Its been over a week since my last update, but there hasn't been a lot to write about. Tapering just seems to take forever ... but I understand its value. I found that over the last week, my intensity was a little too high, even on my recovery runs. My pace was not a recovery pace, but more like my marathon pace, which tells me that my body is ready to go for the race on Sunday.

The weather is supposed to be pretty nice for the weekend in Rochester, NY. It is a little cooler up north, which is part of the reason I chose this race as the first this fall. Morning temperatures are currently being forecast at around 60*, with an afternoon high of around 74*, which to me isn't too bad. Those are actually the average temperatures for mid-October racing here in southeast Pennsylvania, so it should be nice.

I think the biggest challenge during this last week of tapering is to not eat too much. I am so used to eating and eating and eating because of the heavy miles and hard workouts I was putting in, so to cut back will be a challenge. The other challenge is to stick to the training, i've been successful with the training over the entire summer by following it exactly, so I have to hold on for a few more days... I think the psychological part now is that i'm questioning doing the full 26.2 when its been so long since i've run a longer distance (well, its ok, its been 9 days, maybe not that long).

I've worked to setup my post-first-marathon training, which features a short recovery, a tough week and then a short taper before the ING Hartford Marathon in October. I don't know if I wrote about it or not, but I was asked to be a pace team lead for 4:05 finishers, so I accepted. I get to have a write-up done on me in their program, and get to hang out meeting runners at the pace team booth at the expo the day before, it'll be excited. So if you're NOT running ING Hartford marathon this year, you should because you can meet me ... (or maybe thats a reason to stay away from it)..

That leads me to the Outer Banks marathon in November, which will be the last marathon I run for a bit. The plan is pretty much set for next year and I intend to hang up the marathon shoes for the spring and the fall of 2011 and instead pull out the swimsuit, my bike and a shorter distance running shoes, yep, I'm talking the triathlon. It is time for a change I think, and after we do our first triathlon in late May, we'll see if it sticks. I know when I planned my first marathon in 2006, I scheduled one, then knew when I was done that I wanted more ... hopefully the same feeling will come with the triathlon..

This transition of sorts also had me make some decisions about this current blog .. and since its really a history of my marathon running, I intend to keep it up and going, but start writing about the transition from being a marathoner to being a triathlete at my new site www.jokach.com. There are a couple reasons for the future change ... first is that the b2evolution blog software is just substandard to Wordpress, second, this blog has always been about running, and as I evolve from being just a runner, it seems appropriate to track it elsewhere. I guess we'll see how it goes ... it doesn't mean i'll never post here, but probably not as often.

It was funny how I wrote last night that I was going to take it easy in the "Run Wild at the Zoo" 5k race that I was in this morning, and as a result, I earned a new PR instead.

I finished the race in 26th place, with a time of 20:44, breaking my old 5K PR of 20:53 which was set several years ago. Overall I never did a lot of 5K's in my running career and outside of the Alburtis 5K two weeks ago, I hadn't run one in a real long time. The course was somewhat challenging as we winded through trails, a creek, grass and paved roads to make our way back into the Zoo. This was enough to get my spirits up about the Rochester marathon in just two weeks, which was really the intention of running this.

Well, as the title suggests, not a bad day for a race .. although it was a little cool at around 50 degrees at 8am this morning (and yes, I saw people in long sleeves, long pants and multiple layers, it was hilarious)..

The only thing I can say is that i'm sticking to endurance races from here on out, and saying enough of these small 5K races ... I guess you can say I just don't fit in anymore with the shorter race crowd for several reasons I won't go into...

Anyway, I got home from the race and got 9.5 miles in on the bike, I considered it a good ride except the fact I almost wiped out, but overall, not a bad day.

I was surprised at the temperature this morning when I was driving over to the Lehigh Canal Park in Allentown for my 21 miler. I actually had the heat on for a moment as the temperature read 50 degrees ... wow, and its August! I decided to make my last long run before the Rochester marathon a trail run, with some road running mixed in to better simulate what the marathon will be like.

The run was great, I kept my goal pace the entire time and finished strong and would have been able to keep going if I needed to.. I like this course because there is a water fountain halfway up in Sand Island park, so I hit on the way up and hit it on the way down, how can you beat that? It kind of supplements my fuel belt water because what I carry is never enough ... plus there were a lot of nice people out today as well, that always keeps my spirits up.

Now its on to the taper or mesocycle 4 of my training.. but a different approach to tapering than i've done before. I think part of the reason why i've struggled in my other marathons so far this year is that I don't actually taper until the last week ... and generally by that time of the training, i'm overtrained, tired and sore, which is not how it should be one week before the race. This time its not that way at all because I stuck to the training and don't consider myself overtrained like in other years... so my next two weeks are a series of 8 or 9 milers mixed between 5 mile recovery runs and some minor speed work. And then one 13 miler left next weekend before I really cut the miles back... I expect to add some bike time in there also if I can, but not too much..

So tomorrow is my second and last tune up 5K race at the Lehigh Valley Zoo ... I'm not going out with the intention to really kick it, because I don't want to injure myself, but the goal is to get the "mojo" back for running, it seems to be slipping for some reason (and now is not the time, I still have more marathons to go).

I've come to the decision that next year will be a triathlon year and not a marathon year, which means I have a lot of planning, shopping and training to do. The OBX marathon is in mid-November and after a short break for Thanksgiving, off to the gym to weight train, to learn to swim better and to do some spinning.. I can still get outside to run the shorter distances and ride the bike in the gym if I have to, I just have to find one i'm comfortable with, thats the challenge. I'm looking for any suggestions on training or eating better for a triathlon, or maybe a good book or something to guide me. Then the question becomes, which one do I do, and what distance do I go for. I look at the sprint triathlon distances, and I can do the bike and the run distance pretty easily, so I might have to set my goal a little higher (which sounds in line with the way I am).

So in making this decision for the coming year, it somehow feels like i'm back in my senior year of high school or college, when you know the end is coming to something that you're comfortable with (the marathon) and you're unsure what the future has to hold (the triathlon).. i'll be okay i'm sure, i'm not afraid but actually excited about the new challenge...

My miles have been cut back this week as I head into my taper and I find that I have so much time on my hands suddenly ... is this what it feels like to be a non-runner??? What would I do without running? I think i'd find myself being bored.

Well, I guess i'm working on deciding what the next challenge will be for me in my athletic career .. I have 3 marathons scheduled for this fall and after that, I'm thinking that it might be time to move on to something a little different. I love running, and won't give that up for anything, but the challenge of running a marathon is far behind me now after 19 marathons over 4 years, so now i'm thinking my next challenge will be one of two things... #1 an ultramarathon or maybe #2, the triathlon ..

I'm not sure about doing an ultra though, it seems that its a major time commitment for training, even more than I have to give now just running a regular marathon. I'm not sure I have the extra time in my schedule, but in comparison, the triathlon training schedule might fit nicely into the same timeslots that I spend marathon training now, plus I get to mix up what i'm doing a little bit. As I look past the OBX marathon in November, I am just not looking forward to running 20 milers in the snow and cold again this winter, it really did suck last year and the result of the first marathon in the spring weren't the greatest, so was it worth it? I guess I don't know for sure, but i'm not sure how I can do any better.

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I bought a road bike back in June, and I love riding it .. although I still have a lot to learn about it. I've spent time this past summer swimming at the pool and I actually learned how to "really" swim, I just need a lot of practice, thats all. The way I figure it, I have the winter to work in the gym with swimming, cycling (and maybe spin class) and then running outside (smaller distances)... maybe do some smaller half-marathons or something, who knows.

Well, lots of things have gone through my head lately.. I was reading through my twitter feed and read that one of my favorite bloggers Healthy Living with Kelly is hanging up her keyboard and stepping away from blogging.. in one way i'm sad because I enjoy her posts and energy, but in another way I can really understand it. I've even thought myself that keeping a blog, and surfing other running blogs and other running websites all the time can be so time consuming, I sometimes miss out on things I could or should be doing while I spend time online. Sometimes it feels like an obligation to write a post on my blog or comment on someone else's blog or website about something when I used to do it because I really loved it .. maybe i'm jealous that she made a decision to wrap it all up and step away .. who knows. I know somethings up with me because I can even tell by my posts that they have been shorter, less frequent and they seem like more rambling about nothing more than anything else..

Ok, I got that off my chest... good luck to Kelly, i'll miss you. I have some decisions to make for the next year as to what the next challenge will be.. so stay tuned.

I just realized that i'm in the last week of race preparation (mesocycle 3) before I head into a two week taper next week. I guess its just hard to believe that the summer and the second leg of training is almost done and race season is almost here already. The "Run Wild in the Zoo" 5k is this coming Sunday, which will be my last tune-up race before the Rochester marathon on September 12th.. I wish I could find a longer race, but i'll take what I can get. While i'm mentioning short races, I am also going to run a 1-mile race on September 23rd called the Hamilton Street mile .. yes, a 1 mile race. I never thought about how fast I could run a single mile if I was racing, but I guess i'll find out, but hopefully I won't hurt myself..

Overall it was a decent week of running, even though I wasn't home for some of it. I had to switch around my long run to be on Friday instead of on Saturday like normal because of being in Connecticut. I figured it would be rude to disappear for 3+ hours while visiting family ... plus I had things planned to do while I was away, so it was just better to get it in early. I had forgot how much cooler it is in the Connecticut area as I headed out on Saturday for a 9 miler .. the temperature was close to 50 degrees and I was actually COLD .. well, in contrast to summer temperatures I was cold. It didn't take long though until I warmed up and fell into my pace and ended out with a good run.

The results of the Alburtis 5K were finally posted last week, and they are wrong and i'm not surprised. They have me listed as running a 26:59 .. wrong, just wrong. I had a feeling they would screw things up, I won't go on about the issues with the people timing that race, I don't plan to run that one again. Its terribly disappointing when you run a good time, they have your result posted on the board correctly, but when the official results come out, they're wrong. Thats very poor in my opinion (and a real downer)..

Its going to be strange this week only having tomorrow mornings 11 miler as my longest mid-week run, i'm used of doing 14 or 15 miles before going to work, it'll be nice to take a break finally. My last 21 miler is this weekend, and the weather looks perfect for it, so i'm actually somewhat excited about it. I plan to pull out the bike a little more as the running miles are winding down .. I need to get better at cycling as we start to prepare for next year... I plan to cut down on the marathons and focus on doing a triathlon or at least a duathlon, but it'll take some work to get there but I know I can do it.

I wish I had more time to write, but things are busy, maybe another update later in the week ..

It was funny that the other day I was complaining about the earphones I run with for two different reasons ... the first reason is that they are so uncomfortable after running the first 3-5 miles and getting all sweated up. They never seem to stay in my ears properly and I am constantly adjusting them because they slip all over the place (and believe it or not I have the clip-on type that latch behind your ear). The second reason I was complaining was beause I constantly have to buy the little adapter for my clip-on type earphones that allows me use it with a 3G Ipod shuffle (you know, the control mechanism). I burnt through another one of them out the other day after I found that I was no longer able to control the volume or advance the playlist. These little adapters just don't hold up for whatever reason with custom headphones (and they run like $19 a shot).

Thankfully, on the same day I was complaining and about ready to trash my mp3 player and earphones, I was contacted by the good people at yurbuds.com about a product they have called "Earbud Enhancers", and was offered to try them out to see what I think.

After receiving my yurbuds, I found that they are unique in that it fits over existing Ipod earbuds, so there is no need to have to use custom clips along with an adapter or anything in order to have earbuds that say in your ear. I was not convinced at first because i've never had success with any ear buds while running because they just don't ever stay in place, which is why I usually have to get the clip-on ones. I thought, there is no way these will stay in my ears with yurbuds, and I was SO WRONG!

Once I got them setup and ready to go, I was able to run 21 miles on Sunday morning using the yurbuds Earbud Enhancers and it didn't even feel like I had earphones on. In addition to them not ever slipping out of my ears for over 3 hours of vigorous running (even with the sweat, the turning of my head, etc), the sound that they provide is unbelievable. Since the earbud enhancer is directing the sounds direcly into your ear canal, its crisp, clean and you can actually feel the music. I did have an issue where I had the volume too high at one point, but that was my issue and in no way related to the product. I have a tendency to like to listen to music loud, just not this loud when its directed right in your ear ...

I would highly recommend the yurbuds Earbud Enhancers if you struggle with finding comfortable earphones that stay in place when you're running. Getting the right size for your ear doesn't appear to be an issue, just a quick picture of an earbud in your ears sent to them with your order and they size you right up. I'm not sure how they do it, but mine fit perfectly..

For a limited time, you can get a special discount on your first set of yurbuds if you just send me your email address using the "Contact" link at the top of my blog, you won't be disappointed.

The only thing I can say is that I LOVE running with music again thanks to yurbuds, I never thought I'd find the answer, but I have..

I never took the time to understand why most training plans have shorter races as part of the regular training, but I think I get it now.. As I wrote earlier in the week, I decided to mix it up a bit by running a 5K yesterday and switching my long run to today, and i'm happy I did. Its been such a long time since I actually ran just a 5K, we're talking almost 4 years? Most of my shorter races in that time have been either 3,4 or 5 milers, so this was a welcome change.

I found myself up early, even though I didn't get home until late on Friday night from Virginia, and I was actually pumped up for the race. Well, I think I was pumped up to run and the race was just a convenient way to get the adrenalin out .. I ran an easy 6 miler on Thursday and didn't do ANY training on Friday (no running and no cycling)... so based on the intensity I've been training at, I really needed to run. I headed out at 7:30 and made my way over to the little town of Rochester marathon being about 10-12 miles of trails. This was something I wasn't planning for with it being a marathon in a decent sized city. This prompted me to get some long run time on trails, which took me to the Lehigh Canal Park trails which took me from Allentown to Bethlehem (which I actually got off the trails for a bit) and then to Freemansburg and beyond before I turned around and headed back. I did 2 loops through the city of Bethlehem and got a free tour to Musikfest, although there was nobody there except empty stands and an empty stage ... oh well.

Anyway, I worked to slowly increase my pace as the run went on, and I did a pretty good job at it, except that I didn't know what my pace was at certain times due to my Garmin having no signal. I always seem to forget that the only fatal flaw in the Garmin trainer watch is that it needs a clear view to the sky in order to track the distance, and the trails that I was running on were covered mostly with trees. It didn't slow me down though, I still think I did excellent with my splits despite that one issue.. the best part is that I was able to stop at the park on Sand Island (Bethlehem) and get a drink on the way up, then stop to get a drink on the way back down and fill up my water bottle, it worked out real good.

I have another challenging week coming up, this time I have to drive to Connecticut on Friday to visit family, which means I have another long run coming up very early Friday. I figured that its better to do a long run on my home turf on Friday monring instead of when i'm traveling and in a strange place. I'd say that I skip it for the weekend, but i'm at the point of the training when I really need to get these runs in now. Believe it or not i'm just 4 short weeks away from the first marathon of the season...

The last comment I have (that i'll elaborate more on in another post tomorrow or Tuesday) was that I used these amazing earbud enhancers from Yurbuds this morning on my run. I've never had such a good experience with my mp3 player before while running (especially a long run) ... they made the run so much easier not having to worry about them falling out of my ears, but more tomorrow on them...

I generally do a pretty good job when i'm traveling to ensure I have all my running gear with me. I thought I did a good job yesterday when I packed things up and left for Virginia. Its strange but I can actually admit that I generally put more of a priority on packing my running stuff than on packing anything else, but I guess thats part of the running psychosis I live with.. Anyway, I found out this morning at 5:30am when I was getting ready to head out for my run that somehow I managed to pack two left shoes (one from my new pair and one from my old pair).. you couldn't imagine the surprise on my face when the shoe didn't fit. It was actually funny at the time although I found myself feeling really stupid. Thankfully I have an OLD OLD pair of shoes in the trunk of my car, which I always keep around in case I'm somewhere and can get a chance to get a run in with a group of people or something... i've never actually used them until now and I found out that they're pretty beat, but its better than running with two left shoes or running barefoot (yes, I thought about doing that) ... it was not a good way to start my day.

Running in a new place when traveling is pretty cool, its an opportunity to see new places and run different courses. There is one thing I don't like about traveling though and that is that its so difficult to keep eating clean .. temptation is all over the place (especially in the area i'm in)! I can say that i've done fairly well so far for being two days in, my only big splurge was to go to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop across the street, i'm just a sucker for ice cream. The weather is a little warmer here in northern Virginia than it is back home but not totally unbearable. I actually didn't feel like I was going to pass out this morning from the humidity trying to get in my speed workout.

Its time to get some much needed rest though, as I said, I finished a speed workout today, so its into a recovery run tomorrow, then off on Friday and then a short race on Saturday before kicking it back up again. I'm in the race prep stage of training right now, so I get hard weeks and then easy weeks and believe it or not i'm just over 4 weeks until the Rochester marathon, its going to be crazy!

I was fortunate enough to talk to a woman today who will be running her first marathon in the fall, she feared the infamous "First 20 miler" this weekend. We've all been there, it seems like such a long distance when you've never done it before, but now it just comes naturally .. I reassured her that she just needs to trust her training, keep her pace and stay fueled and hydrated and you'll be fine. I feel like such an old-timer with running marathons ... i'll be doing my 16th marathon in September, thats crazy!

I guess its time to get back to the reason i'm traveling ... maybe another update tomorrow ...