ETA I tried Ace's advice of alternating electrolyte tabs and GU (roctane rocks!). I had no stomach upset at all. I drank throughout the entire run per Jimmy's suggestion (and confirmed by others) , and felt great.

Nice 20s Shik. It's nice to know I'm good for something every now and then. Doc- you are going to rock 3:08 easy.

I believe my goal time of 3:08 is definitely realistic.

When's your marathon? What are you using for indicators? How many sharps in the key of E major? --Jimmy

Thanks for the tip and the luck Ace. I'll see if it holds a charge on my next run. If not, I'll pursue the reset.

Mostly MAF paced run this morning with 7 or 8 striders. 6.1 miles 1:00:35 avg hr: 130 (MAF-8) high hr: 165 temp/dp: 36/34

Nice tempo run Jimmy. So, it sounds like those were perfect mock-marathon conditions...your pace, the crowd, the weaving. The only thing missing from the real race experience is the medal and one of the kids telling you that you are old.

They were ALL thinking that. I felt like yelling "role models coming by." Thanks, Ace. --Jimmy

My kids are still young enough that they say exactly what they are thinking. Last week my 7-year old daughter asked me, "Daddy, if you and Mommy are both 35, why do you look so old and she looks so young?". I did not really have a good answer, but think I mumbled something about expensive moisturizers. To "share the wealth", my daughter recently saw a picture of my wife from high school and went on and on about how she was so much prettier when she was 18.

Created a new interval game today. It's called "VanJimmies." A homage to Van Aaken intervals. Here's the game: 2 hour run. length of speed interval= 1/10th of a mile (.1 mi) (aprox 161 meters) 1) Warm-up 30 minutes starting out about MAF -30 and getting to MAF-10 by then end of 30 minutes. (My MAF=141, MAF-10 =131) 2) Gradually pick up speed for .03 mi, press your LAP button as the number turns (e.g. mile 2.34 to 2.35) 3) Do a .1 mile burst of speed between your PR 5k pace and your PR marathon pace. (41-47 seconds for me). Don't let your HR go over 90% MHR. Once you've gone .1 of a mile press the LAP button. 4) Slow to a pace that gets your HR down to MAF-10 as quickly as possible, NO WALKING. Keep your HR within a few beats of MAF-10 (no higher than MAF-8, you should be seeing MAF-10) Then wait until your average HR for the recovery lap gets to your MAF (141 for me). Immediately repeat steps 2-4. Keep repeating steps 2-4 until you hit exactly 2 hours for the entire run. The objective is to get as many .1 intervals as you can, and cover as much distance as you can in the 2 hours (including warm-up). here's what my my VanJimmies looked like today: 66º/60% dp 50º overcast bike trail Vanjimmies W-UP 12:31 112 12:20 121 5:22 128 0:45 157 2:46 141 0:46 158 1:51 141 0:45 163 4:26 141 0:43 164 4:15 141 0:41 164 4:45 141 0:43 162 4:48 141 0:46 160 4:55 141 0:45 161 5:13 141 0:46 164 4:59 141 0:50 163 5:19 141 0:49 161 5:26 141 0:45 162 5:24 141 0:45 161 4:55 141 0:48 156 3:58 141 0:44 161 3:34 141 0:45 161 5:17 141 0:44 165 3:48 141 0:44 161 18x .1 mi speed intervals 10.2 miles covered 11:31 average pace CoolDown 1 Mile walk 20:40 I felt fine at the end of the run. Not too much impact. Never reached oxygen debt. The highest HR I reached was 178 (90% MHR) at the end of an interval, most of the time it was 175-176. The recovery laps were very slow, some faster than others. I had fun. Just want to sharpen a bit without getting overtired. --Jimmy