This past week was the third hard week in a row before next week’s step back week. Both Tuesday’s tempo run and Thursday’s easy run went quite well. On Tuesday I tried to concentrate on running the tempo miles “comfortably hard.” I didn’t check the pace on my Garmin until the end when I discovered that I’d outrun my target pace of 8:54 min/mile. I’m really not sure how I pulled out an 8:17 mile at the end but if felt great!

On my 18 mile Saturday long run I had my own personal SAG (Support and Gear) wagon: my Dad. He drove me to the start of my run at Golden Gardens, met me at miles 5.5 and 11.5 (for a water and gatorade refill) and then met me at the end of my run at Seward Park and drove me home. I also ran into him at mile 16.2 when he was walking the 2.4 mile Seward Park loop in the opposite direction than I was running it. Below you can see a satellite image of Seattle with my route on it. I’ve also mapped out the route here. I covered some serious distance!

Doing a point-to-point route was a nice change since my runs are usually loops or out-and-backs that begin and end at my apartment. Unlike last week my legs felt great from the start and I didn’t really start feeling them until somewhere between miles 12 and 14. That happened to be the same time when the weather changed from cloudy to light rain to showers and things just became a bit uncomfortable. I finished the run strongly though and I was quite pleased with my long run performance. I can feel my endurance building.

After the run Dad and I got take-out soup and bagels for lunch and spent the better part of the afternoon watching NCAA basketball. It’s March Madness and I can think of no better way to recover from a long run than lazing around watching college basketball. Good times.

On Saturday I ran for just under 3 hours and completed my first ever 16 miler. The first 3-4 miles were a little rough as I tried to find my legs and settle into my pace. The middle chunk of the run was pretty good but then I really started to feel the fatigue in my legs on a long uphill at mile 13. I was able to push the run through to the end though. I figure I still have 10 weeks of training and if I can keep pushing back my breaking point then I’ll be ready for the marathon. Or at least, as ready as I can ever be.

When I got home I discovered a fun little fact. My 16 miler was actually 16.3 miles, which equates to 26.2 kilometres! I think that’s sort of neat since the distance of a marathon is 26.2 miles. I guess that 26.2 a sort of magic number for me right now. I mean it’s no pi or e or anything but it’s still pretty cool.

Today was supposed to be a cross training day. My original plan was to go to the gym and do some non-impact cardio and some light weights. But … today was an absolutely gorgeous day in Seattle. It was sunny and 15C! There was no way I was going to workout indoors on a day like that! Instead I dug out some summer running gear (shorts and a tank top!) and went for an easy recovery 3 mile run. It was wonderful. I need more sunny days.

I set three new personal records on Saturday:

1. Farthest distance ever run (14.7 miles = 23.7 km)
2. Longest time spent running (2:37:50)
3. Greatest weekly mileage ever (27.7 miles = 44.6 km)

Whoa. I’ll be setting lots more of these records in the upcoming weeks but this week’s long run was special because it was the first time I’d run farther than a half marathon. I had a 14 mile route planned but it went a little long becuase I went off course in the Aboretum and had to add a side trip to find a market that sold gatorade when my planned stop didn’t have any. I thought about stopping at 14 miles and walking home as a cool down but it was raining pretty hard and I was afraid I’d get really cold if I stopped running.

Yesterday was the first time I’d used gatorade on a long runs. I was a little nervous about this because I have a bit of a sensitive stomach but it worked out well. In fact I think the gatorade is the key reason that I feel much better today than I did two weeks ago 24 hours after my 12 miler. The other possible difference is the cupcake I had last night but I’m guessing the gatorade was a bigger factor in recovery. I felt like I could have gone for a run this morning but I decided not to push my luck and did some non-impact cross training at the gym instead.

I have to tell you, I’m not really happy about daylight savings time starting today. I mean, sure it’s good to move the daylight to the evening so people use less electricity and stuff like that. It’s just that I like to run in the morning and I prefer to run in the light. All winter I’ve been patiently watching the sun rise just a little earlier every day. Now we’ve been set back by an hour. In Seattle this means yesterday (March 10) the sunrise was at 6:33 am and today (March 11) it was at 7:31 am. The last time it was as late as 7:31 am was February 5. I may have to go back to wearing my reflective vest during my runs next week.

Every fourth week in my marathon training program is a step back week. These are easy weeks with no tempo or speedwork session and no significant long run. The purpose is to give my mind and body a rest from the stresses of training. I was cooked after last week’s 12 miler so it was nice to have an easy week this week. I did three 6 miles runs on three different courses. That explains why Thursday’s run ended up being more like 6.5 miles. On Saturday I decided to do something different and take the bus to school and then run home along a very non-direct route. Part of the route I chose was along the Interlaken section of the Seattle marathon course. I think this area must have been hit quite hard during the “Hanukkah Eve” windstorm (that’s what we’re calling it) because I don’t remember being able to see out through the woods before.

This week I returned to the practice of taping my arches before every run. I taped my arches for most of last year but stopped after the Seattle half marathon. I had hoped that since I’d found a shoe that fit me well I wouldn’t need to do the taping anymore. However, earlier this week I had a bit of soreness in my feet. I wouldn’t call it pain but it was definitely there. I’ve been icing my feet (a great excuse to have to lie on the couch for a half hour with my feet up) and I’ve gone back to taping my arches. Since then my runs have been fine so I’m not really worried. I have to wonder if the taping has more of a psychological effect than a physical one. In any case, a few rolls of athletic tape are a small price to pay for happy feet! Now if I could just keep my feet dry in the Seattle rain!