This is the second-to-last week of the marathon recovery plan.  It looked like this:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Form drills + 5 miles	3 x 1 mile @ 5k pace	Form drills + 5 miles	40 min tempo	Long Run - 90 min

Monday was form drills and 5 miles in my local park. It was largely uneventful and it is an easy loop. Since it was Memorial Day, I got there early – before my wife and kids woke up – and only saw a handful of walkers there. 5.01 miles in 43:13 (8:38 pace).

Tuesday was 3 x 1 mile intervals at 5k pace. It was hard, particularly the last one. The intervals were 7:33, 7:27, and 7:37; my target was 7:22 to 7:36, so the last one was a second long. 5.5 miles in 44:22 (8:04 pace).

Wednesday was an easy 5 mile run, and sure enough I didn’t think very hard about where I was running and ran a little long. Ran across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. 5.72 miles in 50:22 (8:48 pace).

Thursday was a 40 minute tempo run. The anger of the park being closed got the best of me with this one, the first 15 minutes were too fast and the last 25 was tough. Having to run around the closed public park sucked, and it was made worse by the first fountain after the tempo portion quit running after I took two drinks. 6.67 miles in 55:00 (8:14 overall pace, tempo pace of 8:05).

Friday was a long run around the closed park. I crossed the Purple People Bridge and then into Covington, but instead of turning around at the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, I continued down KY-8 to the end of the sidewalk near Ludlow and back. This is a tough route, as most of it is uphill, and I didn’t push it or take any fuel (other than Gatorade Endurance Orange). 10.02 miles in 1:30:02 (8:59 pace).

This closes out the week with just under 33 miles, and the month of May closes out with 112 miles. Lighter than prior months, but the real bang was the beginning of the month with the marathon. Since June isn’t really planned, I’m replaying this week next week.

The summer schedule has materialized. No races in June, July has 3 races: the Bulldog Blast 5k and the first two of the three-race NKU Cross Country Series (the last one is August 7). After those races, the Hudepohl 14k is coming up in September and the Honor Run Half in November.

I’m recovering from the marathon nicely, I’m out of the energy drain and feeling faster overall, despite the weather being much hotter and more humid than it has been. The plan for this week is:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Form drills + 4 miles	3 x 1 mile @ 10k pace	Form drills + 4 miles	35 min tempo	Long Run - 75 min

Monday: Ran up the hill, but did an older ‘variant’ where insead of going to the overlook (following the Flying Pig M/HM route), I went towards the Cincinnati Art Museum and passed on. Major problem with this route is that the trash day for people on Mt. Adams is Monday and the trash truck drivers were leaving cans in the middle of the sidewalk. I decided to run into a parking lot (I’ve usually run past it) to see the view of the city, which was nice. 4.28 miles in 37:19 (8:43 pace).

Tuesday: Three intervals, so I kept it in the flat areas. I had my watch set correctly (unlike last week). Checked on another runner that was squatted (not like ‘taking a 💩’ but more like ‘potentially in pain’), she claimed she was okay, and then I saw her running on the return trip from the far loop. I also got a badge from Garmin Connect, but it’s not a badge I want! 5.5 miles in 44:54 (8:10 overall pace, intervals of 7:39, 7:33, 7:38).

Sidenote: I’ve been using the heck out of the AfterShokz that I won via #bibchat a few months ago, and I fully believe the bone conduction technology is the right thing for runners to be using. Case in point in the image below – I could hear this squirrel getting the styrofoam container out of the trash can while listening to the Running, Beer, and BS podcast.

Wednesday: Easy run up the Purple People Bridge and then back across the Roebling Suspension Bridge. I wasn’t pushing it, but ended up with a progressive pace (8:49, 8:34, 8:31, 8:19). 4.16 mles in 35:41 (8:35 pace overall).

Thursday: Had to get up a half hour earlier to run a tempo run and be cleaned up and ready to ride to a meeting 2 hours away by 6:45. Got it done, though. Since it was a tempo run, I ran out Friendship Park and back, along the river, out around the big loop around the Bengals practice field and then a short loop around the practice field. Ended the run with my normal stretches and 2×15 squats in front of some new planters that are apparently a target for vandalism. Ran 6.12 miles in 50 minutes, 8:10 pace (the 35 minute tempo portion was a 7:59 pace).

Friday: Today was a 75 minute run. I didn’t have much of a plan in place, so I ran across the Purple People Bridge, then the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, then the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, then the Roebling Suspension Bridge, then the Taylor Southgate Bridge. My pace for miles 2 – 8 were all clustered around 8:37, which was nice (it would have been nicer if the first two miles were closer to it, but mile 1 was 9:02 and mile 2 was 8:22). I did bring some Gatorade Endurance with me, because it was hot and sticky. 8.72 in 1:15:01 (8:36 pace).

On Wednesday (payday!), I decided I’d go ahead and register for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’ve run this twice before, the first time was a then-PR and my return to a half marathon after an injury. The second time was with a back strain and I didn’t PR. This time, I feel like I’m going to crush it because of the marathon AND because I’m going to do a harder training program (Hal Higdon Advanced!) that will include an additional running day. However, my next races will be the Bulldog Blast 5k and the NKU XC Series, once I register for them!

The week concluded with just under 29 miles ran and just over 4 hours spent running. Next week kicks up the mileage a little bit more to continue the post-marathon rebuild.

Cheers!

I’m getting back into normal weeks… sort of. I’m following the Hal Higdon Intermediate recovery plan (although I may not end it with a race). This is a different week because I would normally run all five days, but I’m only running 4 because I’m going to a geek gathering (Dayton… er… Xenia Hamvention) on Friday.

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Form drills + 3 miles	3 x 1 mile @ M pace	Form drills + 3 miles	Long Run - 45 - 75 min	Hamvention!

Monday: I did my form and mobility drills, but I skipped the strides. 3 miles across the bridges. I decided to change up ‘normal’ and cross the Suspension Bridge and the Taylor Southgate Bridge. 3.21 miles in 0:26:57 (8:24 pace… a little too fast, really). It was blistering hot out, even in the early morning.

Tuesday: The plan says 3 intervals, the watch tried to say 2. In my haste of setting this up in Garmin Connect, I neglected to ensure that there were 3 repeats. Anyway, 1 mile warm-up, 3 – 1 mile repeats at M pace with 0.5 mile recovery between. 5.5 miles in 46:01 (it would have been 45:59 if my watch didn’t crash at the end). Overall pace: 8:22. Intervals: 8:11, 7:54, 7:46 (the last one was manually timed).

Wednesday: It was a warm one. The plan was for 3 miles, and it was a warm one. I did my ‘normal’ loop of the suspension bridge to the Purple People Bridge. 3.61 miles in 30:40 (8:30 pace).

Thursday: The plan was 45 – 75 minutes, I ran 1:06, which got me to 7.5 miles. I felt sluggish in the first few miles, but hit my stride a few miles in. I brought some Nuun with me, and I thought I kept feeling my bottle drip on me. 7.5 miles in 1:06:10 (8:49 pace).

That’s it for the week. I haven’t really thought much about the summer and fall schedule, but I’m thinking it will be the same as normal – Bulldog Blast 5k, NKU XC Series, Hudepohl 14k, and the Honor Run Half Marathon. Maybe I’ll do another one if I find anything later in the year.

Cheers!

Beings that this week started the day after the Flying Pig Marathon, it was a different week than what I was used to. I’m following the Hal Higdon Zero Week and Intermediate recovery plans (although I may not end it with a race).

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Rest!	Rest!	Rest!	3 mi	3 mi

Monday: Rest, relaxation, and Catch A Fire Pizza at MadTree Brewing (and at least two other groups that ran the marathon Sunday had the same idea).

Tuesday and Wednesday: since these were no-running days, I went for a walk in the morning.

Thursday: Got to run 3 miles! It was slower than I had been for a while and I was still sore. 3.12 miles in 28:07 (9:02 pace).

Friday: Ran another 3-something miles. Decided to run across the bridges. 3.53 miles in 30:26 (8:36 pace).

So for the entire week, including Sunday, I ran 32.85 miles. The marathon was tough, but I’m not one-and-done!

This is it. This is the last week. The next thing that comes out of this blog will my Flying Pig Marathon Race Report. May The Fourth Be With Us All!

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
3 mi + 7 strides	4 miles	2 mi + 7 strides	Rest	Little Kings Mile	Rest	Flying Pig Marathon

Monday: With the Suspension Bridge being reopened Friday, I decided to run across it. The plan was form drills, 3 miles, and 7 strides. It was nice finally getting to cross the bridge again. The weather was a little chilly, but that is expected to change. 4 miles in 32:46 (8:12 pace). I was not sprinting, honest!

Tuesday: With the Suspension Bridge being reopened Friday, I decided to run across it (this time, I ran the opposite direction of the route I did Monday). It’s usually a little bit slower this direction because I start uphill on the Purple People Bridge and I’m going up the handicap ramp up the Newport Floodwall. 4 miles in 33:17 (8:19 pace).

Wednesday: Form drills, two miles, and 7 strides. I just ran down to the Bengals practice field and back and rounded off to 3.01 miles, which was really a response to Strava cutting off the last 0.01 of every run. 3 miles in 24:05 (8:00 pace)

Thursday: Thursday is a rest day. Since I got to the office at 6:30 and I don’t get credit for working before 7:00 AND a storm was in the forecast for later in the day, I decided to make sure I got my 3,000 intensity steps in on my health insurance fitness tracker. I walked in Friendship Park on what was a very nice morning.

Friday: RACE DAY! I walked up to the expo at around noon to get my race materials. I browsed around the expo for a little bit, which started off with getting race numbers for the marathon and the Little Kings Mile. As soon as the marathon envelope touched my hand, it sent a chill down my spine (seriously, I’m not embellishing!). It took 364 days, but it finally sunk in.

The crowd in the expo was larger than I’ve seen in the past 5 years. I only took a few free things – some granola bars (which came in handy later – I forgot to bring some pretzels with my salad), some lube (he was very insistent that I take some), and a pound of spaghetti noodles (score! and no wait!). I also got a free shirt from Buckeye Running Club for being a first time marathoner (they also gave me an extra bib that said “first time marathoner”, but I’m treating that like The Scarlet Letter). I talked to a few people – the RDs for The Honor Run Half and the Urban Bourbon Half, and a volunteer for The Beast of the East Fork, which looks like a new trail obstacle race near my home.

The walk back to the office was brutal. The humidity hit 9000.

When I was back in the office for the second part of my day, I actually looked at my corral assignments. I expected B for Friday night and C for Sunday. I got E for Friday night and B for Sunday. Looks like I’m going to be one of ‘those’ people that are going to run with the incorrect corral, because I’m running in whatever corral leaves second on Friday night.

Later in the evening, I left my office (just under 2 miles away from the Little Kings Mile start) around 6:30 and jogged to the start line. I talked to the race director (I know him from volunteering with another race that he also directs) who gave a vexed look at the “E” on my bib, and the MC joked that it was “just a suggestion”. I also got the chance to meet a few twitter #runChat and #bibChat friends both before and after the race.

The race went without a hitch. I cruised the first half and kicked it in with about 0.2 miles left. Final time 6:39, which is a 15 second improvement over last year. I’ll take it!

Totals for the week: 12 miles, 90 minutes spent running. A major change from when I was hitting 47 miles in a week! Next up: 26.2 miles!

Marathon Race Strategy in a nutshell:

• Gu at 15′ before and every 45 min (roughly 5, 10, 15, and 20 miles)
• Gatorade every 2 miles
• Don’t go out too fast

 

Cheers!

It’s taper week part deux, which compared to all prior weeks this year is liiiiight! The plan was…

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
4 mi + 7 strides	4 miles	4 mi + 7 strides	3 miles	8 miles

Monday: Form drills, 4 miles, and 7 strides. It was warm, I woke up and checked the weather, and it was 53 with a little blue blotch over Cincinnati. I didn’t get rained on while running up the hill into the park and it was pretty warm. The strides sneaked up on me, I hadn’t even made it into the park. I also intended to round it off at 5.0 miles, but I overran for 5.13 in 44:14 (8:37 pace).

Tuesday: This was a 5 mile loop around the bridges. Across the Purple People Bridge, into Covington, and back across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge. It was wet out, but not raining. 5 miles in 42:22 (8:28 pace).

Wednesday: Form drills, 4 miles, and 7 strides. The mornings have been getting chillier. I did the opposite direction of Tuesday’s route, with an adjustment because one area of the park was closed (to setup for the Flying Pig, I think). Rounded off to 5 miles, in 41:27 (8:17 pace).

Thursday: This was a short 3 mile run and I had a conference to go to in the morning. I kept it on the Cincinnati side, and security was letting people run through the path along the river in Smale Park, which was great except that we were all basically stuck going the entire way instead of cutting it off like I intended. 3.77 miles in 30:16 (8:02 pace).

Friday: The long run of the week was 8 miles. Ran across the Purple People Bridge, the long loop into the parking lot where LA Fitness and Burger King are, back along the Newport Levee, into Covington and along their riverfront until I saw flood debris (that is *still there*), ran back into Cincinnati and around Paul Brown Stadium and the Bengals Practice Field, and back along Mehring Way into Yeatman’s Cove and finishing right where I wanted to in Sawyer Point. I took no fuel and was running on no breakfast, but I did fill my water bottle with Nuun Lemon-Lime Electrolyte mix. Ran 8.01 miles in 1:02:27 (8:25 pace).

The week was about 27 fast miles. I spent 3:46 running in the mornings. And enjoyed springtime.

Pig Week Preview

The plan for pig week is this:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
3 mi + 7 strides	4 miles	2 mi + 7 strides	Rest	Little Kings Mile	Rest	Flying Pig Marathon

My mileage is reducing more, as expected by the plan. Friday, I’ll be spending a long lunch at the P&G Health and Wellness Expo (the Flying Pig Expo). I doubt I’m going to buy much (I never do), but of course I’ll leave with two or three shirts and a bunch of other stuff.  Then, I’ll likely be working a little late (or a lot late, weather dependent) for the Little King’s Mile on Friday night. I’ll get the chance to meet up with some Twitter friends and meet them in person. Then, of course, the marathon on Sunday.

The weather right now is looking okay for Friday night, and possibly a little chilly on Sunday morning (that’s code for “perfect”!). I’m hoping for no rain on either race.

Cheers!

It’s taper time. Which means that I have two easy weeks before the hardest race of my life so far. This week’s plan…

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
5 mi + 7 strides	6 miles	5 mi + 7 strides	4 miles - M Pace	12 miles

Monday I ran up the hill in the morning again. Same route as the previous few Mondays, and this time I didn’t accidentally bump my watch. It was cold, unlike last Friday. Form drills in the park, 5 miles up the hill and back down, and 7 strides (and then rounding off and a little more to get somewhere to stretch). I then ended up with a cold shower, which I failed to report to the office building management until the afternoon. All and all, I was probably a little better off than those that ran Boston in the sheets of pouring rain and high winds. 6.19 miles in 53:10 (8:35 pace).

Tuesday was interesting. Because I reported the hot water issue to building management until Monday afternoon, I decided I shouldn’t run in the morning. Then I realized someone made a meeting at 12:30 (WHO DOES THIS???), so running at lunch was out. Fortunately, I going to a soft opening event for Alexandria Brewing Company that started at 6 PM, so I clocked out at ~3:30 and ran my 6 miles in the afternoon, where I ended up running them at a fast pace around the riverfront. 6.01 miles in 50:07 (8:21 pace), and I still had enough time to get a warm shower before the opening event.

Wednesday was another Wednesday. Form drills, 5 miles, and 7 strides, just around the river. In fact, I ran the same route that I did on Tuesday, just the opposite direction. 6 miles in 51:53 (8:39 pace).

Thursday was a 4 mile M pace run. Since all my runs feel like M pace runs (or I have a really fucked up version of M pace), I tend to run these at tempo pace. During my warm up, I made my way down a path and found that it was underwater, so I turned around and ran back and pulled a barricade across the path. I then ran another path (the high road, apparently) and went to the other side of the flooded path and pulled a barricade across it too. I stayed in Friendship/Sawyer Point/Yeatman’s Cove/Smale Park for this, although I did go a little outside the parks to make a loop around the Bengal’s practice field. 5.5 miles in 45:14 (8:13 pace, M pace portion pace 8:00).

Friday was my long run. Since it was only 12 miles, I decided to take some Nuun Hydration, since it has only 10 calories (Gatorade Endurance has 90 calories, so it wouldn’t have been that bad to use either). Since I had been in the riverfront area twice this week, I decided to try and skip it. I ran out west and across the 8th Street Viaduct to Price Hill. This is usually an interesting run since there’s a lot of rail traffic going along the roads and over AND under the viaduct. Today it stunk. Literally. There is a sewer plant 1,500 feet north of this area and they were doing something smelly. After crossing the viaduct, I was at 4 miles so I figured I could get lost a little. I continued south on State Street until I saw some paths going to my left near what I believed was (and it actually was) 6th Street Expressway. So I ran down that path that went along the expressway wondering exactly where the sidewalk would end. It sent me over a pedestrian bridge over the Expressway to the south side and dumped me into a weird little turnaround at the end of Mehring Way. I proceeded down Mehring to the intersection with Freeman, which got me a little confused as to where I could run.

After seeing the streetsign for Mehring, I knew I wasn’t lost, after all, I run along Mehring way in some way/shape/form all the time. As I made it back into where I was earlier, I looked at my watch and realized I’d need more distance than if I went straight into the park, so I ran around Paul Brown Stadium and into Covington via the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, ran around the IRS parking lot and back through the floodwall to the riverfront path that I followed to the Licking River. Then, ran up to 4th Street, crossed over to Newport and ran down along the floodwall and riverfront to the parking lot loop and back to Cincinnati via the Purple People Bridge (cussing at a stupid dogwalker blocking every bit of the 8-foot-wide path on the way – her on one side and her dog on the opposite side at the end of a 20 foot retractable leash). 12 miles in 1:42:52 (8:34 pace).

The week was faster than several of the previous, and my pace has gone up from the beginning of the year to a high of 8:59 in the 8th week of the year (when I had a particularly bad 15 mile long run) and now has been trending back down. Next week will be an easier week that almost seems too easy given what is after that, but I have to trust my coach (which is www.halhigdon.com).

Marathon in 16 days!

This is the last week of big runs. Mother Nature did her part of making it a clusterfuck, and work did it’s part to aggravate me. The week’s plan was…

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
5 mi + 7 strides	8 miles	5 mi + 7 strides	5 miles - M Pace	20 miles

Monday was 5 miles up the hill and 7 strides in the park. I accidentally bumped my watch when trying to check remaining miles, so that first ‘lap’ ended around  a quarter mile early, but I made it up after my strides and then ended up continuing a little long because of where I ended up. It was a cold one today, 34F based on Garmin Connect’s recollection. 6.53 miles in 56:42 (8:41 pace).

Tuesday was a nice 8 mile jaunt across downtown and the 8th Street Viaduct to the west-side. I felt slow-ish, but my watch tells me otherwise. Still cold. 8 miles in 1:09:09 (8:38 pace).

Wednesday was really cold in the morning, so I ran at lunch. I kept it reasonably easy around the bridges and both sides of the river. I was really trying to keep it easy, but I guess I was enjoying the nice weather (53F!). 6 miles in 49:52 (8:18 pace).

Thursday was a 5 mile M pace run. Which, since everything seems like it’s M pace, this becomes a tempo run. I kept it on the Cincy side of the river and where it is mostly flat. It was warmer in the morning than Wednesday’s lunchtime run. 6.5 miles in 53:14 (8:11 overall pace, M pace portion was 8:00 pace).

Friday was … interesting. First off, I was still feeling a little full from the prior evening – I had a normal spaghetti dinner before a homebrew club meeting, and then I ate some more food at the homebrew club meeting (it was beer food night, so there was some beer cheese, a wonderful dubbel beef stew, and a delectable imperial stout spice cake). Second off, I’m not sure what the temperature was when I started running, but somewhere around 1:40/11 miles into it, I passed a church that had a sign that flashed ’65F’. I was able to get over the full feeling in a few miles, but the warmth got tough after around 15-16 miles. Of course, as it was getting tough, I ran out of Gatorade. But I did it. 20.02 miles in 2:57:58 (8:53 pace); this was only slightly slower than the first 20 miler (2:57:22, 36 seconds).

That’s it for the week. Next week is tapering, so the mileage is down a bit… and I’m okay with that for now (I’m sure I’ll have some of those taper tantrums come the end of the week). And as I type this on Sunday night, the local news has their weather terrorist on talking about snow. 80 for a high on Friday, and somewhere around 36-37 for a start on Monday. Mother Nature needs a hug or a beer or something!

Cheers!

This is a pull back week, and it was nicely timed. The plan for the week was:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
5 mi + 7 strides	5 miles	5 mi + 7 strides	8 miles	12 miles

Monday was hill day. I started with form drills in Sawyer Point. After that, I ran up Gilbert into Eden Park and then down to Nassau and back down Gilbert. It’s nice being able to see the sunrise from the Eden Park Overlook. I finished my seven strides in Yeatman’s Cove. 6 miles in 52:31 (8:46 pace).

Tuesday’s plan was an easy 5 mile run in the park, and keep it flat because I ran the hill the prior morning. I messed up on distance and ran 5.6 miles in the riverfront parks in 49:11 (8:47 pace).

Wednesday was new gloves day! I did my form drills, 5 miles, 7 strides, and rounded off to 6 miles. I started with a run across the Purple People Bridge, then through the parking lot of Joe’s Crabshack and Burger King and LA Fitness and down into Covington. I stayed on 4th Street in Covington to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and back down Mehring Way after realizing that a part of Smale Park is flooded. 6 miles in 51:11 (8:32 pace).

Thursday was a lunchtime run. I ran through Yeatman’s Cove and Smale Park to the Bengal’s Practice Field and across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, along the Covington Riverfront Path and back into Cincinnati via the Purple People Bridge. 8 miles in 1:08:05 (8:30 pace).

Friday was 12 miles in the morning. For fun, I decided to run 3/1s. I started with some easy miles through Friendship Park (mostly flat), then crossed over the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge during the first hard mile. Went down the Covington Riverfront path to Newport running the second hard mile in the parking lot loop of Burger King, Joe’s Crab Shack, and LA Fitness. I crossed back over the Purple People Bridge and ran through Yeatman’s Cove to the Bengal’s Practice Field and back, finishing the last hard mile on my way back into Yeatman’s Cove. 12 miles in 1:43:47 (8:39 pace).

Overall, it was a lighter, but good week with 37.6 miles in the books with 5h 25m spent running – much lighter than last week (9 miles and around 90 minutes less), but the lighter load felt good especially since I’m moving into the second of two 20 mile runs next week. Hopefully the flooding doesn’t come back much more than it has, though.

Cheers!