Dog Days Half Marathon Goals and ADT Marathon in site...

I feel more than prepared for this half marathon.  I have 4 runs of 14-17 miles.  I have been 30-35 miles for a few weeks.  The problem is, the half marathon is not my goal, it's the full on Labor Day for the ADT Marathon.  We will get to that later, first we will focus on the Dog Days Half.  This race is in Westminster this Saturday, July 27th.  It is on a trail that is half dirt/road base and half concrete that I have ran over a dozen times.  It is one of my favorite trails in the northern suburbs and the views of the mountains are quite impressive.  Additionally it isn't too difficult on the legs and was a great place to train for the Myrtle Beach Marathon.  It has some nice little up and down in it but the elevation gain/drop is only about 150 feet.  I get more than that in my runs near the house.  Other positives of this race are they are giving out a ton of prizes and raffles at the packet pick-up and after the race they have something I heart, breakfast burritos.  They may be in trouble because if there was two things I would do for competitive eating it would be pizza and breakfast burritos.  I will save some for the other finishers though.  Bubba Chinos breakfast burritos are my second favorite behind only Santiagos and it is close.  I look forward to them but I should finish first.  So goals and other thoughts on the race:

• It is great that the half marathoners start before the 5k and 10k group due to the heat of the day.  The bad news, it starts at 7:00 a.m. so I would have loved an earlier start by like 30 minutes.  The 3 mile marker is where things could get congested.  Based off running a slower first 5k for the half, I still should beat the 5k and 10k runners by 5-10 minutes so I won't have to worry about dodging any of them.
• The start is where the finish is so Westminster City Park will be seen 3x.  This is great.  It is a nice area that is wide open with a great view of the mountains/flatirons.  Another positive is the last 5 miles where people start questioning themselves is headed back west.  Unfortunately the first mile or two has a crap load of prairie dogs that runners will be cursing at.
• Aid stations aplenty.  There are 5 aid stations just for half marathon runners, 3 for 10k and 1 for 5k, however if you look at this correct, there is actually double the amount of those.  10 aid stations for 13.1 miles is absolutely a pleasure that runners should be excited to have and thanif.  I especially look forward to aid station 4 and 5.  Aid station 5 should only be needed once but hey, it's nice to  have the option to use it more than once.
• So I have laid it out like this; this race is being used to blow out the engines and see how I do running at marathon pace or slightly faster for 13.1 miles.  I will treat it like I will the marathon, try to run slower than marathon pace by about 15-30 seconds the first couple miles.  After that I will start increasing the pace and take advantage of the downhills.  The time goal is simple, 1:50:00.  This would beat my GTIS Half by just under 2 minutes (and my Myrtle Beach halfway point which was eerily only 1 second slower than my GTIS Half).  It would show I can double that time and add 5 minutes to my full marathon time and feel confident with a 3:45 come Labor Day.

I am excited because All-Out Multisport seems to be trying to get a lot of quality events in the Denver suburbs and build them up over time.  They have been doing it for what looks like a year with different events and charities involved.  Part of the money for this one is going to the Colorado Canine Rescue.  I hope they build up their series they are putting together and stick around because they are an economical friendly racing series compared to the ridiculously priced half and full marathons you see the big names like Rock and Roll try to charge.  The event director replied to an e-mail within minutes and I appreciate that sort of attention.  They are hoping for around 500 participants for this week and I hope they get it.  Their link: All-Out Multisport has quite a few races coming up so check them out and sign up.

Onto the Marathon training; I have to hit my marathon training goals over the next 3 weeks (after the half) and taper for the last 2 weeks.  It is a short taper but I feel that 3rd week of taper I can run a 16-18 miler and not do anything to really hurt myself recovery wise.  Which brings me to what my goals are.  On Sunday after the half I plan on running a slow 10 miler.  It may be more like a slow walk 6 miler but we shall see.

Next week/Week 5 (counting back) I have to gut out a 20 miler and get some Yassos in (Goal is 8).  It may be dumb but I am going to try to get 50 miles next week, follow it with a high 40s week and then taper .  I know the last few miles are going to be brutal on my 20 miler.  The good news is I have an evening that I will be able to do this without messing with family time by doing this next week with the family taking off a couple days before I do to go to the Western Slope.  I will miss not having Sophie and Andi around but I won't feel so obligated to hurry back home like my 17 miles were due to bathroom breaks and a couple of work related structural observation detours on my long run this past Sunday.  I feel good but I am worried. 

Week 4, get a 22 mile run in, do 10 Yassos and really push myself to a high 40s week, maybe even 50.  Week 3 will be start taper but will be mid-30s with a few extras.  Week 2 will be low to mid 20s.

Due to really nursing myself back from the full, I started my training late and made excuses.  In order to have a legit shot at 3:45, I will have to make the excuses end.  I am hovering around 165.  My goal is to get to 157 by ADT.  I need to eat smarter, really get my runs in and push hard.  No excuses.

Running in Colorado has its ups and downs...

Colorado is a great state to train for any race.  However, I learned from my pancake flat marathon that no matter where you run in Colorado, it is almost impossible to run without elevation gain or drop.  My run Sunday was proof positive.  I dropped close to 200 feet in elevation in 16.5 miles but considering I dropped nearly 500 feet in elevation by Mile 8, you can see that the steady incline home from there was not fun and may not seem to make a lot of sense for Marathon #2 of mine, a mainly downhill course for the American Discovery Trail (ADT) Marathon on Labor Day.  That point to point course has a drop of 1280 feet.  But looking closer at the map there are a couple of quick 50 to 100 foot climbs that are going to be difficult and that mental toughness will be needed.

So news and thoughts from the past week:
The wife, Andi, and I celebrated 5 years of marriage.  Like running in Colorado; marriage has its ups and downs but I am more up than down with my lovely wife of 5 years.  We had a great weekend and enjoyed Saturday evening and night with just us two.  It feels weird not having Sophie around at all times but an occasional 12-18 hours without her once in awhile is not a bad thing for sure.

I signed up for the half marathon, Dog Days of Summer 5k/10k/Half in Westminster on July 27.  I don't know what to expect.  Right now, my goal is to finish in 1:50 or better.  However since I am not tapering and just using it as a fast training run.  If I get 1:55, I don't believe all hope is lost.  If I am struggling to get 2:00 hours, I may be lucky to get 4:00 hours come Labor Day for ADT.

I got some new shoes and paid over twice what I have for any pair of shoes in my life. I have spent $65 for shoes, but $136 seems exorbitant.  Oh well, I was tired of blowing out the pinky toe of all my previous running shoes and had noticed any others I have tried on are just too narrow from the start so I went with a pair of Saucony Pro Grid Hurricane 15 Wide 10 1/2.  I was bold enough to get 20 miles on them over the weekend without breaking them in at all.  My toes and feet are a little sorer than normal but I attribute this to them not being broke in at all.

I have three goals for this week.  Get my speedwork ramped up by doing some Yassos, do some MTYs and don't settle for anything less than 40 miles.  I have been doing MTYs and plenty of marathon pace mileage but have been hovering in low to mid 30s for my distances every week.  I would like to peak around 55 and the only way to achieve this is to not miss runs like I know I have.   Last goal is to eat better.  I have been falling back on fast food, desserts and fatty foods over and over and saying next week.  Fortunately I am smart about it and only have got up to 169 once.  Otherwise I have been in the 165-167 range during the mornings.  My goal is to be 162 by race morning on the 27th and 155 by Labor Day week and 157 by Labor Day (from carb and liquid consumption).