We rejoin our hero in the battle of the pavement in the fifteenth week of his marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. His marathon is October 20, 2019. Our hero is following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again, and is on the first of three taper weeks.
The heat came back again this week, with morning temps in the upper 60s and highs expected in the 90s, which is record-breaking weather in this area.
Monday: 8 miles with 5 x 600 @ 5k pace. Kept this in the park, and the weather was doing interesting things – there were cold spots and warm spots. Splits were at 7:01, 6:48, 7:14, 7:10, and 7:11 minute/mile pace, which are all good except that 6:48 – it was a little bit faster (I was shooting for a goal pace of 6:55-7:15). Overall, 8.05 in 1:10:50 (8:48 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: Rest. Since today was a rest day I decided to run 3 easy miles in the park. It was warm, but the temperature on my phone seemed higher than what it felt in the park. 3.24 miles in 29:24 (9:04 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 4 miles + 6 strides. Kept this one easy because I knew what was coming tomorrow. Again, the temperature on my phone felt warmer than what it felt like in the park. 5.01 miles in 43:26 (8:40 min/mile).
Another day, another watch issue 
One of the reasons I don’t have a new watch – my backup pair have seen better days! 
Sunrise
Thursday: 10k tune race. Another day with temps that didn’t feel as hot as the phone says. There were some warm spots, but there was a cool breeze (especially after sweating A LOT). Ran a warm-up mile and then bust out a 10k. The 10k portion was 50:18 (8:06 min/mile pace), which is 4:09 off my watch-PR (my race PR is 51:49, but that’s a few years old – I don’t run many 10ks). Overall with warm-up and cool-down was 8.35 in 1:10:27 (8:26 min/mile pace). I did take water with me on this one.
We seem to be missing a few days 😡 
Sunrise!
Friday: LSD 16 miles. Fall came back! it was not at all a warm morning, and it was perfect sleeping weather, so naturally I overslept. I set out in the park after some peanut butter toast and made it about 5 miles before needing a pitstop. I took a Gatorade Gel at 8 miles and drank Gatorade Endurance every other mile. The legs felt good after the gel until around mile 12 or so when some fatigue started setting in. I kept at it, and finished the last 0.15 mile or so on grass (which felt sooooo gooooood!). 16.01 miles in 2:21:18 (8:50 min/mile pace).
So September ended this week, and I finished that month with 213 miles ran. The week was just under 41 miles. On to the next taper week!
In other news, it looks like the TQL Beer Series races is going to undergo more change. This series started as the Christian Moerlein Beer Series with the Bockfest 5k, Little King’s Mile, and the Hudepohl 14k. Bockfest is a spring beer celebration (think Oktoberfest in March, and instead of the lovely Marzen and Festbier styles, people drink Bock and Doppelbock styles). Little Kings Cream Ale and Hudepohl 14k are both local beers – both have a long history in the region with the working class drinkers of the post-WWII era. The series is ‘served up’ by the Flying Pig, so this is a great series to run – they know how to do races! Recently (maybe two years ago?), the series was renamed to the TQL Beer Series, and more recently the mile race was renamed to the 50 West Mile, after 50 West Brewing Company.
Last year (and maybe the year before, too), Christian Moerlein cut back on their Oktoberfest celebration – the Uberdrome (the big tent over me in the pic below) was not setup and the post-race celebration was moved to Second Street, where all the Oktoberfest booths were open.
Fast forward to last Thursday. After dinner, I was filling out a post-race survey for the Hudepohl 14k, and there were questions about changing the distance to a 10M or a 10k, and if it was renamed. Given that Cincinnati Beer is undergoing some market correction and squeezing, it might be that Moerlein is feeling a pinch. Historically, their beer hasn’t been bad. However, I went into Moerlein Lagerhouse to get a pint of Fifth and Vine – a beer I really enjoyed in the past – and it was lighter than I remember and had a distinct candy sweetness that is way out of style for a Marzen.
Anyway, I don’t know what will happen (and while I might have a chance to get some inside info when I volunteer for the Queen Bee Half Marathon in a few weeks), it won’t be posted here. As long as the series is still ‘served up’ by the Flying Pig and has beer at the finish line, I’ll run the races and enjoy them. 😎