Carmel Marathon, 2 days out.

     This Saturday I'm running the Carmel Marathon. I did the half there last year and enjoyed it and was impressed with how well everything was organized, especially considering it was their first year and they had a lot going on- half, full, and 8K road race among other events. So back in early Winter I decided to do the full this year and started planning and training.

     I'm really pretty new to marathoning, having only done two so far, Chicago waybacklongtimeago in 1986 and then again last Fall. So my lifetime average has been one every 25 years, but I have two scheduled this Summer. So far. If Carmel goes well we'll see about maybe doing others as I have fallen prey to the lure of the Marathon Succubus. I mean, if there is one.

1986 Chicago Marathon finisher's medal. The "10th annual"!

      I really don't remember much about training or running Chicago the first time, but while I finished and enjoyed it I guess it was enough for me at the time. Last year my goal there was to run easy, finish, and enjoy it as best as I could, all of which I did. I finished in 4:16.

     My goal for Carmel is to break 4:00. This started as a casual early thought but has become a firm goal as it has neared, and now I'll damn well do it or know why. Goals are all subjective and subject to race day conditions. A 4 hr marathon is fairly modest, but this is a gateway goal for me. My longer term goal is to use a sub-4 hr Spring full to launch a good Summer of further retooling my form, drop more weight, learn more about heart rate training, and do much better in my Fall full in West Virginia, the Freedom's Run. That's the plan.

     Training has gone pretty well. I adopted and adapted a Hal Higdon marathon plan, adding some ideas of my own and others. For Chicago last year I mostly trained on trails and got by with strength and endurance runs and very little speedwork. This Spring I have increasingly kept to the roads, have done Saturday long runs of 15, 17, and 19 with runs of 8-12 the next day, and have done some interval work the last several weeks as well. I have just over of 600 miles since Jan 1 and am averaging 40 per week and ramping up. I will likely always feel I can be better trained for a race, but I do think I'm better prepared now than for last Fall's Chicago. Sub 4:00! 

     The predicted weather has bounced around some and has yet to settle on a consistent forecast. How like Indiana is that? It started out looking great, then storms, colder temps and wind suddenly showed up. It's been slowly improving this week, currently looking like rain Friday night with a low of 41 and now at least partly sunny Saturday with a high of 59 and less wind. For me, a starting temp of about 50 with sun and a slow climb to mid to upper 60's at finish is perfect, so I hope this holds.

     I haven't tapered very well in the past, generally doing too much, but this time I feel I got it about right. I've been pretty busy this week with life and stuff and haven't had a lot of time to worry about it. But between suddenly running less and eating a few more carbs than usual I started feeling GREAT today! One more day to store it up and I'm betting I'll be more than ready to go Saturday morning.

     Marathon! Sub 4:00! Bring it!!