My First Marathon (x2)

The week before the week before race week is one where you want clockwork workouts with no excitement or drama. That's not exactly how this week went... Monday - first open water swim (OWS) of the season. It was only 1,640 yards but I got to wear the new wetsuit and be in the lake. NO PANIC at all...got in and started swimming. I was the first one in and the last one out, but with no other swim buddies for safety I got in all I could. (I earned a wetsuit hickey too...need to lube the neck in this one) Tuesday - solid steady state run on the Monon. You probably couldn't find prettier HR and pace data for a SSR if you tried (faster yes, more consistent unlikely). It was a good night. 7 miles total, 3 SSR. Wednesday - my Wednesdays have been weird and this was no exception. I didn't manage to get a swim in, I am maybe trying to get it in Sunday afternoon. I took my bike with me to Rushville for my night meeting and rode there after the meeting while I still had daylight....

There's really nothing special about this week...it was just a week in May. Except that it went from late winter to mid-summer, skipping spring entirely in Indianapolis. It is currently 86 degrees as I write this. Monday - Swim actually felt pretty successful.2,300 yards focused on speed. Tuesday - supposed to be an easy recovery run, but I ran with someone faster who wasn't feeling it and ran faster than I normally would have, but only for 30 min. 2.7 miles. After I had two stouts before food...yeah, I shouldn't do that anymore. Wednesday - another Wednesday where I had a night meeting so I did both workouts in the morning. Swam 2,850 at Jordan and then came home to ride. I decided just to go up and down Hoover...heading south I discovered there was a decent breeze out of the south. And 64th is rough between Grandview and Michigan Road. But I got in 15.2 miles, so we'll call it good. Thursday - I am helping with the Monumental lunch runs and this week I had rac...

Two weeks ago I talked to Coach Matt about Flying Pig. This was just supposed to be a fun tour of Cincy for the 20th anniversary of the race and a way to race this weekend even though I wasn't running the Indy Mini. But I've been running well lately so I wasn't sure how to run the race...would I be happy with just beating my prior best time on the course (2:54:39)? Would 2:45 be "good enough"? Could I run it faster than that? After we talked I had a plan and went into the race planning to take what the day gave me and run 2:30-2:45. Here's the week leading up and the race report... Monday - Sean pulled back my swim distances and focused on speed since I've been frustrated in the pool. I swam 2,600 yards and I think I called it "less awful." Tuesday - Race week gear check run. I chose the hilly option since my race course was hilly. It was flaming hot relative to the weather we've had and even carrying water I was sure I was going to bu...