just thinkin' about...

"tomorrow,...bet your bottom dollar that..." Okay, enough of that.

CMM is less than 24 hrs away. Going to lunch with the office today at PF Chang's. Not too thrilled about the timing of this lunch since it totally screws with my typical pre-race process. But, I'm flexible and it should be a good opportunity to unwind. Besides, as one of the coporate sponsors, PFC does offer the "training table" menu -- I will order something off that selection. Luckily, our boss is letting us go early today!

After lunch I will go home and finish my 1st attempt at "beer bread" -- which has been a 2-day oddessy thus far. (Hope to have it complete for Sunday's brew) Then, i will put my feet up, drink lots of H20 and mentally prepare for the big day. Looking forward to it. Oh, and I'll listen to Vandy play Kentucky (since I cant be there in person,...[argh]).

I ran 10 on Sun, 4 on Tues., and 2 on Wed. My legs feel okay except for a touch of soreness on my shins -- hopefully it's nothing to worry about. I'm excited that Mende will be joining Scott and Livie in watching the race. I should see them somewhere at the Demonbreun roundabout.

Well, the next post will be about my results. I'm in corral #5 with an expected time of 3:55. However, anytime under 4:15 will be acceptable.

To all other CMM participants: "In bocca al lupo"!

3 days to go

I ran 4 miles last night, and felt pretty good. I chose a hilly route so that my heart rate would rise and fall quite a bit. It was a good workout and i recovered remarkably well. I think i'll be in okay shape for Saturday's race.

bonk bonk

I bought a new shirt and new socks, just got my new heart-rate monitor and I was all rested-up. Everything was in place for my 20-miler Saturday morning. I was going to leave the house at 6 AM, but I didn't actually take off until 9:45. "No big deal", i thought. Boy was I wrong.

Saturday was one of those days where you think Spring passed us by and Summer is already here (or so it felt). Actually, the temp only climbed to the mid 80s, but when you're used to running in 50-60 degree temps, a change like that can have some harsh effects. Sure, i had water with me, but it lasted only an hour. I would have re-filled it, but where are the water fountains when you need them??? I got about 9 miles into the run and started to overheat. I slowed my pace, but my heart rate continued to hover around 165. Then (despite my slower pace), my heart rate rose to over 170. I got scared so I stopped running altogether. It took 10 mintues for the rate to drop to below 140. For the next 5 miles, I'd run until my heart rate climbed to 175, then I'd walk until it dropped to 150, then I'd run again,...etc... Finally, I called Mende and asked her to come get me. I made it 15 miles.

THE TOLL: Dehydration, sun burn, blistered right foot, bruised ego

I figured that i would not push myself unnecessarily during a training run. If I were on the marathon course, I'd have fluids every mile and trained paramedics ready to intervene if things got too bad. This was not the time to "push it".

To taper or not to taper...

My longest run thus-far is a hair over 18 miles. I feel I need to run a 20-plus one before the big day, but do I have time to do that AND taper? I dunno. So, I am thinking about running 20 on FRI (15 days till), and then tapering from that. I guess that's a mini-taper, right? BUT, I have a 5K to run the day after (SAT, 15th). I'd be in no shape to run 5k after a a 20-miler. Maybe run the 5 in in the AM, and then a 17-miler that afternoon? Still deciding...

25 days to go

i'm thinking the sub 4-hr mark is not looking realistic any longer. I pounded out 18.5 miles Sat in a little under 3 hrs. I walked some, and it wasn't easy. i continue to start off too fast (?@&#^!) and have nothing left at the end. I'm just gonna take it easy and not worry about times.