Eventually I'd like to do another marathon but probably not for at least a year. At that point there will be more spare time for training, especially for the weekend long runs. For a second marathon, I'd also want to do an intermediate training program rather than novice. The Novice program, in retrospect, did exactly what it was supposed to do - it was the minimal amount of training to get to the start line healthy and to the finish line intact. That was fine; but if I really want to go faster, I'll need to put out the additional time and effort for an Intermediate program.

Anyway, after a couple of days, I decided to stop analyzing the finish time and instead just celebrate a first marathon.

I also found Higdon's recovery programs on the web and so that's the plan for the next few weeks.

Two runs this week: 6.2 mi run @9:18/mi midweek, and the weekend long run, 9.1 mi @9:35/mi. Elliptical and Lifecycle on the other days, shortened somewhat from earlier weeks in deference to taper.

I've been lucky to have not had any significant injuries during training. As for the hamstring problem in July that dropped me into 6 days of aerobic crosstraining - at least it didn't last long, I didn't lose any fitness, and it did have a very useful consequence (besides teaching me to not neglect proper stretching and warmup). It temporarily forced me to run with a shortened stride and lower knee lift - which taught me the type of stride I'd eventually need for the longest runs.

So now it's time to hurry up and wait - one more week till the marathon. Am I excited? Of course. Am I nervous? No. I've never been nervous before a race - always feel that I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by doing the race. I do feel a bit like I'm jumping into the proverbial deep end of the pool, since I have not done the full race distance in training, but I have done up to 21.8 mi well. Hopefully that will be good enough to get me to a successful 26.2 next Sunday. Trust the training.

Well, actually it was 21.8 mi...YES. Since the long run 2 weeks ago was 20 mi (with last week as a stepback week), I took advantage of the 10% rule and ran 7 loops around the Rose Bowl. The Bowl has a somewhat boring but very convenient 3.1 mi loop that's relatively flat (about 160 ft elevation gain and loss per loop - well, that's flat for my neighborhood!) I was very pleased with the long run for several reasons: (1) Did each loop at roughly the same pace - and especially did not collapse in the final loop. (2) Getting onto flat ground and out of the foothills, picked up some speed - averaged 9:48 min/mi. Now when I did that speed in the foothills for 15 mi, my legs were dead afterwards. But running on flat ground made it much easier. (3) Ran well despite the humidity and heat - 65 deg when I started and about 80 deg at the end. (4) Did not hit the wall - so the wall's somewhere beyond 21.8 mi. (5) Legs were very tired at the end but intact. 

So now it's taper time - YAY. I've been told that the two most important things about taper are (1) don't overtrain and (2) don't do anything stupid. 

As for the rest of the week - 6.7 mi run @9:24 min/mi, and 6.4 mi run @9:11 min/mi. Plus a day of elliptical, 2 days of Lifecycle and a day of light weights.

One month to go...

The Pasadena area air quality is back to moderate, and it feels great to be running outside again without having to drive a long distance!

This was a stepback week per the schedule. The midweek run was 6.3 mi @9:11 min/mi, and the long run was 14.5 mi @10:00 min/mi. (No, I wasn't trying for exactly 10:00 pace but that's what it worked out to on MapMyRun).  Plus four crosstraining days, yet more elliptical and Lifecycle, up to 90 min for the longest crosstraining day. After the long run, I did what's become the usual drill: stretching, then cold water spray on legs for a few min before showering, then ice knees and hamstrings afterwards. 10:00 pace is on the fast end of McMillan's recommendation, but this run was "relatively" short, so to speak, so my legs felt pretty reasonable afterwards.

Next weekend will be the second 20-miler. I probably will not need to flee down to the beach for that one. In order to calibrate pace, I may be doing it at the Rose Bowl - there's a convenient and popular 3.1 mile loop - so that will be 6.5 times around the Bowl. I'd better have real good music on the iPod for that run (haha). And after that it will be 3 weeks of taper. 

This was a stepback week, and fortunately it was a stepback week since (1) I was on vacation at high altitude for part of it and (2) the Los Angeles wildfires are wreaking havoc with marathon training schedules. This week I did a 6.3 mi run @9:35 min/mi at home, and then a 7.6 mi run @9:41 min/mi (6000 ft altitude). The 7.6 mi really should have been 10-12 mi, but I didn't have access to any water along the route and so had to cut it somewhat short. Other than that, the runs were fine. Also the usual mixture of Lifecycle and elliptical for the first part of the week. After that, 2 days of moderate hiking at approx 9000 ft. Returned home to LA on Sunday night and the Station Fire has been burning out of control for several days. Fortunately my home is not in immediate danger but the air quality, especially outdoors, is poor. Don't even think about running outside for a while. I'll use a gym treadmill for the midweek run and then head down to the beach for the long runs on the weekends. May have to use a particle mask even for working out indoors...OK, whatever it takes. Could be till Sept 8 till the fire is contained and a while longer for air quality to return to normal.

I  followed the good advice I got from several veteran marathoners on active.com about not doing long runs too fast - the purpose is to build endurance rather than speed/stamina. After last week's 15.6 mi "speed session" (so to speak), I did three days of crosstraining and then went back out to run. The short run was 4.5 mi @10:30 pace, which was probably slower than I needed to do for that distance. However, I wanted to feel the pace and also needed an easy run. Then more crosstraining and then the long run, which was 16.6 mi @10:18 pace. I thought I was doing about 11 min/mi, but when I mapped it, found I was faster than I'd thought. Guess I can thank my 10K background for that. But my legs felt much better after the 16.6 mi than they did last week after the 15.6 mi. They were very tired and needed some stretching, but they didn't feel like they'd been run over by a truck. The slower pace (10:18/mi rather than 9:41/mi) made a big difference. Also I showered my legs with cool water for a few min after the run - since I don't yet have the nerve to get in an ice bath. The cool water felt great.

Well, fortunately looks like it's back to normal. After the slow and careful 4 mi on Monday, did a faster (although still relatively slow - 10 min/mi) 5 mi on Wednesday and then 13.8 mi @10:41 min/mi Fri morning (off work 9/80 day). Kept my stride short to protect the hamstring and it paid off. With the shortened stride, I was somewhat slower than ideal, but all things considered it was good, and I'm back on schedule for the long runs. Finally on Sunday did 4.5 mi @9:05 min/mi; probably would have been faster but the temperature was approaching 80 deg.

I've been icing the hamstring after each workout and taping it during workouts, and it's given me no trouble. I also took two quick walk breaks (about 30 sec each) during the long run to stretch out. I have no history of hamstring injuries, so I suspect the problem last week was due to lack of stretching and proper warmup. I'd probably been paying too much attention to just getting in the miles.

Also did the usual complement of Lifecycle and elliptical this week. Did the leg weights, although neglected the upper body weights during the week; did get to those over the weekend. I like to do weight work (lots of reps with light weights) once a week. 

Two runs this week along with the usual complement of crosstraining. One run was 5.8 mi @8:48 pace, and the long run was 11.9 mi@9:41 pace. I'd intended to do about 10-11 mi for the long run, so I ran it by the clock, but when I measured the distance afterwards, found I was going faster than I thought! Temperature was in the high 70's to low 80's for the long run, so it was helpful to have the Nathan belt with the 2 bottles - didn't have to route past any water fountains. I carried one bottle of water and one of Crystal Light (diet noncarbonated drink). My body absolutely loved the Crystal Light. Not much in the way of nutritional value, but it was great for hydration.

When I get past half marathon distance, I'll need to start doing some sugar feeding on the run. I've read about marathoners using Fig Newtons, gummi bears, pretzels and the like. Yes, I know about energy gels, but I dislike them. And gels are a mess if one doesn't eat the entire thing at once. Last year Long Beach provided Powerade at the water stations, so I'll need to find out exactly what type if I go that route. Their website is overhauled from last year and isn't yet fully updated.