RunningAHEAD - Topic: It's not a lot, but most of the hay is in the barn

BadDawg

posted: 10/14/2007 at 11:22 PM
modified: 10/14/2007 at 11:30 PM

Taper is my favorite word. With just under 600 miles year to date, I set out for my final pre-marathon long run this afternoon. I dropped my son off at his house, and headed for the course. The weather was really nice, I'm guessing mid 50's to low 60's with lots of cloud cover and a light breeze. On my normal long run course, I have an opportunity to refill my small water bottle about every seven miles but that would not be the case today. Instead of my usual 8 ounce bottle, I carried a 20 ounce bottle of water and figured that would hold me until I could grab a replacement when I looped past my Jeep at about mile 14. I have been having problems maintaining a suitable long run pace, so I made a conscious effort to start slowly on this unknown course. I plotted the course on RA, and the elevation looked pretty intimidating. The fact that I ran the hilly Applefest HM last weekend helped to keep my pace slow, and I would soon find that the hills of Manchester would also help me to slow down. I was working on turn by turn directions, like Mapquest gives you . I also had a pretty crappy map from the Marathon's website. The first half of the course had some challenging hills, some short and steep and some long gradual hills. I spent my walk breaks reading directions and checking the map for upcoming turns. I only had one very minor messup, so the first fourteen miles were pretty uneventful and I found myself picking up more Sport Beans and water and heading for the second half. I was still doing pretty well when some questionable directions caused me to miss a turn just before mile 20. I was suspicious of the route I was on, and finally found a local to confirm my suspicion. I figured the detour added about a mile to my run, which was tough to take. I got back on course and plodded along, finally making it back to the Jeep in 4:37:24. I called my sisters to let them know I was still alive, because their cell phones are the emergency contacts on my dog tag. I tore into the closest drive-thru, and ordered a McBurger, fries and shake. When I went to pay for them, the young woman said she upgraded my fries to medium as a meal deal and saved me a quarter. I said "you're very kind, thank you", but I was thinking "if you don't give me my food in about five seconds I'm going to bite you." Those fries tasted like God was working the fryolator. When I mapped out the course I took (including the detour), RA says I covered 27.85 miles at just under a ten minute pace. It won't make me an honorary Kenyan, but it does give me the feeling that I can complete the marathon in three weeks barring horrible conditions. Just gotta stay healthy for three more weeks, and put my low mileage training plan to the final test. http://runningahead.com/maps/33e0b71460924c78ba04e9b3ae67396c It's pretty cool clicking on the elevation button, it takes a while to pull up the data for 27+ miles. Not flat, not fast, it is USATF certified, but no monkey attacks.

E.J.
Greater Lowell Road Runners
Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

Chenille

posted: 10/15/2007 at 12:55 AM

Wow - not flat, no kidding Shocked

nice job

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away...(unkown)

• Go With The Flow
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Mandy Simpson

posted: 10/15/2007 at 3:40 AM

you ran 27.85 miles! wow. good luck for your marathon - not that you'll be needing luck after preparation like that!

Run To Win

#2867

posted: 10/15/2007 at 6:53 AM

Wow, nice work. I got lost on a 17 miler in Bangor while training for the San Antonio Marathon in 2004, and I wound up running about 28 miles. That was pretty rough. I am in a similar boat as you right now. I ran a 50k about a month ago, so I feel pretty confident about the Marine Corps Marathon in 2 weeks. I considered running Manchester the week after MCM, but decided that the trail race 7 weeks early was probably in my better interest. Had I known about Manchester before I registered for Marine Corps, I would have chosen to run that. Good luck! It should be a good time.

Run to Win
25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

Mississippi

posted: 10/15/2007 at 7:09 AM

Well, you did your long run, and those extra miles made those french fries taste all that much better! Big grin

Michelle

Wingz

Professional Noob

posted: 10/15/2007 at 7:48 AM

You sure there were no monkeys hanging around? I'd think with elevation changes like that they'd be tempted to move into some new, urban habitat... Wink

Sounds like you're ready to go for your marathon! Congrats, and good luck on the big day! There should be no doubt now that you can do this, right? Big grin

Roads were made for journeys...

perfesserr

Imminent Catastrophe

posted: 10/15/2007 at 8:26 AM

Quote from BadDawg on 10/14/2007 at 11:22 PM:

It won't make me an honorary Kenyan, but it does give me the feeling that I can complete the marathon in three weeks barring horrible conditions. ...

Three weeks? Nah, you can probably do it under 4 hours! Big grin

"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"

"To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain

"The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.

√ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015

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Chenille

posted: 10/15/2007 at 9:50 AM

Quote from perfesserr on 10/15/2007 at 8:26 AM:

Three weeks? Nah, you can probably do it under 4 hours!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away...(unkown)

• Go With The Flow
• Thyroid Support Group

zoom-zoom

rectumdamnnearkilledem

posted: 10/15/2007 at 10:17 AM

Ed, you scared the monkeys into submission! Wow, you are going to be amazing in your marathon! Big grin

k

Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.

~ Sarah Kay

BadDawg

posted: 10/15/2007 at 11:08 AM
modified: 10/15/2007 at 11:10 AM

Quote from Run To Win on 10/15/2007 at 6:53 AM:

Wow, nice work. I got lost on a 17 miler in Bangor while training for the San Antonio Marathon in 2004, and I wound up running about 28 miles. That was pretty rough.

Ouch. The key difference here is the scheduled distance, at my pace/effort it was REALLY demoralizing to add about a mile. I can't imagine having to cover about 11 miles more than planned, pretty rough sounds like an understatement.

Quote from Run To Win on 10/15/2007 at 6:53 AM:

I am in a similar boat as you right now. I ran a 50k about a month ago, so I feel pretty confident about the Marine Corps Marathon in 2 weeks. I considered running Manchester the week after MCM, but decided that the trail race 7 weeks early was probably in my better interest. Had I known about Manchester before I registered for Marine Corps, I would have chosen to run that.

Had I known about the elevation, I probably wouldn't have chosen Manchester as my first. I'm glad I didn't know though, because if I hadn't chosen Manchester I probably wouldn't have booked a marathon at all. My kids live with my ex in Manchester, so when I got an event email from active.com I said WTF and impulsively signed on. I'm really glad I did. I've heard absolutely wonderful things about MCM. Run with military precision. Who woulda thunked? It really does sound like quite the experience, I bet you are going to love it. Can't wait for your race report, best of luck to you.

Quote from Wingz on 10/15/2007 at 7:48 AM:

Sounds like you're ready to go for your marathon! Congrats, and good luck on the big day! There should be no doubt now that you can do this, right?

Well not nearly as much doubt, but being a bit of a worrier there will always be at least a little. I kept looking at the elevation map and my stomach would turn. I had to know whether it was a friendly monster lurking under the bed, or one that wanted to bite my legs off and hand them back to me. I did have two relatively minor events, which show that no matter how well you prepare "life is what happens while you are busy making other plans". At about mile 18 I was under attack by a number of cars going WAY too fast for the road I was on. I was running on the very left edge of the road so I could see (and dodge) oncoming traffic. With my point of focus lengthened, I didn't see a golf ball sized piece of gravel in the road. It was nice and pointy, so when I stomped on it with the ball of my right foot the pain shot through my foot like I wasn't wearing shoes. Shortly after shaking off the effects of that damned piece of gravel, I turned onto the campus of Saint Anselm's College. I came upon a locked gate that closed off a short stretch of the course. I chose to go through a narrow opening to the left, between the gatepost and several monstrous chunks of granite put there to keep cars from going around. I didn't slow down enough, and the sudden changes of direction wrenched my left knee. Lesson learned, when you've been running 20 miles ANY sudden change of direction is hazardous and not to be trifled with. These are minor concerns in the grand scheme, at the very least I've eliminated the stomach-turning doubt by running the actual course. I can deal with the nagging doubt. Bring it on. Smile

E.J.
Greater Lowell Road Runners
Cry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.

trentman359

posted: 10/15/2007 at 6:27 PM

don't feel like s*%# on the big day. Wink

It's not a lot, but most of the hay is in the barn (Read 891 times)