Not A Great Week

Well, my runs went okay this week, but the 8 miler didn't happen. About 2 mi into it, my knee hurt and it didn't make sense to go beyond 4. Today I will try my 5 miler and see what happens, but I'm nervous about the long run tomorrow. Nothing about my running this week suggested that I'd be okay running 15 miles tomorrow.

Getting there

Well, today is the first decent long run in a long time... 10 miles. I've decided to cut it into a couple of parts just to ease back. Did 7 just now and will do 3 more after the kids go to bed.

9:44 pm. The last 3 miles felt great. Total time of 1:39:27, with an average pace of 9:56/M. I will take it. The R knee was only slightly uncomfortable early on. Not a peep from it on the last 3; in fact, there was a stretch when the knee felt good (rather than absence of pain, it felt good).

• 42.03 / 10.30
• 28.18 / 9.26
• 28.53 / 9.37

So, on this run I was dogging it in the first 4 miles. These were all with the 2min/30sec ratio. I plan to increase the ratio like this

• 2:30 / 30 sec
• 3:00 / 30 sec
• 3:30 / 30 sec
• 4:00 / 30 sec
• 4:30 / 30 sec

Not sure I've ever written it down, but I think one of the reasons that walk breaks help is that they give you the "start" of a run every few minutes. From a form/biomechanical standpoint, I think I have my best form right at the beginning of a run. You get that "start" every time you start running again.

Two mantras worked well for me tonight on form; first is my standby: "stand tall / step small," and the new one was "cross country skis / rotation please." That old one is the best mental thought I have to bring back the best of the ChiRunning stuff. The new one was a result from my difficulty today in keeping feet parallel without sacrificing a little rotation of the leg. When I try to straighten my feet, I often get the "pendulum" effect that is probably really bad for my legs and knees. This thought joins the parallel image with the image of a rotation. It seemed to work.

Running 411 for Lana'i

This is an e-mail I sent to Renee:

Running 411 @ Lana'i

This is a long message, the result of geeking out over how we can run while on vacation. So, we both need to do some running there. I am sure we can get even better information there, but here's what to expect. First, a map of the island:

http://www.lanaicity.com/map.html

The Four Seasons Manele Bay is at the southern tip of the island at about 175 feet above sea level. Go more than 2 miles inland, however, and you are looking at very steep grades (12% and above) and steady gain for more than 1,000 feet! The smallest loop I was able to put together from the hotel is a 10k route that looks great on paper; it starts at 175 ft and maxes out at 1,234 ft. That is almost 2x the elevation from Hwy 224 up to the house in Park City!!

There is a beautiful hiking/jeep trail called the Munro Trail near the hotel, but the grade an elevation are even worse getting there. It would be fun to go there, but perhaps the four of us could rent a jeep and make the trek that way. Here's a link:

http://www.gohawaii.com/lanai/regions-neighborhoods/central-lanai/munro-trail

So, where do we run?

I usually like loops, but that isn't going to work for me given the topography. I have no interest in running those kinds of grades, up or down! We could have someone drive us to the NE coast of the Island to run along the coast, but that would be kind of a pain and would eat up time we could be doing other things. My idea is two out-and-backs that are just beyond the driveway of the four seasons.

1) West on Kapihaa Pl for about 1.5 mi before it gets hilly: there's a 3 mile route. This route goes past the golf courses and should be pretty scenic.

2) East on Kapihaa Pl and turn South onto Manele Rd for about 1 mi; there's a 2 mile route. This route goes down to the beach, which should also be pretty scenic.

The routes can be combined to just about any length (this is how I do my runs here at home). I'm scheduled to do a 20-miler that week, but I am not sure it's going to happen. With these little routes, I might be able to do it. The good thing about these routes is the ability to bail or head back to the room for a bathroom break/water refill. Do both 4x and there's a 20 miler, without ever getting more than 1.5 miles away from the hotel (and without doing any Tour de France style mountain climbing!).

Another good thing about the routes is that we could do different distances but still run together. It might change, but this is what my schedule calls for while we are there:

SUN / 6-Mar / 14
TUE / 8-Mar / 5
WED / 9-Mar / 10
THU / 10-Mar / 5
SAT / 12-Mar / 20

I can flex the days, and I prefer to run first thing in the morning so it doesn't get in the way of other stuff. Again, I don't know if that 20 is going to happen (this is the day we leave). I might get up super early and try to knock off as much of it as I can. The only other option would be to try to do it jetlagged on Sunday, which sounds no-fun.

Here are links to the routes.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/27941480
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/27941214

Crossroads

I really am at a crossroads here.

It's entirely possible that I will not be able to run the 4/2 marathon. But, it is still possible. I would need to start building back the miles. If I use the run/walk/run approach, it should still be possible on a slower basis. If I do run it as a marathon, I will need to really cut back on goals, etc. It's also possible to just do the half.

1. Do the half.
2. Run/Walk/Run to finish.

If I do the half, I think I can just do what I normally do and set a goal that week. Here's an idea for #2.

• Continue to train at 80% r/w/r ratio.
• Pay extra attention to form, stretching, days off, etc.
• Use a very easy schedule (Hal Higdon's Novice #1) for mileage.
• Be prepared to scale back to the half at any time.

Here's a modified HH Novice schedule I think might do the trick. It gets a 20 in before the taper; you just need to take it nice and easy.

Getting Back

Two days ago I did4 miles and felt okay. Skipped a day and will run 5 today.