Week #2 - Park City

Hi all. I have had a very rough few days last week. I ended up getting pretty sick with a vicious cold. I always find that my immunity system is suppressed after a marathon. But after running Jay, it was destroyed. One of my boys had a cold, so I ended up with it. Add exhaustion and two septic toes, and I was very sick. I ended up taking a few days off to recoup. Monday came around and I was feeling better–enough to run anyway. This week has been better. I ran two hard runs on Tuesday and Wednesday (10 mile tempo and 14 mile race pace). My mileage is up to the 80s now and I am feeling strong. I’ll continue building-to the mid 90s. With the next couple of races, Park City and Clarence DeMar, I’ll taper a few days before the runs. I am still planning on running Philly hard (shooting to break 2:50). We’ll see.

If you want to see some pictures from Jay, click on the link below. They are not mine, but will give you an idea of the course.

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t62/dironstarr/Jay%20Challenge/ 

Take care - Nicholas.

Jay Challenge

WOW. They don’t call it the hardest 33 mile XC course without good reason. It was. I was humbled with a time of 6:47. 

I would like to share a little of the run for you:

The course starts with some single track through the woods with mud pits up to your knees. You then get to run up a river for 3 miles, back into the woods. You then run up Jay Mtn (4000 ft) and back down. Back into the woods, more mud pits. Up another river, through these coverts (tunnels) with rapidly flowing water. Back into the woods — oh yes more mud. Then off into the swamp–several miles of muddy water up to your waist and these holes that dropped you down up to your neck. Down a cliff into another river. Try not to fall off a waterfall, scale some major rocks and back into the woods. Add some dirt roads, fields and fire breaks and you have made it 24 miles. 9 miles left! 

I did survive. My quads are destroyed, but I survived.

I will drop some pictures in for everyone. A big thank you to Mark who helped as support crew.

Race Week - Jay Challenge

With one week to go to Jay Challenge, I am getting a little nervous. Not so much running the 33 miles, but rather the terrain. I have strictly been a road runner, for good reason–easy footing, regular water stops, not getting lost (except of the Hartford Marathon-not my fault). The nice thing about the road is that your energy is easy transfered to speed, not so on trails. Of course, the trail includes streams, river crossings, mud pits, Jay Mountain, bugs, etc. Mark, and maybe Libbi (my support crew) and I are going up Friday - a nice 3 1/2 hour drive. For those who don’t know,  Jay Vermont is spitting distance to Canada. This might also be a problem. If I get lost, do I need a passport to return back into the country? There a two spots that your support crew can go, one after Jay Mt and the other after the river crossing. You get two drop bags for dry cloths and shoes. Both of which I’ll probably need. The long range weather looks good - 70 and sunny. I don’t plan on running out to hard. A nice even pace that the terrain allows and and I’ll gage it from there. 

You can visit http://www.ultimatexc.com/JAY.html to see more information on the run. Ignore all the warnings — I did

Later,

Nicholas

Grandma’s Marathon

2:58 on a warm day with a rolling course. I kept a steady pace and enjoyed the race all the way. I ended up with 6:49 splits, a little off my goal, but considering the warm weather, pretty solid. The marathon was very well run. Race packet easy to get and organized. The water stops were huge with ice, water, ultima (which tasted awful) and sponges (these were great towards the end of the race). The course was scenic along Lake Superior. The first half was cool with a breeze off the water. The second warmed up, and I recon that it hit 80 towards the end.

 

I ran a solid half in 1:28. The second was a little slower, but in retrospect I could have had even splits if I put my mind to it. But I need to remind myself this was a training run for Philly and not a race. I did have a chance to pass a lot of others the last six miles–always better to pass, than to be passed. I ended up 103rd out of 9,500 runners. 11th in my age group. Not bad for having run 3 marathons in 2 months.

I’ll post some pictures when they come in.

 

Next stop — The Jay Challenge.

Grandma’s - Race Week

Well, it seemed like a long time since I ran New Jersey and and I unsure of how I will fair in Minnesota. I have had two solid weeks of training were I felt strong. I managed to top my mileage out at 70 and tapered a little last week to 64 miles. This week, recovery runs today, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and Tuesday is speed work. I did have a good run yesterday–16 miles at a 6:50 pace. This seemed to be an OK pace and I think I’ll try for that Saturday, bar any unforeseen occurrences. I am nervous that I will be unable to maintain it though, as the longest run I have had since NJ was 20 miles. We’ll see.

I fly out Friday at 6 AM from Boston, ouch. This will get me in to Duluth by noon and I can check into my room and pick up my race packet. I find a place for dinner, I might go to the pasta night. 

Week 3 - Grandma’s

The time between New Jersey and Grandma’s is killing me. It was to long to just maintain fitness and to short to get in some solid training. I am modifying Fitz’s 8 week plan as a build up. After next week I am not going to taper, rather jump into a 24 week training plan for Philly in November. The 24 week plan is long, I normally just do 18 weeks, but I wanted to take into account some short tapers and recover for the marathons during the 24 weeks. 

Grandma’s is big, 18,000 people. I didn’t realize that Duluth was large enough to accommodate that many people. No wonder I had such a hard time finding a hotel room. For those wondering, Grandma’s was named after a local restaurant chain who sponsored the marathon.

Training is going well. I am holding together, though I stuggled today through a tempo run. This was my third hard run in a row and probably to much. I’ll get in an easy run this afternoon and tomorrow. Sundays run is a 17 miler.

To infinity and beyond!

Week 6 Grandma’s

Picked up some pictures from New Jersey.This is a pack I ran with early on. It is nice running with half marathoners, as there are more runners about, especially at the higher paces.

New Jersey Marathon

I surprised myself today. I wasn’t sure how I was going to hold up having run Boston only 13 days ago, but with some perfect weather, 50, overcast and a little wind, and a well run race, I managed to finish in 2:56. This was good for 14 place overall and 1st in my aging age group. The marathon was a two loop course with the first half running with the half marathoners. So I had a good group of runners with me. I hit a bad patch early on, around 12 mile mark–everything hurt especially my Achilles and calf muscles–and I thought I was in for a long second half. But, it cleared up by 14 miles and I managed to maintain an even pace (in fact my second half was faster, negative splits) and finished strong. Nice trophy for 35-39 division.

A few people have asked to see the training plan that I am using for multiple marathons in two weeks. I basically used Pfitzinger’s 4 week plan and cut out the middle two weeks. The heavy base mileage I put in for Boston hopefully will carry over and I won’t loose to much conditioning.

Multiple Marathons 2 weeks:

 

Monday            1^st Marathon                   Monday            OFF

Tuesday           OFF                                   Tuesday            6 mi Recovery

Wednesday      5 mi Recovery                   Wednesday        7 mi w/ 2 mi @ pace

Thursday         OFF                                    Thursday           6 mi Recovery

Friday              6 mi Recovery                    Friday                5 mi Recovery

Saturday          6 mi Recovery                    Saturday            4 mi Recovery

Sunday            8 mi General Aerobic         Sunday              2^nd Marathon

 

I feel pretty solid. My calves are still tight especially during the run today which I managed to run at a 6:15 pace. I still am not sure what pace I am going to do at New Jersey. It is a flat double loop and the long range forecast is calling for 60s and overcast skies. I think I test myself and adjust accordingly to how I feel. I am most concerned of bonking (running out of energy) early in the race or pulling a muscle. I keep up the high carb diet this week and drink plenty of water to replace what I lost.

To infinity and beyond.

New Jersey Marathon - 10 Days

I managed a slow four mile run today. The legs are tired, but not to sore. A big thank you to Jeanie at Therapy Designed for You who gave me a fantastic sports massage yesterday. It ceratinly helped. My goal now is to get into some sort of  condition to run New Jersey in 10 days. Ouch. To quote Pete Pfitzinger–”Your main concern should be recovery, recovery, and more recovery not only from your first marathon but also from the lobotomy that led you to come up with this plan.”

I’ll take off tomorrow and run 6 mile recovery runs on Friday and Saturday. Sunday will be an 8 mile general aerobic. Next week will consist of recovery runs of 6 miles or less and a pace workout on Wednesday. I have no concept of a pace for New Jersey. Whatever my legs will allow me to run at. Of course remembering my mantra–the quicker you run, the quicker you finish. At least New Jersey is flat!