3rd At-Bat to BQ

Great job! That's a quirky course, depending on the whether, with strange snow-related obstacles. I think I managed to go around that gate before, but this time there were probably too many snow barriers to do so.

Nice to race!

Thanks Michael. Yeah there was a pile of snow where you'd run around the gate.

Saturday - 8.5M with 10K race. As noted in above post the race went pretty well.

Sunday - 12M. Being that the 10K was my first race since the fall I wasn't sure how I'd feel today. I felt great. I did this as a progression down to about 7:30. Did some leg work after.

Monday am - 4M easy. Now my legs were trashed from the weekend.

Monday pm - 9.5M easy. This was a long 9.5 miles. I just wanted it to be over.

Tuesday - 5M easy to GA. I was just going by feel on this one. Did a couple of strides at the end.

Wednesday - 12M with 5M Tempo. The tempo went from 7:10 down to 6:50. After the tempo portion I still kept a high pace going. Very good run. More leg work after.

Thursday - 4M easy. Legs trashed again.

Friday - 8M GA. My usual 4am run. Felt awesome. Even my first mile was faster than normal as I try to wake up. Just cranked out the miles.

Tomorrow will be 18M. Starting to go longer now.

Nice job on the 10K and on the recovery week. Good luck with the 18 tomorrow. I'll be thinking of you and those short(er) miles while I'm running 20. I bet we have equally as "cold" weather.

Thanks Michele. You had worse conditions for your 20M than I did for my 18M.

Saturday - 18M. Thought I might have done this a bit too fast as I averaged 8:18 and was looking for around 8:30. But I never felt like I was pushing though. Who knows. Temps were in the low 30s but my face was partially numb by the end from the wind.

Sunday - 9.5M easy. After loosening up this felt real good.

Monday am - 4M easy. Didn't want to get up for this and didn't want to be out there while I was out there. If there's a such thing as a long 4 this was it.

Monday pm - 11M GA. Was happy I could do this outside as the sidewalks had very little ice left. Did the last two at MP.

Tuesday - 5.5M easy. My legs were a bit tired.

Wednesday - 13.5M with 3 x 2M. I managed to get outside even though it was the start of the storm. Needless to say the serious wind wrecked havoc on my pace. I just went by effort. The first two were at 7:00 and the last one was at 7:09 as the wind was just getting stronger and stronger. All three sets when it was a headwind it was like running into a wall. I was just glad I was outside.

Thursday - 4M. Easy. Nothing special here. Just getting recovery miles from the trashing Wednesday night.

Friday - 8M GA along with shoveling. We had about 8" of snow and still coming down with nothing plowed when I got up before 4. Had to do it on the treadmill. Wasn't thrilled about that. The shoveling of my driveway after was just a wonderful bonus.

Tomorrow will be my first 20M of the cycle. Can't wait. Though the streets will be crap still from the snow.

Okay, I had to go back to the beginning of your blog....not a single rest day, right? Even if the mileage is low in comparison to other days, you run every day? Wow!

Dot, sometimes like today I'm up before 4 to get out there. Others are at night when I'd want to be going to bed normally. I'm just trying to give myself the best chance.

Saturday - 20M. First 20 and day after the storm. Parts of some roads were still a bit crappy. Big swing in temps. Started with temps in high 20's and finished with it being near 40. Overall it was a great run.

Sunday - 10M easy. This time it was in the mid-20's to start and finished low 30s. Felt pretty good. I always have to watch myself on this run so I don't go too fast as this is a recovery run.

Monday am - 4M easy. A bit tough getting up earlier right after the clock change. Oh well. Legs were a bit shot.

Monday pm - 11M wtih 15 x 1min. Here's what's great about running. All day my legs and body were feeling tired. In fact I gave thought to just bailing on it. Figured I'd go by what my body was telling me so I might cut it short or skip the 1min repeats. So naturally I end up having one of the best runs of the cycle.

Tuesday - 5M easy. With all the snow melt and then today we were getting serious rain I came home to some water in my basement. Joy.

Wednesday - 12.5M with 10 x 800m. Just like last week's speed workout the wind was wrecking havoc. I managed to average 3:12 with them all ranging from 3:09 to 3:14. I found the key is to not look at the watch throughout. When I was looking at it I found myself running a much faster last 100 trying to get my time. That just defeats the purpose.

Thursday - 4M easy. My legs are always trashed for this run.

Friday - 8M GA. Mid-March and temps were in low 20s with the strong winds the Real Feel was in the teens. My face was partially numb after. A tad annoying.

Tomorrow will be a fast finish. I plan to do about 17 and finish the last 6 at MP.

Wow, you are just killing it. Love those 800s.

You're still like six weeks out from race day, right?

You keep this up, and you are going to crush it.

Michael Enright wrote:Wow, you are just killing it. Love those 800s.

You're still like six weeks out from race day, right?

You keep this up, and you are going to crush it.

Plan is to still head to Ohio the last weekend of April. Hopefully everything goes well. Thanks Michael.

Work kind of forced a step back week last week.

Saturday (3/16) - 16M with last 6 @ MP to HMP. First fast finish. Temps in the low 20's and so the spout on my water bottle froze again and when I needed water towards the end I couldn't get at it. Annoying.

Sunday - 9M Easy. With the leg work I did after the fast finish my legs were a bit tired on this one.

Monday am - 3.5M easy. I guess someday we'll get temps that are not below normal.

Monday pm - 11M. GA with last 2 at MP. Took a bit to get going on this one. Felt good once I got going.

Tuesday - 4.5M Easy. Just getting it done.

Wednesday - 12.5M with 6M tempo that averaged around 7:05. Did some leg work after.

Thursday - 3M easy. That's all I had time for. If I had known they'd call two last minute meetings around lunch I would have gone before work as I had no time after. Oh well.

Friday - 22M. Was going to be stuck working all weekend so I moved this to Friday. My legs had nothing for this. This made for a really long 22. Beautiful spring morning with temps at 17.

Saturday - 6.5M easy. Nothing like an early morning run on a weekend.

Sunday was no running and tonight will be about 11 with some 1min pickups.

Monday - 11M GA with 15 x 1min. Windy as heck out there. Felt decent out there.

Tuesday - 5M Easy. Felt yesterday's run a bit.

Wednesday - 13M with 5 x 1M around 6:40 with wind wrecking havoc on the pacing. Third time hitting the track, and third time major wind. It was really bad this time. The backstretch and 2nd & 3rd turn was just running into a wall. The frontstretch I was getting pushed. Did some leg work after per usual.

Thursday - 3.5M Easy. All I had time for plus my legs were trashed from Wednesday night.

Friday - 8M GA. Early morning. Kind of dissapointed with the run. Legs still weren't fully back from Wednesday night.

Tomorrow I'm doing a fast 12M with a bunch of MP miles. I'm four weeks out.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Monday - 11M GA with 15 x 1min. Windy as heck out there. Felt decent out there.

Tuesday - 5M Easy. Felt yesterday's run a bit.

Wednesday - 13M with 5 x 1M around 6:40 with wind wrecking havoc on the pacing. Third time hitting the track, and third time major wind. It was really bad this time. The backstretch and 2nd & 3rd turn was just running into a wall. The frontstretch I was getting pushed. Did some leg work after per usual.

Thursday - 3.5M Easy. All I had time for plus my legs were trashed from Wednesday night.

Friday - 8M GA. Early morning. Kind of dissapointed with the run. Legs still weren't fully back from Wednesday night.

Tomorrow I'm doing a fast 12M with a bunch of MP miles. I'm four weeks out.

Alex, your Toledo training continues to look really strong. When the track is windy, it really is a pain - you get a perfect headwind at some point every lap! I get that a lot too, at the track, since ours is on top of a hill that looks right down the CT River valley.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks Michael.

Saturday - 12M. First 6 was GA and the last 6 was MP. This would have been a spot for a Half but wasn't able to make it to one.

Sunday - 9.5. Easy. Felt good.

Monday am - 4M Easy. Shocked that it was early morning and it wasn't in the 20's. It was actually close to 40. Of course that changed the next morning.

Monday pm - 11M GA with last 2 at MP. Windy as heck. Legs weren't fully there. Usually they come back once I loosen up but not today. The last mile was a struggle hitting MP even though there's a decent hill there but it's usually not an issue.

Tuesday - 5M. Easy. Felt better as the run went on.

Wednesday - 12M. 10 x .5M around 3:15. There was a wind storm going on with sustained close to 30 and gusts near 50. I ended up doing this on the TM. Any other run I would have been outside but I wanted consistant pacing for the repeats. Leg work after.

Thursday - 4M. Easy. Legs always trashed for this run.

Friday - 8M. GA. Early morning per usual. Felt good though. Last Friday wasn't great but I felt much better out there today.

Tomorrow will be my last 20.

Alex - I checked with the runner here who had run Glass City - both of them ran an "older" course, but that guy that is running told me that he was told that traffic gets very bad so be at the start by 5 am (the race starts at 7 am). You can always sleep in the car, right? Not sure what time you need, but Angel is gunning for his BQ - 3:15. You'll recognize him as the one with the color coordinated outfit (only x-military, fireman from Puerto Rico that I know who is more in tune with how his outfit matches than even Kenny).

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Alex - I checked with the runner here who had run Glass City - both of them ran an "older" course, but that guy that is running told me that he was told that traffic gets very bad so be at the start by 5 am (the race starts at 7 am). You can always sleep in the car, right? Not sure what time you need, but Angel is gunning for his BQ - 3:15. You'll recognize him as the one with the color coordinated outfit (only x-military, fireman from Puerto Rico that I know who is more in tune with how his outfit matches than even Kenny).

Thanks for checking Michele. I definitely plan to get there real early. My goal will be BQ 3:25 so I'll be behind him but hopefully by not too much. Thanks again.

Not happy with the quality of this week's runs at all.

Saturday - 21M. Another wind storm. My face and hands went numb with wind chill in the teens. It's only around mid-April. Normally wind just makes it annoying, but today it really wore me out. I was done by the end. Legs weren't really there to begin with either.

Sunday - 9M Easy. Just went slow. Fortunately not as windy as Saturday.

Monday am - 3.5M. Early morning just to get some blood flow.

Monday pm - 10M with 13 x 1min pickups. Legs had no pop at all for the pickups. First time running in temps over 60. In the morning it was 30 degrees cooler.

Tuesday - 5M Easy. Just getting it done. Did some core work as well like always.

Wednesday - 10M with 6M at MP. A little better but the last 2 at MP felt more like steady state effort so wasn't thrill with that.

Thursday - Bagged the run. Did some resistance training and went for a little walk so I didn't rest but I just wanted to give my legs a little break.

Friday - 7M GA. Early morning. Again, not fully happy with this run. I never look at my watch on this type of run and so was disapointed after at seeing the pace.

So not a good week. Two weeks out now. Tomorrow will be 16 with about half at MP.

Sounds like you need to take it easy for the taper - you sound perilously close to overdoing it, and now is the time to ease up.

Michael, yeah I've eased back a little more for taper.

Well it was a better week. Legs felt a bit better after the weekend. Still have no clue how this is going to go.

Saturday - 16M with last 8 at MP. This went ok. Felt sluggish for some reason. Wanted to hit HMP the last two but it wasn't really there for that unless I went to the well and that would have been pointless at this stage.

Sunday - 6.5M easy. Felt decent after Saturday's MP work.

Monday - 7.5M GA with 1 x 30sec pickups. Finally started feeling better out there.

Tuesday - 4.5M easy. Again not too bad of a run.

Wednesday - 8.5M with 3 x 1M from 6:56 - 6:42. Did the last couple probably a bit faster than I wanted, but the weather was nice and I felt pretty good.

Thursday - No running, did some walking and resistance training.

Friday - 5.5M GA. First run where it was actually muggy. Haven't dealt with humidity in a while that's for sure.

Tomorrow I plan to do about 11 or so with 6 at MP. Incredibly it's supposed to be in the mid-20s Sunday and Monday morning. Unbelievable. Well I'm one week out.

Another Cleveland friend, Bill Roddy, is running too, and I think you guys are both going for the same time. I'll find out for you. Take it easy this week, trust your training and rest.

Alex - here's hoping you have a great final week of taper, an easy trip to Toledo, and a great race! Taper Madness should have set in firmly by now - try to get some sleep this week!

Bill needs 3:25 as well and is going for 3:20. Good luck!!!!

Thanks Michael. No maddness for me probably because I'm too tired from lack of sleep. Hopefully I can get a couple of good nights prior.



Michele, yeah that's kind of the plan for me as well. A month ago I thought I may have a decent shot at 3:20 but none of my runs since makes me think it's there now. As long as I can get a 3:25 BQ I'll be happy even if it's not good enough to get me in.

Michael Enright wrote:Alex - here's hoping you have a great final week of taper, an easy trip to Toledo, and a great race! Taper Madness should have set in firmly by now - try to get some sleep this week!

+1

Forecast looks decent, though I suppose it could start to trend into the "too warm" territory. Seems unlikely given the general weather pattern this spring, however.

Taper on!

Dang...you're coming into my territory (Toledo) and I'm in FL! I'd certainly be there to cheer you on! I haven't run the current course...only the old Toledo Marathon course. I understand it's a better course. Good luck and I'll keep my fingers crossed the weather gods are on your side.

Thanks John, Michael, and Paula Sue.



Flying out tomorrow. Sunday temps look to be ok, hopefully wind won't be a factor. I'll show up, drop the hammer, and see what happens.