Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Three Days to Go

Short update for last week
July, Sun 22 - Sat 28:

After the sucky Tempo run on Sat I didn’t feel good enough to make a decent 20 miler, the last one in this training period.

Sun, 7/22 – Day off!!!
Mon, 7/23. There are guys, whose running work is a great sample for me. Andrew – can wake up at 3 am to start doing his 20+ miler before work! This is a funny moment – can you imagine a Kazakhstani banker to wake up early in AM and start doing long run? Forget about it. Another maniac springs to mind – one Not Rubbish runner, Ireland who did his “doubles” 20 + 20 two consecutive mornings as a prep for an ultra competition. As for me I never did 20 miler “before working day”. But now I forced to do it – this is my last chance to make it, Sunday missed. You will do it now or no more before the race, you can’t postpone it to the next weekend.

4.57 AM I push start button, the earliest time ever. Always did 20 milers on my stadium which is pretty boring. Running in the park is much more fun but didn’t feel real good right from the start and convinced myself this way:

"OK, I will do this Damn 12 miler or 15 miler, well I can drag to get to 17 mi mark.."
It’s a little bit cold in that time of day here so it got me thinking of my hat. So early and I forgot my sunglasses. Rising sun makes my shadow shorter and shorter every mile I pass, heating all things around up. First half of the distance I even asked myself:

- Do I owe this 20 miler to Andrew? – No.
- Do I have to get it to my own satisfaction? – Nope.
Running at average pace 8:00 – 8:15 which I consider a little bit slower than my planning Marathon pace I finally came to a simple conclusion that “I must do it last time as a simulation model of the Race, I do it as an integral part of training cycle, as basic essential and all that stuff. I don’t owe it to the Coach, there’s a real thing as responsibility I bear here. Finally not only Andrew is interested in a good last 20 miler, I myself want to finish it. As soon as possible.”

I kept on entertaining myself that way and got those miles, which unexpectedly turned into my best 20 miler:

Mile 01: 7:59
Mile 02: 8:00
Mile 03: 7:59
Mile 04: 7:59
Mile 05: 8:02
Mile 06: 8:56 two bottles with water hid in the bushes, it takes some time to be hydrated enough
Mile 07: 8:01
Mile 08: 7:57
Mile 09: 8:58 again
Mile 10: 8:04
Mile 11: 9:12 and again
Mile 12: 8:38
Mile 13: 8:04 run close to those horses from
Mile 14: 8:08 the previous post
Mile 15: 8:13 they inspire me, a lot
Mile 16: 8:08
Mile 17: 7:59
Mile 18: 8:07
Mile 19: 7:49
Mile 20: 7:20

So, this is my best long run for which I spent
2:43:46, 20.01 mi, avg.pace 8:11, avg.HR 140, max.HR 157.
Yes I felt bad at work, but I worked and worked good. And felt happy.

Tue, 7/24:
3.0 mi at average 8:09

Wed, 7/25:
4.01 mi, at 8:12. I felt much better, had some fluctuating pain in the legs though.

Thu, 7/26: REST

Fri, 7/27:
7.0 mi at 08:09. Made an ordinary ladder with target splits: 9.00 – 8.30 – 8.00 – 7.30 – 8.00 – 8.30 – 9.00

Sat, 7/28:
3.0 mi at 7:45, avg.HR 142, max.HR 149
Easy 2 x 800’s with a target time sub 3:30, rest 6:00

0.5 mi – 3:27 (pace 6:55), avg.HR 140, max.HR 148
0.5 mi – 3:28 (pace 6:57), avg.HR 140, max.HR 149
OK. Here I have to explain something. As for last 2 weeks before the race, I was Strictly Prohibited to do any Hard Work (besides last 20 miler). This is clear.

Why I did 2 x 800’s? I felt pretty nervous exactly 1 week before the Big Day. So decided to make sort of EZ intervals just to cool myself down. Also I remember definition from the Training Period #1: runs with HR 150 and higher we consider as a Hard work; 140 – sub 150 is an Easy work. These 800’s I made easier than regular mile repeats I usually do on Saturdays.

Andrew, do not hold a grudge against me. Please.
+ 3.0 mi at average pace 8:01, avg.HR 136, max.HR 150

Week is done. July, Sun 22 - Sat 28: 41.01 mi @ avg.pace 8:06.
All details on this diagram
.

Now I know what is the Taper : )
I’m on the way to my first, hopefully successful marathon. Thank you everybody. Love you guys all.

P.S. Tomorrow me (Karaganda) and Paul (Astana, new Kaz capital) take Paul’s car and go to Omsk, Russia. We’ve been doing some research on logistics. Couple weeks ago I even visited Astana where met Paul at a railroad station just to find out that all tickets to Omsk are sold out. Actually there was 1 “platskart” ticket. That means 1 seat in one real poor Soviet type railway wagon. Paul never had a trip in Soviet trains over here, so the whole process of searching tickets on the station was sort of fun for me. He was just wondering Why we can’t book tickets over the Internet here? This is hard to explain but in fact we can’t do that. Another factor is that it’s a Hot Summer time. People have vacations and travel wherever they want to: Russia, Turkey, Europe, China and Thailand… World is open, don’t forget to open up your purse!
P.P.S. I have some time for one more post tomorrow and I guess there are a lot of things to summarize.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

OK, Rus. I'm psyched up for this road trip and marathon. And you are in great shape - no stopping you now after that 20 miler!

Olga said...

It is going to be a bast! This should be one of two of your thoughts, another been - push yourself to the upper limit and then some more!!!