I sure could tell this morning that I ate a lot of junk food and drank too much last night (even if it was sprite).  We had a little super bowl party at Rhetts house and there was a lot of food and not so good for you food.  Anyhow, I was a little less energized for my run this morning.  My legs felt good, but cardio wise I was not as good as some of my runs last week.  I took it easy on the run and am saving my interval run for Wednesday.

AP:  8:25

I have discovered that I run much faster when I am wearing shorts vs. running pants.  Not sure why, but my legs feel much better when I am wearing shorts.  That being said, I had a nice run this morning and the legs felt more energized than they did yesterday.  Tomorrow will be a longer run with intervals.

AP:  7:55

I had a terrible day on Tuesday.  One of the worst days I have had in a long time.  I didn't feel like eating and basically did my run on Tuesday and at nothing until 6 that night.  Even when I ate, I didn't feel like eating much so I only ate a little.  Lets just say it really hurt me on this run.  I tried to do intervals and was able to do about 5 miles worth of intervals, but after that I was spent and just ran in at a moderate pace.  I guess food is pretty important.

Just a normal run with some 30 second tempo bursts about every mile.

I had a great run this morning with Rhett.  It was honestly almost perfect weather and overall a great run.  We ran the first 15 miles together and had an AP of about 8-8:10 min/mile.  At mile 15 Rhett took off at his marathon pace and I stayed behind at my marathon pace.  I took a 5 hour energy at mile 17 and about a mile later I felt like I had wings.  I was able to run a couple of my miles at 7:18 and 7:30 and all the miles were at or below 7:40.  I was really happy with the run and it was a huge confidence builder for my upcoming marathon.

AP:  7:58

20 minutes on the stationary bike and 7.3 miles on the TM at 7.0 or 8:34/mile.

I started out on my run and about 100 yards into it my groin started to tighten up.  I stopped and stretched and started off again.  I had to do that a few more times during my run so I tried to take it easier today and I did a little less distance.  My IT band also seemed to be tight, but it never hurt.  It just seemed tighter than usual.  I am being very cautious right now with everything because I am less than 3 weeks out from my race and I think at this point being healthy is much more important than running a lot of miles.  I know Rhett would agree!

AP:  Somewhere between 8:05 and 8:10 but I didn't keep a close eye on it.

I was very tired this morning.  I felt terrible.  Then I ran...  It was like everything changed and all of a sudden my legs felt great and my body felt great.  I thought it was going to be a slow run, but after the first mile I realized I was running around 8 min/mile and I felt like I was a turtle.  I increased the speed and still felt like I was not pushing too hard.  Ended up having a really nice run.

AP:  7:42

I had a great interval run this morning.  It is my last really hard run until my race on the 28th.  I tried to push pretty hard and see what I could do.  I did 1/2 mile intervals with 1/2 mile recovery, but the recovery was still at my MP or faster.  1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown.  I just felt so good and even at MP I felt like I was not pushing too hard until I hit about mile 7.  I was able to do most of my interval miles at 7:00 pace with two of them at 6:58.  I was really encouraged by the run and it was a confidence booster for my upcoming race!

AP:  7:22 for the full 10 miles.

Nice recovery run this morning.  I felt like I was just running at a comfortable pace and realized I was running at a 7:46 pace so I tried to slow down and logged the same pace for the next mile.  From there I made a real effort to slow down!  It was a little windy, but not too bad at all.

AP:  8:00

This was my last long run before the marathon.  I had a really good run with an AP of 7:50 and felt really good until mile 18 and the achillies got a little sore. 

Tried a TM run, but the achillies was still a little tight so I stopped at mile 1 and went on the bike for 20 minutes.

Had a nice run with Rhett.

Another easy run.  Started the taper this week so my mileage will do down and my speed will decrease.

30 minutes on the stationary bike after a day in class.

I am in San Diego for a dental conference so I was able to run in San Diego this morning.  I ran a little too fast, but the legs felt fresh from taking the day off yesterday.

AP:  7:51

Today a went to a park in San Diego and did a run in the park and a small island by the park.  I was just trying to get the last semi long run done with no injuries.  My legs felt good and everything went well.  I tried to keep the pace around 8:10.  Some miles were a little faster than that, but I was able to keep the overall pace right around there.  Weather was nice and scenery was also nice.

AP:  8:09

5 mile TM run at AP 8:27

It's Race Week!  This week is nice and easy run with MP short intervals.  I did 5 miles with a MP burst every mile and ran at that pace for about .15 mile or about 1 minute. 

4 miles with MP bursts every mile for .25 miles. 

2 mile run with 1/2 mile at mp and 1/2 easy.  Legs are feeling really good!

easy run.

easy run

After months of training and hard work the day of my race finally came.  For a week and a half I had been watching the weather to see what the weather would be like for the race.  One day it would look excellent and the next it would look a little worse.  This happened until race day.  Well, the end result was a 10-15 mph headwind for most of the race.  I can handle most weather, but wind drives me crazy.  The start of the race was not too bad, but by the end of the race the headwind became stronger.  It was frustrating, but I just pushed through.

I felt great for most of the race.  I started a little too fast for the first mile, but I quickly realized that and slowed things down and settled into a comfortable pace.  About mile 5 the one major hill started and a slowed down so I would not waste energy pushing hard up a hill.  I managed the hill well and felt great.  At 1:41 I passed the 13.1 mile mark and I was half way done.  My legs felt really good at this point and my body was really feeling good.  I continued feeling really good until about mile 19.  At mile 19 I knew my body was starting to get a little tired.  I slammed a gu and knew that I had to make it to mile 21 and at that point I would take a 5 hour energy and ride that to the finish.  Well, 21 came and I took the 5 hour energy.  By this point I still felt fairly good, but my legs were feeling it now.  I just settled in and took it a mile at a time.  As I was finishing mile 23 the 3:25 pacer came up behind me and I decided I was just going to settle in with him.  I stayed with him until mile 25.5, but at that point my legs felt like they were going to cramp if I tried to push too hard so I slowed down a little and let him pass me.  I thought it would be better to slow and finish strong then to cramp and have to stop right before the finish.  I pushed until I could see the finish line.  When I saw the finish line I picked up the pace a little more and I was able to sprint the last 100 yards to the finish. 

I was happy with my time considering the weather.  The wind made things really difficult and it seemed to get stronger as the race progressed.  The race