Saturday 10/15
Off

Sunday 10/16
5 mile easy run
56:30 11:18 pace

Monday 10/17
Off

Tuesday 10/18
17 miles w/ 13.1 @ marathon pace
2:56:07 10:22 pace

Had an easy weekend running and I ended up taking Monday off to take my daughter to Sea World for her birthday Monday since she was out of school. That meant I pushed my long run back to Tuesday which was perfect. My legs felt much better and I was ready to get at it!

The schedule called for 17 miles with 14 @ marathon pace. The weather was once again great, low 60s and not humid at all. I started with a 2-mile warm up then went right into the faster miles. I started out right at a 10:00 pace the first few miles and got progressively faster as I was feeling pretty good. I ended up doing 9 fast miles before taking a short hydration break.

I started feeling it after about 11 of the fast miles and I ended up stopping after 13.1 finished with a 2-mile cool down. I finished the fast miles with in a pace of 9:52 which translates to about a 2:09:00 half marathon, slightly faster than my last HM race in March!

Yeah I'm doing a 10K race Saturday and possibly another 10K on the 30th. I'm very happy with the long run today, probably the best run I've had so far during this training! I did get a new pair of shoes, wore them Sunday for an easy 5 and I'll swap them out until they get broke in good.

Did a 10K race this morning...GPS time 54:01 chip time 54:11!! The weather was amazing, mid 50s with a light breeze. I'll do a full report later, ran on 3 hrs of sleep.

Wednesday 10/19
8 mile easy run
1:31:58 11:29 pace

Thursday 10/20
10 mile easy run
1:57:37 11:45 pace

Friday 10/21
Off

Saturday 10/22
10K race
54:11 8:43 pace

Put in my biggest volume week ever then took Friday off before my 10K race Saturday morning. I worked late and only slept about 3 hours but I was feeling good and anxious to get at it.

The weather was perfect, low to mid 50s with a light breeze. The course was a 2 loop trek around the Silver Springs park and featured a variety of surfaces including asphalt, sidewalks, boardwalk planks and some trail running. The trail was hard packed though and very easy to navigate with no tree roots or other BS.

I wanted to start out around an 8:50 pace and see how I felt from there. The start was a little slow until the crowd thinned out and I finished the first mile in 8:55. My legs were feeling great so I picked up the pace a little and the course was virtually flat so I knew a PR was easily within reach. The next 2 splits were 8:49 & 8:55 then at the 3-mile mark we circled back from the start for our second loop.

I found a few other runners to chase to keep my pace strong and stayed very consistent until mile 6. I thought there was an outside chance I could break 54:00 so I pushed it and put up an 8:37 in mile 6. By this time we were close to the parking lot and the finish line was in sight. I got passed by two guys late but still had a strong finishing kick and crossed the line with a GPS time of 54:01 but my official time was 54:11, beating my previous best by almost 2 minutes!

I'm extremely happy with the result and I'm sure if I had tapered properly I could've shaved some more time off. I'm hoping to do another 10K next Sunday, I really like that distance and wanna continue to improve!

Splits:

Mile 1 8:54
Mile 2 8:49
Mile 3 8:55
Mile 4 8:49
Mile 5 8:50
Mile 6 8:37
Mile 6.2 7:30/pace

congratz on the new PR! perfect pacing. and yes, tapering definitely shaves off quite some time.

but: i REALLY would not do another 10k next week. focus on the training and the remaining hard workouts. it's tough enough without further races. the upcoming 20miler is a key workout and the vo2max session are important for a final "sharpening".
then after your marathon, you have the whole winter free to PR in all the races that you want (after a few weeks of recovery). you worked on this marathon for nearly half a year (or even longer), there's zero reason to jeopardize success only because you can't "wait" for a new PR in a 10k.
(all of this is assuming that your marathon is4 weeks out, that is correct, right?)

Awesome work. Taking 2 minutes off your PB is a pretty huge win. I just love how you can follow these logs and see the guys that put in the hard work consistently are the ones that continue to get solid results.

And I agree with Tron. There's plenty of time to set new 10k PBs. Don't risk injury/burnout at this point, just concentrate on your number 1 priority.

Thanks! Yeah the marathon is 20 days away now on November 13th. I just really like racing and that was my first one since May but I see your point and I'm gonna skip it. This was the one that was postponed by the hurricane a few weeks ago. I know I could've crushed it cause it's on a super flat paved running trail. Oh well lots of other races out there. Did 20.5 this morning and it was tough but I feel ok now. Legs are pretty tired of course but I soaked in a salt bath which seems to help.

nice one. 20+ miles done! (unfortunately, the last 10k are by far the hardest, hehe)

you slowed down somewhat toward the end today. was this "on purpose" (aka just to cool down) or was it more a function of really being too tired to keep up the pace? i am just asking to get a better feel for a suitable marathon pace. it's time to really think about your marathon pacing.

It was a bit of both. My legs were definitely tired and 11:30 felt like more of a struggle. I also went a little too fast miles 6-9 so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. Based on the last 10K the race predictor shows a 9:30 marathon pace which seems a little optimistic to me.

i think so as well. and it's important to remember that strava doesn't count the breaks. so all the water breaks on your long runs weren't counted to calculate the average (&mile) pace...

how afraid are you of blowing up? how risky do you want to go out?
asked differently:
scenario 1) you go out at 4:10 pace (or 4:15 pace) and have a 50% of reaching it, a 10% chance of being 5min slower and a 40% chance of blowing up and being 40 minute slower (while walking the last 4 miles)

scenario 2) you go out at 4:30 pace (with regular walking breaks through all aid stations etc) and have a 85% of reaching it, a 5% chance of being 5min slower and a 10% chance of blowing up and being 40min slower

what do you prefer? (the suggestested time / paces / percentages are obviously completely random numbers / guesses). but i think it's an interesting question that you should ask yourself. some amount of slowing down or having cramps or hitting the wall is normal / expected. but the more aggressive your time goal is (combined with this being your first marathon), the higher the chance of a "spectacular blow up".

imho there's no right or wrong answer to this and it's just an individual choice you have to make. in a shorter race, there's not much downside to going out too fast. yes, you will slow down later and you will maybe loose some time compared to a perfectly paced race. but the difference is small. but in a marathon, the downside can be enormous.

I've been thinking about this a lot the last few days. I've read several marathon TR's here that ended with a blow out around mile 22-23. That would really suck of course after doing all this training and running over 700 miles training for this one day. I suppose it's something that's impossible to know until you're in the middle of it, or in this case close to the end of it.

Yesterday I purposely made myself go an extra half mile when I desperately wanted to just stop at 20. In hindsight I should've pushed for an extra 2 miles just to see if I had it in me to keep going after 4+ hours of running. I'd like to think I have that kind of endurance and perseverance but I guess we'll find out for sure November 13th.

Taking all of that into account I'm going to go for the more aggressive approach and shoot for a 4:10-4:15 race or around a 9:35-9:40 pace. What's my best approach for the pacing? Negative splits for at least the first half of the race? A lot of this is dependent on the conditions of course. Right now the extended forecast is predicting clear skies with a low in the mid 50s and a high in the mid 60s which would be close to ideal.

disagree. the training is tough enough and there's ample reason why most training plans don't have training runs longer than 20 miles. just stay the course, don't overdo it.

what do you mean by "negative splits for at least the first half"?
do you have a 4:15 pacer at your marathon? if so, i recommend to start out with him and just stay with him as long as possible (or the whole race). and if you feel really good @ mile 18 (or 20), speed up and go for the negative split.
and yes, agree, if the conditions worsen, you have to adapt your goal. let's hope it stays cool and dry!

I just meant start off slower than the goal pace and get faster the first half of the race until I get down to around 9:30. There will be pacers but I'm not sure if there's gonna be a 4:15 group.

start a little bit slower than goal pace (just to make sure that you don't start out too fast) and then just try to stay on goal pace for the next 25 miles, easy job
and find out if there's a pacing group. makes life a lot easier (at least if the pacer makes a good job)

Certainly sounds easy enough lol. I've been reading lots of race reports/blogs from first time marathoners and it's really good stuff! Seems like the majority of runners struggle pretty badly at some point, so many little things that can go sideways!

agree. try to be smart and avoid as many pitfalls as possible.
no experiments on race day! aka
- don't change the food
- don't change the hydration strategy
- don't change your running clothes
- don't change the shoes
- pick a suitable pacing strategy and stick to it (don't start too fast)
- sleep enough before hand (the last night is very often short // you'll sleep badly, but that doesn't matter if you've slept enough)
- believe in the taper plan and stick to it
- avoid walking the day before / the day off the race as much as possible (especially in the big city marathons, people often have to walk several miles before they even get to the start line)
etc

but yes, especially at a first timer, from what i've read, chances are high that something will go wrong but for many people it also works out perfectly, we'll know more in 20 days, hehe

Sunday 10/23
Off

Monday 10/24
20.5 mile long run
3:57:44 11:36 pace

Tuesday 10/25
Off

Wednesday 10/26
5 mile easy run w/ five 100m strides
56:24 11:17 pace

Thursday 10/27
Off

In the home stretch now, 17 days until the big race!! I've been super busy the last two weeks working more than usual so I've taken a couple extra days off from running.

Friday morning weigh in

215.4

Week 1 -2.0 lbs
Week 2 -1.4 lbs
Week 3 -1.6 lbs
Week 4 -1.0 lbs
January -6.8 lbs
Week 5 -1.2 lbs
Week 6 -.2 lbs
Week 7 -.6 lbs
Week 8 -1.2 lbs
February -3.0 lbs
Week 9 -1.4 lbs
Week 10 -1.2 lbs
Week 11 -.6 lbs
Week 12 +1.2 lbs
Week 13 -2.2 lbs
March -3.4 lbs
Week 14 -.4 lbs
Week 15 -1.0 lbs
Week 16 +1.0 lbs
Week 17 -.2 lbs
April -1.0 lbs
Week 18 -1.8 lbs
Week 19 -1.6 lbs
Week 20 -.6 lbs
Week 21 -.8 lbs
May -4.8 lbs
Week 22 -1.2 lbs
Week 23 -.2 lbs
Week 24 -.8 lbs
Week 25 -1.0 lbs
Week 26 -.4 lbs
June -3.2 lbs
Week 27 +.4 lbs
Week 28 -1.0 lbs
Week 29 +2.0 lbs
Week 30 +2.4 lbs
July +3.8 lbs
Week 31 -.8 lbs
Week 32 -.6 lbs
Week 33 -2.0 lbs
Week 34 +1.0 lbs
August -3.6 lbs
Week 35 -1.0 lbs
Week 36 -1.6 lbs
Week 37 +.8 lbs
Week 38 +.6 lbs
Week 39 -1.4 lbs
September -1.4 lbs
Week 40 -.8 lbs
Week 41 +1.2 lbs
Week 42 +.6 lbs
Week 43 -1.0 lbs

Total -23..4/50 (46.8%)

Total mileage:
Week 1 26.0
Week 2 28.5
Week 3 27.5
Week 4 34.0
January 126.0
Week 5 28.0
Week 6 24.0
Week 7 27.0
Week 8 34.0
February 124.0
Week 9 30.0
Week 10 36.0
Week 11 22.0
Week 12 27.0
Week 13 34.0
March 128.0
Week 14 33.1
Week 15 37.0
Week 16 35.1
Week 17 41.0
April 152.5
Week 18 35.2
Week 19 35.0
Week 20 24.5
Week 21 30.0
May 140.5
Week 22 34.0
Week 23 40.5
Week 24 37.0
Week 25 27.0
Week 26 31.0
June 147.5
Week 27 32.0
Week 28 32.0
Week 29 36.0
Week 30 32.0
July 132.0
Week 31 21.0
Week 32 41.5
Week 33 34.0
Week 34 44.0
August 173.5
Week 35 38.0
Week 36 51.0
Week 37 48.5
Week 38 40.0
Week 39 46.0
September 200.5
Week 40 47.2
Week 41 41.0
Week 42 52.0
Week 43 31.2

Total 1485.9/1750 (84.9%)

I've never been so busy in my life! Working two jobs, dropping off/picking up my kids from school when I can, running 4-5 days a week and dating has made for a hectic month. I've been eating way too much crappy food and it's causing me to take extra days off from running.

Friday 10/28
10 miles w/ 1200m intervals
1:46:40 10:40 pace

Saturday 10/29
Off

Sunday 10/30
Off

Monday 10/31
16 mile long run
3:04:09 11:31 pace

Tuesday 11/1
Off

Had a really good interval run Friday...started with a 4 mile warm up then did four .75 mile intervals. I went a little faster than my last interval run and posted times of 5:55, 5:58, 5:58 & 5:57. It was really tough and I was definitely sucking wind pretty hard at the end of the last two. It averaged out to a 7:54 pace for the 3 fast miles!

I took the weekend off but got lots of walking in Sunday. Took the kids to Sea World again and walked 7+ miles around the park. Monday I got out early to do my last super long run before the marathon. I finished 16 miles and maintained nearly the same pace the entire way. Every mile was between 11:22 and 11:35 and my last two miles were among the fastest! I took two short breaks and my legs were pretty tired after but there's no soreness at all today.

Everything's looking perfect, super impressed at how you've stuck to this plan and seen it all the way through.

Are we officially on the taper now? The race is on the 13th, right? Enjoy a bit of a rest from the hard training but don't go nuts on the ice-cream!

Yep 11 days and counting! I've got one more long run next Monday but it's only 12 miles, every other run is 8 or less. I definitely had my share of Halloween candy but that's over now thank God. Right now the forecast says it'll be around 55 degrees that morning with a high of 68 that day so that's looking pretty good!

Wednesday 11/2
7 miles w/ 8 100m strides
1:19:41 11:23 pace

Thursday 11/3
Off

Friday 11/4
7 miles w/ 1600m intervals
1:15:33 10:47 pace

Saturday 11/5
Off

Sunday 11/6
Off

Monday 11/7
12 mile long run
2:15:52 11:19 pace

Race week!! I've taken a couple extra days off from running but have been getting quality runs in. Friday was an interval run with two 1600m intervals which I rounded to one mile. I really went for it and did them in 7:59 & 8:02!

Monday was my last long run before the race. I did 12 miles, started my pace in the 11:20s for miles 1-4 then sped up to 11:10s until the last 2 miles. My legs felt great the whole way. Nothing more than 7 miles now until the marathon Sunday. I'll be driving back to Pensacola Saturday and hopefully can get some sleep and be well rested and ready to go at 6:30 am Sunday morning!!

good luck on sunday! hope everything works out and you'll be able to enjoy it.

Good luck from me as well.
Great job, amazing discipline. Now reap the benefits and enjoy the experience.

Tuesday 11/8
Off

Wednesday 11/9
6 mile easy run
1:08:55 11:29 pace

Thursday 11/10
7 miles w/ 2 @ marathon pace
1:15:36 10:48 pace

Friday 11/11
5 mile easy run
56:52 11:21 pace

Saturday 11/12
Off

21 hours until the gun goes off! Had a great week, my legs feel rested and I'm ready to get at it. Heading to Pensacola today to hit the marathon expo and pick up all my race swag. The weather should be good, mid 50s at the start getting up to around 65 by the finish. It's supposed to be cloudy with a north wind so it should feel nice and cool.