Return to Training

After the Lost Dutchman Marathon, I took a little time off. To recover, and my business travel has picked up. Since Feb. 17th I've been to St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Kansas City. This Saturday I leave for Pittsburgh, and a few days after I return I'm off to San Francisco. It has been very cold in all of my travels so far, and I've run mainly on the hotel treadmills. I did get an easy 10 miles in this past Saturday before I left for KC, and today (Tuesday) I did another 8 easy. Tomorrow it's my plan to do some speed work, and keep my training moderate until my next race, the Beacon on the Bay 25k. Then it's an 8k the next week, and then my first run at 50 miles on the 22nd of March.

2008 Lost Dutchman Marathon

Yesterday, Sunday February 17th, I ran the Lost Dutchman Marathon in Apache Junction Arizona. This is about 25 miles East of Phoenix. I arrived Saturday morning, picked up my car and drove straight to the expo. I wanted to see a presentation by Anthony Reed, director of the National Black Marathoners Association (NBMA). Tony is the first Black person to finish marathons on all seven continents. His presentation was very interesting.
I ran this marathon because it was designated as a meeting for this group, and I wanted to meet the people who were a part of it. They were all good people, and it was interesting to hear their stories and why they ran.
The organization of this marathon was first class. The organizers did everything they could to make the runner feel special, and I did.
They considered moving the start of this marathon, because there had been rain in the days before, and there were streams running across the road. I didn't want to run through water, this wasn't an ultra, but in the end, I'm glad they didn't move the start.
I attended the pasta dinner, it was good, and they had games. I went back to my hotel got everything ready for the next morning and went to bed. I slept well until around 3 and then couldn't go back to sleep. This didn't worry me, and at 4 I got up and started getting ready. I drove to the pickup location, and got on the first bus to the start. When we got there it was nice. Pads on the ground for us to lay on, and campfires beside each pad. Plenty to drink and eat while we waited.
Seven o'clock, and we're off. I was near the front, and it opened up fairly quickly. It wasn't long before we came to the first stream running across the road. I decided not to run through it, and went over to the side to get by. There were a couple more of these and this slowed me a bit because it was pretty much single file through here. We were on dirt roads for this part of the race, and it was fine after we passed the water. Later we were on the highway, and I felt good this entire way. I was trying to hold an 8:45 pace, but was a little under that at this point. They had plenty of aid stations, so hydration wasn't a problem. This race had rolling hills throughout, and a few kind of large ones. I was up and down from about 14 on. Around mile 20 we started hitting some more hills. I was fading a bit now, and my pace was dropping. But I was still on a sub 4 pace. At mile 23 there is a hill they call the Dutchmans revenge, and it was tough. Anyway, I didn't quite make my goal of sub 4, and I finished in 4:01:13. This is a nice small marathon, and I would recommend it to anyone. I also met a lot of good people at this marathon, and I hope to see many of them again soon.

Frigid Five - Five Mile Race

This past Saturday I ran the Frigid Five (Miles) in Edmond OK. The day was perfect for racing. It was around 40 when the race started. This is a hilly race, and I have worn myself out before trying to run too fast at the start. This time I tried to run by feel. I did have my Garmin on, but just held around 7:20 miles by pacing with this lady I know that runs near my pace. I hung with her for about a mile then felt like I could pick it up a bit. I passed her and started moving up past other people. I would pick out someone ahead of me and slowly pass them. I felt pretty good the whole race. I finished in 36:56, a 7:24 average. I ended up 4th in age group mainly because the 2nd fastest man in the state in our age group was there. He ran a 29:36, 5:56 average. But I felt good about this race, it was my fastest time at this distance, and I feel very good about my marathon this coming Sunday.

Continuing the training

Wednesday, I did 5 x 1k @ 6:50 pace. It was a little tough, but not too hard. Today I decided to deviate a little from my program, and did 5 miles at a 8:05 pace. I did 3 in the middle at a 7:50 pace. I will probably taper a little more than my program calls for, because my knees seem a little more sore than usual. I will race the Frigid Five on Saturday. This is a hilly 5 mile race. I have run it twice before, and am not crazy about it, but I have done well there. Then I head straight to St. Louis for business. That's another reason for a little extra taper, it is cold there and probably the only option will be treadmill running. The marathon is one week from Sunday.

This Past Weeks Training

Tuesday I was scheduled to do speedwork, 6 x 400 @ 6:40 pace. I did two, and decided it wasn't my day to do speedwork. I finished the loop in the park at a slower pace for 3 miles. I was a little bummed out, but had outside issues going on that day, and the weather was a bit cold. Wednesday I decided to do an easy run in another park, and did 5 miles easy. It felt much better than the day before. Thursday it snowed, and I decided to do another easy run on the treadmill. I did 6 miles. Saturday I went to the Edmond hills with a group that was going to do 20. Ten earlier and then another 10 with the running club. We started at 5:30 and ran 5 at around a 8:15 pace. I decided that was a bit fast and slowed down with one other runner to finish the 10 at around an 8:45 pace. By this time the running club was ready to go. I hooked up with a young lady I know and we did 8 more at around a 9:15 pace for a total of 18 miles. Today I ran with a group that was doing various distances. One group was doing up to 22 miles. I ran with a couple that was doing 14 miles. We ran it at an average of 9:15. I have two weeks before my marathon, and am feeling better than I was Tuesday. I have speed work next week, and I'll see how that goes.