Let the chips fall where they may.

Week of October 9-15

No running until Saturday

Saturday - massage. My legs are more painful. I went to the gym and ran 3 miles
on the treadmill with some strides and some MP time.


Sunday - 6 miles. I was supposed to run 12. I got to my 3 mile point and decided
that with the pain I was having, running the extra 6 was not going to do me any
good. All I could do was get worse.

Week of Oct 16

I made the painful decision that I do not know what I am going to do on race
day. I have opted for a rest and recover and finish the marathon strategy,
rather than push for a BQ (3:15). My wife is sick with a cold, my son is sick
with a cold. I'm avoiding them like the plague. It will be a miracle if I make
it to the start line without a cold. If I do, I want my leg to be as pain free
as possible. I know I will have pain. I will medicate myself with Vitamin I for
it this week. If I get to the start line with minimal pain, I think I can run a
3:45. If I feel really good, maybe a 3:30. But 3:15 will require divine intervention.


I was reflecting on my 3 previous marathons:

1) My first. All training runs at 9:00 pace (my goal was 3:59:59) My son was
born 2 weeks before the marathon. I did very little running the 2 weeks prior
to the marathon. I ran my final 3 miles of that marathon, as my fastest miles,
finishing in 3:58. Training was fairly easy with some mild ITB issues.

2) Started speedwork. Had a goal of 3:30, but really didn't know what I
was doing. I bobbed and weaved at the beginning alot, expending a lot of energy
and aggravating an ITB issue. 3:44). Hit the wall around 20-21, and gradually
slowed to the end. Training was more difficult, with shin splint issues. Long
runs run at 9:00 pace.

3) Better speedwork group. More miles, but some downtime due to shin splints
and a cold. Ran a better race, running with the 3:30 group, albeit fast (we
were on a 3:25 pace). I crashed at mile 23 and ran home with my final mile at
10 min/mile plus. (last 4 went 8:00, 8:35, 9:20, 10:30) - I finished in 3:31.
Long runs at 8:30 pace.

4) Pfitzinger 55 mpw. Tough plan to handle with life. I gave up formal
speedwork to make this plan work. I had a series of injuries all spring. I
turned my ankle in March. A month later I was having toe and plantar pain on
that side. That resolved by the time marathon training started. I then had
groin and quad pain on that same side, which eventually left and was replaced
by calf/shin pain on the other side, which I am still dealing with. I took off
several runs to get healthy and didn't have consistent weeks where I put in all
miles after about week 8 or 9. That is not a recipe for success. However, I ran
some long marathon pace runs that kept the sliver of hope alive. A few weekend
trips prevented me from doing some runs as well. My long runs were not run at a
consistent pace I would run at a comfortable pace, often at 8:30-9:00 pace.

What will I do different next year?

1)Ramp up to the 55 mpw program a little slower.

2)Work speedwork back into my plan and find a run to eliminate from Pfitz’ program

3)Run my long runs closer to 30-45 seconds slower than MP.

4)Run a few races to get my confidence and practice MP.

5) Do all the other bs I say I should do, but don’t- core strength, weights, etc.

(this I will do in the off season)

I’ll see everyone on October 22^nd. It will be
interesting and I will write a report about my experience. That will conclude
this blog until I start running again, which may be a while.