April 2nd: Tired Tempo

Back in the fall, I mentioned on a few occasions that sometimes I don't know what kind of run I'm in for until I get on the road. The rigors of marathon training have forced me to be more disciplined about this and generally keep to a schedule, but it happened today. The run I did wasn't the one I'd envisioned.

As I start to wind down the training, this will be my last week of hardcore workouts before tapering. And the plan today was to do my "kinda long" and get into double digits, as I have for the past two Wednesdays. But I woke up very tired this morning, and though I got out there, I wasn't real thrilled about it. So I wasn't surprised when my pace after 3 miles was in the 9:25 range.

One of the reasons for the slow early pace was that I got a bunch of good photos today. Great sunrise over a super-flat Keyport Harbor.

Look how dead calm the harbor was

The sun peeking through the clouds over the water

An earlier shot during mile 1

The old Cliffwood Beach boardwalk, visible during low tide

But come on -- even tired and cranky, I know I can do better than that. So I picked up the pace. Around mile 4, I ate a GU packet, and just as I came across a garbage can to throw it out, MMR gave me my split -- 8:34. Next mile was 8:41. Then 8:18. And then...7:50!

I realized around the time of that 8:41 mile 5 that I was doing a tempo run. Start at a comfortable pace, then go hard for a few miles, and dial it back to a more comfortable pace at the end. It's a marathon-specific workout designed to boost your VO2 max within the context of endurance training. And at least for me, it also gives some insight into how I'll feel coming toward the end of the marathon -- tired and not done yet.

Overall: 8.2 miles in 1:12:16 -- an 8:49 pace.

My foot gave me a little bit of a harder time today, but much less than on Saturday -- even beyond mile 6, which was where it started being a problem then. I think the real solution is rest, but I'm still at a crucial point in my training, so as long as it's not getting worse, I'm just going to live with it.

I've been BSing a lot about how I need to get to the gym to do some core work. It hasn't happened. And I'm feeling it. I am considering, during the taper, cutting back to 3 runs a week -- adding a few miles each to the 2 mid-week runs and keeping the Saturday runs on the Higdon schedule. And instead of the fourth run, I'd go to the gym. And I'll also get my cross day back. I sacrificed strength training to get my endurance to where I wanted it. OK, mission accomplished. Now I want to be sure that I'm strong enough for the race.

I was having a jokey E-mail exchange with my other friend Dave on Monday, and he said that my blog indicates that I'm not lacking in confidence. I'm not sure if that's how I've been coming off, but it's definitely not true. When I fell apart at 15 miles a few weeks ago, I was doubting whether I would have the endurance. Now I'm doubting whether I have the core strength to keep me in good form. It's hard to fit all the training you want and need to do into an already full life. I'm hoping that an effective three-week strength plan, along with a good taper, will have me both rested and strong on April 27th. Sure, I'm confident that I can hit the finish line. But can I do it in a time that I'll be proud of? Can I avoid falling apart at the end? Still two very open questions.

As I mentioned yesterday, it seems to make sense for this week to comprise 4 runs -- the Richter plan got the job done in two weeks, and I'm where I need to be on the endurance front. And there's no time at this point to rehab from an overuse injury. So tomorrow is the junk 5, and then a long (probably 22ish) and ABSOLUTELY A TRIP TO WOW over the weekend. And then the taper!

Total miles since starting the blog: 544.5