I met my RP this morning for our first pace run of the training cycle. 1½ miles warmup (our meeting point was 1 mile from my house), 3 miles at a target of 8:35, then 1½ miles cool down.  We knew the course would end with a half mile of running uphill but were determined, at the outset, to run the 8:35 target pace as an average. The heat was not our our side and our first mile was 8:34.85. The second mile was a mix of gentle uphill and downhill and we lagged a bit on the uphill resulting in a time of 8:34.94. Thus with one mile left, the second part of it uphill, we had not banked any time. We picked up the pace a bit for the first half of the third mile, running it at an 8:30 pace, so we were 5 seconds ahead as we turned to go up the hill. It was tough. I rarely run that hill at a sub-9:00 pace and certainly not in such weather, but the game was afoot. My watch showed a new high heart rate of 185, but I was pretty sure that was cadence lock (later confirmed, though there were credible HR readings in the mid 170s). As we turned off the hill at the end of mile three my watch beeped and showed a time of 8:36.0. Yes, it was one second off target, but we were elated.

Back on the horse for 4 miles. Kind of stiff and very slow, but overall not too bad for the first run post-marathon.

8.7, two loops of accotink plus a little.  Did developed assorted cranky spots on the right leg after 7 but spot that turned extreme burning after Tuesday’s run was perfectly fine the whole way.

will do 30 mins of pool mix this afternoon

10 this morning with four at MP which felt like HMP effort-wise, hopefully just due to the humidity (95%). Decided to go a bit longer today as my usual Saturday long run may get shortened or delayed to Sunday.

Started a little earlier so I could squeeze it in before work and was hoping to catch a glimpse of the eclipse as well but no dice...too many trees blocking the horizon on my route.

Fred - nice job on your run!

Running rest day, will do strength training later. Heard on the radio yesterday that the parent hopsital is requiring all employees to be vaccinated by September 1. There will be some sort of opt out for medical or religious reasons. I haven't seen if it also applies to us. Now I just hope the care center where MIL is will make it mandatory. They had a sign in the lobby that 92% of residents and 52% of staff were fully vaccinated. I was less than pleased to see that, even more so when I had my mask scrutinized. I'm fully vaccinated, wearing a "medical style" plus cloth mask, worry about the damn unvaxxed employees, not the quality of my mask. If you want it to be health care grade, then just give one to every visitor so you control the quality.

ETA, in the tiem it took to type this, got an e-mail that we are following the September 1 deadline.

 Now I just hope the care center where MIL is will make it mandatory. They had a sign in the lobby that 92% of residents and 52% of staff were fully vaccinated.

WTF? This is pretty outrageous. When I was in FL after my dad died, I went with my mom to pick up his stuff at the facility he had been at. A staff member comes out carrying a box of his things, with her nose sticking out of her mask. I was so furious to see that; I didn't want to make a scene with my mom there but I wanted to say "so are you the one who killed my dad?"

 

WTF? This is pretty outrageous. When I was in FL after my dad died, I went with my mom to pick up his stuff at the facility he had been at. A staff member comes out carrying a box of his things, with her nose sticking out of her mask. I was so furious to see that; I didn't want to make a scene with my mom there but I wanted to say "so are you the one who killed my dad?"

Believe me, I understand. The receptionist who was scrutinizing my mask had her nose hanging out. Their policy is supposed to be anyone coming for the hospital has a 2 week quarantine. It isn't enforced. Staff were supposed to wear a N-95, face shield, gloves & gown when entering MIL's room. An aide came in the room dicknosing in a procedure mask. Basically, DH and I are going through the motions of wearing PPE because staff working with the most vulernable population can't be bothered to get a GD shot or two.

I suspect that with the 2 big teaching hospitals making their annoucement yesterday, it starts filtering to the nursing homes.

I'm hoping to run a marathon in the fall, likely the Detroit Free Press marathon in Oct. Instead of my usual tactic of making up my own training plan as I go, I'm thinking of following a real training plan this time. I've heard of many but would like to hear what others here have used, had success with or just thought was a good plan.

This will be my 5th marathon, if I get there, and my PR was my last marathon, in Oct 2018, at 3:28:45, give or take a few seconds. I'm hoping for a similar pace although based on recent attempts to hold MP I'm not feeling real confident. Anyway, any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

Awesome!! I know you've done it a few times, but that's a really good race and I recommend it to everyone. And it can be fast; I miss planning races without even having to think about the elevation profile.

If you have not done a structured training plan before, I think either of the old standbys Hansons or Pfitz will work. I personally felt Pfitz was a bit more aggressive and effective plan than Hansons, but I'm sure plenty of people will tell you the opposite. Pfitz gives you a choice of 12 or 18 weeks, and 55 or 70mpw peak. I assume you'll want the 18/55. I think based on your history 70mpw would be too much, and if you haven't had the structure, you should probably jump into it ASAP - the race is probably in about 18 weeks?

 

every time I see the title of today's thread all I see is "TurdDailies..."

Same.