CIM Week 3: birthday and weekday status

birthday sunset in wine country

Thank you everybody for your birthday greetings! 


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Three weeks to CIM! When I was a marathon noob, this would have been the start of the taper week.


But during my year-of-8 marathons I learned a 2 week taper worked well for me. Coach Jill also independently discovered this.... 3 weeks is too long.  I'm not sure why but I think you rebound a bit quicker from the stress of the last long run quicker having done so many of them.


So, that means one more hard week before we take our foot off the gas! I need to be really careful to not injure myself and to avoid people that are SICK. Hopefully everybody around the Thanksgiving table next week will be free of any bugs!


Monday: Rest. After the 13 mile @ 8:28m/m time trial Sunday, we welcomed the day off! I did about 1.5 miles of walking mid-day to loosen up the legs.


Tuesday: 4 miles at base (10:15m/m) + drills. I felt pretty darn good considering. By the end of the day Tuesday, I was looking forward to Wednesday's run (my birthday!)


Wednesday: 2 miles w.u, 3@MP, then 3x1mile at 8:00m/m with 3-4 min active recovery between, 2 miles c.d.  + hip/leg exercises after


Here's the splits (ignore the early split HRs ....they are messed up....the cold dry air prevents good contact):

Split	Distance	Avg Pace	Avg HR	% WHR	YPB
1	1.00	10:10	139	76.2	1.245
2	1.00	10:03	149	84.4	1.175
3	1.00	9:01	158	91.8	1.235
4	1.00	9:05	134	72.1	1.446
5	1.00	8:50	141	77.9	1.413
6	1.00	7:55	140	77.0	1.588
7	0.33	10:50	136	73.8	1.209
8	1.00	7:51	144	80.3	1.557
9	0.33	10:44	120	60.7	1.376
10	1.00	7:52	137	74.6	1.633
11	1.00	10:07	118	59.0	1.474
12	1.00	10:07	116	57.4	1.500
13	0.07	10:12	117	58.2	1.404
Summary	10.73	9:13	136	73.8	1.406

I did the 3x1 mile intervals on the track..it's got a rubber surface which makes me faster (I think) so I did them a bit faster than 10k pace on the road. 


The AT was noticeable on the recovery jog back home and so: icing after and they felt a lot better immediately.

making ice cream with Liquid Nitrogen

In the afternoon we headed up to Healdsburg for a birthday celebration at a one-Michelin-star restaurant (Madrone Manor). It was a fantastic meal....being a geek my favorite was the ice cream desserts where the ice cream is made using liquid Nitrogen right at your table. The ultra-cold temps make for very tiny ice grains ..i.e. very creamy texture.


Thursday: called for 4 miles at base with 10x8 hill sprints. Did 3.6 miles around a very damp foggy morning in Healdsburg, which has some small hills. I sprinted up these as I greeted them and netted a 9:41m/m.


Friday: A chance of rain in the morning but dodged that bullet. Jill called for 6 miles with each mile faster than the last. I decided to do 10:00 to 8:00 pace in about 25s/mile steps. This is what I got:

Split	Distance	Avg Pace	Avg HR	% WHR	YPB
1	1.00	10:01	131	69.7	1.341
2	1.00	9:41	149	84.4	1.220
3	1.00	9:18	159	92.6	1.190
4	1.00	8:52	134	72.1	1.481
5	1.00	8:23	141	77.9	1.489
6	1.00	7:48	146	82.0	1.545
7	0.06	11:42	144	80.3	1.023
Summary	6.06	9:02	143	79.5	1.362

Again, sigh, the heart rates are all wonky for the first 3 miles until I got a good sweat working. I did replace the battery but it's so cool and dry I seem to always have this problem now. I guess I'll have to break out the electrode grease I have...don't like using the messy stuff...does wash off but still a pain.


The run felt pretty good. I have done so much running at sub-8:30m/m now 9:00 seems slow indeed. 10:00 seems like a recovery pace now.


The AT is fairly minor even with all this running, and perhaps a bit better than last week. 


So, all we have left now is the 20-22 mile run.  The *#)!@$&^ forecast calls for 60% chance of rain on Sunday. Sigh. 


I will either tough it out in the rain (at this rate we'll probably have rain on race day, might as well practice in it 8/ ) or if it's really raining buckets I will delay and run early Monday morning. 


I'm not afraid of rain: after running the LA marathon  (which dumped an inch of rain during the race) I know I can do it as long as I vaseline the feet to keep them dry. The only thing about rain that scares me is that it often comes with WIND.  


The rain also makes the post-race scene a disaster area rather than a party,  which is kind of a drag. But if I go sub-4 I will NOT CARE ;)


Jill suggests 5-6 miles of MP running in the middle of this run as long as I feel I can finish strong. 


I plan to run 12 miles at a 9:30 pace and then 10 miles at 9:00 pace. This should build my confidence without totally cratering me. I might feel like crap that morning and have to modify the plan, but so far so good.