Monday, February 16, 2015, 4:40 pm

4.79 mi, 84 ft gain, 39:13. In town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Legs still a little sore/stiff starting out, but warmed up by about 1.5 mi. I really wanted to go longer, and still ended up going a little longer than I planned. I went out for 20 min, then turned around and headed back.

HR was a little high again. I ate shortly before running again too. Maybe it’s good practice for longer races, running with a full stomach.

Average HR 143 bpm.

 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015, 5:08 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 26:01. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

The weather was great again today. It was cooling off a bit with the sun heading down, but still not bad. The forecast is for about the same on race day, Sunday.

My upper legs were just a little sore starting out again, but felt better pretty quickly. The pace was faster than I expected, and felt pretty easy. It was only 2 sec slower than yesterday, but much lower HR.

I’m already over these short runs, but I want to be ready on Sunday. Fortunately, the nice weather has given me a little motivation to also get outside for some yard work. I have a lot of yard work to get done.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015, 4:24 pm

4.09 mi, 199 ft gain, 39:44. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5.

I modified my Lone Peaks like I’ve done to my Superiors. This was my first test run with the modification. It went alright.

Another easy taper run. A little sore starting out again, and quickly warming up again. I went up the little hill, followed a couple game trails and went out to Olney Creek.

I don’t particularly feel like my taper has been going that well, but my “easy” pace has sped back up to at least what I think it should be at my level of fitness. My HR was pretty good today as well. It helps to have some time to digest between eating and running.

I picked up the pace for the last 200m or so again. I ended up around 6:30/mi pace for that part.

Average HR 134 bpm.

 

Thursday, February 19, 2015, 5:52 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 22:39. In town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Just a quick spin around town today. It was raining a bit, but not bad. I went with a comfortably fast pace, which hovered around my current marathon goal pace and a little faster at times.

My right hamstring was still a little sore when I started, less so than the last few days. I finally feel like the taper is working. I could tell from my pace and effort the last few days that it was working, but I didn’t physically feel much better until today. I might still have a little more to go to physically feel ready. But I didn’t feel that great early in the last 5 mi race on the 7th and ended up doing great.

Average HR 144 bpm.

 

Friday, February 20, 2015, 4:16 pm

3.16 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:37. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Feeling pretty good. Bored with the taper.

Average HR 131 bpm.

 

Saturday, February 21, 2015, 5:04 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 28:53. In town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

More of the same.

Average HR 121 bpm.

 

Sunday, February 22, 2015, 8:02 am

31.33 mi, 5290 ft gain, 5:16:31. Lord Hill 50k. Altra Superior 1.5 Red#2.

Not quite the race I wanted, but happy with my performance anyway. I’ll post a separate race report in the next couple days.

Average HR 149 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 52.8 mi, 5573 ft gain.