Akron Marathon

Got up at 4:30am so as to be able to get ready and get to the race site on time before the road closings, normally I g down with my next door neighbor but since she was running the half this time and had to leave right after teh race we decided to drive separately. She text me when she was parked and I finally saw her about mile 4, ran together for a while then I went on my merry way.

I really wasn't 100% for this race, left butt chin was still inflammed and sending out shooting pain, also my left shin for some reason was hurting badly, I had done all I could all week with icing and massaging so I could only keep my fingers crossed that all will go well.

My intention was to go with the 4:25 pace group which I saw at the expo but at the race there was only the 4:20 and 4:30 so that threw mw off quite a bit so ended up running bewteen them. Not sure why but for some reason during this race I had to pee almost everytime I saw a porta potty, I was able to forgot one or two but still ending up going 4x which cost quite a bit of time and the first time I stopped I realized I had my pant string in a tight knot and couldn't get it undone so had to wiggle to get them down and then spent the next mile and half trying to undo the knot.

I felt good throughout the race but for some reason this year I hated the towpath section just seems long and boring, was so looking forward to the hill just to change things up, felt great going up sand run but it aggrevated my shin, realy wish I had some Biofreeze, access situation and decided to just back off on pace which helped with the pain even though the butt cheek was also acting up I have dealth with that for 2 years and knew how to manage it in a race.

Mile 23 had to pee again but didn't feel like stopping so stopped taking fluid and just suck on a Gu vanilla which actually worked out great, saw Julie and some other friends along the way and was so glad when i got back downtown and ran into the stadium.

Love the change to the finish, got a change to walk around and stretch out the legs before having to climb the steps, the massage section was also downstairs but after waiting for about 15mins decided to pass since I was beginning to cramp up. The modified wave start also helped reduce some of the first 3 miles congestion.

Got my gear bag and change into dry clothes right there on the street and felt so much better after consuming Gatorade 3, went over to cheer some runners in before heading to my car and back home.

Because I didn't really race as hard as I trained and I had so much caffeine and sugar in me, I had so much energy when I got home and apart from the hurting shin and butt cheek i actually felt great, so shower and ate then cleaned the house and did laundry.

Akron does a very good job putting on a marathon really wish Cleveland will learn from them, no complain what so ever I didn't carry my own fluid and had no problem since water/gatorade were plentiful and well spaced out. Everything was just so well done.

Age: 44 Gender: F Distance MAR Clock Time 4:42:04 Chip Time 4:36:34 Overall Place 912 / 1390 Gender Place 258 / 488 Division Place 39 / 83 3 5M 00:35:08 9 25M 01:34:14 15 5 02:39:14 18 3 03:10:10 Divtotal 83 Sextotal 488 Pace 10:33

Akron Marathon Goal

I guess I really only still have one goal, break 4 hours, current marathon PR is 4:39 so hopefully with the 24 weeks  brain training program I move closer to the goal.

Don't know why I always have that goofy smile on my face.

Taper Week

Saturday had 13 miles on the schedule but wasn't feeling great stiff neck and ear infection so after 6 miles with my right shoulder throbbing not sure from what I called it a day after 6.5 miles, got home and took some Emergen C and did a rotation of ice and heat on my neck. Spent the rest of the day getting my son ready to go back for his 3rd year @ OSU, he is moving into his first college apartment.

Took Sunday off, since we had an early drive to Columbus to drop off my son and also put togther all those wonderful furnitures from Ikea and I still wasn't 100%.

Monday another day off, could have worked out if I wanted to but just wasn't in the mood, part of the problem with taper week I think since I know that not much I do now changes things on Saturday. Skipped the 6 miles on the schedule.

Today, well I think I had way too energy, was up by 3:30am and was buzzing, didn't want to over do the workout so got online and worked on stuff I have been meaning to do for weeks just to kill time. Finnalt went down to the basement to get my workout in around 5am, today was teh final mixed interval
1 mile @ 5.5mph
2k @ 6.6mph /90sec @ 4.0mph
1 mile @ 7.0 mph / 90sec @ 4.0mph
1k @ 7.2 mph
1 mile @ 5.7mph  ended up with 5.1miles felt great
then added on Fitness Fix Core Fix (20mins) and Lower Body Stretch (6mins) was initialy going to do a yoga workout but the dvd wasn't cooperating so skipped that and I was able to get ready early enough so I can catch the bus to teh terminal so I can ride my bike to work.

Love the internet for quick info, woke up this morning and downloaded the new GFit treadmill workout into my Sansa player, everything went fine but when I got down to the basement the system won't come on and after wasting 10mins trying to fix it, put it aside and just did a simple tempo run on the treadmill. After my run got on the treadmill and google "sansa won't come on" and got all the info I need, told to hold down the power button for about 15sec and guess what it worked. Gotta love the internet, :)

Today's workout, even in my mind I keep telling myself I can't do this but once I wrap my mind around it I find out I am quite capable of more that I think.
1 mile @ Recovery pace 5.5mph
then it was suppose to be 7 miles @ HMP 6.6mph but I told myself this was too hard and decided to do it @ MP 6.4mph after 2 miles decided what was the worst that could happen if I bring it up to 6.6mph a) fly off the treadmill b) drop back down to 6.4mph or lower so went for it, well nothing happened I was able to hold the pace and got in 3.4miles before I had to quit since I was once again running late for work wasted too much time messing with Sansa.

Recovery day so 4 miles easy, I was really only going to do 3 miles but was stuck watching a show and also feeling great so tack on one more mile, still within my schedule had option of 2-6 miles just been doing 3 so wasn't over doing it for the taper week. Trail running is out for the next 2 weeks just to be on the save side, even though I have no issue trail running, just don't want to tempt faith.
Working on keeping lots of fruit, vegatable and water on hand, I keep a steady in take of food on hand during taper week since I do not believe in a big meal before racing, one of my local store have a good deal on nectarine and plum so I have been induging greatly.
After the run did 2 rounds of RKS #6, had to skip the last round since I was running late for my bus, may make it up tonight but I have been working on getting my son ready for back to college, goes back Saturday to start his junior year how time flies.

Left leg still isn't 100% despite all that has been done to it but yesterday at work I basically iced it to death and was gifted this morning with a less painful leg. With 2 weeks to go for the Akron  marathon, taper started yesterday, this was a 24 weeks training plan so knowing that I am on week 23amazes me although I haven't stuck with the plan 100% due to trail races but kept most of the guideline in mind.

Today's workout was suppose to be mixed intervals but I decieded to do Runerval 1.0 with Coach Troy instead been a while since I hung out with him.

Warmup
Base pace = 5.5mph
3x1min On/ 1 min OFF - BP +mph = 7.5mph
2 mins BP
3x1 min ON/ 1 min OFF - BP + 3mp = 8.5mph
2 mins BP
45 sec ON /45 sec OFF - BP + incline @ 2%, 3% , 4%, 5% & 6%
2 mins BP
2x1 min ON/1 min OFF - BP+3mph @ 2% & 3% incline
Cooldown
I was feeling very good so did interval 3 more times and interval 3 (hill climb) 1 more time but instead of keeping Bp @ 5.5mph, I switch to 6.6mph and was still able to run.

Great confidence buster workout, was able to get all the paces in and no screaming from the left leg but I did notice that my treadmill may be needing a tune up soon because it wasn't very happy today belt seems to be sliding to teh side also.

Great workout today, was able to get 4 miles in outdoors even thou it was cooler it was still very humid, tried out my new Puma Faas 500 even though the shoe worked out fine I need to come up with the best sock for it the one I wore today wasn't it and I also noticed that although this is a light trainer it is still built up a bit in the heel because my foot is dragging when I wear it. I think I am evn up just sticking with the Adidas they are just perfect for me.

Did RKS #5 after running, was able to use 12kg for the ladder press although I did drop down to 15#  for 2 rounds, for the one hand swing started out with 12kg but increased to 16kg use the anti monkey butt powder to prevent my hands from ripping and it worked great. Miss being on the trail this week, two weeks to Akron Marathon so starting to taper.

Still working on nutrition, just not getting it right, I do not eat junk but eat a lot of the good stuff and always seem to be hungry.

Sometimes everything just click and this week has just been like that, finally getting enough sleep, getting up on time to get workout in and being able to hit all the paces on my run, added back yoga and started RKS workout. Still struggling with nutrition but that is a work in progress, with Borders going out of business I picked up more running and nutirtion books a girl just can't have too much.

With a half marathon trail race tomorrow, todays was an easy day, so did disc 1 of RKS

Warmup
16x30sec -2 hand swing / 45 sec recovery - 16kg KB
Cool down