SEDALIA, Colo. — In the middle of the night, Diane Van Deren will leave her house against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She will cut west through the dark canyons with her running shoes and a headlamp, but without a kiwi-sized part of her right temporal lobe.
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I was planning to run two more 20 milers before the San Francisco marathon in 18 days. I already did one 20 miler a few weeks ago and I hoped to do at least three in preparation for the race. According to prometheuscometh, I should only do one more 20 miler and have fresh legs for the race. I am inclined to follow his advice.
Today was my first run after 6 days of inactivity due to various social commitments. It was only 5 miles but I sure was flying even in 80+ degree heat. Running is so much more easy after a few days rest. Therefore, I think there is a lot of wisdom in prometheuscometh’s advise. Second and last 20 miler will be my goal for this Saturday morning.
I just got back from three days of hedonism in Toronto, Canada. No running. All eating, all weekend long. Now back to reality. 21 days until the San Francisco marathon. I feel bloated and I’ve only done one 20 mile long run. I need to get at least one more 20 miler or maybe two within the next 14 days. Oh boy!
It is June 30 and the first half of the year is over. I hoped to run 600 miles or 100 miles per month. My mileage was 575 miles. I missed my goal by 25 miles. Therefore, for the second half of the year, I will shoot for 625 miles instead of 600 miles.
It is runningdatcom.wordpress.com’s 37th birthday tomorrow. All you run bloggers, please wish him a happy birthday!
I am exhausted. On Sunday morning I ran my second 20 miler of the year and the first straight one without an intermission for lunch. I was ok for the first 18 miles. Then for the last two miles, I was more often walking than running. It was a warm day too. The temperature started out at 78 degrees and hovered in the mid 80s all through the morning.
Next 20 miler is July 11 due to various social commitments over the next two weeks.
I’ve known about the Yasso 800s for a few years now but I never attempted to do them until this Friday afternoon. I always see that guy Bart Yasso in various marathon expos hawking his book. Below is the link to the original Runner’s World article.
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-624-0,00.html
In summary, a Yasso 800 is running 800 meters then jogging 400 meters. Your time for the 800 meters is supposed to predict your finishing time in a marathon. For example, if you run the 800 meters in 4:30, your predicted marathon finishing time is 4:30:00.
I did 8 Yasso 800s on Friday afternoon. I love those 1/2 day Fridays company benefit during the summer! This is the first time I did the Yasso 800s but I enjoyed them quite a bit and will surely incorporate them into my marathon training.
Yasso 800 # 1 – 4:19
Yasso 800 # 2 – 4:14
Yasso 800 # 3 – 4:14
Yasso 800 # 4 – 4:15
Yasso 800 # 5 – 4:28
Yasso 800 # 6 – 4:20
Yasso 800 # 7 – 4:18
Yasso 800 # 8 – 4:15
That is an average of 4:18 for the 8 Yasso 800s. I don’t quite believe I can do a marathon in 4:18 given my fitness level, at least in the short or medium term. If I lose 15-25 lbs., perhaps I can do 4:18. a more realistic marathon “stretch goal” would probably be 4:45 or 1 minute per mile slower than 4:18.
US Olympian Kastor to run in Chicago Marathon
Besides being flat and fast, the course provides a bit of Olympic symmetry since it will be used for the 2016 Games if Chicago wins its bid to host. Kastor, the American record holder, broke her foot at the Beijing Olympics.
“I have high expectations for the race,” said Kastor, who won it in 2005. “I’m really excited to get after it and lower my personal record.”
Kastor set the U.S. record of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 36 seconds at the 2006 London Marathon and believes she can better that mark, and even get below 2:18. Paula Radcliffe of Britain holds the women’s world record, running a 2:15:25 at London in 2003.
The 36-year-old Kastor is the first elite woman to commit to run the Chicago marathon, which is sponsored by Bank of America, on Oct. 11.
“Chicago regularly brings in a star-studded field,” she said. “I really think that I am going to have my work cut out for me.”
Among those Kastor expects to see in the field is Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania, who won gold in Beijing.
Kastor won marathon bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics and was among the favorites last Aug. 17, but felt something pop in her foot just past the 3-mile mark. She pulled up immediately with what was later diagnosed as a broken foot.
Her training for Beijing had gone well, and the injury took Kastor completely by surprise.
“Everything seemed fine,” she said. “My foot got tight for just 30 seconds before it happened. It was more painful than anything I’d ever been through before.”
That pain extended to her mental outlook. After years of preparing to perform on a global stage, Kastor was left with stores of physical and emotional energy she couldn’t use.
“It was bizarre to feel this pent-up tension and not have an outlet,” she said.
It didn’t take long for that sense of unfinished business to spur Kastor to launch a bid to run at the 2012 London Olympics.
“Being not able to perform to my potential (in Beijing) fired that desire,” she said.
Kastor, who lives in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., didn’t start running again until November, after her foot had time to heal from the break that was attributed to a vitamin D deficiency. She has addressed that problem by adjusting her diet and adding supplements.
By the spring she had resumed her normal training routine and returned to competition in the Bay to Breakers and the Great Edinburgh Run, winning the 10-kilometer race in Scotland in 32:38 to beat three-time champion Jelena Prokopcuka.
Kastor was a prerace favorite to win her second New York Mini 10K title this month, but did not race due to inflammation in her big toe. She saw a foot specialist in Toronto who advised her to temporarily scale back her training, especially on hard surfaces.
That’s fine with Kastor, whose love of running first took root as an 11-year-old on the trails in the Santa Monica mountains near where she grew up in Agoura Hills, Calif.
She laughed when asked what it will take to run 26.2 miles at a 5:18 clip.
“It’s going to take a strong start, a strong middle and a gutsy finish,” she said.
I ran late this evening. this was a 5 mile recovery jog. I felt much better after the weekend of rest and minimal running (2 miles). Although I am not yet fully recovered from my cold, I feel much better and stronger today. People at work also comented that I do not sound as terrible as I was last Friday with the cold.
Tomorrow, sunrise is at 6:02 am and sunset is at 9:03 pm although in reality, it does not get really dark until 9:25 pm or so. These 15 hours of daylight are great if you have to run late into the evening. On Sunday, June 21, the day will be the longest of the year.
Check out a picture of AgconOnline who I sent a Flying Pig t-shirt to last month.
