There really is something to be said about this casual increasing of distances and efforts.  I like it so much that I plan to continue this model long-term (knocking on wood for continued health):
1. Summer base-building, completely low-key, emphasis on volume
2. firm it up for Fall racing, try to keep the mileage up through the season (racing will naturally interfere some, but it’s ok)
3. take 1-2 weeks off completely as Winter sets in, then
4. spend Winter running mid-60s to 70s (no way I’m doing 90mpw in wintry suck) – again keeping it casual
5. returning to 90mpw and race prep in the Spring.

The trouble with higher mileage in singles
As you know, I prefer doing all my runs in singles and so far, it’s been just fine.  However, now that I’m adding in quality work, scheduling becomes more complicated. I only have one short day, Monday, which I consider to be a recovery day or “my little reward for having completed another chunky week” so it’s a putter day if I choose.  That leaves me 6 days of double-digit runs in which to place speed and tempo workouts.  This is why extending the Long Run to 18 and beyond is helpful, as it lets me shorten a workout day.

Not that it’s horrible to do a speed or tempo in the midst of a longer run, it’s just a pain in the ass.  Because if I do it towards the front of the run, energy levels are good but that leaves a lot of miles afterwards.  Alternately, if I wait towards the end of a run as I would for speedwork (because 1-2 miles is the most I want to deal with after that type of effort) then that’s an 8-9 mile warmup…a tad excessive.

Additionally, the day preceding a quality day will probably always be 14 or more, which means my legs aren’t exactly bouncy when it’s time to do the workout.  And with my preference for 2 days between quality sessions…you see how it can be limiting.

On the other hand, quality days within longer runs aren’t the worst thing ever, it’s certainly good for endurance, but you have to accept that there will be some performance tradeoff.  So if I find I’m too tired to do the workouts properly or that my progress is being held back because of it, I will either have to drop some mileage (even 5mi would help) or incorporate a couple doubles.

The good thing is that I’m satisfied with any progress at the moment and am in no hurry to get from A to Z.  So I won’t be making any changes just yet, but this is an ongoing experiment and it’s interesting to see how these components will unfold as the workouts go from baby steps to Real.

My Goals and Revisiting Marathons
I wrote a post on the 3:20 thread the other day in response to the usual teasing from my forum pals about my “Great marathon training, Flo!” or asking me when my next Full is.  It always makes me laugh and I haven’t said anything about goals in a long time because I stopped having any.  Well, that’s not exactly true, I’ve had a sub-20 5K goal for almost 2 frickin’ years, lol, and if I don’t get it this Fall, there’s something seriously wrong with me (meaning, I’m confident it’ll happen).

But anyway, I finally said something goal-ish to my 3:20 pals because I wanted to admit I have one, even if it’s a while down the line.  This is a goal I’ve secretly coveted for ages but dismissed for being impossible, but here it is back on the table… a 1:30 Half.  NOTE: I have to make this super clear before anyone gives me a “you can do it!” before I’m ready; it ain’t gonna happen this year!   It’s a 2012 goal but the fact that I even have it (and think it’s acquirable) is beautiful.  So that’s my #1, long-term goal.

Now about those pesky marathons…
While on a run the other day, I got to thinking about the things I disliked about marathons and marathon training: those interminable long runs, the way improper nutrition or hydration can kill a race, that bad weather can crush months of hard training in an instant, not to mention my feet always get beat up and hurt like hell during a marathon.  Then it hit me that two of those things are no longer applicable.

Long Runs are obviously not heinous anymore and 6 purple toenails later my feet are acclimated to constant pounding (crazy how bad my feet got the moment I raised my mileage, but all is well now).  As for the other things, I still hate them.  I haven’t had a gel on a training run since March 2010 and love not having to worry about it, and the thought of racing hard for 3+ hours in crappy weather turns my stomach.  I’m not ever going to be someone who finds the challenge of those things exciting or something to rise above, it’ll always be irritating shit in my book.

Now here’s a thing:  about a year and a half ago when I announced “no more marathons”, I told my friend Lara that there was one lone circumstance in which I’d reconsider the decision and that was if I could confidently go after a sub 3:10.  It was a “when pigs fly” type of remark because I knew it was never gonna happen.  But now I’m not so sure what I know or don’t know anymore – there’s really no telling where this new phase will lead.

If, for some crazy reason, I’m able to drop my times to where 3:09:59 seams feasible, then I actually would probably go for it.  But I still don’t love the marathon distance, so please nobody expect me to be perusing Rock N Steal Your Money Roll’s website for the latest fab race any time soon, it’ll be a while, if ever.

So that’s what’s been going through my head lately.  Since what I’m doing is pretty much marathon training.  How ever the hell that happened.

I recovered just fine, the calf twinge went away by keeping the mileage in check and now I’m back to my battle axe self.  Runs went: 8 Sat, 9 Sun and 6 on Mon.  The 6 was pretty fun because I never run that short, aside from tapering, so I was able to pick up the pace a bit.

Yesterday, in my quest to dial back before the next marathon cycle (can’t believe it starts in 4 weeks!) I took a rest day.  I figure I’ll take one rest day/week through December, then back to 7 days/week with the rare day off.

Now for some fun.  Exactly a year ago someone posted a thread on MRT asking everyone what their goals for 2009 were and it was bumped back up a couple days ago.  I had completely forgotten ever writing these goals, so what a trip it was seeing them again and comparing how it all panned out:

1. Race more
I did, but only by one race.
2. sub 3:38 Fall marathon on a non-asterisk course.
Even with a miserably long bonk, I managed to surpass my if-everything-goes-right-dream-goal by 5 minutes. Talk about putting things in perspective.
3. Low 21:xx 5K
In June I got 20:25 which I might test again in a couple weeks.
4. Keep around 50mpw avg. but enjoy adding more in the summer to achieve #2 (enjoyment necessary)
Did this to a T, averaged 70s+ by Fall and had a great time doing it.
5. No injuries
I was introduced to my IT Band this year, so I can’t say I had none, but that was it.

I look at this list and realize what a different runner I’ve become within a 12-month span.  And while I still have angst about Philly (not helped by the worst race pictures ever – either walking, looking at my watch or just being god-awful ugly) I have so much to be grateful for.

Speaking of angst, I’ve been thinking a lot about marathons and our future together and have made a decision:  The two marathons I have planned for 2010 will determine whether I will continue marathoning or not – if between the two I can’t pull out a good one, or they don’t approach my shorter races Age-grade-wise, I’m done.

I don’t mean this in an “I’m taking my toys and going home” type of way, but as in “OK, turns out I have more fast twitch fibers in me than slow“ so that’s what I’d rather develop.  My 5K from June nets me an Age-grade of 80.86% (National Class…I’m so fancy) and I’m pretty sure, not having reached the 3-year running mark yet, that I have at least a couple years of faster short races ahead of me.  So while I could keep marathoning until I get it right, I’d rather spend my energy doing what I’m better suited for.

The only sad part about this is, if it works out the way I suspect it might, I’ll have to part with a wonderful group of forum friends since my favorite hangout is Marathon Race Training, but I’ve got a year before I need to worry about that.

The important thing here is to be objective about my skill set and not place a value judgment on myself if I can’t run marathons well.  It doesn’t mean I suck, it means it’s not my race, is all.   Should that be the case, I’ll simply develop my strengths and make a killing winning gift cards, turkeys, travel mugs and a buck or two, while having a huge amount of fun doing it.  So here’s to clarity and seeing how the next year unfolds – not knowing is half the fun.

Most of the posters on MRT are what I call serial marathoners, they do one marathon after another – some a la Maniac style, with a few short weeks between, some in standard cycles.  Either way, I never got the lure of wanting to do consecutive marathons.  I enjoyed my short race training this year and felt it really improved my speed – I tend to think constant marathon training can potentially dull speed since the workouts are slower and longer.   Bottom line, it just didn’t appeal to me as a year-long endeavor.

So when it came to qualifying for Boston, I wasn’t even sure I would do it, it meant going from a Philly cycle, short break, then into a Boston cycle through the winter.   However, the Women’s BQ thread I’ve been involved with for over a year has been churning out BQs left and right, so the chance to meet even more of my imaginary friends in the flesh was enough to commit to it.

Additionally, over the last few months, I’ve been spending most of my posting time in the Sub 3:20 thread (which needs to be renamed soon since most of them are way faster now).  That thread differs greatly from the Women’s in that it’s predominantly men, which I can’t help but adore.  Along with great training conversation there’s a plethora of bawdy humor that always makes me laugh out loud – I just love those freaks.

Between these two factions, along with some other forumites I enjoy but who don’t post in those threads, Boston is set to be one huge-ass party.  Admittedly, I’m sad that I’ll be missing a short-race training cycle and I’m not super excited about doing 20-milers in the winter, but I ran straight through the winter last year, so I’m figuring it won’t be that different, just a bit longer.

So Boston in Spring.  Now about Fall…

Almost all of my Sub 3:20 cohorts are already talking about doing Chicago 2010.  Since some of them won’t be doing Boston, the idea of meeting everybody, some for the second time, sounds too good to pass up.   Then there’s that other meeting, the Marathon itself…

I feel like Sunday I had a fight with a high school slut bully and the bitch won.   That’s the second time she’s kicked my ass and I’m not happy about it.  In the comments to my last post, Ewen and Joe have differing opinions on how many marathons I should do.  Ewen suggests 3 or more, Joe says 1.  I was thinking 1 was plenty, too.  Until now.

Having attached so. much. importance. to that one single raceday only to have it fizzle in my face is making me think it’s time to make the marathon a little less precious.  So I’m about to test the waters of serial marathoning:  Philly Fall ’09, Boston Spring ’10, Chicago Fall ’10.  Plus the Shamrock Half in March…it’s going to be a traveling year!

So you better watch out slut bully marathon, I’m coming for you twice in 2010 and while I may not be carrying a razor blade under my tongue, I’ll be kicking you into submission one way or another.

I know, it’s quite a way aways, but I’m in Big Picture mode right now, filling out my schedule for the year, so it seems as good a time as any to commit.

Originally, I was all “I want my next marathon to be a destination race, sounds like such fun to travel to a race.”  I was also thinking about how much I loved the size of Steamtown and would prefer a similar sized small field.  But then I remembered that I’m lazy at heart, don’t like the pressure of finding the “perfect” race, and am not very motivated to travel, which made my decision pretty easy.

The Philly Marathon has so many plusses for me:  it’s my home running ground, it starts a couple blocks from my front door, my friends can come out and cheer me on and the course is pretty close to perfect as far as a few hilly bits but mostly flat.  Besides, Boston 2010 definitely applies as a destination race so I’ll be getting my travel in then.

What’s seriously fun though, is not having a clue what goal pace I’ll end up chasing.  I have my Half cycle ahead and when that’s over there’ll be about 3 months before marathon training begins, so a lot can and will happen between now and then.  It adds an element of titillation to the deal.

As for today’s run, a sweet 9-miler, avg pace 8:27.  I’ve said this before, but when I’m running well, I feel as though I’m dancing, grand jeté-ing myself back home.  That’s how it was today.  I felt light and beautiful.

We arrive in Scranton and the Expo just in time for a panel discussion by three well-known runners on how to run Steamtown.  Leaving the auditorium, I recognize Audra (Dogpound) who has Fran (LongIslandChick) with her.  Audra and I have been PMing (private messaging on the RW forum) for months about this race – we had the same goal, so decided to team up and run it together in a no-pressure, “run your own race” way.  I’d never met her before, but knew she had some great tattoo work on her arms so she was hard to miss.  Hugs and introductions, then Nick and I leave the Expo.

Getting in the car, Nick (who was the BEST support a gal could have during a marathon) suggested we drive the course from the Scranton end (the finish).  The written course directions were all over the place though, and we were getting lost until Nick noticed the race markings on the road and just followed them.  So we managed about 10 miles, but then there’s a trail that you can’t drive, so we gave up there.  Still, it was great to drive that portion of the course, familiarizing myself with the final hills and the rollers before that.

After the course tour, we go to the FE (Forum Encounter for you non-forum readers, where forum folks meet up in real life) at an Italian restaurant.  Totally fun, sweet people, lots of laughs and chatskies, then back to the hotel, but not before making a plan with Audra and Fran to meet at the buses at 6:15 the next morning.

Racerbabes at the FE: Fran, Audra and Me.

While on the bus, Audra and I had a lot of time to talk about running and game-plan thoughts.  Her main focus was to start easy and stay relaxed for the first few miles – an idea I embraced because I knew if left to my own devices, I’d go out at goal pace from the start.  And while we both wanted to run 3:45, that was her cutoff for a BQ, so I knew it’d be wise to follow her lead.  I should also mention that besides doing a bunch of marathons before, she’s also an Ironman three times over, so much adoration on my part.

The race starts. The canon goes off (yeah, a real canon), and we cross the mat, I press my Garmin Start button (I think) and about a minute later, I realize I somehow fucked up this most elementary thing.  The Garmin hasn’t started, so I press the button for real this time, realizing that now I have to do math (add 1:07) for the whole damn race.  Oy.  Like I don’t have enough to think about.  But in the end, it was the best thing that could have happened because I paid less attention to the total time.

On to the run: The first couple miles I was thinking, “supposed to be really easy, this feels kind of easy but not really easy, oh my god, can I do this for 26.2?  It’s early, I don’t know how it’s supposed to feel, etc”.  I don’t breathe a word of this to Audra because I know it’s first-time freakdom and that it’ll get better, it has to.

And it does.  She keeps us at a calm pace for the first couple miles and I start to loosen up. We both figure 8:30s are what we want to shoot for as goal pace, so we follow Audra’s chant of “nice ‘n easy”.  Feeling good.

Btw, I never run with anyone save an occasional shorter run with my fab friend Lara, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this “running with somebody” thing, but it turned out that Audra was an instant BFF and we chat sparingly, but easily.  At one point, I’m thrilled with how easy it actually is to talk, like I hear my words and feel my breathing and I sound relaxed.  Yay, confidence is returning.

Audra zooms through the water stops, so impressive, while I was able to hold off for the first ten miles, thanks to my handheld and the cool temps.  Speaking of the handheld, it was absolutely wonderful to race with, and if I wasn’t Nick’s woman, I’d totally marry it.  Seriously, I imagined myself having to stop dead at tables to put cups of water in, but in reality, I ran through like everyone else, grabbing 4 cups in succession at each stop without slowing down.

I took a gel around 6ish, maybe 7, and at this point, I’m getting a little nervous about the time – we’re racking up more than I’d feel confident of making up later in the race, especially with hills in the second half.  We’d already done the steepest hill back at mile 4, and I knew we were soon to run out of good downhills, so at mile 7, I took the downhill a little harder and though it broke my heart some when I realized Audra wasn’t next to me anymore, I kept on pace.

Now I’m on my own and it’s different, I’m alone, checking out the other runners.  At one point, I’m behind a cluster and someone to the side is telling his friend, super loudly, about all the operations he’s had on his feet and about the car crash and the cuts from putting out signs until the rest of us start rolling our eyes and making jokes about it.  Then this one woman and I start running faster than normal to get away from that horrible, boorish voice which is absolutely ruining our zen morning.  I see her again after the race, btw, and we laugh over our getaway.

The course is very rural with small towns and everyone is out on their porch or on the street cheering us on.  It’s touching, such incredible crowd support (and I usually don’t give a crap about such things).  Lots of people even put out their own tables with water or candy or bananas.

And the bands!  School bands and some of the cutest little groups.  There was the senior citizen brass band composed of, yes, senior citizens, but not without the token teenage drummer, standing a little off to the side by himself, looking bored out of his mind, like Grandpa made him do it.  So funny.

As far as gels, I had a flask filled with 4 (and some water for thinning).  I also took an extra gel pack for fear I might drop my flask, so better to be safe.  However, and I’m glad I did this, when the time came for the second gel, I used the pack, because I knew it’d be harder to eat a straight gel nearer the end of the race, if I wanted all of them.  It worked out great because at the end when I was dying (yes, I’m getting there), I was happy to empty my gel flask.

We get to mile marker 13, and I hear this girl say to her partner, “We’re halfway!! woohoo!!” and like the wet blanket I am, I pipe up with, “hey, you know what they say, the halfway point is 20 miles”.  Which is how I was considering the race, btw.  Half at 20.  I take an S-cap.

I was doing body checks, and hearing in my mind all the wise forumites who say 13.1 should feel easy, and it did.  I was keeping the pace in the 8:30s, and was more concerned with feeling normal than making my original goal.  The Garmin start button idiocy helped with treating the outcome more casually, but more important was that I had a lot of leeway for that BQ (the old lady consolation prize), a 15 minute window to play with.

First 15 splits:
8:50
8:55
8:43
8:25
8:41
8:36
8:42
8:20
8:34
8:33
8:34
8:41
8:35
8:35
8:33

We get to the trail section (which was lovely and cool) and there’s Nick, camera in hand!  He pulls a great trick when, about 1/4 mile on, there he is again!  I yell out, “How the hell’d you get here so fast?”  His reply, ” I have a car.”  Lol and duh.

I’m still feeling good at 18, I’m not keeping 8:30s because the trail was a natural slowdown, as were some rollers, so at this point, I’m around 8:40s.  Again, totally cool in my head with it, knowing I’ve pulled some good miles, whatever will be, will be, and as long as I feel good, I’m golden.

Around mile 19, I start getting hot and need more water.  There was a little hill there and I went up too fast, could feel my heart rate going overboard, so I decided to walk a few feet.  Please note, I’ve only ever walked once on a long run, never during this training cycle, but going into the race, I made a deal with myself that it was fine to walk if I needed to, so I did.  It was only a short distance, but it seemed to help, and I got going again.

Miles 16-19:
8:49
8:36
8:35
8:57

Once I did my little walk, I said “screw 8:30s, I’ll be happy to keep it in the 8:40s if I can feel comfortable.

Now through the whole run, my legs felt good, even to the very end.  I mean, they were tired, my whole body was tired, but I had no tendon or muscle twinges at all. However, what I did have, and I think I noticed around mile 19, was hurting feet.  My toes were smarting bigtime, but I sucked it up.

Miles 20-21:
8:47
8:43

Then in mile 21 or 22, I made a huge tactical error.  The waterstop cups were half full, so I did my requisite 4 cups, but that only filled my handheld halfway.  What I should have done, was stop at that point and fill the thing up completely, because I ended up walking/running a few more times when I probably could have held it together better.  I know this in retrospect, because my ugly finish was punctuated by an empty handheld hanging off my stupidly weak hand.  But we’re not there yet.

The weird thing I’m finding, because I feel like I’m starting to die, is that my pace isn’t being killed as much as I’d think it would be for starting to feel truly exhausted. I’m surprised I’m not doing 10:30s frankly.  But the one nice thing is, lots of people are walking, though they all look stronger to me than I do, and even in my discomfort, I’m passing people that passed me earlier, so that was a nice boost.

Miles 22-25:
8:51
8:59
9:56 (I walked up the evil hill)
8:54

It’s hot, I’m really feeling miserable, my feet are hurting bad and I want this to be over 5 miles ago, but I’m almost done.  I don’t know what my time is and I don’t care.  I just want to stop running.

Finally, the piece de resistance, the last mile with the hill that seems like a mountain at that point.  I was out of water and didn’t notice anything except what was in front of me.  People on support bikes would be “it’s less than a mile, c’mon you can do it” and I was just thinking “thanks, but fuck you.”

I come to the top of the hill and there below is the Finish Line, it’s all downhill from here!  So here’s where my kick should of come in, but there was no kick, there was no nuthin’, I tried to run and felt all wobbly legs, would walk some, then freak out because I couldn’t even stand up straight anymore, yet here is the finish to my marathon, some great finishing photos, yikes.  Eerily reminiscent of my last half, sigh.

Mile 26: 10:25
Not sure of .2 because I left my Garmin running.

I shuffle over the mat and immediately get sat in a wheelchair and handed a bottle of water, then someone reminds me to stop my Garmin, so I have no idea what time I got.  I’m feeling shaky as hell and mad that my big day ended up so ickily, but then Audra passes the finish and I call out to her, so we trade stories and she helps me up to find a place to sit that’s not medically related.  I’m feeling truly deflated about my finish, but as I start to gain back strength, realize that I, Flo, just friggin BQ’d!  My first time out, I BQ’d!  Hey, that’s no small potatoes.  In an instant, I feel great.

Sweet Audra, btw, mentor extraordinaire, missed her BQ by a hair, but got a PR, so it was a success for her as well.  I have her to thank many times over for keeping the brakes on in the beginning, I think that really made the race be as good as it was till it wasn’t.

Anyway, we go find her mom and Nick, and Nick tells me he has photos of the entire finish, but I’m not allowed to look at them, they’ll bother me too much.  What he is able to offer me is a huge bouquet of flowers, so I felt like Miss America with a medal.

She and I go back to the runner’s area to find Fran, which we magically do among all those people.  She got a PR as well!  Happy girls.

I was going to take a shower before the drive home, but I was so beat, I hugged all my new friends, then  Nick and I leave.  As soon as I’m in the car, I take my shoes off to find blood blisters on both second toes (under the nail and over the top of the toe) and regular blisters on the underside of two toes, not to mention whatever’s lurking beneath my red toenail polish.  Oh, so that’s why my feet hurt.

I loved this marathon.  The size was wonderful, 1892 entered (1582 finished), the crowd was great, the buses to the start so easy, volunteers amazingly helpful and friendly.  I’d do this one again for sure.  As for the course, I knew ahead of time from reading blogs that the elevation chart on the Steamtown site is way more simple than reality.  Lots more ups then pictured.  But my downhill training proved enough, quads were a-ok throughout.

Before I sign off, I want to thank you sweet fabulous people yet again – you were with me every step of the way.  Between you, Nick, Audra, and the rest of my fabulous gal-pals on the Women’s BQ forum, I had the ultimate support crew.  I’d like to say “party at my house!” but I’m a sucky host, so cyberhugs and smooches will have to do.  You deserve something for getting me through this thing.

And with that, I leave you with a series of finishing photos, scary as they are, I really couldn’t stand up anymore.  Don’t worry, everything’s fine – I even forgot to take ibuprofen till just now and it’s past midnight, so all my parts are feeling fine.  But yeah, this looks, and was, embarrassingly brutal.