September 10-16 Training

Monday: 8 miles (6:54); 7.8 miles with 4xhill blasts (7:13)

Tuesday: 4 miles (7:21); 17.6 miles with 4x5k@16:22, 16:23, 16:09, 15:56 with 1k jog recoverys@6:06 average.  Really good first marathon interval session. Last year, I ran 16:30, 16:28, 16:28, 16:25 with the recovery jog in 6:11 average, despite the weather being about 15 degrees cooler.  The first two felt really controlled and relaxed.  On the third, I decided to drop it down to 5:15s, which took more focus, but wasn't too hard.  It was almost pitch black on the last one, so I didn't check my watch very much.  The first mile was a strong 5:07 and I came back with a 5:04. I started struggling the last 1k and covered the last mile in 5:14. After this session, I really feel 5:10-5:15 pace will be very attainable soon.

Wednesday: 5.6 miles (6:56); 9.6 miles (6:53)

Thursday: 5.6 miles (6:51); 12.2 miles (6:57)

Friday: 5.3 miles (7:00); 7.1 miles with strides (7:03)

Saturday: 10.8 miles with a bombed workout.  Frustrating day. Original plan was to run the Vandy XC race this morning. My directions were wrong and Old Hickory was way backed up because of the high school cross country meet. There was no way I was going to make it before the race, so I turned around and was completely frustrated, mad and stressed out. My next plan was 6x1mile on the track at HHS, but there was a band competition there. I then turned around and drove to SCHS but there was a Pee Wee football game there. I then decided to try a fartlek of 2:00 on/1:00 off, but I wasn't feeling good, so I changed it to 2:00 rest after the first surge. I felt like crap on the second surge, so I bagged it. My hip flexors had no power and I was so mentally drained from all the uncertainty of the day. This screws up my workouts a bit, but I'll figure something out. Since in America, we don't like to take responsibility and put the blame on the government, Al Qaeda and other people who hate America because of its freedom, the Illuminati, global warming, McDonald's, genetics, etc. I figure I need to put the blame on someone for missing the race. My top candidates:

1. UT-Martin. If their guys would have raced instead of running a planned tempo run, I would have watched their race. I would have still gotten lost, but I would have been there in time for my race.

2. Garmin. If your rebate wasn't due today, I wouldn't have spent 20-30 minutes looking for my old box.

3. The directions to Vaughn's Gap given for people running in the Belmont Opener. They had me get off on the wrong exit 74, which resulted in me going 15-20 minutes in the wrong direction. I still would have been pushing it time wise, but would have made it before the gun.

4. The Southeastern Conference. If you would have decided to host this year's conference cross country championships in another fine state like Mississippi, Alabama or Louisiana, there wouldn't have been so many entries, and I would have been in the good race. I would have taken the race more seriously and would have planned on getting there 1-1.5 hours before the gun, instead of 45-50 minutes.

5. The TSSAA. A coach posted one time that anytime someone puts an article of clothing on that says TSSAA, their IQ is immediately lowered several points. They advertise a hotel for several months as being the "host hotel" for the State Championships, despite the fact that the hotel was closed, they make up rules on the fly and threaten to DQ people for said "rules," you'll get three different answers from three different people for the same question if you call them to ask them a question about off-season "conditioning" and the list goes on. People have stressed the need for years to find a new State Meet venue because of the terrible traffic back-up that happens every year. They had the Tennessee Classic today, which is like the pre-season State Meet. Three miles before the turn, traffic was at a complete stand-still. Before that, I was going to get to the race 10-15 minutes before the gun. That traffic killed it. Find a new venue!

6. Women. Most of the people driving to the high school meet were women drivers. If they would have been men, I maybe could have made it; 4.5 miles (7:18)

Sunday: 1 mile warm-up, 18 miles (5:34), .4 cool-down.  Plan was 18 miles at faster than what I ran 16 miles at last time (5:42).  Got rolling a little quicker than last time, so I just had to maintain rather than slowly progress the pace.  The pace was relaxed but I felt a bit flat at around halfway.  At 14 miles, I was getting pretty thirsty and stopped for a quick water break.  I was going to finish up the last 1/2 mile a little bit quicker but my legs were getting pretty tired, even though I felt strong aerobically.  Not a bad session and ran this on the usual empty stomach, with no fuel during the run; 3 miles (7:58)

Week Total= 120.9 miles.  I was really happy with Tuesday's workout and was hoping to beat my old college cross country PR (24:35) at the Vanderbilt race, so it was frustrating not to make it.  I also realized that it was my only "real" planned race before the marathon.  But for the marathon, lead-up races aren't as important, especially if you get in your marathon-specific workouts.  I would have rather had the 8k race/22 mile long run stimulus than the 18 mile moderate run but life is about adjustment and I'll modify things to make it work out.  My achilles has been getting pretty sore lately, so hopefully that goes away.