This is the year...continued...

Quit teasing - at least give us your finishing time!!!

John Kilpatrick wrote:Quit teasing - at least give us your finishing time!!!

9/17 -

Off day...

Yesterday was a travel day to Appleton, WI to get ready to run the Fox Cities Half Marathon. Appleton is a little over 2 hours, by car, from my house in Madison...

9/18 -

Fox Cities Half Marathon

OK John...Here's how today's race went. I got up to Appleton around 4:00pm on Saturday and went to get my race packet at around 5:00pm. I met up with our own Dave-O, who just made it up to Appleton in time to register before it closed. We chatted for a little bit and I gave his some pointer and discriptions of the race course. After that, I went back to my friends house and had my normal night before race dinner of chicken and pasta. I chatted with my friend and his wife for a little and then called it a night.

I got up at 4:45am this morning and went through my normal race day morning routine. Gu Brew, Cliff Bar, and shower to wake me up. Then it was off to the starting area. The race started at 7:00am (which I love about this race) and we were there around 6:00am. I hit up the porta-john before they got busy and met up with Dave at the gear check and we talked a little strategy before go time. I checked my gear and did my warm up routine, then headed to the start line. I lined up about three rows back from the front (and Dave).

Bang the gun went off and the race was on. I got a great clean start about a second off of the gun time. I felt pretty good the first mile and my HR felt pretty decent. Which is odd for me as it normally takes about two miles for my HR to settle down. First mile was at 6:44 and I continued on very effortlessly, sorta getting comfortable with the pace and runners. I was trying to figure out if there was anyone that I could run with, but didn't really see anyone at first. I continued on picking off people until around mile 3.5 when I came upon a guy. As I passed him, he sorta picked up his pace and followed my left shoulder. I thought to myself, alright, someone wants to go. We chatted for a little bit and he stated that he would try to stay with me as long as he could. I was definitely settled into a good running pace by now and just seemed to knock the miles out.

The first half of the race I averaged around a 6:40 pace. By mile 10 I was still continuing on pace. But that's when I had a little gut check. My pace slowed a little bit and my mile 11 was the slowest of the race at 6:53. After mile 11 though, my pace picked back up and I finished the last two miles strong at 6:44 and 6:38. I turned the corner for the last .25 miles and could sse the finish line ahead. That's always my sign to start the kick and kick I did. I finished it up strong with a 5:44 pace over the last .25 miles, passing three more runners in the process.

I click the garmin as I crossed the finish and it read 1:28:29, a new PR. Below are my garmin splits. My official time was 1:28:28, which was good enough for 44th overall out of the 2,888 runners and 15th (out of 170) in my age group. I talked with Dave after the race and he ended up finishing 5th overall, so a good performance form him.

I continue my progression in the HM. Last year I PR'd at this race with a 1:31:02 and I stayed true to my ~3:00 improvement each year. Although, I am not sure if I can hit 1:25 next year I met my goal for this race, which was to be in the 1:28s. I solidly met that goal and should be set up well for my race in three weeks. Tomorrow starts the first week of taper. Definitely on the downhill now...

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace	Avg HR
1	6:45	1	6:45	141
2	6:41	1	6:41	150
3	6:28	1	6:28	154
4	6:40	1	6:40	155
5	6:49	1	6:49	156
6	6:41	1	6:41	156
7	6:36	1	6:36	155
8	6:46	1	6:46	155
9	6:45	1	6:45	155
10	6:47	1	6:47	155
11	6:53	1	6:53	155
12	6:44	1	6:44	157
13	6:38	1	6:38	157
14	1:18	0.23	5:44	162
Summary	1:28:30	13.23	6:41	154

(look at those consitent HR numbers...Kenny should love thoughs)

9/19 -

Start of taper...

I decided to take today off from running and let my general race soreness subside. I still got my weight training workout in, which now that taper is here, is moving from two nights a week to only one. Back to the grind tomorrow

Great job, Nick! Glad everything worked out so well.

Steamtown is looking to be great, I hope the weather is just as nice on marathon day for you as it was Sunday!

p.s. your state is really nice, at least all I experienced I really did like, some really nice runners on the course, too. Glad to see the hometown man won the race, too (from Neenah). My husband wants to move just to have good cheese.

Thanks Julie...I am glad that you had a good time, even though you had some bad neighbors and your knee made it difficult. Wisconsin probably isn't as bad as I make it out to be, but I just can't handle the 7 months of winter.

Nick, SOLID performance! Steady improvement is very wise, way to go! You should definitely be on track for 1:25's with your youth still intact. That 1:28ish is exactly where I was hoping to be in May's race if I hadn't been plagued with the injury.

9/20 -

5 miles

Back on the horse tthis evening for 5 easy miles to start out the taper. This were free and easy and not too much residual soreness left from the HM. I finished 5.22 miles at a 7:41 pace.

Happy tapering! Yeah the long winters get to me, too. September is about the best month to visit most states in the midwest.

I love the stats on your race. I mean pretty dam consistent splits and HR. Can you ask for anything better! Nice to see you are bouncing back well!

Kenny B. wrote:I love the stats on your race. I mean pretty dam consistent splits and HR. Can you ask for anything better! Nice to see you are bouncing back well!

Thanks Kenny!! I knew you would be impressed.

9/21 -

8 miles

Mid week 8 miler this evening. I completed 8.58 miles at a 7:26 pace. It looks like my legs snapped back pretty quick from the HM on Sunday. The 8.5 today went really easy. Things were nice and free. My breathing was normal and it felt like I could have continued on at this pace for quite sometime. I can definitely tell that I have put in some good work this summer and it is pumping me up for October

Good to see you're recovered from the HM. I hope things continue to go great and strong and injury free for steamtown!

9/22 -

Hills

Hill work tonight and I chose to run the "hill from hell" this evening. After a 1.25 mile worm uop run there, I completed 9x hill repeats (5 down and 4 up). My legs felt like they were going to burn up about halfway up the hill each time going up. Going down was just as difficult, but for different reasons. Going down I had to worry about landing wrong on the uneven ground and trying to keep myself from falling flat on my face (that is how steep this friggin' hill is). After the 9x repeats was complete, I ran the 1.25 miles back as a cooldown.

Nick, what's your taper plan, like the percent of miles for the three weeks?

JohnP wrote:Nick, what's your taper plan, like the percent of miles for the three weeks?

Percentage from peak or average??

My peak was supposed to be 70, so taper would be:
Week 1 - 53%
Week 2 - 41%
Week 3 - 15%

My average weekly mileage was 55, so taper would be
Week 1 - 70%
Week 2 - 53%
Week 3 - 19%

My plan is to run the same intensity for weeks 1 and 2, with just a reduction in mileage. Then week 3 I'll try to dial back a little on the intensity, as well.

9/23 -

Scheduled off day

Scheduled off day today...resting up before my ladt 12 miler of the cycle this weekend. Just over 2 weeks away!!

Enjoy the 12 miler and the little bit of extra time that comes with running a little less for taper. I hope you keep your head better than some of us with the whole taper madness junk.

The 12 tomorrow is going to feel so nice and easy.

I have to say, those percentages seem pretty low. But they will really let you recover as you have a lot of miles in, plus the hard half marathon.

JohnP wrote:I have to say, those percentages seem pretty low. But they will really let you recover as you have a lot of miles in, plus the hard half marathon.

That's the plan...

Jim Lentz wrote:The 12 tomorrow is going to feel so nice and easy.

It did

9/24 -

12 miles

12 miles this morning and at this point, with 2 weeks left until race day, there is no such thing as a LSD run anymore. I ran this morning's 12-er all on feel. I met up with a friend 2.25 miles into the run and we ran together for the middle 8 miles. Everything was free and easy and before I knew it, the run was almost over. I completed 12.28 miles at a 7:26 pace with an average HR of 140. T-minus 2 week, 1 day and I am actually going to have to run the race

Looking good, Nick.