This week started out with some chilly temps that reached a crescendo and crashed.
Monday was 5 miles around the park and the subdivision next to it. It was a chilly low-40s morning. 5.17 miles in 44:27 (8:36 min/mile).
Tuesday was 5 miles just staying in the park. It was a chilly upper-40s morning. 5.07 in 44:48 (8:50 min/mile).
Wednesday was a rest day.
Thursday was a very rainy morning with temps in the upper 50s/low 60s. Ran six miles in the park and the subdivision next to it. 6.15 53:57 (8:46 min/mile).
Friday was COLD. Like 32F cold. On Thursday, the temp dropped from that 59-60F down to 35 in the evening (Mother Nature, do you hate kids??? That’s trick-or-treat night!). Ran 7 miles trying to get the 7 in under an hour… missed it by 30 seconds. About a mile in, my AfterShokz started reminding me that I should have charged them… right at 7 miles they turned off. 7.22 in 1:02:20 (8:38 min/mile).
That’s it. Not a lot of miles this week – just 24, but they were all enjoyable miles. October clocked in at 145 miles
Since I ran the Columbus Marathon on Sunday, this is a short running week. No running on Monday and Tuesday and let my legs rest. The week was chilly, which was a welcomed change from the midday heat of Sunday’s marathon finish line.
Wednesday I went out for a short four mile run in the park, and kept it in the park where it is mostly flat. And I was sore af. My watch crashed at the end and Garmin Connect only took 4 miles (Strava didn’t make it to 4 miles 🤬). So 4.0 in 38:28 (9:37 min/mile pace).
Thursday was another 4 mile run, but a fair bit of the DOMS was worn off and I was able to go a little faster. I took this out of the park a little in the subdivison next to it to get some more hills. 4.09 miles in 36:01 (8:48 min/mile pace).
Friday was the longest run of the week with five miles. I ran this mostly in the subdivision next to the park. Ran 5.11 miles in exactly 45 minutes (8:48 min/mile).
That’s it. One of my shortest LWIR reports. 13.2 miles.
This is it. This is the last blog post in this training journey culminating with the epic battle of the pavement! Our hero has battled high temperatures, dehydration, fatigue, heat exhaustion, and a blister between his left big toe and the one next to it (index toe?).
This part of the plan is weird because this plan (as do most) expect that people do their long run on Saturday or Sunday. I do mine on Friday. However, at this point I transition to the plan.
Monday: Rest day.
Tuesday: Recovery 6 miles. I’m not sure what I’m recovering from, but this is what the plan said. I ran the full lap around the park and neighboring subdivision. It was a chilly morning under a full moon and I ran easy. 6.12 miles in 53:11 (8:41 min/mile pace).
Full moon!
Wednesday: 7 miles with 2 @ M pace. This was pretty easy, and I initially struggled to stay slow enough to keep within the M pace range. I kept it up to 8:10 min/mile, the goal range was 7:50 – 8:15, and I could have gone faster. Overall, 7 miles in 59:13 (8:28 min/mile pace).
Thursday: Rest day.
Friday: 5 miles + 6 strides. This was a cold run that felt like a struggle. GI issues didn’t help. 6.01 miles in 54:01 (8:58 min/mile pace)
Saturday: 4 miles loose. It was a chilly morning, somewhere in the upper-30s/low-40s and I had spaghetti the evening before. I ran this pretty effortlessly. Ran this in the park, which had a handful of dog walkers and a few other runners. 4.01 miles in 33:54 (8:27 min/mile pace).
Sunday: 26.2 mile race! I’ll post a race report soon, but the gist of it is that the race was brutal. The pre-race temperature was about 50, but it climbed up to the mid-60s by the time I was crossing the finish line. I didn’t PR. 3:39:23 (8:22 min/mile pace).
This week is really after the miles of trials and mostly an easy week with a few hard days thrown in. This was week 16 of 18 in preparation for the Columbus Marathon on October 20.
Monday: 7 Miles. It was 55 and a little rainy. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. 7.23 miles in 1:03:40 (8:48 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: Ran Wednesday’s workout because I wanted the week to be more balanced. 8 with 3 x 1 mile @ 5k pace. Kept these in the park where it’s mostly flat. It was a foggy morning, which was not really easy to run in because of glasses, but I got it done. The interval goals were 6:55 to 7:13 min, the interval times were 7:13, 7:12, 7:13. Overall, 8 miles in 1:07:15 (8:24 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: rest day!
Thursday: 5 miles + 6 strides. Kept this one in the park since it’s kinda short. 6.02 miles in 52:39 (8:45 min/mile pace).
Friday: 12 mile – last chance long run. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. It was a little warmer today, but not too warm. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, no fueling. I did get a late start, but got it done and kept it easy. 12.01 in 1:46:32 (8:52 min/mile pace).
Overall, 33.25 miles. My paces are speeding up, partly because of the weather. Next week is a weird week with runs on T, W, F, S, and the big one on Sunday.
On Saturday, I volunteered with the Queen Bee Marathon, which was mostly uneventful (that’s a great thing!). I only took two pictures, which are below.
Local media at the starting line – the woman on the right is a meteorologist and probably ran in the half.
This is the wet-bulb thermometer used to determine if the race should go to yellow or red flag conditions. Fortunately, conditions didn’t approach that!
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).
Do I look a little fatigued? Because I felt a little fatigued!
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.
This was in the Uberdrome – I think it really has an Oktoberfest “vibe”, but that’s coming from someone that hasn’t made it to Munich for the real Oktoberfest.
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. 😎
We rejoin our hero in the battle of the pavement in the fourteenth 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 final week of the race prep phase prior to tapering.
Monday: 10 miles with 4 x 1.2k @ 5k pace. It’s another Monday, and the thing that had a case of the Mondays was my watch. Again. After an attempt to get things that were once synced to be synced again, I gave up and tracked intervals manually. It was a bit warm at 68 and rainy out, and my legs were still feeling it from the race on Saturday. I wanted my intervals to be between 6:50 and 7:15 min/mile, they were 7:23, 7:38, 7:41, and 7:49. Overall, 10.15 in 1:26:57 (8:34 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: 7 + 6 x 100m strides. Fall came by for a visit today. It was in the low-50s, which was nice. The legs were feeling good, probably better than I thought they were. My strides were FAST. Overall, 8.01 miles in 1:08:00 (8:29 min/mile).
Wednesday: 11 miles. Fall stayed around, and I ran at East Fork. There’s two things about East Fork – one is that it is hilly. The other is that it is the one place I can’t seem to run without taking a pitstop. I didn’t run all the way into Williamsburg, and instead ran by the lake (which takes me down and back up a very big hill). 11.07 miles in 1:40:37 (9:05 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 4 miles recovery. I was supposed to wake up in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, but Hotels_dot_com had my reservation a week later (incidentally, this is the SECOND time I’ve been on the receiving end of that problem – the other was a reservation made by someone else for me). I woke up early because I ended up driving to Ft. Wayne, and was very tired (my legs were tired twice over, because I’m not sure I was fully recovered from yesterday’s hills). Also, it was warm – 70F. 4.17 miles in 37:46 (9:03 min/mile pace).
Friday: LAST CHANCE 20 MILE RUN. This is the exclamation point at the end of the race prep phase. I went to bed early to get up early to run the park and neighborhood next to it. It was a chilly morning. I successfully found the ONE good person in the entire subdivision (they saw me coming and waited without blocking the sidewalk). Shame that one good person was right down the road from a construction crew that started up (complete with a concrete truck, unlit loaders beeping around, and a trailer mostly blocking someone’s driveway) at 6:00 AM.
I hydrated with Gatorade Endurance mostly, and every other mile. My water was leaking (fortunately, the vest protected the phone just enough), and I did take water at some odd miles towards the end. I fueled with Gatorade Endurace Mango at 7 and 13.5.
I decided early on to fast-finish the last two miles. After the first 18 miles in 2:41:16 (8:58 min/mile pace), I finished the last two in 8:26 and 8:29. Overall, 20.02 in 2:58:18 (8:54 min/mile pace). THE HAY IS IN THE BARN.
That’s it for the week and for the race prep phase of training. All that remains is tapering. 53 miles this week. Just under 8 hours spent running. 🍻
This is the thirteenth week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again. This is a week that departed from the norm because of one of the funnest races on my calendar: the Hudepohl 14k.
Monday: 8 w/5 x 600m @ 5k pace. Kept this in the park to keep it relatively flat. I somehow got my watch’s calendar to sync and was able to use the workout on the watch (and the audio coach). Interval paces were 7:02, 6:57, 7:12, 7:06, 7:12; the goal was 6:55 – 7:15, so all were within pace. Overall, 8.05 in 1:10:12 (8:43 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: Medium Distance 11 miles. Ran this at East Fork to get my hills on early. It was a weird weather day, as most of the run was on the chilly mid-60s side, but there were some places where it felt very warm. I probably negative-split this one. Saw two skunks near the road, fortunately they were running away from me. 11.03 miles in 1:40:01 (9:04 min/mile pace).
Same shit, different day. Three-finger salute on this one so I could get started… especially since it just updated 12 hours before this.
Wednesday: 4 miles + 6 x 100m strides.
Thursday: Medium Distance 10 miles. I struggled as to what to do with this day of running. At one point I was going to do a 17 mile long run, but I decided I wanted to have a great race on the weekend and 17 miles is not the way to do that! So I settled on 10. I ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. I didn’t push hard except one mile when some asshat backed out right in front of me. 10.26 miles in 1:30:40 (8:50 min/mile pace).
Friday: 3 miles easy/shakeout. I kept this in the subdivision because I was running a little later than I wanted and it’s only 3 miles. One of my neighbors must made several calls to the police and complained that cars were going too fast past their house and the police put up a radar gun. I did try to get it to register me going at about 5:50 min/mile (which is around 10 MPH), I was unsuccessful. Perhaps I should have yelled, but I’d prefer to wake people up over unleashed dogs and stupidity that can cause me harm (drivers doing stupid things).
Saturday: Hudepohl 14k…
Hudepohl 14k Race Report
Woke up to 70 degrees at 5:30 AM, which ultimately became a sunny day. Did my normal race-day routine of coffee (which went with me) and peanut butter toast. Drove downtown and parked at Sawyer Point, which gave me a mile to walk/run as a warm-up. Visited a port-o-let at the right time (no lines and open potties when I entered, lines when I exited). After a few minutes of mingling with my old boss and a Runnitor, we were off with some Polka music in the background.
My basic strategy was to take Gatorade at all stops, since it was a scorcher.
Miles 1-2 are uphill. I handled these better than I thought I would. The second hill – up Reading and Liberty – are a doozy and I traded places with another runner or two during this stretch. 7:27 and 7:48.
Miles 3-4 go down and back up to a hairpin turn. This is one of the two traffic-heavy places on the course, with one stupid person driving around an officer and into our way (I hope he was ticketed, but I doubt he was). 7:31 and 8:03. Damn, blew my streak of sub-8 minute miles on this race. After the hairpin turn, I got a view of all the people behind me. There was quite a few.
Miles 5-7. This is all downhill with some slight exceptions. It seems that the race decided to put more cheerleaders (volunteering) along this part of the course. It was becoming more difficult due to the sun and heat. At one point, I started pushing a little to be in a group when going through some of the intersections. This is the other of the two traffic-heavy places, and sometimes the cops will allow people to cut through between runners. 7:26, 7:36, 7:55.
Miles 8-end. This is downhill, but about 0.75 miles into this segment, we’re reunited with the 7k course, and of course it’s all walkers at this point. There was a water stop through here that I completely skipped due to the walkers in the way and knowing that I was not far from the finish. The end has a slight uphill, but it’s difficult to slow down with other runners and cheerleaders along the course through here. 7:36 and 5:07 for the final 0.69 (7:25 min/mile pace). Overall official time was 1:06:24. Last year (which was 10 degrees cooler and overcast), my time was 1:04:51, so I was up 1:33.
Glad the Uberdrome is back… now if we can just get the Oktoberfest organizers to close off the streets closer to this AND open the taps at 9:00 instead of 11:00, it would be perfect.
This is the twelfth week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again. I’m keeping with the Star Wars theme for calling out the weeks, and this was going to be The Runner Strikes Back, but then Garmin and the Weather struck first.
Monday: 8 miles. Kept this reasonably easy, although I was enjoying chiller weather than what I’ve had, so it was nice. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. 8.04 in 1:13:40 (9:10 min/mile pace). Hydrated with water, no fueling. Ended the run with seven pull-ups.
Tuesday: 9 miles with 5 x 1k @ 5k pace. So the run started with this…
After over 20 minutes of a delay, the watch NEVER synced my workout. I ended up manually tracking laps since I had no other option. I started it with 2 miles warm-up, I started tracking the kilometers based on 0.6 mile increments, which means I was staring at my watch a lot more than normal. It also means that I muffed the last interval because my vision (particularly through sweat-covered and semi-fogged glasses) isn’t the best – I ran 0.53 instead of 0.6. Then I later realized it should have been 0.62 (and similarly, the lower-intensity phases should have been 0.31 instead of 0.30).
My paces were 7:19, 7:15, 7:30, 7:38, 7:33. The goal was 6:55 to 7:15 pace, and constantly looking at my watch and not having the audio cues to speed the 🤬 up didn’t help at all. Overall, 9.01 in 1:16:18 (8:28 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 12 miles. Ran this in East Fork, which is always a difficult run. It also got pretty warm – 70 at run time, a full 10 degrees higher than the past two days. Hydrated with Gatorade. 12.04 miles in 1:51:57 (9:18 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 5 miles recovery. Kept this in the park because it’s four laps around the park. 5.16 miles in 45:28 (8:49 min/mile pace).
Friday: 18 miles with 14 at M pace. The run-time temperature for this was 71, and that’s a little toasty for pace running, and I’m not even sure if my watch was setup for it. I did push a little during the 14, which was ultimately at 8:47 min/mile. Alternated water and Gatorade Endurance at each mile, and took Gatorade Endurance Gels at 6 and 12. Overall, 18 miles in 2:41:19 (8:75 min/mile pace).
This is the eleventh week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again. I’m keeping with the Star Wars theme for calling out the weeks, and this is A New Month!
Monday: 8 miles with 5 x 600m @ 5k pace. Ran this entirely in the park, starting late due to having to clean up after one of my cats. The interval goal was 6:55 – 7:15, my splits were 7:05, 7:14, 7:10, 6:48, and 7:06, so pretty solid. Hydrated with plain water. Overall, 8.05 in 1:07:59 (8:27 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: 11 miles. Ran this at East Fork, which is normally a tough run anyway. It’s worse when GI issues start when you’re 4 miles in (which means about 4 miles away from the nearest unlocked bathroom). Had significant issues for a few miles before relief. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance. 11.09 miles in 1:49:07 (9:50 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 4 + 6 strides. Ran these entirely in the township park since it wasn’t a long run, and kept it easy due to the heat and the knowledge of the next morning’s run. 5.08 miles in 44:38 (8:47 min/mile).
Thursday: 12 mile mock race. After a 10 minute delay caused by my watch “updating”. Once I gave it a three-finger salute, I set out FAST. Two laps in the park before venturing into the subdivisions for a few laps (and the gap is now fully paved, so that was good… but offset by stupid people with unrestrained dogs). 12.01 miles in 1:36:25 (8:02 min/mile pace). My correct pace MAY have been faster, it seems there was a GPS issue (see the video below).
TEN FUCKING MINUTES. And I know I’m not exaggerating because I looked at my podcast before doing the three-finger-salute to this and it was 15 minutes in!
Friday: 17 miles. Set out early after some peanut butter toast and making a bottle of Gatorade and a bottle of water. I initially drank the Gatorade every other mile because it was not exactly warm outside. I was sluggish a little, but 17 miles after a day of 12 at pace will do that. Took Gatorade Endurance Gels at miles 6 and 11.6. After mile 11 I started feeling a bit dehydrated and took some of the water, and at one point (maybe mile 15), drank A LOT of the water in one swig. Later, I found that I was pretty severely dehydrated (but nothing a pot of coffee wouldn’t fix!). 17.03 miles in 2:35:25 (9:08 min/mile pace).
That’s it for the week. 53.26 miles. Nothing to sneeze at. It was another tough week. Three weeks left before tapering…
Next Races September 21: Hudepohl 14k October 20: Columbus Marathon
This is the tenth week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again. I’m keeping with the Star Wars theme for calling out the weeks, but plot twist: the 11 mile + 12 mile + 20 mile runs struck back before a new month!
Monday: 7 miles + 6 strides. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next door AND crossed over to the other subdivision by running on the gutters for the connector (see last week’s ‘Mind the Gap’ for a better explanation). It was a little cooler this morning and some light rain started about halfway through. Overall, 8.01 miles in 1:10:13 (8:46 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: 11 miles with 7 at M pace. Ran in the park and the neighborhoods next to it (which are soon to be connected). Warmed up slow, but held it to an average of 8:14 min/mile pace during the M pace portion – the goal range is 7:50 – 8:15, so given the heat, it’s all good. Overall, 11 miles in 1:34:46 (8:37 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 12 miles. Ran this at East Fork to get my hills on. It was a foggy warm morning, but mostly uneventful except the moron that lives in a city-sized lot and can’t be bothered to control his dog. 12.26 miles in 1:52:42 (9:12 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 5 mile recovery. What a recovery this was! It was in the mid-50s outside, so I wasn’t an overly sweaty mess when I was done. I ended up starting this from the other side of the park because they sealed the rear parking lot where I normally park. That being said, I didn’t even go all the way around the park because I was unsure if I could cross the driveway to that lot. Glad they’re taking care of the place, though, and this wasn’t any sort of an inconvenience. 5.3 miles in 47:07 (8:53 min/mile pace).
Friday: 20 miles. The fake fall from yesterday didn’t last… at all. The run was hot and sticky, not as bad as some of the others, but not good, either. Stayed in the park and the subdivision next to it, having to make a pitstop about 5 miles in. Fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gel at 7 and 13.5 miles, hydrated with water and Gatorade Endurance Lemon-lime. 20 miles in 3:01:27 (9:04 min/mile pace, although I fast-finished the last mile with an 8:34 mile split).
That’s it for the week and the month. The week finished at a tough 56.6 miles, which is the highest week of the plan. The month finished at 230 miles, most of which were run in tough heat.
