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| During long run; horse sculpture at Westworld |
I was scheduled to run 20 miles last weekend. I ran 19 and walked the last mile. When I started running on Sunday at 6:30AM, it was in the low 70s with cloud-cover and a gentle breeze. I started at The Village running south through Westworld and then west all the way the the Scottsdale Sports Complex. I stopped for water, ran on further west through the Fairmont Princess, curving around on Pima and back east on Legacy to The Village. The first loop was 10 miles.
By the time I was finishing up my second loop, it was in the mid 80s and sunny with virtually no breeze. I was done at mile 19. Toast! What started as a pleasant, easy run turned out to be a tough hot run. I have more than a month to go for the Berlin Marathon and a few more hard runs left (including a 22-miler). I’m hoping for cooler, rainy weather.
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| Gorgeous view at lave by my house (recovery from long run) |
I filled out my entry for the Tokyo Marathon 2017 lottery on Monday. If I’m lucky, I’ll be in Japan on February 26 of next year. With Boston, New York and London already under my belt, and Berlin coming up in a month, Tokyo will be my 5th of 6 marathon majors (Chicago to go).
Temperatures have started to cool down in Arizona but not by much. I’ve gone out on a couple of runs outdoors but most of my running is still on the treadmill. Hopefully that will change in the next week or so.
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| Yasso 800s times 10 – 3:30 speed – tough tough tough |
Yesterday, for the first time ever, I ran 10 repeats of Yasso 800s. Bart Yasso (Runner’s World) came up with these training intervals to predict marathon times. Basically, you run at least 6 intervals of 800 meters (half-a-mile) at the same hard pace. In between these intervals, you cool down for the same time that it took you to run each 800. Your time for the intervals in minutes and seconds translates to your predicted marathon time in hours and minutes. For example, if you ran each interval in 4 minutes and 10 seconds, your marathon time will be 4 hours and 10 minutes. I ran mine at a 3:30 speed but it was on the treadmill. It is one of the hardest training sessions I have ever run!
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| Lovely Silverleaf Sunset |
With 31 days to the Berlin Marathon, nerves are kicking in, excitement is building! I have to be in Nashville on Monday for work. I hope to run a little while I am out there!