Marathon #2 complete.  It was a nice honest course w/ the rolling hills. I'm content with my performance, given only 3 hours of sleep and an upset stomach that resulted in 12 minutes lost due to pit stops.  Overall time was 4:31.  I was shooting for 4:15-4:30.  Take away the pit stops and I was in the window.  Nonetheless I powered thru.

My only goal for this event was to redeem myself from my performance during the AZ IMS in Feb and run an even race. In Feb I had trouble converting good half-marathons into a decent marathon performance (by my standards).  In hindsight, perhaps this nagging thougt might explain my lack of good quality sleep for the past 2 nights (performance anxiety?).

After this race, my confidence is up.  I ran in control and proved I'm past my 18 mi mental check-out hurdle.  I think I can actually start running the race vice surviving the miles.  However, there is still lots of room for improvement - now the real training begins.

I'm told that things get easier once you've completed 3 marathons.  The obvious lessons have been learned: maybe not incorporated but learned.

1 week to go.  Without fail a cold is trying to creep up on me.  The weather here has been erratic (hot wx followed by cold fronts).  The cumulative effects of the training and the wx swings makes me a bit vulnerable to a cold.  So I'm trying to be smarter and rest appropriately.  I decided to forego my last quasi long run of the program (8 mi) and rest instead.  I know that my program is not dependent upon 1 run, I'm well into the taper period.

My wife pointed out that this has happened often in the past.  I'm trying to avoid what I call the "Y" chromosome syndrome and power thru and not be flexible on my training plan despite what circumstances or my body tells me.

I made this mistake during my training for the 2nd run (La Jolla Half Marathon) in the California Triple Crown Series and continued to train with a micro tear in my calf muscle, thinking that I couldn't take time off.  Needless to say it cost me and I limped thru the entire race.   So here's my hard learned golden nugget: "Listen to your body and adjust your running.  Do not train injured.  It will cost you in the long run."

I'm starting to burn my race day mantra in to my head.  Watching the ING Marathon was good motivation.  However, I like watching the races that not only focus on the elites but the everyday runners who take on the challenge of the race and conquer it in their own way.

Now I need to focus on mental preparation and ensure that I run my race according to my training level/program.  Easier said than done, as I have friends flying in from San Diego who are trying to use this race to BQ.

The challenge for this "Padawan" is to stay the course and listen to the force.  Where's Yoda when you need him?

Ok life happens so I had to forego one day of running this week and swap days on another occassion. Put in  miles less than the program requires but work calleth.  I wlll chalk this up to  a cumulative build up for the program.  This week's key run was the third and final 20 miler before the actual marathon.  You will notice that I only logged 19 miles of running.  I don't include walk breaks in my mileage tracking.  I did get to try out a new hydration pack - Camelback's Hydropak, 50 oz.  It beat the other methods in terms of volume and keeping my hands free.  However,  I made the mistake of trying to wear it too high on my back which in  turn affected posture and circulation (i.e. improper strap adjustments).  My particular model doesn't have a chest strap and I wanted to minimize movement of the pack.  In my opinion get a model that has a chest strap.  Strange that models' are sold under the same name but with different configuration.  My fault for not verifying.  I  looked at the bag on one website and ordered from another one.  Oh well,  I'll continue to experiment but it won't do me any good in the short run as my distance are getting shorter.  Longest remaining run is a 12 miler.

Here's the week's snapshot

Overall a great week.  I did make a few modifications to Hal's plan: namely I only ran 5 mi pace run vice 10 miles before my long run.  I wanted to make sure that my legs would be there for me during the long run.  I needed a confidence boost.  On my previous 20 miler, I was not acclimated to the TX humidity  and had to move my run inside to finish it.   Mentally I need to run the 20 milers straight thru.  Additionally, I did some tempo and speed work during my runs during the week and the 5 miler was  faster (30 secs) than race pace.  The "long run" was a supported run.  My Alamo Running Buddies (kudos to Doug & Jazzy for organizing it) did and outstanding job for those of us prepping for San Antonio RnR (Full or 1/2).  They carried all our nutrition & hydration needs, allowing us to run hands free and practice our race & aid station strategy.  They ROCKED!!!  It was a great motivation booster.  Once we all hit our target miles, we hopped in van and were homeward bound  (of course post cool down & stretching)

So here's a summary of the week:

Ok so I stuck with the sked as planned 10, 5, 10, 20.  However, running outside in the humidity really has me questioning whether it would be best to switch to the 1/2 marathon.  Humidity levels hovering at 90% and above just suck all my energy, motivation and etc.  I seem to be able to tolerate the humidty for up to about 7 miles.  At the end of the runs, I look like I just got out of a pool.  It doesn't seem to matter how much fluids I intake or the fact that I'm slowing down my pace.  I think my body can't cool down enough.  I still have not gotten acclimated to the weather.

So here's how things went

10 miler (Tues): Good run.

Ran the run indoors.  I had an appointment in the am and wasn't able to run until about 12pm.

5 miler (Wed): Good run.

I got  caught in about a 5 min torrential downpour but at least my body  was  cooled off and didn't have to worry about overheating.  Even got to  do  some speed play and get back down to paces that I would run in a less   humid environment.

10 miler (Fri): less than stellar

Overcome  by the humidity (100%) at the end. I was dead after ~7.5 miles.

20 miler (Sat): Ok run.

I ran the first 10 miles outside.  However, the humidity drove me to go into the gym to run the last 10 miles on the track.

So here's the lessons learned:

• If humidity is greater than 80%, all runs > 8 mile will be done indoors on the track.
• Until I find a group/another runner in the local area with a compatible schedule, I will likely switch up the order of my long runs and near long runs (10 milers).
  • Friday there are lots of people running in the gym so I wll have some company on my long runs.  Keeps  me closer to the pace for LSR (GPS doesn't work indoors, hence no accurate pace measurement)
    
  • Gym doesn't open until 8 am on the weekends this is too late to start a 20 miler (family & life calls)

(18 Aug, Sat - 19 Miler)  Overall run went well.  I was feeling good up to about the 15 mile point then the humidity and the lonely environmet started to win out the day. 

I planned to run this one inside on the gym track since I'm still not fully acclimated to San Antonio wx.  However, I didn't realize that the gym doesn't open up until 8 am on the weekends.  IMHO that's too late to start a long run (wife & kids). My course is an out and back that I repeat.  So after the first loop (10 mi) I had to stop at my car so that I could change my socks. I generally sweat a lot when I run but this is ridiculous.  I could literally wring my socks out twice.  Well you have to do what you have to do IOT avoid any injuries (i.e. blisters).  My strategically placed water bottles and fountain stops are serving me  well on the hydration front.  Well I look forward to a day off tomorrow.