jokach's marathon training blog

Its finally time to taper again as the Flying Pig marathon is just 2 weeks away .. but I plan to be much smarter than I was when I tapered for The Ocean Drive marathon just a month back. I'm actually going to take it a little easier as I don't think I cut back the miles enough ... when I think about it, I only do a 2 week taper to begin with, but then by not cutting it back enough, I think my legs tend to be too tired still by race day.

I also plan to continue to eat better as I really feel much stronger and in better shape now then I was a few weeks back. Its funny how when you actually start to log what you're eating everyday, how easy it is to figure out where I was going wrong before and how I ended up being heavier than I should be. I finally scrapped the whole theory that I could eat what I want because i'm a marathon runner, thats so not true. If I keep eating GOOD food, it fuels me up, makes me train better and helps me to recover. I realized that by looking at what I was eating all winter, I was taking in a very small amount of protein and almost 90% carbs .. and I wonder why i'm a little soft in the mid section. Hopefully i've now balanced my calories properly and i've added some light crosstraining, and its really made the difference. The indigestion and stomach issues I was having also gone away as well, which really came back to haunt me around mile 20 back at the Ocean Drive (and I don't want that happening again)..

So the Flying Pig is my first race that i'm actually taking a plane to get to .. I planned to not take any actual luggage and just use a carry-on bag for my stuff, but thats not going to work .. I have too much stuff and too much "stuff I can't take in a carry-on bag". I figure its easier to just wait for my bag in Cincinnati (or is it Kentucky?) instead of dealing with the screeners at the airport.. I expect to get to Cincinnati pretty early on Saturday, so i'm kind of excited to check out the city since the expo doesn't start until noon I think and I can't get in a hotel until around 3pm, looks like i'll have a lot of time to hang out.

As a quick summary of the past weekend, I got in my 22.1 miles yesterday at the best pace i've had all season, and I finished strong despite the cool breeze. I had not run a 22 miler at this pace since the summer of 2008 (before the marathon I ran a PR in)... then I knocked out a 12 mile hill run this morning once again in the cool breeze at yet another strong pace. Even though it wasn't my killer hill workout I've done in previous weeks, by the time I was done, it was enough to make me say "its time to taper" .. my legs are really tired now.

I guess its time to start checking the 10 day forecast for Cincinnati on May 2nd even though i'm 13 days out .. i'm not even sure what the average morning temperature in Cincinnati or even the daytime temperature, but i'm sure its warmer then where I am (I think).. Its an early start marathon, so i'm not worried so much about the daytime temperature as much as the morning temperature .. but regardless, its time to start planning logistics (and what i'm going to wear)..

Good luck to those doing the Boston Marathon tomorrow, hope the weather holds out...

I remember now the reason why I never ran short races during marathon training .. I forgot that my legs just can't take the fast speeds of smaller races when i'm training for an endurance run like a marathon. I really burned my legs out by pushing my pace on Sunday (even at 3/4 speed) and so far have felt the effects of it all week long in my training. I'm dealing with a real sore right hamstring and groin since Sunday, which has caused me to change around my training schedule to skip my Thursday speed workout in exchange for a recovery run. As for right now, i'm trying to heal it up for my 22 miler tomorrow and am hopeful my run will be OK as I prepare for the taper before the Flying Pig marathon.

The thing that gets me is how the weekends always seem to have worse weather than during the week .. yet another cool and rainy weekend is coming up, which will challenge my senses yet again. Last Saturday was cold with that wind, this Saturday is expected to be overall cool and rainy (hopefully with just light winds) .. Sunday is expected to be even cooler, then of course it clears up for during the week once again, i'm just not sure why that always happens.

I did take some time to map out and to start to study the marathon course for May 2nd, seems like the course is split between the center of city and the outskirts .. we cross over a few bridges and then we go through some parks, it seems nice. It looks as if the worst hills are towards the beginning, in the first 4-5 miles, which as long as I run them properly, should not be an issue. I like getting the daily emails from the marathon folks with tips about certain aspects of the race ... it kind of hypes it up for me (not to mention that they are helpful).

So i'm craving my taper right now as my body is sore as can be .. just a few days left until I start to seriously cut back the miles ...

I finished up a 4-mile race today in Emmaus that I normally wouldn't attempt in between spring marathons .. and overall, it wasn't too bad. In checking the results of the race, I came in 72 out of 328 with a 29:39 finish time .. I decided earlier this morning that I needed to cut back my intended pace a bit today so that I don't injure myself, so I consider that I put in like a 3/4 effort today. I was real sore when I woke up this morning from the 22+ miles yesterday, and after taking a quick jog around my development when I first got up to get stretched out, I decided that it was too risky to put in a full 100% effort.

Compared to last years effort, I finished exactly 2 minutes slower .. and last year I PR'd, for this distance and placed in my AG, but I also wasn't training for anything and just ad-hoc running after I moved..

Overall, I think I got about an equal workout from the 4 mile speed workout today in comparison if I did my normal 12 miles of hills that I usually do on Sunday ..

I wrap up the first week back to training tomorrow morning with the Emmaus 4-miler race .. I had actually forgotten about it until I tweeted this morning after my long run and was reminded. Hmmm .. 22 miles the day before a race? Well, I only plan to use the race tomorrow as an extra speed workout, I don't think i'm going to do particularly well (or push it too hard with 3 weeks until The Flying Pig)... I did place 3rd in my age group last year in this race, but I don't expect a repeat performance this year.

I've been terribly busy at work and with other things the last 2 weeks or so, and looking back at last 3 weekends .. I raced 2 weekends ago and was out of town, spent last weekend in Connecticut and now i've got company coming in this entire weekend .. next weekend is definitely a rest weekend for me.

Despite the hectic schedule though, I still managed to NOT get into the ING New York City marathon again this year, and overall I was not surprised. This means I have to find another November marathon to run, although I think i've settled on the Outer Banks marathon in North Carolina. I chose that one because I'm looking to expand the number of states i've raced in, and I'm as far as Virginia at this point and its probably a smart idea to head south that late in the year (because it gets cold up here). OBX is on November 14th, actually a week later than NYC and week before Philly was last year.. It was tough training up until Thanksgiving last year with the weather and all, so I'm thinking this will work out just fine for me... The reviews look pretty good for it, so any other opinions that anyone has on it are certainly appreciate. With having that settled, the one i'm debating now is the September marathon (Lehigh Valley Health Network marathon), i'm not sure I want to run it again this year, i've done it 2 times already but maybe I can find a better September marathon (or just use it as a tune-up race) ... anyone know of an east coast September marathon that you could suggest? I can't find anything good on Marathon Guide where I find most of my races, any suggestions are welcome.

So today I did the first 22+ miler since the marathon 2 weeks ago, and it really was a good run. I have to attribute the excellent performance on todays run to the better, clean eating that i've been doing .. and to the extra core workouts (and 100 pushups program) which has kicked my training up a notch. It was quite cool today in comparison to the last week and a half or so .. actually it was the wind that was bad. I was joking with myself this past week about how last year at this time, it was still cold and windy (and I guess I jinxed myself).. oh well, it was nothing like it was in January and February, so I was able to handle it. I also think the fact that i've done the marathon distance recently makes the 22 miler feel a little different .. it doesn't seem quite that far (its weird how that works).

In addition to the great running performance I had today, I even ran negative splits on my speed workout on Thursday morning as well, so thats another sign that the changes in my habits is helping me perform better .. maybe its that i'm getting pumped for the race. The only downfall is that I was so terribly sore yesterday after my morning workout, I mean everything was sore .. but thankfully its gotten better since then.

On another note, I think i've finally got my minor stomach issue under control a little better, i've been taking Prilosec to combat the indigestion and heartburn that started a few weeks back (and didn't help me for the Ocean Drive marathon). It started to flare up again this week a little bit but has now settled itself ..

Well, my company has arrived, another update tomorrow hopefully ...

I hadn't even commented yesterday about the live drawing for the New York City marathon. I didn't get in last year, hopefully we'll get in this year, but we'll have to wait and see.

I've read race reports and maybe its just the hype that makes it exciting to try and get in .. I couldn't imagine having a decent finish time with all the people running it .

I'm actually not getting my hopes up because I did last year and got let down ... stay tuned.