaging a 6:35/mile pace. This was a fair amount slower than I was expecting, and I was hoping that I wasn't in worse shape than I thought I was. 

By the turnaround I was moving at a faster clip, and I finished the race in 19:13, a 6:11/mile pace. This happened to be my fastest 5K since May of 2021, so I'm feeling pretty good about my training.

The trip to Washington was awesome, other than me getting sick at the end and missing the last couple days of fun. Running there was great and running is going well in general. In my next post I'll give an update on how my training is going.

Marathon Training

Although I've done a marathon the past few years, I haven't really trained to run a fast race for several years. This year, I set the lofty goal of breaking 3:20 in the marathon. After running 3:53 in 2025, a sub-3:20 would be a huge improvement.

While on its face a 3:20 may look like a nearly unattainable goal, I'm very optimistic.

First, I'll look at why I ran a 3:53 last year. My mileage per week for 2025 was the lowest it had been since I started running again in 2009. I also wasn't racing, didn't have a structured training plan, and weighed more than I'd weighed in years,

Now, I have reason to be optimistic for this year. First, I'll be putting in more miles in this training cycle than I have in years. Second, I've started lifted weights, which I think has been a missing piece in my training puzzle. Third, I've gotten down closer to my racing weight, and if I stay on track, I should be down to race weight by race day. And lastly, I'll be following a structured training plan for the first time in years.

As I move through my training cycle, I'll be running a few 5Ks to get a gauge on my fitness. I did one at the beginning of this training cycle, clocking in at 21:32.  With only a couple weeks of training under my belt, I was happy with this result. According to the VDOT calculator, a 21:32 in the 5K is equivalent to a 3:25:48 marathon — not a sub-3:20, but this early in the training cycle, not a bad result.

Just three weeks later, I posted a 20:44 — a big improvement in a short amount of time. This time is equivalent to a 3:18:18, which would mean I'm on track to hit my goal.

The caveat to these 5K times is that I've always skewed at being faster in the shorter distances than the longer ones. My 5K PR, 16:17, is equivalent to a 1:14:36 half marathon and a 2:36:05 marathon, and my PRs in those distances are 1:16 and 2:50 (though my marathon PR would be faster had a couple of courses been marked correctly).

I'm six weeks into my 16 week training plan. I'm fortunate to have a work schedule where I have ample time in the morning to work out. A couple days I week I have time to get in a run and then lift weights before work.

In a week I'll be racing another 5K, and I'm excited to see how my training is progressing. I've run some good workouts, and I really think I'm going to see some solid progress.

After a Long Hiatus

I really don't know why it happened. I didn't make the conscious decision to stop posting on my blog. I didn't even have a reason. I haven't been super-busy. I can't even say I was struggling to come up with ideas for the blog.

Whatever the reason or lack thereof, I decided to get back at it. It's been an interesting few months with my fitness and my life in general, so here's a quick update:

In January I started a new job at the Mayo Clinic. I work as a door attendant. I enjoy the work, and it's been nice to do something other than substitute teaching. My job consists of greeting people as they arrive, helping people out of their cars and into wheelchairs, helping people back into their cars, and various other tasks. While it's not overly-complicated, the work feels meaningful and I enjoy my coworkers.

Health-wise things have been interesting. In December I made a medication change for my bipolar disorder, and I've been doing really well on it. I'm on as few of medications as I've been on for years, and I've been feeling balanced since the medication change.

A couple months ago I went through a rough patch where I was feeling sick to my stomach for almost a month. Several days I was throwing up, and for three weeks I wasn't eating solid food other than saltines, applesauce and toast. I lost over fifteen pounds and didn't exercise for almost a month.

Thankfully I've finally been doing better, though I still sometimes get nausea in the mornings. 

My exercising is now back on track, and in my next post I'll give a rundown of my fitness.