CIM Training – Week 19

The race is less than 24 hours away!  My final taper week went well.  As usual, I felt slow and sluggish; existing pains seemed worse and new pains came and went out of no where.  I arrived in Sacramento yesterday afternoon.  I did a shake out run this morning with some fellow California International Marathon runners.  I’ll head to the expo in a few minutes and then have a restful day spent mostly in my hotel room trying to mentally prepare myself for the race.  There’s rain in the forecast, which isn’t helping with my confidence, but I’ve raced marathons in the rain and know what to expect.  And, no matter what happens at the race tomorrow, I’m so proud of how hard I worked this training cycle.

The Details

For the taper week, I only had two workouts – a 14 miler on Sunday and an interval workout on Tuesday.  The schedule has an off day on Wednesday and the rest of the mileage was easy.

Long Run (14 miles).  [Log Details]

I decided to run with my club.  Despite getting up early, I still found myself rushing to get out the door on time.  And then, just as I was locking the door I realized…  It raining kinda hard.  I dashed back inside and threw on my favorite rain-resistant jacket.  (Sometimes, I feel like I’m a walking advertisement for the New York City Marathon.)

I made it to the meet-up on time.  Well, just a few minutes late.  I got to chat with a few teammates and they wished me luck at CIM.  For most of the run, I ended up running with one runner from the club.  We went out on Rock Creek Park Trail, which is a slight uphill.  We talked the whole way so the pace was conversational.  He was only looking to do about 12 while I wanted to do 14, so we split up at the Nature Center.  It was quiet and peaceful in the Park.  I stopped and took a couple of pictures.  At mile 8ish, I saw him ahead on the trail.  I picked up the pace and tried to catch him.  The trail was downhill at this section and I was running high 7-minute pace to reel him in.  It took maybe 2 miles but I caught him.  (Luckily, he wasn’t running the tangents or it would have taken longer.)  Along the way, we ran into another member of the club who hasn’t been running much lately.  It was great catching up with her.  The three of us ran for a mile or so and then she split off.  A few miles later and I had completed my last long run of this training cycle.  Hooray!

The pace felt comfortable but was hard to imagine going 10 more miles and a minute/mile faster.  But, I’ve always felt that way before marathons a race.

Average pace=8:42.

Intervals (10 x 400m @ 10K pace w/200m recoveries).  [Log Details]

I woke up, went downstairs, and the living room was freezing.  The thermostat is showing 65 degrees but the thermostat I keep in the room read 63 degrees.  My heat pump is broken and I’m heading out of town in two days.  Great.

The warm up and drills went well.  I start my intervals off strong.  But, in a few locations, I had doubts about my Garmin readings.  I didn’t feel like I was running any slower but it was showing some segments above 7-minute pace.  It’s just an interval workout, so it’s not a big deal, but  I made the decision during this run that I would not use my Garmin for pace during my mile splits CIM.  I’d wear it as a stop watch and, along with my 3:20 pace band, make adjustments at the mile markers.

During the cool-down home, I felt kind of numb.  I thought I would feel more excited about completing my last workout but I wasn’t.  I just completed a long uphill when a car drove by and splashed road spray all up my leg.  Then, out of no where…  tears.  Not sobbing tears but misty eyes.  I was cold, I was tired, and I didn’t even have a warm house to return to.  I guess my subconscious was tried of repressing how miserable I was at that moment.

I treated myself to a Chai latte from Starbucks after the run and all was good again.  And, the heat pump was fixed Thursday afternoon so I could leave town without worrying about it.

400m @ 10K pace repetitions=1:41, 1:41, 1:46, 1:42, 1:46, 1:48, 1:44, 1:41, 1:48, 1:43.  Average 400m @ 10K pace repetitions=1:44.

Other Running-Related Activities

Future Races.  As race day approached, I started to set goals for CIM.  Here’s what I came up with:

• Achievable Goal: 3:29 (7:59 pace).  I feel like I’m roughly in the same shape that I was in for Boston Marathon.  This time is also just a little faster than race equivalents for the races I did this summer – the Parks Half Marathon and Crystal City Twilighter 5K.  It’s also roughly the pace I ended up with when I didn’t push myself too hard during my goal marathon pace workouts on October 28th. and November 15th.
• Stretch Goal: 3:23 (7:45 pace).  If I’m more optimistic about how my training went, I think I might be slightly faster than 3:25 shape.  And, with CIM’s net elevation loss, maybe I can subtract 2 minutes from that and eek out a PR (sub-3:22:56 or 7:45 pace).
• Dream Goal: Sub 3:20 (7:38 pace).  This is the pace I trained for this summer.  Maybe, just maybe, everything will align and I’ll surprise myself and actually run it.  And, it’s not so unrealistic.  I ran the Alexandria Turkey Trot in a time that equates to a 3:18:32 (7:35 pace) marathon according to the McMillan running calculator.

Houston Marathon.  With rain in the forecast, it has crossed my mind that I do still have the entry for the Houston Marathon.  However, with Boston less than 20 weeks away and my left leg as banged up as it is, I’m overdue for some rest.  I don’t see myself training through CIM and targeting Houston for a PR.

Media of the Week.  

Song.  “Beverly Hills,” Weezer.  I listened to a lot of California themed music this week.

Movie.  On the flight to San Francisco, I watched Spirit of the Marathon II on the flight.  I didn’t find it as educational or inspirational as the first movie, however, there was one very touching story line that had me in tears.

Picture.  I have some pictures of Sacramento but I’ll save them for the race report.  My last long run was through Rock Creek Park on a rainy day.

The Week Ahead

Tomorrow is race day!  I’m very excited to see how this training cycle will end.  I worked very hard these past 19 weeks and I’m really proud of that effort.  However, it would mean so much more if I could wrap a pretty bow around it with a PR.  After the race, I’ll drive back down to San Francisco for a much deserved vacation.  I didn’t pack any running clothes so I expect to have three days of total rest.  And then my next goal marathon should be…  the Boston Marathon.

Inspiration.  “Life doesn’t give you what you want. It gives you what you deserve.” – Unknown