Instagram filter used: Hefe
Well other than a 2 mile shakeout run on Saturday my training is complete for the 2013 Rock ‘n Roll New Orleans Marathon. My running over the past week has been pretty meh, including two 3-mile goal marathon pace runs which were not terribly comfortable.
Not sure what race day holds but I’m pretty confident that I’m not in BQ shape for this one. My plan is to run the first half fairly conservative and then see how I feel for the second half. Since this is the first marathon after the stress fracture, the primary goal is to simply get this one under my belt. As for time, I honestly think I would be happy with anything under 3:30.
Anyway, about to board the plane for New Orleans with my bride. Looking forward to a great weekend together.
Beast mode…On!
A few minutes ago I received a call from the Italian Barrel restaurant in NOLA telling me that they no longer had a table available for my reservation on Saturday, which Olivia made back on JANUARY 29!
My immediate thought was of this memorable clip from Seinfeld that explains my feelings very well.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
DEFAR, FLANAGAN AND GOUCHER JOIN FARAH IN NEW ORLEANS
Looks like it’s gonna be a pretty star studded field for the Rock n’ Roll NOLA race this year!
My lead-up to the Rock n’ Roll NOLA Marathon next weekend has been a little bizarre, and definitely not according to any recognized training plan. Mostly this is because of my Honduras mission trip and subsequent upper respiratory infection.
The week before the trip I got in just over 32-miles of total running, which is significantly less than my normal 50 to 55. Last week in Honduras, I was only able to run 3-times for 15 total miles. Those 5-mile loops were crazy hard with almost 1,600’ of cumulative elevation gain, which was mostly in the last mile…
Near the end of our trip I came down with some type of upper respiratory virus that quickly turned into an infection. My plan had been to run a 20-miler last Sunday after we returned, but I ended up being too sick. I was finally able to get 20 in on Tuesday of this week, though this was less than 2-weeks from NOLA.
I ended up feeling very good during the 20, though I was still sick and taking antibiotics. I was able to maintain a comfortable 8:10 pace throughout, and felt the best in the last 5-miles.
After an easy 5-miler on Tuesday, I had a fantastic track workout last night. Here’s a rundown:
- 2.4-Mile warmup
- 6 x 100m stride outs
- 1600m fresh (6:15) / 400m recovery
- 800m fresh (2:58) / 300m recovery
- 800m fresh (2:57) / 400m recovery
- 1600m fresh (6:05)
- 1.75-Mile cool down
I was expecting to be TOAST after my illness (and still being on antibiotics) and the 20-miler on Tuesday, but ended up feeling great. That last mile repeat was the best I’ve felt at track in a long time.
This morning Nathan, Paxton and I did an easy 4-mile shakeout run, and we plan to join the group tomorrow for a 15-miler. With that, it should be a 52-mile week this week. Next week I plan to run 15-miles total before the race on Saturday, which means that my 4-weeks leading up to NOLA will look like this:
- 32-Miles
- 15-Miles
- 52-Miles
- 15-Miles
Not exactly tapering by the book, but I guess we’ll see what happens next week.
Beast Mode….ON!
Romans Chapter 11 Handouts and Notes are Now Online
For students in my Wednesday night class on Romans: Handouts and Notes for Romans Chapter 11 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this great chapter during class tomorrow night at 7pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!
