53 mile week!

Thanks to Coach Thon, I ran a personal best 53 miles this past week. 32 miles between Monday and Thursday, and a 21-miler on Saturday morning. Besides it being a great mileage week, they were also QUALITY miles. Thon and I did a great mix of speed, hills, and recovery together throughout the week. Even with all of those miles, my legs felt great on Friday. I was actually looking forward to the big 21-mile run the next morning.

Saturday's run was also for the Jeroslow record books. It was Amy, Carrie, Venus, Thon, and me. We did Thon's White Rock simulator course. In a nutshell, the course is hilly at the beginning and hilly at the end, which is similar to the White Rock Marathon course we are doing in less than three weeks. It was one of those mornings where all of the planets were aligned..the kind you can only hope for on marathon day. On a personal level, I was rested, nutritionally prepared, thoroughly PRP'd (pre-run-pooped for you non-runners), and in a very good mental state. As for the weather, it was picture perfect running weather: dry, cold, and no wind.

I did do something slightly different this time around for my long run. I brought more nutrition than I usually do (enervitine, shot blocks, power gel). It is a bit of a pain because of the added bulk, but I decided to try something new. In my actual marathons, I seem to really fade away after mile 18 or so. I have concluded that one contributor might be not enough hydration and nutrition throughout the run. For this training run, I decided to err on the side of too much nutrition to see how I fared. The strategy was to take something every 3-4 miles max, versus every 4-5 miles like I have in the past.

We started off the run at Big Stacy pool in Travis Heights. Oh, and we started at 7AM instead of the normal 5:45 because Coach Thon said we should practice starting our run closer to when the Dallas race begins (8AM). Makes sense...he's so smart. :-) We began nice and easy, averaging around an 8:30-8:45 pace per mile. We got through the hills and as we were running down riverside we met up with one of Amy's friends. Most of the route was on Town Lake, so it was relatively flat and very predictable once we got through the hills. We stopped at the Runtex water stops at First St. and then Mopac. Everything felt great, and everyone else did too except Carrie. Her excuse was the Ironman 70.3 she completed less than a week before. I guess we'll accept that..hehe.

Anyway, we ran all the way around the lake up until 1/4th a mile from Riverside. In other words, we ran about 80% of the loop. After that, we turned right around to go back the way we came! By this point, we were actually running an 8:10-8:20 pace. Thon was setting it, and I was just keeping up with him. I didn't feel like I was having to exert too much energy though, which encouraged me to continue to keep up with him.

Around mile 16, Thon and I were pulling ahead of Amy (oh, and Carrie and Venus ended up cutting off earlier). Amy just wanted to get the miles in. So did I, until Thon made it clear that he wanted to finish strong. He didn't make this clear verbally, he made it clear by continuing to "up" the pace. I actually started to fall behind him a bit between 16 and 17. I had a mental battle going on in my head because I felt great, but I didn't want to hurt myself or end up bonking on the last few miles. My ego won out though, so I slowly started to close the gap with Thon and caught up before the Mopac bridge stop, about 3 miles from our finish. We took a 30-second water stop and continued on. We kept up with each other for the next 2 miles on the trail. Once we got off the trail though, my afterburner's started kicking in. We had one mile to go, but it was a hilly mile (once again, to simulate the the latter portion of White Rock). Hills are actually one of my strengths, so even though Thon was finishing very strong, I pulled ahead of him.

The last mile was pretty damn tough, but I finished it and looked at my watch. I had finished the 21 mile run in a total time of 3:01. This INCLUDED our stops, so without them I was more around 2:55. Our last 6 miles were ALL sub 8's!! And I felt great, nothing ached more than usual, and I had no major tightening up of muscles. It was a mental and physical affirmation for me, and it makes me feel very optimistic about the marathon (do you hear that Carrie and Thon, I'm optimistic!). To sum it up, this was the best 20+ mile training run I have ever had. I felt great and had managed to maintain a great pace without expending too much effort.

I haven't had high expectations for this marathon because my training has slightly suffered due to other commitments (marrying the love of my life and having a house built). But Thon and Carrie have repeatedly told me I can do a 3:30. After Saturday's run, I actually am starting to believe them.

My PR is a 3:46 from last year's Chicago Marathon. At the minimum, I know I can beat that. And if the planets are aligned just right again, I might just get that 3:30. Now its time for 3 weeks of smart tapering!

I did not run today, I didn't sleep well last night and was just too tired when I woke up at 4:30. I'm going to do an easy 3 this evening and then 7-8 tomorrow and Wednesday. As for Thursday, I am doing the Ft. Worth Turkey Trot 5k. I am possibly going to make an attempt to PR. Stay tuned!