Starting fresh

I am slowly resuming training. I spent the past four weeks enjoying life and recovering from the Eugene marathon. Experience tells me that my best training cycles often follow good recovery periods.  I had a great race in Eugene and my legs felt good after the marathon. They were ready to resume training two weeks ago, but I decided to extend the recovery period 2 more weeks.  During this period, I went to Mexico and didn't run at all for 6 days in a row.  I expected to struggle with this decision, but I didn't miss running during these days.  Running is an important part of my life, and I know that if I want to enjoy it for many years to come I need to balance hard training with good rest.

I am ready to resume training.  The Berlin marathon is in 17 weeks, and I am already logging base miles for this race.  The weather in New Orleans is very hot and humid, but I am adapting well to these conditions.  I am going to make three adjustments to my training plan. First, I am going to peak three times before Berlin. The peaks this time will be at 65, 72, and 77 miles per week.  I need to do more miles if I want to maintain a 6:50 pace the whole race. Second, my tempo and marathon pace runs will be faster.  I realized in Eugene that I can actually go faster not only in the race, but also in my training sessions.  So I am going to try it.  Finally, I am going to join a running group for my speed sessions and long runs (ideally).  I love running by myself, but the group helps me to maintain my focus and push the pace.  I hope to find a training group soon.

I am going to update my blog more often, promise!

3:09:01 mile-by-mile

I had a solid race in Eugene, Oregon. The race I imagined for a long time.  One can always go faster, but I am very happy with my performance this time. My goal this year is to run really fast in Berlin, so I went to Eugene with the idea of using this race as a building block for my fall marathon.  I felt really good throughout the entire marathon. Strong physically and mentally. Below is a recap of my race.

Mile 1- 7:07. Easy running, the weather was very good. I didn’t want to push… only mile 1!

Mile 2:-7:12. Followed the pacer until mile 4. 

Mile3- 7:15. Uphill, took it easy.

Mile4-:7:12. Uphill, felt good.

Mile5- 7:08. I left the group, I was feeling fresh and decided to give it a try. 

Mile 6- 7:03. The first fast mile in the race. 10k split: 45:02

Mile 7-7:06. Legs were just moving fast, effortless…

Mile 8- 7:09.

Mile 9- 7:13.

Mile 10- 7:05. Another good one.

Mile 11- 7:10.

Mile 12- 7:19. Slow mile, I don’t really know why!

Mile 13- 7:18. Crossed the equator of the race… 1:33:52 for the half. The fastest first half ever.

Mile14- 7:08. I knew I needed to run a strong second half.

Mile 15- 7:11.

Mile 16- 7:04. Fast, just let the legs go.

Mile 17- 7:00. This is the fastest split ever.  I didn’t know I was running this fast, didn’t really look at my splits after mile 6 or 7. 

Mile 18- 7:05. Another good split, but still far from the finish line.  

Mile 19- 7:08. Feeling good, but tried to remain calm and ready for the last 4-5 miles.

Mile 20- 7:08. Second 7:08 in a row after 20 miles… I knew the next 6 miles were key, never lost my focus.  I knew I was close to the finish. 

Mile 21- 7:15. The race was old, feeling much better than in my previous marathons.  Decided to break attack one mile at a time.  A strategy that paid off in the end.

Mile 22- 7:21. Ok, slow, it is normal to slow down a bit after 22 miles.

Mile 23- 7:23. Used my guts to kill this one… I was tired.

Mile 24- 7:17. Rebounded, caught several people and never looked back.

Mile 25- 7:22. I could smell the finish line, but it was uphill… I knew I only needed 15 more minutes…

Mile 26- 7:22. I ran two consecutive 7:22 splits… tell me about consistency!

Last .2 miles- 7:07. I saw the door of Haywood Field for the first time. I knew I had a BQ and a LQ in my pocket!

Time: 3:09:01!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what I call consistency.  I am recovering fast and looking forward to running in Berlin!