Pacing strategy & race schedule changes...

Today I did my second long run of the week, first time I’ve ever done that. Friday I ran 12.02 miles, today it was 14.0. As I said on Thursday, this week was a struggle for me, I just couldn’t get into my runs for the first part of the week. That even led to me skipping a 7 mile Tempo Run Thursday. Friday my mojo came back! After work I headed off to 24 Hour Fitness for a treadmill run as it has for some reason turned back to winter. My training plan called for 5 miles, but I planned on 6 to make up at least one of the miles missed the day before. Well, once I got started I fell into a groove and made up all of the miles! 12.02 it was. Saturday was a day off, and today’s plan was 14 miles using the pacing plan that they use for pace groups at the Wickedly Fast Half Marathon. I plan to join the 1:45 group so I’m using their basic pacing plan for the next few weeks and working my time down a little at a time. Today’s goal pace was 9:40, so I set up the plan accordingly. Now as we all know, you can’t get the exact pace you want on a treadmill, so it actually went a little faster because of somewhat faster paces on the ‘mill.

·         Mile 1: 10:00

·         Mile 2: 9:50

·         Mile 3: 9:31

·         Mile 4: 9:22

·         Mile 5: 9:13

·         Mile 6: 9:13

·         Mile 7: 9:22

·         Mile 8: 9:31

·         Mile 9: 9:22

·         Mile 10: 9:22

·         Mile 11: 9:31

·         Mile 12: 9:22

·         Mile 13: 9:40

·         Mile 14: 9:22

I actually ended up moving up to 9:22 with 1.3 miles left rather than 1. So it ended up at 14 miles with an overall average pace of 9:22. Not too shabby! I really liked the pacing plan, I felt good and strong the entire time, so I think this plan will work. Here’s the problem though. With 0.1 miles left (yes, I said one TENTH of a mile) my right foot started to feel a little odd. Not hurt, just strange. At the end of the run I started my normal cool down walk. OUCH!!! Not happening!!! I could barely put weight on my right foot at all. Not sure what happened, it didn’t hurt until the cool down walk otherwise I would have stopped. Since then it has been hurting whenever I walk. I can stretch it, push on it, squeeze it, whatever and no pain at all. Take one step and OUCH!!! I put an ice pack around my foot for about 20 minutes and I’m trying to stay off of it. Hopefully it is just tired; I need it to not be an injury.

My racing plan for this year has undergone several small changes, but this week it changed A LOT!! I’ve now got a total of 3 marathons, 3 half marathons, 1 10k, 6 5k’s, a 2 mile fun run, a Warrior Dash and a duration event of 9 hours 11 minutes. Here’s the list as it currently sits:

·         3/16 – Napa Valley Marathon (4:36:15) – Napa, CA, First Ever Marathon

·         3/19 – Aggieville St. Pat's 2 Mile Fun Run (15:09 – 5^th Place Award) – Manhattan, KS

·         3/19 – Aggieville St. Pat's 10k (55:56) – Manhattan, KS, First Ever 10k

·         4/16 – Wickedly Fast Half Marathon – Olathe, KS

·         5/21 – Swope Park Cross Country 5k – Kansas City, MO

·         6/4 – Hospital Hill Run Half Marathon – Kansas City, MO

·         7/4 – Freedom Run 5k – Lenexa, KS

·         7/24 – KC Bike & Foot Chase 5k – Kansas City, MO

·         7/31 – Warrior Dash – Kansas City, MO

·         8/14 – Susan G Komen Race For The Cure 5k – Kansas City, MO

·         9/11 – Patriots' Run 9 hour 11 minute Race – Olathe, KS

·         9/25 – Omaha Half Marathon – Omaha, NE

·         10/8 – Pumpkin Run 5k – Olathe, KS

·         10/15 – Kansas City Marathon – Kansas City, MO

·         10/23 (date not set yet) – K-State Homecoming 5k – Manhattan, KS

·         11/20 – Route 66 Marathon – Tulsa, OK