Doyle's Running Club

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 12 x 400m
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 8 miles (long tempo)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 16 miles
Sunday - Rest

If you didn't get a chance to get in your long run this weekend, just extend the mid week run slightly. Better to miss it than double up.

The Lewis and Clark Half-Marathon is full. As far as I can tell, JP is the only one who registered. The rest of us will have to support her from the sidelines. There is a half-marathon the next week near 55 and 255, so it looks like we're not off the hook.

"We have reached our 3800 entrant limit for the 5th annual Lewis & Clark Marathon and Half Marathon. We must limit registrations because a portion of our race course is on the Katy Trail, a rather narrow rails-to-trails conversion. A field of more than 3800 entrants could lead to bottlenecks that would detract from the racing experience. We are in discussions with the City of St. Charles regarding a course change that would allow us to accept an unlimited number of entries for the 2007 Lewis & Clark event. We hope you can join us next year. Please visit our online Event Calendar to find other excellent local events. Of particular note are September 23th's Hills and Hollows half marathon, September 24th's City of Roses Half Marathon, October 21st's Wild in the Woods trail half marathon, and November 12th's American Health & Wellness half marathon.
We plan to post the final entrant list will by mid-day on August 30th. Visit the event website to confirm your entry."

Raise your hand if you forgot to register. *Sheepishly raises hand*

The course maps for the Chicago marathon are out.

Interactive
http://www.axismaps.com/outbound/marathon.html

PDF
http://www.chicagomarathon.com/pdf/New%2006%20Course%20Map%20Vert.%20B%20(CMYK).pdf

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 3 x 1600m
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 7 miles (mid tempo)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 15 miles
Sunday - Rest

The suggestion was that we would run at Grant's Trail on Saturday. Let's plan to meet at the trailhead at 5:30. Bring water/gatorade to cache. Let me know via email who we might have to help distribute liquid.

Make sure that you are getting in your mid week runs. The long runs are the most important runs in the training schedule but the other runs are important for keeping your cardio training going.

I'll see what I can do about looking up hotel accomodations for the marathon. LH and I are planning to stay with my parents. There's at least another spot for one group with my parents. In terms of places to stay, there are a lot of hotels along the L tracks that would be convenient options that aren't precisely downtown. Also, there are a number of options along the route from my parents' place to the race that would be convenient for us to stop and pick up someone on the way to the race.

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Bagged the Saturday run due to weather. We're going to try and run on Sunday at 5:30am.

We're meeting at the History Museum in Forest Park at 6:00am. We'll be doing ten miles, getting back on track.

"Full Field Expected at the 5th Lewis & Clark Event

The 2006 Lewis & Clark Marathon and Half Marathon will be held on Sunday, September 17th, starting at 7am at the Family Arena in St. Charles County.
With one month to go before the event, we have 2600+ entrants, over 1000 more registrants than we did at the same time last year! We anticipate filling all 3800 entrant spots well before packet pickup begins on September 13th. If you plan on participating, please register soon.

We have entrants from 34 states, the District of Columbia, and London. Marathoners account for 16 of every 100 entrants. Click on the following links for current entrant lists: Marathon; Half Marathon."

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 7 x 800m
Wednesday - 4 miles
Thursday - 7 miles (long tempo)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 10 miles
Sunday - Rest

I talked with Papaswoof about changing up the schedule a bit since we just had a down week two weeks ago. Options are 10 (getting back on schedule), 12 (taking a smaller step back), 13 (maintaining current long run distance), or 14 (a smaller step towards next week's 15). The running program can support any of these options. What do you want to do? Respond in the commenrs or via email.

The weather was great for the half-marathon with temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s. LH and I got to the site about a half-hour ahead of time, leaving us plenty of time to park, potty, and get to the race start. I jumped into the 9:00 pace group while LH continued back to the 11:00 pace group. I debated jumping out of line to potty again, but decided that I'd hit a porta potty during the run. And we were off.

My race plan was to run at a max heart rate of 150 for the first half and possibly up to 10 miles. My main goal was to come in under 2:00. I missed the first mile marker but was doing well on HR. I came through the second mile marker at 17:35, which meant that 1) I was on pace to finish faster than 2:00 and 2) that I picked the right starting group. At the water stops I had gatorade and water. The gatorade kept me from needing to use either of the energy gels I had carried with me. I had a bit of trouble keeping myself from pushing it too far, but I kept consulting my watch and backing off a step when my HR crept up. About mile 6, I had to relax my vigilance a bit and I let it creep up to 154. A couple miles later it was a solid 160. About mile 11, I pulled off into an outhouse for my first potty break of the run. When I got out I saw a 2:00 pace group leader ahead of me. As I hurried to catch up, I kept reviewing my mental math. I was still ahead of pace. I should be able to break 2:00. This pace group had to be 4-5 minutes ahead of where they should be. Still I hurried to catch up. The last mile or so I felt the effects of my hurrying and had to slow down. Finally I saw the finish line ahead and surged on through. I finished in 1:57:15, a personal best.

Mile	Split	Total
1	-	-
2	17:18	17:18
3	8:48	26:06
4	8:53	35:00
5	8:59	43:49
6	8:54	52:54
7	9:01	1:01:55
8	8:59	1:10:55
9	8:48	1:19:43
10	9:47	1:29:30
11	8:45	1:38:10
12	9:27	1:47:22
13	9:01	1:56:23
Finish	:45	1:57:15

The thing that I liked about the race is that both on a per mile and a per 5K basis, my times were consistent throughout the race. It just tells me that with renewed effort and dedication, that I should be able to run these times on race day.

After the run, I got some food and gatorade and waited for LH to come through the finish area. I kept thinking that I should be running back along the course, but instead I just stood there. (FYI - Bad idea) LH finished in a time of 2:22:21. We went over to the food area, had some food, and relaxed a bit. Reebok was giving out personalized postcards, so we each got one. On mine, they misspelled my name (Grrrr...). Then we went home to clean up.

Race Results

It sounds like the group is meeting at the entrance to the athletic field at 6:00am.

Here are the directions to get there:
Take 270N to Dorsett. Turn left off of the exit ramp.
Take Dorsett to Marine. Turn right.
Take Marine to Maryland Heights Expressway. Turn left.
Take MHE to Creve Couer Mills Rd. Turn left.
The athletic fields are on your left.
Park either outside of the gate if it's closed or on the lot inside.
Meet at the gazebo by the parking lot.

Alternate and untested directions:
Take 270N to Page (364) West.
Take 364W to Maryland Heights Expressway. Turn right.
Take MHE north to Creve Couer Mills Rd. Turn right.
The athletic fields are on your left.
Park either outside of the gate if it's closed or on the lot inside.
Meet at the gazebo by the parking lot.

I'll try and drop off some energy gels with either Phil or Papaswoof before I leave, but everyone should plan on bringing some of their own as a backup. Also, Mamaswoof may be assisting with water caching, so bring some water for her to drop off.

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 5 x 1200m
Wednesday - 3 miles
Thursday - 3 miles (short tempo)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 13 miles
Sunday - Rest (Chicago Distance Classic 1/2)

LH and I are going to be out of town this weekend. I'll start coordinating a run for Saturday via email. Personally I don't have a preference, but we'll go with what works for you.

Phil and I arrived bright and early to the race. Phil went to register and I went to stand in the porta potty line. The guy on the microphone kept declaring that they wouldn't start the race until everyone had a chance to go. As such the race ended up starting about ten minutes late. Something tells me that they have "Add more Porta-potties" to their list for next year.

The start of the race went off without a hitch. I was able to surge out and get in position with no problems. I had a feeling that I was going too fast, but I didn't listen to it. When I came through the first mile under 7:00, I knew that I should have listened to myself. Instead I opted to hang on to the pace as long as I could, which ended up being about the 2 mile mark (14:10). The wheels started faltering as I did an 8:00 third mile (22:10) and a 8:20 fourth miles (30:30). I picked it up a bit on the home stretch and ended up finishing in 38:24. My average pace was 7:41, but if i had stuck closer to 7:30s, then I think I would have finished better. One to grow on, I guess.

Phil also started off too quickly, but he adjusted his pace better at the one mile mark. After an 8:00 first mile, he adjusted his pace and ended up finishing 42:86 or 8:31/mile.

Results