Quest for Boston – Back on the Road

After missing Monday and Tuesday with a bad head-cold, it was good to get back on the road this morning. My legs felt good after the marathon on Saturday, but my cold just exploded on Sunday and I ended up spending most of the day in the bed after morning worship at Bellevue Church of Christ. On Monday I stayed in bed until after 10am and didn’t go into work until after lunch. I started feeling better on Tuesday, but John advised me to take that day off as well since there wasn’t much to be gained before the 500 Festival Mini Marathon on Saturday.

For the rest of the week, John has me doing easy runs of various distances with 4 x 100m stride outs. Today’s schedule called for 4-miles and I was joined by my friend Paxton running through the streets of Bellevue. I ran in my Saucony Hattoris and we kept the pace very easy which was good because the humidity was crazy even at 6:30am. I was drenched after the run. Overall my legs felt fantastic, but I could tell that my energy level was down a bit from being sick. Hopefully this will come around before the race on Saturday.

We finished with stride outs in the church parking lot, and it felt pretty good to run fast. I’m a bit worried about the forecast for the race on Saturday which is calling for highs in the mid 80s and humidity over 70%. If this turns out to be the case, I’m definitely going to have to dial back my expectations.

@runtastic

runtastic replied to your link: Races and Personal Records (PR)

Awesome times, but you need a more recent 10k as that PR is way out of line with the rest now. Quest for 39:59?? 🙂

Ha…yeah I guess that one is a little inconsistent. I’ve only run one 10k so far out of my 34 races, and that one was 10 min after I finished a 5k (my current 5k PR). I suppose I need to add another 10k or 2 to my schedule. 🙂

Team Agee…Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon

Well, since I was not selected in the lottery for the ING New York City Marathon, we have decided that Team Agee will be headed to the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon on November 10th. I am registered for the full marathon, Olivia is registered for the half marathon, and Kate is registered for the Jr. Miracle Marathon. Unfortunately they do not have a “toddler trot” for Sara, but she will be there in support along with my parents.

The Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon is in its 33rd year and is run through the nation’s oldest military park. In the January 2010 issue of Runner’s World readers selected it as the “most family-friendly” marathon, the runner-up for “most scenic” marathon, and third for best overall marathon.

2012 St Jude Country Music Marathon – Race Recap and Review

Recap the 13th annual St Jude Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN…

Country Music Marathon
April 28, 2012
nashville.competitor.com

My Run:  Overall, the Country Music Marathon (CMM) was my 12th full marathon, but this one was quite a bit different than any of my previous 11. For this race I had applied for and was accepted to be the official 4-hour pace team leader for the race. This was something I have wanted to do ever since my first marathon which I completed with the help of a pace team (Chicago 2009).

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Quest for 3:59 – Easy Laps at Track / Accidents at Home

Even though tonight’s run was with the JSRC at the Vanderbilt track (as usual), I did not participate in the normal workout due to the Country Music Marathon on Saturday. My schedule called for 4 easy miles with 4 x 100m stride outs. I ended up with just over 5-miles around the track in my Saucony Hattoris trying to keep the pace around what I will need for the 4-hour pace group on Saturday. My first mile was in small segments since I stopped frequently to open the lane gates around the track. The final four were continuous laps with Bill and Jenny who are also running on Saturday. After these easy laps my need for speed was screaming, so the final stride outs were around 5:10 pace. The weather was warm and humid tonight, which I guess is good practice for Saturday since the forecast looks nasty. 

Overall things felt good during the run, though I did have a few aches to work through in the first mile. Early this morning I was walking through our bathroom and slipped and fell awkwardly on a wet spot on the tile floor. While nothing was hurt badly, I did twist my knee and stretch my hip in a funny way as I fell. My knee and hip flexor felt sore during that first mile of the run, but thankfully this quickly subsided and was not an issue. In related news, a few minutes after my fall, Olivia had an accident of her own. She was putting up clean dishes into our kitchen cabinets and dropped a glass as she was reaching up to an overhead shelf. The glass fell to the counter below, bounced, and shattered directly into her hand. Even though she had to pick pieces of glass out of her hand, luckily none of the cuts were bad enough to need stitches (though she was in obvious pain).

I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ve gotten all of the accidents out of our system for today at least 🙂

4-Hour Pacing Strategy – Country Music Marathon (Full)

As most of you know I will be the 4-hour pacer for the St Jude Country Music Marathon (full) this Saturday. As part of this, the Nashville Striders have asked me to write down my pacing strategy for the race so that it can we shared with participants at the expo. Since I had to write it down anyway, I thought I would share that strategy here…

Overall my pacing strategy will be for even splits throughout the race, which will translate to approximately 9 minutes 7 seconds per mile for a 3:59 finish. However, the first half of the course is quite hilly, especially through the first 8 miles. My goal for this stretch will be to maintain a consistent effort, rather than pace (especially going uphill), so that runners will not over-exert themselves in the early portion of the race. I expect that our pace will even out by the 10-mile mark.

For the second-half of the course I plan to be fairly consistent with the splits, but will likely take the big hill coming out of Metro Center at mile-14 fairly conservatively. Runners should not expect to make up much time in the last mile since there are two substantial hills on South 5th Avenue headed back to Woodland Street for the finish.

It’s going to be warm on Saturday so hydrate early and often. Be safe and Have Fun!

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