Every Run is a Great Run!

Day off work today with lots to do so got the whole run in this morning. Went 7 miles solo (ave pace 8:55) then joined Kim for 5. Legs not particularly sore but they still felt a bit weary and Monday-ish. 

Ave pace 9:32. 

AM: Dang, forgot to make use of the Save as Draft button and lost my first write up after some fat-fingering so now I'll do the quick version. Plan today was for 2x3.75 miles at HMP to MP with .5 mile rest in the middle. I've learned I just can't hit the kind of paces in the early AM hours that I used to hit back in the winter/early-spring when I used to run before lunch. So main goal today was just to finish the workout without quiting, allow myself a wide pace range (6:20-7:00) and get good and tired by the end. I was successful in meeting these goals so I consider the workout a success. Sure I'd love to be 15-45 seconds faster per mile but it wasn't that kind of day today. It felt hard enough so I would think I should still reap the desired benefits. Started at the 3 mile point of the SF 1/2 marathon route and followed the 1/2 marathon course. This is the hilly section of the race route so my splits are all over the place.

Splits for first 3.75 miles: 6:45 (hill in the middle), 6:29 (slightly downhill), 6:55 (uphill at the end), ??? (not sure on time, pace was 7:11, mostly all uphill).

Ave pace: 6:49

Splits for 2nd 3.75 miles: 6:23 (downhill), 6:38 (mostly flat), 7:00 (slightly uphill, got lazy on this one), 6:27 (downhill & flat).

Ave pace: 6:38

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike and core workout.

RHR 49

AM: After a couple mile warmup I helped pace Kim on a 4 mile tempo run to serve as a tune up for Hobble Creek. I say "helped pace" her but she really doesn't need my help much anymore, I spend most of the time just trying to keep her from getting too far out in front of me so that I can record accurate splits on the watch. Coach Tom decided not to have any particular pace goal today but to just let Kim run whatever felt good. We ended up averaging 7:55 for the 4 miles which I thought was pretty dang good considering that it was a net uphill run with all but the last mile being on the uphill side and into the wind. At least we were fortunate today the wind wasn't too bad.

Mile splits were 8:05, 8:07, 7:56, 7:28.

Ave pace for the entire 7.25 miles probably around 8:55. I'm thinking the purple haired duo of Kim and Jody will run Hobble in the 1:40 to 1:45 range but with a real good chance of running under 1:40.

PM:  Just over 4 more miles at solo at work. Ave pace 8:50.

RHR 46

AM: Ran 5.1 mile river bottoms loop with Kim. We also ran into Sarah C right after we started and she was able to join us for the rest of the run. Feeling pretty good today except I tripped on a stupid wire or something coming up Heartbreak and it was all I could do to keep from landing on my face. Even so I landed awkwardly and very ungracefully, and I just hope I haven't aggravated my left hamstring which is prone to giving me grief at the slightest provocation.

Ave pace around 9:20.

Late AM: Decided to give my legs a bit of a break and do some crosstraining instead of running. Did 22 minutes on the bike and 20 minutes on the elliptical. My legs actually felt really good afterward and I was able to have a really good stretch so I think I did the right thing.

RHR 47 

Ran just over 3 miles solo this morning then couple more with Kim. This will be all the running for today since Hobble 1/2 is tomorrow. I seem to have survived the wire-tripping incident yesterday without any serious setbacks. Thanks to Kim for working my hamstring over a bit last night. I also sat in the ice-tub for 15 minutes. My legs still don't feel quite like I'd like them to feel the day before a race, but then again at this point in the peak phase of marathon training cycle and with no taper this week I wasn't expecting much better.

Per Ian's suggestion the #1 goal of the race tomorrow is to have FUN!. In other words I hope to have a GOOD TIME! :) Best of luck to everyone racing tomorrow!

Ave pace 9:20. 

Well I stayed true to my goal of running the 1st half of the race conservative, then the plan was to push the last half if I was feeling juiced. Turns out I didn't have a lot of juice today, but for a non-tapered race, and if I look at this as just a marathon training workout and not a race, then I had a pretty decent day and had great training run for SGM. Not exactly sure on official time or placing so I'll update that later if necessary.

This is also a big PR for this race (haven't run it for 2 years however) and close to PR for 1/2 marathon, although this course is much faster than any of the other 1/2 marathons I've done this year so I still consider Painter's and Strider's to be my best overall performances. I think I like cold weather races, these races that end with the sun beating down and getting into the 70's aren't my favorite. But I guess SGM will probably be that way so I need the training. Also I sure wish I could get over all the lingering aches/pains that have plagued me all summer (mainly lower abs and groin). I'm really hoping with a good taper for SGM I'll be more race ready come race day.

Kim and I got on the 1st bus up and had a good chat with the racers we were sitting by. I was a little suprised the guy I was sitting by knew who we were and knew our names. Turns out the guy was Jason Riding from SF who confessed that he and his wife are both FRB lurkers so that's how they knew us. He had also run Heart of Holladay and we had seen each other there. SO RIDING'S IF YOU ARE READING THIS THEN GET ON THE BLOG ALREADY!!

I started the race with Paul and Nate. We were pretty good at keeping the pace we had planned (6:15-6:20?) for the first 6 miles but the garmins were all whacked out and some of the mile markers were suspect so I'm not sure. About the 1/2 way point Paul backed off a bit and I went with Nate for a while but he was feeling pretty good and was in more of racing mode than I so he left me in the dust shortly thereafter.

Nate had a killer race and set a PR beating me by over a minute and looking good for sub-3 at SGM despite having had training woes due to lots of travel as of late. Paul also finished strong and had a PR and continued his streak of victories over Josse but I think it was pretty close today. Unfortunately (if I remember correctly, please correct me if I'm wrong Paul!) Paul did not keep up his streak of beating Hal Amos as Hal squeaked by him today. But overall a great effort for those guys.

Also directly in front of me the whole race was Marcie J and Wildbull. I tried to catch the Bull but he just had more than I did today on that last mile. Marcie would have beat me too if not for the VPB around mile 9. She did pass me with about 1/2 mile to go but I managed to drum of bit of kick the last quarter and pass her back to keep my chick count under 5(?? I think ??). So I ended up finishing sandwitched between the fine SG running dynamos Bill and Marcie.

Here are my splits, I was on manual lap mode today since I knew the garmin would likely give me trouble down the canyon. Some of these look pretty fishy so I think the mile markers were messed up around miles 7 and 8. Also I forgot to push lap at mile 13 as I was too focused on trying to pass Marcie.

1 - 6:24 (too many slower runners crowding the start line!)

2 - 6:07

3 - 6:21

4 - 6:01

5 - 6:22

6 - 6:22

7 - 6:26

8 - 5:53 (this has to be wrong)

9 - 6:29

10 - 6:40

11 - 6:40

12 - 6:57 (I wimped out but at least it was under 7)

13.1 - 7:21 (6:31 pace)

Good to see and chat with all the bloggers after the race. I won't try to name anyone as I'll probably forget somebody. It was fun to watch the purple hairs Kim and Jody come in. They both had great times, Kim came in just under 1:43 and Jody was a minute or 2 earlier. I wish Kim would have been able to be further up in the pack at the start as I think she lost nearly a minute getting to the start line and dodging around the slower runners. But still a super effort and good for a flower and special Top 100 finisher necklace. Good job everyone!