So as of today I’m two weeks past Columbus. I had some great thoughts about extending my season with a double, but that was only if I made the qualifying times… and I didn’t. So my fall season ended at Columbus. The Hansons ODP runners take two weeks off after major races. It is a principal that even makes the training plan in the Hanson Marathon Method book we normal people use. The point is that I had grand plans of taking a full two weeks off… and actually only took five of it. I resumed recovery runs last weekend with Salty.  Read more >>

Total mileage: 10

Monday through Friday: Zero. Give me a break!

Saturday: with Salty in the park, 6 miles really slow

Sunday: 4 miles slow recovery.

It’s been a blast. I’ll see you next season.

.jasmine.

You know what tomorrow is? That’s right!!! It’s THE COLUMBUS MARATHON.

I’m number 33 and tomorrow I’m lining up with the elite runners on the starting line to attempt a race somewhere between 2:50:00 and 2:52:00. It is going to be pretty cold. Who knows what is going to happen. There’s no crying in running. What’s so important about 2:52? That’s the qualifying time for CIM.

But that means this week was taper week. Carb up. Gear up. Put your racing shoes on.

Let’s break it down:

Monday: 7 miles easy with a 2 mile MP shakeout in the middle, in Beachwood park just like last year

Tuesday: in michigan 7 miles easy

Wednesday: we drop it some more. 5 miles easy

Thursday: 5 miles really easy with Salty, and two miles of shake out in the middle

Friday: 5 more miles pretty easy

Saturday: 3 miles really really really easy.

Up next, a race.

So if you were keeping track, this seasons peak mileage was a 93 mile week. A typical week was about 90 miles and last week was 77 miles. Workouts ended with a 10 mile MP run last wednesday, about 11 days out (which left me one backup day in case it didn’t go well).

This was the last big training week before my big fall race. Once again, I’m running Columbus, but this time I’m in the elite field for real! We’ve got more coming about my race plan and my goal of a low 2:50’s race (maybe even as fast as 2:50), but right now, let me show you my last training week:

Monday was my last track workout: 6x 1mi with 1 min rests. This is kinda-sorta out of the Hanson Marathon Method, but recoveries were replaced with rests and pacing was specifically Daniels VDOT paces for VDOT 57.

Tuesday I ran in the morning and then went to the last Hansons/Dani Miller speed work session in Michigan. I  just stood around and hung out because I had my last workout the next morning.

Wednesday: Last workout– 10 miles at marathon pace. It went as well as I could have hoped. What else is there to say? Haha.

Wednesday night: Last of the season’s monthly 5k’s at the Hanson Running Store in Utica Michigan. I treated this like a fun run. And…. picked up my Hansons Marathon Method book that I left at the store last month for autographs.

It’s all downhill from Here! 10 days left

Thursday and Friday were easy recovery days. I came home on Thursday evening for Case Western Reserve University Homecoming weekend.  (You might have never heard of CWRU, but it is where Ester Erb went to school too.) Just to prove I do something besides run: here is homecoming:

Yes, this is a very geeky school. That was the geekiest homecoming parade yet.

Sunday, 11 miles with Salty.

And that’s a wrap. Next week’s goals: Don’t spend my race early. Don’t get stale. Don’t get injured.

Ugh guys, it was forty degrees and raining on Saturday morning so I had to do my long run on a treadmill. I’ll do anything to avoid a repeat of that epic freezing rain workout last year with Salty! But This was my last long run before Columbus and I had to get it done right. That’s right: suck it up and listen to my treadmill squeak for two and a half hours. It was so awful that I had to drink wine and make cookies afterward.

Those are Trader Joe cut-and-bakes. Give me a break (haha, get it?). They are still very good real butter and egg cookies.

I also did my makeup one day this week. It is so rare these days. Jennifer said, “we all probably wouldn’t recognize each other in dresses w/our hair down and makeup onon – or in any non-running attire, for that matter!”

I know, it is hard to believe that any of us do anything but run and bitch about the weather.

And every once in a while, I have to prove that I still can remember that I know how to do my own makeup.

Back to the rest of the week.  Monday morning I was back on the track running cruise intervals. This week’s 4×1.5mi were kind of all over the place. I’d call 60 degrees and humid sorta warm, but they happened. I worked half a day on Monday. I had some personal things to do and I was more productive attending virtual meetings from home.  I  drove back to Michigan for work on Tuesday morning after running at 4:45am.

Guess what! That stupid deer carcass is still in the same place on I-275. It has been at least ten weeks. Come on Pure Michigan. Clean your shit up.

Back into the fun stuff. Doubles with Hanson Run Club with Dani Miller at Dodge Park tuesday night.

Thursday was MP workout day. Typically I do 10 miles at marathon pace, but I felt so good after ten miles this week, I added a surprise bonus loop.  If everything comes together, this is going to be a fabulous race.

Meanwhile back in Shaker Heights, Ohio there is 12 gallons of wine and 6 gallons of pear cider fermenting away.

I also tried one of these this week. I like it much more than the dense foam roller. Actually, anything would be better than the dense foam roller. I always feel like I’m about to rip my MCL when I use the foam roller. Something about this thing felt better.

That’s it. 92 miles this week.  We’re coming up on the tail end of training. 3 days of hard shit left then it is all down hill. Who am I going to see in Columbus?

Alright folks, we’re down to the last three weeks till Columbus. There are 11 days of hard stuff left and then it is all downhill. We are looking at temperatures starting to hit the high forties next week in the morning in the midwest. But before I go any further on telling you about my training for the next big thing I have to tell you that I met Andrea White at the starting line of the Akron Marathon on Saturday. I was standing there (apparently next to her mother) watching the elites warm up, and she recognized me from Strava. It is so cool when running social  media works!

The big thing to report on this week is that I did my 16 mile MP simulator run. Like I said last year in my marathon report, I thought this run should come about a week sooner (3.5 weeks out instead of 2.5 weeks out). I did this workout Thursday morning on my training loop in Michigan. It was kind of warm: high fifties and 98% humidity. I warmed up, set out my water bottle table, and took off around 6:30am before I could see my watch. First lap was about 6-8 seconds slow. I feel like I am working really hard and then at the end of the street, my watch says: lap 5:44. The rest of the run went quite well Pacing wasn’t as steady as I wanted,  and I think I was a few seconds slower than the last three weeks under cooler conditions. I still don’t have the loop measured so I can’t say exactly how this translates into a race plan. I think I was at 6:32 pace and this will translate into a race plan just under 2:52. Stay tuned for another update.

The amazing thing though, is that  run did not beat the shit out of me like the same run last year. I took three recovery days last year, and this year two days later I’m not sore at all.  They say this stuff gets easier the faster you get. Maybe that is true. I did throw up a whole bunch of water after this run.

p.s. you all need to learn to race in competition briefs. they don’t chafe.

Weekly Highlights

Monday Cruise intervals on the John Carroll Track. This week I had to dodge Lacrosse balls.  3x3200m with 1:30 rests. 12:17, 12:15, 12:16

Tuesday doubles at Dodge Park

Thursday warmup then 16 miles at MP and cool down

Saturday 16 miles easy in the process of watching the pre-start and finish of the Akron Marathon.

Sunday with Salty

Week total: 91 miles

The buck stops here. Saturday’s attempt at a long run sucked. It rained overnight and was hot and humid. I canned the run shortly after mile 13 when I passed back by my house. But just before that at mile 12.8, I found a dollar on the ground, and that made everything better…. Like just sitting there in the middle of an intersection.  It almost makes up for one eight-thousandth for the insanely high taxes in shaker heights.

Let’s review the math and see why this sport is going to make me rich. I’ve run 2354 miles this year so far and found exactly $1 in the process. Folks, that is 0.04¢ per mile!  At that rate, in another 188,000 miles, I’ll find enough money to pay for my next pair of running shoes.  This excludes the $15 I made somewhere somewhere in the process of showing up at Pittsburgh Marathon. Yep, there is money to be made in running!

There is a pre-game review of the columbus marathon coming. I promise.

Highlights of the week

Cruise intervals on Monday: 3x 3200m (two “track miles”) with 1:30 rests. They came out at 12:27, 12:20, 12:19.

Doubles on Tuesday at Dani Miller’s evening at Dodge Park.

Marathon Pace 10 mile run on Thursday. Third week in a row of crushing 2:50 marathon pace.

Sad attempt at a long run on Saturday that ended when the buck stopped near my house.

Sunday running with Salty in the woods at North Chagrin

Totals
Week 88 miles (there might be a bonus run later, but let’s pretend not)
Year: 2354 miles
Money found on the street this year while running: $1.00

Sorry I’m late folks. I’m going to keep this one short because it is mostly like groundhog day all over again with one exciting addition. I went to Erie, Pennsylvania to watch Jennifer Fox make her 3 hour marathon attempt. Her race just didn’t come together, which is a real bummer because she had a fantastic training season and was in the best shape of her life. You can read her race report and see that she is my hero because she has the right attitude.

In my running world, the insanely hot weather continued into the training week and stole my dream of a track workout for the week. But when the weather cooled overnight mid-week, I attempted another MP workout of 10 miles in 1:05. That 2:50 marathon pace, if everything comes together perfectly on race day. With a long run and watching of Erie Marathon, the week came out to 90 miles. More updates next week. Happy running everyone.

It is the thirtieth of August, right? Monday I had to share the John Carroll stadium with the (I assume freshman) women’s soccer team. Folks, if you ever go shopping for houses, make sure your list of amenities includes a turf track across the street. Though the funny thing is that I’ve tracked a lot of those fake dirt particles into my house from the football field.

In two weeks. I’m heading to Erie, Pennsylvania to watch Jennifer Fox race a sub-3-hour marathon. Who else am I going to see there?

This was a 93 mile week and included 3×2 mile cruise intervals, 10 mile MP at at a surprisingly fast pace, and a 20 mile long run on the Akron Marathon course. 7 weeks out from Columbus.

Monday. 2 mile warmup. 2x3200m (about two mile) at LT with 1:30 rests, 2 mile cooldown. 1st at 12:31 (6:18/mi), 2nd at 12:20 (6:12/mi), 3rd at 12:28 (6:16/mi).

Tuesday: Morning 12 mile followed by evening screwing around at the Hanson community speed workout.

…

Thursday. Amazing. 2 mile warmup then 10 miles at MP. The first lap came in at 5:45, which is about 5 seconds slower than I wanted. So I picked up the pace. Second lap was 5:28, and then I couldn’t get the pace settled down. Time was 1:05:06 for 10 miles (GPS claims 6:27/mi). It was about 55 degrees. Conditions were perfect. This was a confidence builder.

…

Saturday. 20 miles on the Akron Marathon course. 7:30/mi pace not including a few brief “where the heck do we go now” stops. I don’t want to jump to conclusions but this course is less challenging than the last course, though I don’t like it. It is really boring.

I’m now sitting watching the World’s Strongest Man on TV because that is all that is on broadcast. Do you think this sport drug tests?

91 miles this week, and in the moment I closed the training week this morning before going to sailing, I ran my 2000th mile of the year. Things are coming together. It was another week that came together. MP was slightly slow under humid conditions, but I made it through. Cruise intervals totaled 6 miles. The target is a 2:53 marathon (VDOT 56: M@6:37/mi, T@6:15/mi)

I’m more or less doing the same thing as I was doing in the second phase of training last year. Training weeks contain 3 quality runs: cruise intervals ideally totaling 6 miles, 10 mile MP, long run of or not much more than 16 miles. 16 miles might not sound like a normal marathon training long run, but I still manage to hit 90 miles in a week. Though this time I’m running the easy stuff much easier. In the Hanson system, long runs are supposed to be paced about halfway between MP and easy. Though this cycle I’m running them easy. Actually, they have been socal runs in the woods that I tag another 6-8 miles onto.

I am concerned that I’m again going to peak about 2-3 weeks early. things are going well, but it only counts if I can hold my shit together for another 8 weeks. I asked Dani want to do and she suggested to add more time between workouts. MP workouts are so important to me that I don’t know folks. I’m up for suggestions. I also think I’m going to end up moving my detroit lodging around soon. That is going to add stress. I don’t want to give up my hilly, wooded Bloomfield Township running territory, but it would be nice to be somewhere more stable much closer to my office and have a foam bed. The apartment I looked at is right next to a relatively nice turf track with a vegetarian roommate.

And that is enough blabber

Monday: 2 mile warmup, 4x2400m @ T with 1:30 rests, 2 mile cool down. Intervals were supposed to come in at 9:20/2400m, and I was pretty close to on pace.

Tuesday: 12 in the morning and 5 easy with the Hanson run club in the evening

skip to…

Thursday: 2 mile warmup, 10 miles at marathon pace under humid conditions, mile cool down. MP come in slightly slow, we’ll excuse that for the humidity and still call this pretty good.

skip to …

Saturday: 10 miles in the park with Steve’s gang. We ran CVNP Ledges, which I’ve never seen before. Incredible. Totally incredible! then I tagged on another 8 miles to make it a 18 mile long run

…

Week total: 91 miles. (plus about 660 in my car. Yeah that sucks.)

Year to date: 2000 miles.

Man that feels good: what an amazing number to put in an estimated finish time box. Anything can happen, but right now the training target I’m using for Columbus Marathon is 2:53. One day I’ll write more about where this number came from — there’s no magic formula here. It is just what currently feels like marathon pace when I try it out on 10 mile MP runs.

I did make one discovery that I think is kind of important. My workouts and long runs have to go as far away as possible from the last time I sat in my car for three hours. So Monday mornings (Three days after I drive from Detroit to Cleveland) and Thursday or Friday mornings (Three to four days after I drove from Cleveland to Detroit).

Onto this training week, which by the way is my first 90 mile training week ever!

Monday: Cruise intervals at John Carroll Track. these were 2 mile warmup, 3x2400m with 1:30 rests, couple mile cool down. I kind of went out without any real expectations for pacing and just took it at what felt like LT. First interval came in at 9:30, second and third at 9:20 (which is 6:15 pace – right on target for VDOT 56, a 2:53 marathon)

Tuesday was a tuesday. Easy morning run of about 12 miles and then 5 miles at the Hanson speed workout in the evening. I don’t do the workouts. It is just nice to hang out with everyone there.

skip to…

Thursday the amazing 10 mile MP run. I haven’t measured the training course I use so It is hard to know exactly how pacing comes in, but I’m doing these at about 6:37 pace. The goal is to nail 5:40 for each lap on the street I am using. I’m now doing 2 mile warm ups these days because It is taking about that long to feel warmed up.

skip to…

Saturday. I got up a bit late and head to the national park, I mean THE CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK. (It’s kind of a special place. It deserves to be capitalized). Where… I ran into Cheryl, JP, Steve and their gang and tagged along for Steve’s run through the woods and then make this my long run for the week so I didn’t have to do it Sunday.  Salty and her husband were there, but I missed them. The high school cross country kids where there. It was kind of the place to be on Saturday.

Year to date: 1908 miles (and about 17,500 in my car, year to date, and that doesn’t include what I drove in Europe.)

P.S. Garmin Forerunner 15 is on sale at Costco.

82 mile week, including a decent 5k (19:34) at the Hanson’s first Wednesday night race series.

Monday I went to the track, but I screwed it up and went home with only three miles. (followed by a three hour drive to Detroit)

Tuesday made up for Monday with a nice easy range progression run in the morning and five easy miles in Dodge Park with the regular tuesday hanson community practice gang. I really like those people. More on that in a future article about community building.

Skip to Wednesday evening for the next is the series of monthly 5k races:  I ran in a demo pair of the Brooks Launch (W sz 9). they felt good on a really slow warmup. They felt good at 6:20 pace and even 6:00 pace. I like them. The high school cross country kids took it out somewhat slow on the first mile I got 6:29 at mile marker 1. Weather was comfortable and it felt pretty good. They picked up the pace a little bit in the park. The front of the race was still a pack at this point. I got 6:14 for mile 2. Two guys in the front took off after mile two and we speed up. I followed but kept my pace to what I felt comfortable at doing for another seven minutes. Got 6:06 for mile 3 and picked it up for the final stretch into the finish.  I see the results went up at 19:24.3. I have no idea if the course is accurately measured. Guys, 19:24 isn’t anything special, but this race was pretty comfortable and I held my shit together without a meltdown. (And then we all remember….. This isn’t even women’s OTQ pace. Holy cow. )

Skip to Friday morning: 2 mile warmup, 9 miles at MP averaging 6:37-ish, 1 mile cooldown. I’m using a street with some small inclined sections for my training loop. I still have to measure it before I can line up MP runs with a real goal race, but I think I’m going to be targeting something between 2:52 and 2:54 in the fall. I’m having problem getting my race hydration back in check. There will be lots of practice ahead.

(then I went to work and then drove 3 hours back to Cleveland)

Skip to Sunday, 5:30am: 16 miles at home.

That wraps up another week. It will be time to go to bed at 9 so I can get up at 4am and do it all over again.

This week was another typical 72 mile week containing a meltdown on an MP workout, a cruise interval workout that was supposed to be speed work, and a mediocre 16 mile long run. Oh, and I went on a surprise trip to Grand Haven to see a customer.  Let’s check it out.

I went to the track before the crack of dawn on Monday to run what I was planning to be 4x1200m. First lap was way slow so I made it into 4x1600m @6:20/1600m, 1 minute rests. I guess that is better than nothing. It is kind of concerning that I can’t seem to get any good speed workouts in.

I went to Hanson’s speed workout to do my physical therapy instead of running doubles. I really like those people.

An attempted an MP workout fell short. Pace was  bit slow at around 6:45, but fell apart after mile 3 anyway.

I had to make an unplanned trip to Grand Haven to help a customer. I went out Wednesday afternoon and stayed the night. Man, that’s a nice place. The Coast Guard carnival was going on and everyone in the city was there. In the morning, I ran the bike path.

16 mile run was sunday morning at 5:30. I felt slightly sick and stopped to poo three times, and maybe think I needed to throw up at least once. It was kind of like last week’s long run that ended with me punking up what appeared to be lunch from the day before and breakfast from two days before. Wierd. I’ll probably live.

If you made it this far without being bored to death…. well this week I drove 968 miles. Sounds even more awful, right? Time to take an ambien, get up at 4:30am, and do it all over again.