3 Weeks to Tacoma

Week 4 Summary

Last 20 miler with three weeks to go! 

CIM and Eugene  had the last 20 at 2 weeks out..but travel constrains me next week and frankly I don't think it matters *that* much.

From now on I'm shifting focus to more hills and more marathon pace running (time to mimic race day more and more).

Date	Miles	Pace	BPM	WHR%	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
2013-04-10 Wed	3.3	9:57	119.3	60.1	39.6	38.7	1.474
2013-04-11 Thu	6.6	9:22	125.1	64.8	218.7	217.7	1.518
2013-04-12 Fri	9.3	8:55	127.3	66.6	391.6	388.6	1.589
2013-04-14 Sun	20.0	9:07	129.0	68.0	402.2	401.7	1.507
Summary	39.1	9:11	127.1	66.4	1052.1	1046.7	1.526

1000' of hills (a lot for me). 

Countdown links
week 4
week 5
week 6
week 7
week 8 
week 9
week 10
week 11
week 12
week 13
week 14
week 15
week 16
week 17


Details

An easy recovery run...SC Half still present in the legs:

2013-04-10 Wed
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:45	119.7	60.4	87.0	14.4	11.5	1.513
2	1.00	9:56	120.0	60.7	86.0	18.1	14.8	1.484
3	1.00	10:05	119.0	59.8	85.0	6.1	10.2	1.466
4	0.26	10:20	116.0	57.4	84.0	1.0	2.1	1.466
Sum	3.3	9:57	119.3	60.1	85.8	39.6	38.7	1.474

Feeling better, did some base pace running, this time with a bit more hills.

2013-04-11 Thu
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:24	125.4	65.1	88.0	9.1	10.6	1.495
2	1.00	9:19	126.0	65.6	0.0	23.0	3.1	1.517
3	1.00	9:17	135.0	73.0	0.0	120.8	1.1	1.507
4	1.00	9:05	124.0	63.9	0.0	19.2	86.7	1.534
5	1.00	9:13	121.0	61.5	0.0	33.3	85.3	1.562
6	1.00	9:34	123.0	63.1	0.0	10.2	23.9	1.492
7	0.58	9:59	119.0	59.8	0.0	3.1	7.1	1.479
Sum	6.6	9:22	125.1	64.8	88.0	218.7	217.7	1.518

I kind of charged the hill a bit (mile 3..see HR up and 120.8 elev gain) and noticed a very slight soreness in my right hamstring. I *never* have hamstring problems so I figured there are just sore and will be ok.

Later that day that ham did feel tweaked and I was a bit worried I would need to ease off. I was not limping but was almost at that point which concerned me.

I did a lot of rolling, and hand trigger massage, went for a walk, soaked in hot tub and by the next morning it was pretty much gone...I hoped.

-----

Feeling much better now and really need to do well on my last 20 miler on Sunday. Sooo, I decided to NOT do back to back weekend runs as it's just too much this time after my race. I also really want to have a strong final long run for my piece of mind.

Friday more hills, this time with a bunch of miles at MP:

2013-04-12 Fri
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:46	127.3	66.7	0.0	9.5	11.5	1.416
2	1.00	8:56	126.0	65.6	0.0	25.2	3.1	1.585
3	1.00	9:09	131.0	69.7	0.0	122.0	1.1	1.579
4	1.00	8:41	126.0	65.6	0.0	19.4	90.6	1.575
5	1.00	8:42	121.0	61.5	0.0	47.3	77.3	1.672
6	1.00	8:48	136.0	73.8	0.0	122.2	4.3	1.581
7	1.00	8:34	124.0	63.9	0.0	32.3	121.6	1.616
8	1.00	8:48	124.0	63.9	0.0	1.0	54.9	1.581
9	1.00	8:47	130.0	68.9	0.0	12.8	24.2	1.538
10	0.29	8:55	128.0	67.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.540
Sum	9.3	8:55	127.3	66.6	0.0	391.6	388.6	1.589

Again charging the hills at miles 3 and 6. I listened carefully to my right hamstring but it was in fine shape and gave no complaints! Thank you, hamstring. You are being awesome and I promise to take good care of you 8). I guess I really did have a trigger point in my hamstring which has never happened before. 

This run was super efficient at 1.58: i.e. an 8:55 pace with hills and still only 127.3 bpm HR....good to see I have bounced back after a pretty hard race (for me).  I worried a bit I would be losing something or getting injured and have to knock off a lot before Tacoma by racing hard but it looks ok now. (knock wood).

Saturday was a nice rest day. Tomorrow, Sunday, I do a final 20+ miles. I plan to do the first 16 at 9:20 or so and then accelerate to 8:45 for 4 to 6 miles. Doing my long runs back to back has been probably good training, but the are so hard I'm forced to go slowly. That's ok...I'm much stronger, but I like to run the last long run as a fast finish for confidence on race day. 

We'll see how that goes...

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Sunday morning started at 47F and the run ended at 60F..Bright clear sun.

2013-04-14 Sun
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:21	129.0	68.0	10.7	10.5	1.462
2	1.00	9:24	122.0	62.3	20.9	3.1	1.552
3	1.00	9:29	130.0	68.9	123.5	2.2	1.534
4	1.00	9:05	122.0	62.3	19.3	89.1	1.556
5	1.00	9:23	119.0	59.8	32.6	82.8	1.561
6	1.00	9:29	122.0	62.3	42.4	6.1	1.557
7	1.00	9:15	131.0	69.7	104.6	6.3	1.542
8	1.00	9:10	117.0	58.2	11.9	129.0	1.579
9	1.00	9:13	119.0	59.8	0.0	24.9	1.589
10	1.00	9:23	125.0	64.8	0.0	17.3	1.491
11	1.00	9:10	128.0	67.2	0.0	9.1	1.495
12	1.00	8:59	128.0	67.2	0.0	0.0	1.528
13	1.00	9:03	127.0	66.4	5.4	7.4	1.531
14	1.00	8:53	130.0	68.9	8.6	7.7	1.528
15	1.00	9:06	132.0	70.5	0.0	0.0	1.465
16	1.00	8:49	136.0	73.8	2.1	1.0	1.468
17	1.00	8:41	139.0	76.2	0.0	0.0	1.457
18	1.00	8:46	140.0	77.0	2.0	2.1	1.432
19	1.00	8:52	143.0	79.5	11.2	0.0	1.396
20	1.00	8:53	144.0	80.3	7.1	3.0	1.378
21	0.00	5:12	146.0	82.0	0.0	0.0	2.318
Sum	20.0	9:07	129.0	68.0	402.2	401.7	1.507

A decent 20 miler.  I did two loops of with 200' of climb descent in the first 8 miles keeping the pace in check @ 9:20 or so..this is kind of like Tacoma with a big hill early on. 

Then I tried to gradually step up the pace for the next 12 miles, then hitting MP for the last 5. I had some rough work on the baylands trails but did speed up for the last 5..feeling really good until the last mile where I had to work at it. (my efficiency took a bit of a nose-dive in the last two miles.) Not totally happy with this run but it will have to do.

I have done 25 long runs between 19 and 22 miles since I started running. This run was the sixth most efficient. 

I wore the Kinvara 3s. I'm weaned over to them now completely..most of the heavy training is behind me... and will be using them for all my runs except recoveries.  I have one more week of tuning and then the 2 week taper.

Three weeks to Tacoma!