Far Too Long, But Hey

So what is your race day plan? How fast do you go out for a 39.3 mile race? 7:30's could be deadly later on...

Canada Mike made a very good point in his last comment. For the last week I have been running mostly at “reasonably easy” effort, and felt great about the way my times just kept dropping and dropping. But 39.3 miles is an awfully long distance, and to set off at that pace, even if it feels easy enough, would have serious repercussions during the second half of the race. It will be hard enough to keep running for such a long time even without a suicidal pacing strategy.

The race itself is on Sunday, 1 April, exactly 7 days from now. Time has flown, and I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I remember what I’m about to do. I sometimes regret that I chose to run an ultra rather than a marathon. I feel in great form, and suspect I would be able to break 3:10, but of course there is a difference between suspecting it and actually doing it. I don’t know what that ultra will do to my fitness. I would like to run a strong half marathon 5 weeks later, but that would require sufficient recovery.

This is the first time ever that I can feel the effects of a taper on my body. Previous attempts just left me frustrated at the low mileage, and I never felt more rested or stronger. This time it’s different. I feel better and faster on a daily basis, and rather than being frustrated I’m very much looking forward to the race. I guess reducing the mileage from 85 to 50 miles has more of a tapering effect than going from 50 to 30.

Friday was my last run of double figures, an easy 10 miler in the early morning sun, at a pace that would have been a tempo run half a year ago. As always I got faster during the second half, the first 5 miles went by in 38:01 (7:36 pace), the back section passed in 36:26 (7:17 pace), without any noticeable increase of effort. I think I’m just a slow starter, which is something I experience in every race I’ve run.

If you’re familiar with Pfitzinger’s schedules then you know that he always prescribes 3x1600 10 days before a marathon. I missed that opportunity, but decided to do 2x1600 on Saturday, 8 days before the ultra. It hopefully put some zip into my legs, leaving sufficient time to recover fully before Sunday. Unlike on previous mile repeats I did allow myself to go anaerobic, and was rewarded with a lightning fast mile of 6:05. Look mummy, I’m flying! It was slightly downhill, but when I ran the second, uphill, mile in 6:08 I was even more satisfied. I was glad that I didn’t have to do of for a third time though. The whole workout was over in less than 39 minutes, short but sweet.

After nursing my hip injury for the last few weeks I finally relented and took some anti-inflammatory tablets on Friday night. This was very much a last resort. I’m a great believer in the body’s natural healing process, and had hoped time, icing and gentle stretching would get the better of it. It never got better than 95%, and I finally lost my patience. To both my disgust and relief the hip felt better than at any time since the injury flared up within a few hours of taking the tables. Disgust because it was the chemicals that made me feel better, relief because I could finally sense an improvement.

It was really foggy out there this morning, so much so that I contemplated bringing my headlamp for safety. But the fog was lifting as the morning wore on and I headed out without. I even brought my shades because I correctly anticipated a very sunny day on the way home. Again, it felt reasonably easy.

But for the last week I have to get one thing into my thick skull, namely to take it really easy. I have done far too much good work over the last few months to damage my chances now with a few days to go. I haven’t quite decided on my mileage for the coming days, but I’ll put in some zeros towards the end of the week. And I’ll slow down. I will.

23 Mar: 10 miles, 1:14:27, 7:26 pace, avg. HR 150
24 Mar: 5.2 miles, 38:30, 7:24 pace, 2 “mile” repeats 6:05, 6:08
25 Mar: 8 miles, 59:19, 7:24 pace

Weekly mileage: 50.3 miles