Solid 14

Top of San Vicente

We had 24 runners this past Sat, and we had a pretty good run.  The weather was near perfect, a bit of overcast in the morning, warmed up a bit as we got to the top, and it kept on the cool side all the way back.....now if we could get that kind of day for the marathon, it would be perfect.

We went for a total of 14.3 miles, kept a solid 15 min/mile pace and were done in about 3.5 hours. We went all the way to the top of San Vicente, and did the left loop at Bundy, and came on back.  The big news is that the next time we come back up to San Vicente will be in about 3 weeks, and it'll be a completely different story, we'll own the street, and no more stoplights to get in our way. 

Next time we'll have the entire street

It's getting that close, and we can sense the time is getting near, there is no reason to get too worried, all we can do is the best we can, and let it go at that.  Life happens, and all we can do is keep our eyes open and take in as much as we can, we can learn a lot by letting things happen. And maybe we can even get a bit more if we dive right in and embrace as much of it as we can.  This marathon thing kinda grows on you....and the more you treat it like a good old friend, don't fight it or resist it...just have some nice quiet time with it, the better it gets. We'll all be heading in the same direction, going with the flow is a good thing, and some may end up flowing a bit quicker, and some will be taking a bit more time....but not to worry, we'll all be savoring it at our own pace.

We got just a few more workouts to do, keep at it, don't over do it, but try to maintain what you've built up till now.  We got Dodger stadium next week, followed by a short run the following week, taking it easy, so that we're well rested, and then we get to finally do what we've been training for all these months.
This is the payback, our just desserts for all this hard work.  The marathon is our celebration, so enjoy it with that in mind.

I can hardly wait.....

Walt

Great Finish

This Sat. we completed our tough 20 miler.  35 runners joined in, and we ran 20.1 miles, took us 5:08, and the average pace was 15:20.  We get these numbers from several Garmin watches which are what our PLs wear, plus other folks also have them.  Generally, we don't stop the watches when we are waiting at stop lights or when we pause at the water stations, so the average pace is calculated on the total time it takes us to complete the distance.  If you figured we spent at least 8 min. waiting for all the long traffic lights and the water stations, then we clearly were right on pace with our 15min/mile pace goal..ie. 4 miles/hr. x 5 hr. = 20 miles.

But more importantly than the time and pace was the strong finish everyone had in completing the 20 miler.  I know a few folks dropped back, but they still finished. And a few other folks dropped back....hitting the "wall" and eventually caught back up.

 
I'm sure a bunch of us are feeling it today, I for one have a very sore and tender left heel...not sure why I'm having this problem now, since I've never had it before, but I think it's time to replace my orthotics.  I did replace my shoes, and if you are having any foot issues, and you're still on the same pair as when we started in September...it might be time for a new pair. The good news is that my leg and knees are feeling just fine.

The morning started pretty weird in that it was very wet and drizzy when I left my house, and had to use my windshield wipers on the freeway heading out.  I totally did not anticipate rain for the 20, and was starting to get a bit worried, not that we couldn't run in the rain, but that it might have discouraged others not to show up.
The clouds didn't look too bad, and by the time we got going, they were starting to break up.  As it turned out, it was a great day to run the 20, and we finished under clear skies, and the air temps stayed just cool enough.

The route was not bad in that we basically did a short loop south to just get warmed up, then went north to the top of San Vicente, did the golf course loop, and did another loop back to Bundy and back, and then it was just heading all the way back from there.  There was enough mix of hills, flats, dirt paths, grass, and nice neighborhoods to provide for distractions, and I would say the group hung together pretty well.

Mary goes all in for the full ice treatment

I believe that our past workouts, especially the hill training at Dodger last week did prepare us well for this long run.  The question came up during the run about how does only going 20 miles get us ready for completing a full 26.2.  Good question....different theories abound in the training for a marathon, and there are a plethora of ways people train, the Leggers actually run a full 26 before the marathon, but the Roadrunners have never done that. The basic idea is that if you train and build up your aerobic endurance...working on all these long runs, add in some strength with the faster and hill runs...then you will have what it takes.

Vivian cooling it

This 20 miler showed how much we had, given that we only ran 10 miles last week, and it's been weeks since we ran that 18 miler in the rain, but it's a cumulative effect. And so it will be with the marathon...all these weeks, months of training, working out, and whether we did all the work or not....we are as prepared as we are, and a large percentage of it is a belief and faith that we can do this. It's a combination of good workouts, backing off and recovering, and then just going out and doing what's necessary. And so it will be with the marathon....we will be ready.

Christi and Janet sharing the ice

Keep up with the good work...we're coming into the final stretch,

Walt

 

20 Nice Ones

This Sat. we will be going for our longest run to date....a nice 20 miler.  Most of us have completed 18, and we've been doing very well with the "pushed" runs these past two weeks, including some strenuous hill work, so it's time to take off the gloves and go at the big one.

I am confident that we can definitely handle this, we'll take it nice and easy and by keeping the group together, we will be able to all help each other out.
As usual, please get there early, parked by 6:30am, bathroom a few times, flagpoles by 6:45am, and running by 7am.  We'll start by heading SOUTH through the alley for about 1.5 miles, turn around and head back North.  We'll get to the top of San Vicente and 26th, and do the golf course loop, come back to 26th, and then head back down San Vicente to Bundy, and take a one block loop to the left.  By the time we get back down the hill, we should have covered our 20.  Attached is a map of the upper section of the 20 miler.

Bring plenty of GU or snacks, we'll be out there for about 5 hours. You should be hydrating today and all day tomorrow.  The weather outlook is to cloudy and cool, which would be great for this long run.

For those who have fallen behind a bit, still come on out and do the best you can, it's still better than trying to do this on your own, we'd like your company.  So don't lose any sleep over this, it's okay to be a bit nervous, it's a big one, but we'll just be fine....we know how to do this now...and we're all pretty good at it.


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These past few weeks, I've been helping a friend of mine who is trying to launch a musical about Duke Ellington.  This has been ongoing for several years now, and it's just amazing how she has gone out and gotten a lot of interest and some support.  The biggest problem is getting folks to actually give money to the project.  She has never done this before, but with a huge heart and lot of gumption, this might actually work.  I've been shooting auditions as they are gathering a very talented group of singers, dancers, actors, and musicians.  It's been exciting, frustrating and rewarding, but the last session of auditions got me a chance to really see how talented people can be.

We had a choreographer create a dance and then teach it to about 30 amazing dancers, and then within a period of about an hour, they all learned it, gave it their personal touch and I recorded them in small groups so that the director can pick and choose.  Then they were asked to sing, read some lines, and dance some more.  Just to be in the presence of these talented folks was a treat, and it was interesting to see how "talent" can be defined.  Some were very skilled and some less so, some could sing and entertain, but some could actually inspire and catch your heart.  I was even moved close to tears in the presence of a few.

The difference is subtle, and even though some might have sung a bit off pitch, or didn't have the strongest voice, but to be there and feel the passion which they gave to their effort was enough to impress and be moved.

I hope this project really goes, and I'll let you all know the progress, but we have a pretty big show of our own coming up, which I hope we all can attend. The mechanics of running a marathon, I believe we all have a taste of, and I feel we can all imagine how it will be....2/1s for a few hours and we'll be done.  But the one part we don't know is what is going to happen to us inside our minds and our hearts.  This is a very special thing we are about to experience.  I know quite a few have done this already, and I know quite a few more have never gone all the way through this, and that's what makes this all so special.  It's different for everyone, and each time, something new is to be had.

I look forward to this, as I'm looking forward to our 20 miler this weekend, it's a great opportunity to get to know yourself a bit better, to know how you're going to perform and react under conditions which you've never been before.  The best part is that we get to do this together.

Come on out....it's going to be a pretty good show,

Walt

This Sat. we took on the hills at Dodger Stadium and the surrounding Elysian Park.  The weather was cool, clear and with a slight breeze now and then, turned out near perfect for this tough day.  We had 40 runners at the start and saw a few folks we haven't seen for a while, which was great.

The route we ran is essentially the 5K route for the LA Marathon, and it's a tough one.  There were a series of at least 5 significant hills and long grades, and we did the loop three times.  The total distance was just under 10 miles, but the Coach wanted us to really work the uphill sections and ease off on the downhills and the flats, plus he wanted us to push our pace 20 seconds quicker on the uphills.  I thought that would be fine for the full running groups, and that we would definitely work our hill sections, but there was no way we were going to go to push that much going up hill. I was also planning to do some 1/1s on some of the tougher sections, but as it turned out, the group was going very strong, and we stayed with our  2/1 pace throughout.  I think we threw in one extra minute on one of our walks after a really tough steep section, and we did take our usual 2min. GU breaks, but we did push our pace during the run sections and tried to ease off a bit on the downhills and flats.

Ultimately, we came in with an astounding 14:40 avg pace for the entire three laps.  I know a few folks did not complete the full three laps, which is fine, we'll all have a chance to do it again in a few weeks.  I also know that it was a tough workout, just like last weeks fast 13 miler, but this is all part of the training as we come to our last several weeks. There are definite hills throughout the marathon course, and it's good to work out on them and get over any qualms which we may have facing them.  This Sat. we totally took on those hills and we came out confident and strong.

We'll need this momentum heading into next weeks 20 miler run.  We'll be doing the 20 as our longest distance for this training season, and we'll start our tapering process with shorter runs after that.  We will not be pushing the pace for this 20, and we'll just be working on long distance endurance.  

Afterwords a group of folks dropped by for our post run brunch at my office.  Much thanks to the PLs for supplying the food, Joel for all the sausage, and for all those who helped in the cooking and cleaning up after.  We be doing this again after the next Dodger session, so come on by.

Have a great week, and keep up the great work,
Walt