CIM Training – Week 18

I’m tapering!  After completing a 20 miler on Sunday, I started decreasing mileage in the final weeks of training for the California International Marathon.  But, the Hansons plan is no joke and the first week of the taper still had that brutal mid-week 16 miler with 10 miles at goal marathon pace.  I decided to work the Alexandria Turkey Trot into that workout with surprising results – a PR, 1st place in the female master category, and a time that indicates sub-3:20 for CIM isn’t unrealistic.

The Details

I only had two workouts this week – a 20 miler on Sunday and a tempo run on Thursday.  I altered the tempo workout so that I could run the Alexandria Turkey Trot, which I’ve done for 10 years straight.  I had a day off on Wednesday and the easy runs dropped to 5 or 6 miles.

Long Run (20 miles).  [Log Details]

In past marathon cycles, I’ve done at least one dress rehearsal.  The level of thoroughness has varied, though.  For my first few marathons, I practiced everything I would do on race day – getting up when I would get up on race day, sitting around for hours to mimic the trip out to Hopkinton for the Boston Marathon or Staten Island for the New York City Marathon.  This time, 12 marathons later, I decided to just mentally walk through race day morning.  I also spent the morning reading the chapter on marathon fueling in Hansons Marathon Method and figuring out how many calories/how much carbohydrate I need for the marathon.  The math came out to be about 600 calories.  I’ve barely been able to choke down 3 gels in a marathon.  How am I going to get 600 calories in me?  I was going to wear my race day clothes but when I stepped outside, I felt how cold and windy it was so I opted for a long-sleeve shirt instead.

I decided to run the 20 mile loop out of Georgetown and hopefully, still catch my run club for coffee afterwards.  I felt sluggish running through the city but once I hit Rock Creek Park, my legs felt great.  I forced myself to slow down and run easy since the first 7 miles is an uphill climb.  I took a couple of Shot Bloks at the 30 minute mark.  I passed a water fountain at mile 4 but it was still malfunctioning.  I had my small Nathan handheld with Gatorade, though.  I took a couple more Shot Bloks at 45 minutes and the one-hour mark.  I passed the Ranger Station about 7 mile into the run and finally got to stop for some water.  The route rolled through Rock Creek Park and my legs started to feel a little tired.  I also got a side stitch.

At about the 11 mile mark, I got to the Georgetown Branch Trail.  In my mind, I thought I was running south now and the wind would be less of a factor.  But, that section of trail is  uphill, so I didn’t see an increase in pace.  A few miles down the road, my stomach finally felt good enough for some Gatorade.  And luckily, the water fountain 4 miles out was working, too.  With about a mile to go, I felt a sharp pain in my left Achilles.  Man!  Am I going to get injured on my last long run?  I thought about stopping but I decided to run through it.  By the end of the run it felt fine.

Average pace=8:42.

Tempo Run (16 miles w/10 miles @ goal marathon pace).  [Log Details – 3 mile warm-up, Alexandria Turkey Trot, and 1 mile recovery followed by 5 miles @ hard effort w/2 mile cool-down]

For a recap of the beginning of this run, see my race report for the Alexandria Turkey Trot.

I was very tired during the cool down from Del Ray to the Mount Vernon Trail.  I ate some Honey Stingers and downed some water on the way.  I stopped for maybe 2 minutes when I reached the trail to rest and mentally prepare myself to give a hard effort.  I was hoping I could average 8:38 pace so that, together, the race and this interval session would average goal marathon pace.

I was pretty slow right off the blocks.  It took about a mile for my legs to loosen up.  I didn’t program my Garmin to take mile-by-mile splits, so I could only go by the pace for the 5 mile segment overall.  At the beginning of the interval, I was averaging about 8:40 pace.  By the end, I was in the 8:20, which I think means I was running low-8:00 by the end.  But, my Garmin was set to 7:43-7:58 pace so it buzzed for the entire 5 miles.  With one mile to go, a wave of joy washed over me knowing that this was my last hard training session of this marathon cycle.

Average goal marathon pace miles=8:25.

Other Running-Related Activities

Future Races.  I had my first bout of taper madness.  On Wednesday morning at 7am, I decided I had to clean out my closet and fix the light that’s been broken for two years.  It’s been hard not packing for the marathon – for some reason, I’m afraid I’m going to forget something.  I’ll start packing today.  I bought a bunch of Honey Stinger products – gels and waffles – for the race, so I’m all set there.  The weather in Sacramento seems similar to the weather here.  I couldn’t resist checking the 10 day forecast yesterday.  It’s showing a high of 60 degrees and an overnight low of 40.  Let’s see how that holds up. 

Houston Marathon.  Every month or so, I get an email from the Houston Marathon and I’m momentarily puzzled.  Given my history of foul weather marathons, I registered for the race as a back up race for CIM.  The race is January 17th.

Gear.  I threw away the Brooks Pure Flows so I would stop running in them.  They don’t have enough cushioning.  I think I’ll be fine with the Saucony Breakthrus for the race.

Media of the Week.

Song.  “One Hit Wonder,” Everclear.  I added a few more contenders to my playlist for CIM.  This might make the cut.

The Week Ahead

7 days to go!  I’ll be tapering in earnest next week.  A 14 mile long run tomorrow, an interval workout on Tuesday, and the rest is easy running.  I leave for the west coast on Friday!

Inspiration.  “I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.” – Alberto Salazar