09/09/09

Its a weird numbers day with the day/date/year thing. I've seen a few stories online about the numerologists, mathematicians, statisticians, and some general crazies commenting about the importance of the #s, the meaning of the #s, weird stuff about the #s.

I don't know about any of that, I never liked math all that much anyways. What I do know about #s is this; my running #s are looking pretty good so far this month, and as far as 09/09/09 goes, it kicked my butt, or more aptly, I kicked my butt.

For the month, I'm up to 45.2 miles as of today, in only five runs. Here are the past three days:

Mon 9/07: 7.5 miles in 1h 04 m 29s
Tue 9/08: 7.5 miles in 1h 06m 11s
Wed 9/09: 13.1 miles in 1h 58m 45s

The 7.5 mile runs are becoming, I can't believe I'm saying this, easier. My plan this week, leading into today, was to really test the legs and stress them out, which, I think I've done over these past three runs. I definitely ran slower each day, and today's corrected time should be about 2 minutes less (about 1:56:35 or so), as I stopped at the car to swap bottles and towel off. I decided to let the clock run, just to see how much time I took at the stop. This is still way slower than my 1/2 Marathon race from last summer (just under 1h 48s), but again, back to back days of 7.5 mile runs at sub 9 min pace and then running a 1/2, well, you're not going to get your fastest time on that 3rd day! This was used to build up the endurance in the legs, pushing them a little harder than last month, getting ready for that 26.2 in 3-1/2 weeks.

I tried something new today as well; I parked my van at the end of the street, and ran a loop of 4 miles, so I could stop to refill water, grab gels, towel off, etc without stopping home. I can't leave a bag lying somewhere with my stuff in it, it will get swiped, that much I do know. And overall, I liked how this worked out! Stopping helped freshen up the legs for that 3rd loop, so I might even consider walking at the aid stations during the Mary-especially when the miles get way up there.

Tomorrow (my day off) will be a rest day, nothing planned at all, other than to hang out with my youngest and head over to my mom's to see how her canning is coming along. I need it-work this week was long, with a 12hr shift the 1st day back, and having to run at work that day on my 'rest day'; my partner and I chased a burglary suspect we caught in a huge warehouse. Although running with 20+ lbs of duty gear, radio, vest, work shoes, through the woods and over fences is not my idea of a great workout. I twisted the heck out of my left ankle in the woods, and was a bit worried because it was hurting a bit that night. But I've run on it since several times with no problems, so I think I just tweaked it a bit. I would have been pissed if I wrecked my ankle and not been able to run the marathon, especially because the 'suspect' is already back on the streets.

But, enough rant about the failings of our criminal justice system. Friday I will run a 7.5 mile post run, commemorative 9/11 run, as I do every year now (either biking or running on 9/11). Saturday, maybe another 7.5 miler, Sunday is a 7a-7p shift, so a rest day will be in order. Next week (the 14th-20th) I will be limiting my 'long' run to probably 12 or 13, with no hard back to back days before that longer run, simply more miles of at least 10k to 7.5 milers.

The week of the 21st-27th, this will be the bread and butter week; the week of the longest training run to date, and the peak of the Marathon training. I was reading some training articles online, and found a site where the author claimed you should try to go over 20+ miles for your longest run pre-mary; the reason being if you limit yourself to 20 miles, you've got another 10k to run on race day, and you might be hurting with this extra distance. I can see his point, and I can understand some other points of view saying you do not want to kill yourself pre-marathon, lest you risk injuring yourself or peaking too early and race day will find yourself flat and not at the peak of your game. I'm not sure on this one yet, I'll mark it, "Long run on 9/21 or 9/22, 'TBD' ".

The week leading into the marathon will be exciting for sure! I've got two days of training scheduled at the end of the week, so I don't have to worry about foot chases, fights with the crazies or OT. Friday Oct 2nd, our friends, my wife and I are going up to Milwaukee to pick up the MM race packets, and heading out for a nice dinner. Sat Oct 3rd, we have a kids birthday party with our same friends, and a night to relax and socialize prior to the race. I'm really starting to look forward to the marathon, especially the lead up before it. I'll be posting a bunch the week of the marathon, that's for sure!!