Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: I first intended to put in a half-hour run but decided to go for the 45 minute effort I originally penciled in the training schedule. The logic being that I'll run the half-hour tomorrow if I feel good but I can now give myself two solid rest days if i need to.The run was plagued by a sore right ankle (see below) but in terms of strength and form it went very well. I can tell I am getting into my race shape at last. I just hope I can fend off injury long enough to get to the starting line.

Training Run

Time: 70 min
Distance: 13 kilometers

Comments: Didn't eat really well last night and had noticeably less in the tank than normal. Felt pretty strong but my legs are clearly worn down a bit from all the miles.So it turned into a workman-like effort. Which is good in the sense that I'm not having to grit my teeth and try and hold it together for the duration of the run like I was a month ago. It's more of a 'keep focused and keep moving forward' kind of thing. And that's good experience for the race.

Training Run

Time: 45 minutes
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: I was very sore yesterday and a bit stiff this morning but got out and got to it with surprising ease this morning. This was a really good strong run where I actually kind of had to hold myself back at a couple of points because i want to recover completely from Sunday's big effort and have a consistency this whole week.The one thing that is clear is I am much stronger than I was just a few weeks ago. There is power in my stride and very little of the sloppiness my runs in May and June were marked by.With this run I've totaled 122 miles for July. That's more than double the 56 miles I put in for May and almost six times the 22 miles I did in June.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 10

Time: 5 hours
Distance: 51 kilometers (32.7 miles)

Comments: A LOT of miles this week. My first time to top the 30 mile mark since last year. Although I was shooting to get regularly in the 50 miles per week range for the January marathon, I don't really plan to get this much above the 40 mile per week mark.But this week went very well. I was pretty responsive the whole way. Had a tough day, moved my extra off day to recover and came back blazin.

I also went to the grocery store and stocked up on munchies. Things are at the point that the calorie intake has to increase significantly.Overall, I feel good and I believe the rest of the training is doable. The ""parrot"" predictor is putting me at just more than a 4 hour marathon which, given my conservative estimates on mileage and pace, should put me right below that mark - my best hope for this race.

Injury update: There hasn't been any pain this week substantial enough, to call off a run or eve

A friend of mine has started marathon training using the format set by Jeff Galloway. I've given Galloway's main book Marathon: You can do it! a gander before and, I have to admit, I wasn't impressed.It's very typical of books written for novice runners in that it seems to feel the need to water down the instruction with some type of narrative, in this case a  group of runners and their progress through training for a marathon.The intent, I assume, is to create a personal connection for the new runner to help them over the psychological hump. This seems somewhat an outdated concept to me since today you have tons of very active message boards and fo

Long Run

Time: 2 hours 30 min
Distance: 25 kilometers

Comments: Now we are getting into the long runs worthy of the name. I was working all week to prepare for this bad boy and even had the pre-run insomina get me up at 3 a.m. this morning. All the carbs and stuffing my face since Wednesday really made a difference. I had what I needed to get out there and do it so the run became a battle about what I could endure.Things started off brisk and strong. I put the hills in on the front end, knowing I'd be suffering at the end. I kept a very strong pace through the first half and felt pretty confident going into Part II. Things got a bit hairy just before the 2 hour mark. My legs made me well aware of the fact this was more miles than I'd done since January. But I packed the pain into

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: A wet, chilly, miserable day. And, of course, as hard as it was to get out the door, the run was just as rewarding. I felt very strong the whole way, unlike the last effort, and focused on form pretty much throughout. I moved this run back a day because I was irritable and cranky all day yesterday. I think part of the problem was that I was overtired. I slept a solid ten hours last night and felt a lot more refreshed this morning.An interesting little achievement today - I broke 100 miles for this month. I should have done this in May but it's nice to be back on track at long last.

Training Run

Time: 60 min
Distance: 10 kilometers

Comments: Well, one thing is for sure, I've passed the point where skipping a meal is an option. My life got a bit crazy yesterday and this morning and I just grabbed what I could. As a result, today was a long haul indeed.My legs felt strong and I didn't lose all my form but I simply didn't have anything in the tank. It was a very unpleasant run but good to have done. That third-fourth of the race feels a lot the same.

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 8 kilometers

Comments: A bit chilly and dour this morning. Add to that I'm a bit creaky following my balls-out run on Sunday and it was a bit of a tough start.Got into pretty quick though and kept a steady, if not spectacular, pace the whole way. No crazy bursts or pushing things... just smooth and even.So nothing special, overall, just a solid start-the-week run, and that's good enough for me.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 9

Time: 3 hours 5 min
Distance: 46 kilometers

Comments: A good solid week of work, cashing in on the long miles of the past fortnight.A noticeable drop in mileage but still substantially more this week than before I got down to it at the start of July. At this rate, I'll tally more than 100 miles for the month... almost twice my miles in may and a good five times what I did in June.While I feel very good at the moment, I am well aware that's a recipe for injury so I really need to get back onto the idea of running times and ignoring the distance. The harder I push myself on these individual runs, the more likely I'm gonna pull up lame at some point.Injury update: A lot of sore muscles but no real pain centers popping up. This tightness in the inside lower calf of the left side is damn persistent, though.

Long Run

Time: 80 min
Distance: 16.5 kilometers

Comments: The plan was to put in a 10-miler or so which, given my recent long-run pace, would be right at about an hour and a half. So I downloaded podrunner for this week and headed out. Now I should have known what was going to happen when I heard Steveboy gushing over how great the mix was but I just brushed it off and got ready for the solid but not-too-crazy 159 BPM of this week's mix, ""Bravo Papa Mike."" Umm... mistake.This mix was in-fucking-credible. As awesome as advertised and then some. It got me by the throat from the start of the run didn't let up a whit throughout. The run I thought was going to be a short week respite turned into an expedition to find my lactic threshold.Add to that a group of Peruvian marines tailing me on the route and a marathon being run here in Miraflores that I crossed over twice and it turned a routi,ne long run into an adren