6 Weeks and 3 Days!

It's getting down to the wire! 
The training plan I use (www.runnersworld.com/first gives you the gist of it if you're interested) is based on three quality runs and cross training. There are no "junk" runs, although sometimes I do a 2-3 miler to get warmed up for my sculpt class on Saturday. Each run has its purpose: speed work, tempo, and long run. 
The first time I ran a marathon (the week before my 40th birthday - May, 2009), I used this plan, as I'd used its half-marathon version for a bunch of halves. I never really looked at the times/tempos. My goal, like so many people, was just to crank out 26.2 without stopping to walk. I paid attention to my speed, particularly on the long runs, but I didn't really invest much in the concept of tempo or speed work except to go faster than I felt like going. It worked, and I was able to finish my first full marathon (in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia) without walking. 3:52:something. Not without crying, mind you, but without walking. 
Tangent: I didn't have much guidance, and only went by what I had read in magazines for this first marathon, which I thought was going to be my only marathon. Nobody warned me about adrenaline, and how you feel like you have wings for the first hour or so. I'd been training my long runs at about a 9:33 pace (I remember that number coming up a lot), and ran the first 12 miles of the race at an 8:10. Really not smart. I kept saying to myself, "this seems fast, but really, I feel great, so why slow down?" Here's why: because there's 14 more miles to go after you stop feeling amazing. I was tired at the half, discouraged at 17, felt like hell at 20, and broke down into tears at 25. Heaving, sobbing tears, but still running. I had to make a conscientious choice. I could do 2 of the following 3 things: run, cry, or breathe. I decided to breathe and run, and staved off tears until I crossed the finish line (right behind a guy dressed as Picachu, for chrissakes.) (Tangent done)
Anyway, now that I'm about to run my 9th marathon, I've learned to pay more attention to pacing, and to heed the wisdom of my training plan. (And regarding my above tangent, to pace myself better on race day). In a 16-week training plan, it's hard to hit every single run, but this may be the best I've stuck to my plan yet, I think. At 6-weeks out, I'm feeling prepared. I have two more 20-milers to go, but my tempo work and speed work is all on target. 
My worries are starting to be the things I can't control. You really can't know what sort of weather will show up in Chicago on October 12. Luckily, I know I run well in cold, and it's been a hot summer in Oregon, so I've been somewhat unwittingly doing heat training. My other concern is the flat course. Everyone says, "You'll love Chicago, the course is so flat!" I hope I love it, but flat has never been my best. I actually do well with a certain amount of hill, but I'm prepared to love it for its flatness. 
Now, I'm off for an 11-mile tempo run in heat and hills!

Whine on the Vine, Heat, and 2 months to go!

August is here, which is making me a little crazy. Between mileage hitting a nice, frothy peak, and the kids needing to do some back to school prep (including milking the last bits of fun from their remaining time off), it has been busy busy busy in the Clifton home. 

I have kept up pretty well with my training runs, and getting my mileage in. My track work (speed work) has been pretty good, as has my long run, but I'm struggling with my tempo runs, which are running about a minute slow. I just can't seem to get it there. Not that I can't do the pace, because the paces my plan is asking for (7:23 for 3 miles, 7:38 for 4 miles, 8:12 for 10 miles) aren't unreasonable, I'm just having trouble hitting them midweek. I'm tending to blame the heat, as it's been in the 90s for much of the summer, which isn't always the case in Oregon. The thing is, we don't know what we'll get in Chicago in October, and there's definitely the chance to see a hot day. So I'm trying to get my body to cooperate with my will, but I'm not quite hitting that yet.

The race is 2 months from tomorrow, which is VERY exciting! It's definitely time to get real, though. Although I've been getting all my mileage, I've slacked on my rope-jumping, skipping drills, tube walking for the ITB, and that sort of thing, so I formally commit now to not miss this extra 30 minutes of work a week that really helps. 

I skipped the drills entirely last week, because my calves were tight as a drum. I had run a trail race last Sunday with some insane climbs and descents. X-Dog events always puts on a good race. The people are just really solid, good folks. The course is always full of navigational challenges, and there's always beer at the end. In this case, there was wine at the end, as the race was at a vineyard. Sean bought me the season pass for X-Dog last year, which gets you into all of the races and events for the year, and I was really happy that Sean signed up for this one, too. I wasn't exactly in a racing mood in the morning, but I figured I'd take it nice and easy and just enjoy the challenge of the terrain. The first mile was downhill, and people were passing me like crazy, but I just felt chill, so I bopped along at a comfy 8:30 pace. The second mile was spent weaving in and out of grapes, up and downhill, along the vineyard. I started passing people who were already regretting having sprinted downhill the first mile. The course opened into a large open field, and there were a few man-made obstacles. A mud pit with chicken wire under it that you were supposed to crawl through (I'm not against getting muddy, but I thought I could go faster by kind of squat-walking through, which I regretted when I banged my head into the beam holding up the chicken wire. Ouch!), a few boxy hurdles to climb over, and a ladder-wall thing to scale before it plunged us into a deep, dark forest. After my eyes adjusted to the dim light, this was my favorite part - cool shade, and softly winding paths. Then, after a "temptation station" (bourbon and doughnuts - not tempting in 90-degree heat!) the hill started. A downhill so steep I was going more slowly than the uphill - the footing was not secure, and the navigation uncertain. It was so dense with brush, I couldn't be sure which way it was going to go. Here I was passed by a woman named Queena, a hecka-fast X-dog regular. I always figure if I see her at all in the course of a race, I'm doing okay. The steep downhill was followed immediately by a long and arduous uphill. Probably a little more than a mile. I walked almost the whole thing, and passed Queena again near the top. From here it opened up to a wide, slightly downhill push, leading to an open field and a decent hill. I could have run this one ordinarily, but my calves were in protest from the previous decline/incline, so I walked it. At the top of the hill was a "redneck slip 'n slide" - a big tarp, manned by volunteers with hoses at the top. The water was refreshing, and the slide was fun. At the bottom, it was back uphill again, although muddier and less steep this time. Heading back uphill through the vineyard, I passed a woman I'd had my eye on throughout the race, which put me in second place as I crossed the finish. Not bad, since I hadn't really run for position until that last mile. My final pace was 10:21, which gives you an idea how hard the course was! 

There is another X-Dog race coming up in September, which we might decide to do if our schedules allow it. Otherwise, I am all business until October 12.

Here's my grimace right after I banged my head: