100 Miles: Fin

I made it! This morning was a perfect morning for a long run--overcast, a little breezy, and not too hot. I began by pacing the 1:30 1/2 marathon group at the Minnesota 1/2 Marathon. That part went fine--I actually had a group for once, and about five or six guys and one gal stayed with me almost the whole time.

Anyhow, after grabbing some water, Gatorade, and a banana, I took off to run five miles at around my marathon goal pace. I ran back next to the race and said hi to a few other pacers. I went pretty hard and I was surprised that I didn't feel more tired or sore. I was afraid my legs would be too heavy to get close to marathon pace, but they felt fine.

So I'm done blogging every day for awhile. I don't know how much I wrote was worth reading, but it was a little motivating to know I was going to share how my training was going during my longest week. I'm sure a lot of what I wrote was boring, but if you've read any portion of this, I thank you.

Also, thanks to everyone for the encouraging words along the way this week. I really appreciated it.

Totals from SportTracks data:
104.95 miles
12:50:57
7:21 / mile average pace
longest day: 21.74 miles
shortest day: 10.22 miles
longest run: 18.05 miles
shortest run: 6.41 miles
calories burned: 12,876

100 Miles: Day 6

I made it 7 this morning and then 6 more this afternoon to finish just in time to watch the women's 10,000m Olympic final. This afternoon was hot--90 degrees and sunny. There was a little bit of a breeze and even though my legs were a little tired, I was able to get a little bit of pacing practice (6:52/mile) squeezed into the middle of the recovery run. The quicker pace didn't feel too bad--I'm a little nervous to be pacing the 1:30 group for the first time, but I know I've run farther and faster by myself, so I know I should be fine.

After this afternoon's run I'm just a little under 87 miles for the week. That means I should be at 100 miles right as I finish pacing the Minnesota 1/2 Marathon tomorrow. My training plan calls for 18 miles with the last 5 at marathon goal pace, so after I finish pacing I get to run 5 more miles. Hurray!

100 miles: Day 5

This morning I went on a little jaunt down to Lebanon Hills to get in another longish run. It started out as a pretty nice morning--not too warm and a little cloudy--and though it warmed up, running five miles through the shaded trails of the park kept it comfortable.

The one downside was the large amount of horse manure on the Voyageur Southern Trek. Every time I run through Lebanon Hills I think back to the lady on horseback who gave me a tongue lashing for accidentally ending up on a horse trail. She ranted on about how I could've spooked her horse, or she couldn't been running the horse and trampled me, or how people on horseback shouldn't have to be exposed to sweaty, common trail runners. Her husband and daughter sat there on their horses, both looking a little uncomfortable. No matter how many times I said sorry she couldn't let it go and lectured me for almost 5 minutes.

Of course all I did was say, "I'm sorry, I'm trying to get back to a hiking trail right now," and stuff like that. There's several places where the hiking trail shares the horse trail before splitting, and I obviously got off track. Now, over two years later, I should let it go, but I can't help thinking of all the clever things I could've said instead of apologizing. "I'm so sorry, there was a horse underneath me just a second ago." Or, "I'm so envious of people who can afford horses, horse trailers, and a place to keep a horse (in the city) that I just like to run on the horse trails, pretending I'm riding a horse." Or, "The jerk store called and they're out of you."

But no, I didn't say any of those things. And this morning, to add insult to injury, there was horse poop on the hiking trails. Horses are not allowed on the hiking trails.

Maybe getting this out there on the blog will help purge this anger I've been holding onto too long. I feel like I've written about this before, but since I can't find it in the archives it doesn't count. It's time to get past this so I can forgive, forget, and run in Lebanon Hills in peace.

Anyway, I made it 15.5 miles this morning--most of them at easy pace then the last 30 minutes at 6:50ish pace to practice for the Minnesota Half Marathon on Saturday. Tonight it's off to the Running Room for my marathon clinic and a few more miles!

100 miles: Day 4

My plan called for 12 miles this morning, but I only managed 10.5. I was running a little late for class this morning--I work after class (which just ended), so I had to pack lunch and dinner and by the time I got running I was a little bit behind.

I had a nice run though. I practiced my pace for the Minnesota 1/2 Marathon where I'll be leading the 1:30 group on Saturday morning. Then I picked it up and ran the last few miles at a moderate pace. The soreness from the hills yesterday hadn't kicked in yet, so I suppose I have that to look forward to tomorrow.

Tomorrow calls for a run in the morning and then another in the evening. Runs like this morning--where everything feels smooth, the weather is nice, and I hit all the lights green--make this running thing a lot of fun.

100 miles: Day 3

Just one run for today. I lied yesterday when I said I was going to do a tempo run. I came home from house sitting this morning and checked my little training plan. It said I had to do a 3 mile warmup, 5 X 3 minutes uphill at 5k effort, and then a cool down.

As I was doing the easy portion of my run, heading toward a hill I believed would get me my 3 minutes, a thought occurred to me: this is what I do for fun. Yes, I watch a little TV here and there--a little more in the summer with my lighter schedule. I read. I do a few other things, but I really spend a lot of free time just running around.

So my fun for today meant I was going to run easy until I got to this long, steep hill, then run up it for three minutes, jog back down, and then do that four more times. When did I decide this was fun? By my third time up the hill my legs were screaming, my lungs were fire, and it was hot enough that as I pumped my arms I could see drops of sweat being flung twelve feet over my head. On my fourth repeat I felt bad when a lady turned in front of me from another trail. As I went by her I knew it would be a miracle if she managed to avoid the droplets of sweat flying off my arms and legs.

I hope she wasn't too disgusted. When I turned back around and headed back down the hill I smiled and said, "hi." She sort of smiled back but I think there may have been a hint of disgust under that smile. Oh course, that might have been because I wasn't wearing a shirt.

Three days in the book and after today's run I'm at 41.5 miles.

100 miles: Day 2

I made it 12 miles this morning and 6 this afternoon. That makes 30 miles for the week, which, if my math is correct, means I'm right on track to make it to 100 miles this week.

That wonderful "Habitat" song was still going through my head, but it also had to fight with "I Would Walk 500 miles." Nothing like a strange medley going on while crusing through Mendota Heights and St. Paul. Da da Da (Da da Da)! Try this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW9Mym1ODhU

I'll be back at it tomorrow--I'm going to do a little tempo run in the morning and then I'll see how I feel for the afternoon. So far I'm feeling great.

100 miles: Day 1

So far I'm one for one. My plan called for 12 miles today, and I tried not to think about how this was going to be one of my shorter days this week. Fortunately I don't have many individual runs longer than this--most days I'll be running twice. I know 100 miles in a week is not a huge deal--I know several runners who have pulled them off (and a couple that do them pretty much every week), but I'm a little bit excited about going for it the first time.

We're house and dog sitting this weekend, so I got to start the week with some fresh running scenery. I had a nice run through Crosby Farm and Hidden Falls parks after crossing from Mendota Heights over into St. Paul.

As I ran along the river and through the trees, I got this song Laura learned for teaching preschool stuck in my head. There's nothing like spending almost an hour-and-a-half silently singing "the forest is a habitat, a very special habitat..." to myself.

The whole song can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIm0uHOzXTM

I especially like the 5 year-old who's got a beard. I'm sure he had a good reason for it.

100 Miles

Back in May when I wrote my training plan, I decided I was going to do everything I could to get closer to my marathon potential. If you're familiar with any of the running calculator's out there like Runner's World age grading calculator and the McMillan calculator, those tools can help evalate your performance and help you set goals for other distances. An age graded calculator gives you a percent grade based on the world record performance at the distance.

In my case, the marathon is by far my worst time. For comparison's sake, my 5k age graded time is 79%, my 10 mile 76%, and my marathon 69.5%. I know I've got some natural speed, but I've got to think that I can improve my endurance enough to get at least a little closer to my predicted marathon time.

You'd think my endurance would get better as I run more marathons, but unfortunately that has not been the case for the three marathons I've raced. For my first marathon I used a 10k to predict my marathon time and missed the prediction by about 6 minutes. For my next marathon I used a 7 mile race to predict my marathon and missed it by around 5 minutes. Getting better right? The next marathon I raced I used the same 7 mile race to predict and missed my predicted time by almost 7 minutes.

So, I decided that with my somewhat lighter schedule this summer I was going to do my best to improve my endurance. I'm pretty happy with my current 5k PR, and now I'd like to improve my marathon time (and perhaps my 1/2 marathon along the way). So, I'm running more miles than ever. Starting today I'm shooting for my first 100 mile week ever. I've been over 80 miles three out of the last four weeks, so while this will be a little bit of a jump it should be doable.

I'll try to keep my readers updated of my progress--I'll try to think of clever things to write (I'm hoping they can be a little funny, unlike this post) as I run for around 12 hours this week.