Yesterday I did something I haven't been coerced to do since early December '06 --- when I had some ... complications with my driving qualifications. I did an interval workout right in my neighborhood. After a 1.5-mile warm up around the 'hood, I tackled 6 X 800. Sans the Forerunner, I accomplished this by running down the street to a point that very nearly marks a quarter mile (past my house) and then running back. I didn't concern myself too much with finish times --- mainly because I wasn't certain how exact the distance was --- but rather I focused on effort. Thus each interval was run at a pace that felt harder than my most recent 5k pace, with the final 800 being an exception in that I ran it fiercely faster. Then following a one-mile cool down I had 5.5 for the day.

The 14 mile run scheduled tonight never stood a chance of getting off the ground. I intended to leave work at the normal time of 4:30, but I wanted to head straight to the NCR Trail to conserve as much light as possible, while leaving time to get homework done in the evening. Unfortunately, at 4:25pm, I was sucked into two phone conversations at my desk as well as shooting emails in all different directions. I also had to book a major journal entry to the general ledger of a facility that I prepare financial statements for, and had been waiting all day to get information from the facility to make this happen. Of course, the info arrived in my inbox (after hours of prodding) at 4:33pm. This journal entry absolutely had to be posted before leaving, no excuses. So, I quickly punched the information into an Xcel spreadsheet, uploaded the file to the accounting software, and hit the "RUN" button to create the journal entry. Normally a file might sit in queue for about 30 seconds. This one sat in queue for 35 minutes and 46 seconds. I finally made it down to the gym to change at about 5:30 pm, determined to make this happen. At this point, I noticed no Forerunner in my gym bag. I swore to myself, and decided to man up and do this without it. Besides, I had an old watch with a broken band in my glove box. I quickly left the building, and made the ~7 minute drive to the NCR Trail. I grabbed the watch from the glove box, and discovered (of course) that the battery had died!!! At this point, I'm fuming. Granted, there were no near death experiences, but the day was still turning out to be horrible. One of the reasons I like getting to work at 7:30 and leaving at 4:30 (as opposed to arriving later and leaving at 5-6pm) is that it cuts down on my commuting time. Therefore, what would have been a 15 minute drive home if I had left at 4:30pm turned into 30 minutes of sitting in traffic. By the time I strap on the Forerunner and sprint out the door, it's 6:30pm. The NCR Trail is out by this point, due to time constraints. I decided to run at Goucher instead. And let me tell you this... I've had some miserable runs this year, mainly due to hot weather. The weather tonight was perfect, but I can't remember feeling this bad. I'd like to chalk it all up to psychosomatic symptoms, but my heel is also starting to hurt on a more round-the-clock basis. I knew I jinxed myself earlier this year by bragging that plantar fascitis was the one overuse injury I've never had. I made it seven miles tonight before needing to stop, my stomach in knots. I tried a bit of GU, but that was little help. I made it three more miles before calling it a night. The same ol' 10 mile run I've done countless times this year. It's 11:15pm, and I just finished my homework about 10 minutes ago. By the time I give Molly her night walk and shave (yes, I do that at night), I could be in bed comfortably by midnight. Should be fun getting up at 5:30a (need to be at work early) just to be able to go to class after work until ~8:30. Good choices I've made. Of course, I've brought it all on myself. Tell your kids not to major in liberal arts, no matter what the guidance counselors say about "finding something you're interested in." Chances of me running the marathon probably fell from 80% to 55% as of right now. We'll see how I feel after the race Sunday. I'm hoping the short bit of time off after the Half will help to recharge my batteries a bit. Otherwise, I think I may need to give myself a longer "break."

Hmm...I think I'll have to disagree with you DR. I think it's all a matter of training. You were building your long run mileage up in November and weren't accustomed to that distance (or maybe I'm wrong?). Rick is very nearly at that level right now as he says he's run multiple 10+ mile runs recently. Believe it or not, during the last two weeks, as I've boosted my mileage into the mid-40's/wk, I've had absolutely no soreless after my respective 18.5 and 22 mile long runs. Just a little tired the rest of the day but then feeling great the next day. I ran a hard 7 mile tempo on Monday, 7 easy miles on Tuesday, 5 miles with 6 long hills yesterday and then a 3.5 mile race at unit PT this morning. So long story short, I see no reason you can't run a 14 mile run the week before a race. Mileage will probably be about 47 this week (wish I could say it was my 8 day mileage which will be nearly 70). I never realized how much simply doing mileage - even slow mileage - can do for speed and endurance...wish I'd been half this dedicated in high school. Would've been a much better XC runner...

Adubb- pretty much any training plan recommends tapering in the days or week leading up to a race. So it's not a particularly sound tactic for someone to go out and run the longest run of their life shortly before a race (even if the race distance isn't entirely related to their longterm goal). Of course none of that matters much if the person isn't deeply invested in the "unrelated" event. I'm just of mind to treat every race with great consequence. And what's the secret to your magically soreness-free legs? Let's see how they feel after that trail marathon pre-marathon run ... Yesterday I had a narrowly successful tempo run. Within a 6-mile run (1.5-mile warm up, 0.5-mile cool down), I did a fast 4-mile tempo with a goal or reaping a sub-7:00/mi average pace. Doing the math in my head, I figured out that I'd have to beat 27:56 to satisfy my goal (6:59 X 4 ... nah, too much addition required. 7:00 X 4 = 28:00 - 0:04 = 27:56). Guess what time I finished the four-mile segment in? It was 27:55! Therefore the average pace for the tempo was 6:59/mi.

I recommend running in grass and having new shoes. Other than that, don't race too often. And don't do anything abnormal like never do jump rope and then pick it up suddenly and do 400 reps on your first day. I ran 11 miles yesterday. I took two breathers during the run. I didn't really have to take them, but I was running with Phil and he likes to break things up a bit. I think it helped keep me better able to complete 11 miles, though, so it was probably a wise decision and something I should consider doing more often. I think that's my longest run in 2 years if I consider it one run. I've been losing weight and I'm almost near my first goal weight. This means I should start incorporating more than just mileage, because my historical times at this particular weight are much faster than I think I could run today. I have about 8 more pounds to lose to hit that goal and then I'll kick myself in the rear with more tempos, hills, and intervals. I don't think I have the consistent mileage yet to justify doing many hard workouts. Phil has been good about getting me into the gym. He wants to go a couple of times a week and we go at my apartment's facility, so my cross training has improved. Phil wants to get back into good running shape, but he's a little picky about races and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get him to register for one.

Think you'll break 19:00 tomorrow, Perry?

Got in 24.2 miles yesterday and my pace was a full 43 seconds faster per mile than last week's 22 miler. I feel pretty awesome about that. I still only ran a 8:39 pace, but I'm confident that if I'd really wanted to, I couldv'e ran two more miles and broken my marathon PR. I finished in 3:29 and my PR is 3:53 I think so I would easily have been in the 3:40's.