July 10th, 2008
What a dumb morning! I messed up my clock when I was setting it, so it went off at 6 (or so it showed), but it was really only 5am. I got up anyway; another night with 4 hours and change. I have a voiceover job at 10am so I had to fit in a 10 miler, a shower and some time to veg before leaving the house.
Because of the lack of sleep, I expected today’s run to be bordering on miserable…it was anything but! It was just 73 degrees when I left the house, so that was a help.
I averaged 8:57 miles (my normal pace when it’s 60 degrees) so this is a happy thing. It was also, unintentionally, a progression run. I might have to owe it to my latest taste-testing treat, Powergel Strawberry/Banana (very sweet, but ok…I could do that one again), which I took 54 minutes in. I swear it made a difference and I’m not talking mental!
I was starting to lag before the half-way point, took the gel and voila…last few miles are 8:40s. Powergels have electrolytes so I wouldn’t have to deal with S-caps, which is cool. I’m happy to find my stomach is not as sensitive as I thought from my gel-cramping experience last year. As long as I drink enough water with it, I’m thinking I can probably deal with any of them.
As an addition to a comment from dear Pokey in the last post, I was thinking about the “need” to do at least one 22 mile run before the big day. It’s not a need, per se, but would be great for confidence, and besides, it’s only 2 more miles than a 20, so I’ve got one planned.
What cracks me up though, is that in Europe where they use Kilometers, most plans have the long run peak at 30K, which is only 18.5 miles! I always thought peaking anywhere less than 20 would be like rolling the dice, but them crazy foreigners do it all the time. Which tells you how much of this stuff is in our heads.
OK, gotta go and make some moolah. It’s a Comcast radio spot, I do those somewhat regularly lately. Have a fab day, folks and some great runs!!
Posted in 
Tags: 20 Responses to “Half-Awake”
Leave a Reply
Sign Up For My Newsletter and get
Click here for more info
|
|
|
|
Can you link to something you’ve done?
I want to tell folkz I know a celebrity….
Ooops! I wanted to comment on the long run also. Most of the marathoners I know cap out at the 20 miles. It seems to work fine for them. I would not recommend 18.66 as a long run, although some people have done it, and have gone on to have successful marathons. To me, it just doesn’t seem like enough–if you’ve never run a marathon before, I think your body needs to know those extra miles. A lot of the alarmists caution against running any more than that; however Galloway is a proponent of running MORE than the actual race, so for a marathon he recommends 27! From personal experience: We ran 22.5 as our last long run. We did it for purely psychological reasons. We also did a 21-miler a couple of weeks before the last long run. I feel that we were as well prepared as possible. If I thought my body could have withstood a 27 mile run prior to the marathon, I would have done it because for me, it is mostly psychological.
Having said all that–you want to be sure you are rested and healed before actually racing your best marathon. So, I think you need to factor in how well you recover and how much you currently run now, and then determine what your last long run should be. Now, wasn’t that helpful? LOL!
Ok, seminar is over…carry on…
Lol, big celebrity, that’s why my car has no air conditioning.
The only one I know that has some of their commercials online is Apple Vacations. Here’s the one I saw on Jeopardy the other day and here’s my VO demo.
Gee, I didn’t know that about Galloway, but then he includes walking so maybe that’s why those 27s don’t kill you. I’ve read so many things against running even 26 before a marathon, that it’s not worth the recovery needed, so forgeddaboutit! 22 will do us just fine.
I’m just at the maximum-mileage point in training for my Marathon, (it’s on Aug 3rd) and ran a hilly 21 last week. Those last miles were quite an effort, even at easy pace, so I can understand the stop-at-20 argument. 30K does seem short though!
Jim E
Yay Jim!! Because just the 21 isn’t masochistic enough without throwing some hills in there for good measure.
Wow, Aug. 3rd will be here in no time. Best of luck!! Where is it?
Flo,
The marathon is in San Francisco, and there are some lumps in the course. Nothing major, I think the biggest is 200ft or so. My run was on a trail with a couple of 800 footers, just so I can say “Heh, you call this a hill? In the East Bay, we have HILLS!” Of course, by mile 20 of last week’s long run I was actually saying “Urgh, urgh, urgh, why am I ****ing doing this?”
Jim E
Excellent that you did more than you needed as far as those hills. 800 footers, oy…so tired just reading that.
Sounds like you’re really well prepared and then some! Something tells me you’re going to have a great race.
I just checked out those voiceover links — nice voice! It feels like I’ve heard your work before, but I can’t place it….
Anyway, I think it’s interesting to see where the different plans have folks peaking on their long runs. I wonder if the length of the peak period makes a difference as well? Like could a plan that has the runner put in weeks with four 30K long runs before taper be better than one that peaks with a couple of two 20-miler weeks?
I couldn’t wait to hear the voice overs, nice work! Could you record the outgoing message on my answering maching?
I was thinking: Nick needs to change his name to Ebb. I think Ebb and Flo would make a great couple, don’t you?
Back to running: I did a 21.3 miler for my long run before the marathon and I felt like that was plenty. I have read Galloway’s book and I agree that the walk breaks do allow you to do the longer “runs” with less stress, and that also serves well for the person that needs that psycological boost. I thought about a 24 miler before my marathon but was talked out of it by others on the RW forum, I think they were right.
We should be able to edit: I meant machine, duh!
Thanks, Vince! I appreciate the comment.
That’s a great question about the 4 shorter vs 2 longer. I’d tend to think the 4 30ks would be better since it’s just slightly longer. Plus, long runs get easier the more you do them (thank god!).
Lol, Tobey. “Ebb”…he’d really like that, I’m sure. About those long runs, isn’t it funny that we must put so much weight (and rightly so) on the difference between just a coupla stinkin’ more miles? It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that 24 is too much, but 22 is fine. I’m totally fine with not doing 24, mind you
, but in my mind, 2 extra miles is soooo little. Cumulative effect makes all the difference, I guess.
Pooh, didn’t know you couldn’t edit. I have a cute little edit link under the name, next to the time. Guess I’m special.
Flo,
Ah, but those last two miles seem pretty long when you’re doing them :-)
I just had a look at the Steamtown course profile. Wow. That’s some major downhill action. I think if I were doing it, i would work on my downhill running, which is pretty sucky right now. Uphill is more my thing.
Jim E.
Yeah, Jim, I’m sure you’re right. And you’re right about Steamtown needing downhill prep. I have two mile-long downhill stretches I’ll start working on in a couple weeks. Going back up to the top for a new repeat should be great fun, too (cough, cough).
I finally got to hear your voice overs! Wow! Fantastic! Do you sing as well? And is that really your voice or is that your “professional” voice? I’m very impressed.
I been having a on going discussion with a guy I run with about the longest long run distance. He wants to go 26 or longer. I feel 22 is long enough. Since your following Pfitzingers plan and his long run is 22 or 20 I would stick to plan your following. I agree 20 or 22 is long enough. Some feel the need to go beyond the distance.
Pokey, thanks! Yes, to singing – I was a musical theater actress in my younger days, then did one-woman musical shows/cabaret things in clubs around NYC, and later had a band that performed around town, too. Sadly, no more singing for me unless I find a Karaoke bar. No, I don’t speak like that in real life, it’s very much a “turn it on at the studio” type of thing.
Bruce…26? Hah, I have no urge and I’m glad you don’t either. All I want is for the 20s to be as comfortable as possible, so to that end, the more the merrier.
Since we’re still on the topic of long runs–I’ll add this one last comment:
We found that running the back end of the marathon course (the last 22 miles) gave us a bit of an edge. Some people don’t like to know what’s coming. I like to know. Since I knew what was coming, and since I had done it before, I knew I could do it again. I found that to be very re-assuring, as I tend to panic. It made the last few miles seem shorter–because I had been there done that already.
Hi Flo-nice voiceover!!!! Anyway, I’m here in scranton, PA to visit my daughter at sleepaway camp-STEAMTOWN IS WAITING FOR YOU/!!!
Pokey, it really does make a difference to know what the course looks like. You know where to apply yourself and where to lay back. I definitely feel weird racing somewhere I’ve never been before, you have no idea what to expect and if you’re going to use all your energy before some surprise hills or something.
Lisa, thanks doll! I only hope it’s waiting and not lying in wait.
Hope you and your kid are having a great time.