26.2 Reasons Why...

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February 25, 2006

WEEK NO. 20

REASON NO. 4 & 3.

Reason No. 4 for Running a Marathon –
Training for this event has completely changed how I look at running. It used to be that a 5-mile run was a “LONG RUN�, and anything over 6 miles was pure torture. I actually caught myself this week saying that “it’s only 12 miles, it wasn’t a long run�. The incredible thing is that after a 12 mile run, I am still capable of functioning. It used to be that a 6-mile run would wipe me out for the rest of the day. After my 12 miler on Monday, I went out with my son and played tennis for an hour or two.

Reason No. 3 for Running a Marathon –
The whole training and tapering process has reached a plateau. Almost everyone I work with has asked my how it is going, am I ready, etc. Running this marathon will be an epic event in my life, and will give me lots of new war stories to tell my friends and co-workers for months to come.

This was a really good training week. My last “long� run was Monday, which being a Holiday was really convenient. I ran my usual 12-mile route around Durham, early in the morning. It was about 29 or 30 degrees, but very little wind, which made for a really nice run. I like running early, watching the sun rise while I am running, and being all done by 8:30 AM or so. My pace was really good, finishing the 11.86 miles in 117 minutes (9 minute, 51 seconds per mile). This helped convince me that my current planned race pace is good, and should be doable as long as I do not slow down too much the last 4 or 5 miles.

As I’m now seriously into my taper for the race, I rested on Tuesday, and then ran my usual 5 miles around Durham on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were rest days, and Saturday I did a six-mile pace run, at a speed of 9 minutes/mile. Also dusted the cobwebs off my Cannondale, and went for a 20 mile ride. It was a drop-dead gorgeous afternoon, and the almond blossoms are in fully swing. It felt really good to get back on my bike, and wake up some of those leg muscles that have been hibernating since my last Triathlon in September.

Almost everyone you talk to about a marathon will tell you not to do anything new on race day. In other words, train the way you are going to race. This even includes equipment. I broke out my brand new Nike Air’s this morning for my six-mile run. I’ve only worn these a couple of times on short treadmill runs, as I wanted to keep the shoes in nearly new condition for the race. About 4 miles into my run today, I realize that my shoe had come untied. This is almost unheard of for me, as I am fastidious in how I carefully tie my shoes, and then just as carefully double knot them, to avoid this problem. I thought, oh well, it was just a fluke, right??? By the time I reached mile 6, the damned thing was untied again. This is when I realized that I had taken the original Nike shoelaces out, and put them in my set of trainers, since I originally had speed laces in them. My new shoes actually had a set of New Balance laces, that I had never used running (I took them out when I bought the shoes and put speed laces in them also). So, by carefully trying out my new shoes, I was able to save myself probably 3 or 4 minutes, and a ton of frustration if my shoes had came untied repeatedly over the course of 26.2 miles.

These are my Nike Air Pegasus training shoes, that have carried me across 450 miles, in the last 20 weeks. This is their last week of "active duty", and will be retired after my last run on Wednesday.

My total mileage for the week was 23 miles, which now seems like an incredibly easy week. Three months ago a 23-mile week would have killed me!!!!

Posted by Dennis at February 25, 2006 01:15 PM

Comments

Posted by: Paul Lehman at March 1, 2006 11:44 PM

Posted by: Dennis at March 2, 2006 04:54 AM

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