Congrats again to Tramps, PDR, and WRFB on yesterday's excellent race results. Y'all did us proud! Today was the third 20 miler of this training go-around. The target was 9:05 min/mile. But mostly I tried to work on my mental approach which I have to admit is (and always has been) my biggest obstacle. I may post a seperate thread sometime asking for guidance on the Mental game of marathoning. Other than the 1st mile, which is always my slowest, every mile was under the target. Overall 20.20 miles in 2:58:01 for an 8:48 min/mile average. I can't say it was particularly easy, but I was able to pick it up the last 5 miles. 12 seconds over MP for 20 miles sounds pretty good to me. Bill

I have a question to ask of those wiser and more experienced runners: I'm training for a half on May 17th. On the training plan I'm following (a local sports medicine clinic, kind of similar to Higdon's) had the long run up to 8 miles, with the easy runs during the week 6 miles. The schedule for this past Saturday only called for a long run of 6 miles. I understand that you don't want to get injured by adding too many miles too quickly, but shouldn't we still be building slowly instead of cutting back? The race is still several weeks off. Thanks for any advice you can give.

Jlynne, perhaps this is a cutback week. In many programs every 3rd or 4th week has a reduction of mileage. This "cutback" week is followed by the continuation of gradual mileage increases. Without seeing your schedule, this is just speculation. Do you know the schedule for the following weeks? BTW...nice run yesterday and this morning.

Good morning gang! I am so excited for Tramps this morning...CONGRATS! Can't wait to meet you in Boston in 2010 .....Great running by the Beers also and anyone else I've missed. Tramps must have sent some of that perfect weather this way, it was absolutely ideal for running here today. 20.04 miles of hills @ 8:58 pace with the last 3 miles below MP/BQ pace. I felt great after...not really tired. Now to get out there & enjoy some outdoor yard work on a fabulous day.

Good Morning! Congratulations to Tramps, PDR and WRFB!! Extra congratulatoins to Jlynne!! Out for 12 miles this morning. I took a little different route which was much hillier and I was feeling that by mile 11 and took a walk break. Overall 11:25 avg. pace and 156 avg. HR. I think I found a hill that I can do hill repeats on this week. How exactly to I go about doing those? Happy Sunday everyone!

Bill, if you were able to pick it up over the final five miles, then that should be a good indication to you that you are conditioned, but that mental issues can be an impediment. A woman at the club told me this morning that the guy she was running with told her, "we'll be doing about 8:50's; you don't even have to bother looking at your watch." So she didn't. Turned out later she had run the whole distance at 8:15's. She said, "if I had looked at my watch and seen an 8:15, I would have thought I was going too fast and slowed down." So much of what we do is mental. Yes jlynne, it seems like that plan was designed to keep people from getting hurt, so they have put a stepback week in there. Keep in mind that when someone creates one of these universal plans for all runners in a group, it can't possibly be right for everyone, but it may make sense to be on the slightly conservative side. Run as you feel. I want to be able to run 13-14 mile wave runs this fall, with HMP and MP miles alternating with easy miles. My former "easy" pace was 8:50 to 9:20. I often run way slower than that now, so my goal is to be able to run 13 miles at easy pace, in about 2 hours. Today I ran 10 miles at 9:10 pace, which is a good first step. I would have gone longer but felt a bit lightheaded in the 10th mile so ended it at ten. Lightheaded is not a good sign for me. Tramps and the Beers, you get exactly one week to bathe in the glow of success and then it's back at it! Well done. Spareribs

Congratulations to Tramps and the Beers. Happy for all of you for having such a great race. Peter: What did you think of the UNC game yesterday? Ty Lawson showed great courage playing in what was obviously great pain. Their game next week against Gonzaga should be a good one. Duke was lucky to win. I don't see them getting by Villanova. CNY: I knew that about Shea Ralph. I'm sure she fits in quite well on Geno's staff. When I am done posting here I am going to watch their game against Vermont. I doubt it will be much of a game. Unlike the number one's in the men's game, there will be no lack of focus for UCONN! I was able to get in my 8 easy miles today before any rain came. It was windy though. My time was 1:19:07-9:54/mi. I ran 57 miles for the week which is a new PR for weekly mileage. Have a great day everyone, Bruce

Breger – awesome! I can barely imagine running that many MP miles in a training run. I think I have just set my MP too fast for my current fitness, but I hope to catch up to it by fall. Nice 20-miler for you, too, Peter. Jlynne – congrats to your DS and wife. We’ll expect baby pictures, you know. Fussyrunner – congratulations on your mileage PR! Spareribs – when you start those wave runs, remember to use your current HMP…. Walt – I like your wave run version – looks like a good workout, but fun. 20.15 miles for me today, first 10 miles at a comfortable pace, then 7 miles at BQMP, then 3.15 miles at a recovery pace. Unfortunately I had serious digestive difficulties that caused a ridiculous number of stops during the run. I was reminded today of Holly’s 2nd Rule of Taper: Don’t Overeat the Day Before the Race (or any extra-long LR). Maybe this is not a problem for those with faster metabolisms, but for me, when I overeat the day before, not only do I feel logey and heavy, I suffer from frequent stop issues. There’s a fine line between proper fueling and over-eating. Our 5-month old Cairn terrier, Daisy, has learned how to push her way under the backyard fence. We’ve found her several times in the neighbors’ yards to either side, and just recently she found a way out the front to the street, so one of yesterday’s projects was to stake down the bottom of the chain link in several places where she was pushing through. Last night the weather was mild, so I let the dogs out to the backyard for an hour to play, but when I called them in at bedtime, only Dexter appeared. I walked around the yard, calling Daisy and shaking her biscuit tin, looking in each of the neighboring yards, but she did not come. DS and I walked up and down the street, then got in the car and spent nearly an hour driving slowly around the neighborhood, calling her name until we were hoarse, shining a flashlight out into the dark. Finally we drove home, DS in tears and me trying to be comforting. We walked in the door and there she was, having reappeared while we were gone. Needless to say, I spent another part of this afternoon securing our perimeter further.