10/12 - 10/18: Mixed bag of easy cycling and running before jumping on a plane on Friday and flying to Wales for a much needed holiday. The week ended fantastically as I ran the Cardiff Half Marathon in a surprising 1:20:42 — not bad considering six weeks previous I was still wearing an aircast boot for my 2nd metatarsal stress fracture.

The event was tremendous, with perfect weather conditions and numerous family members all showing up to cheer me on. I also have to mention the support of Les Croupiers Running Club too — such a friendly, enthusiastic and passionate-about-running group of people. Thanks everyone!

10/19 - 10/25: Spent the week with family in Wales so not too many opportunities to run, although we did walk miles over the course of seven days. Think I fitted in 4 x four milers which took in some of the nice Cardiff hills. I miss the hills!

10/26 - 11/01: The week started with a full day of travel; leaving Cardiff at 7am UK time and arriving home in Virginia Beach just past midnight. Tuesday was back to work, collect the dogs from the kennels and generally playing catch up from being away for ten days — too tired to even think about running to be honest. Wednesday rolled around and I realized there were only 19 days to the Richmond Marathon — time to start training!

The next three days I ran an easy four, seven and six respectively before lining up for the Great Pumpkin Chase 5k on Saturday 31st….Halloween. I managed to duck under 18 minutes for the first time in a while, but I think that had more to do with the slightly short course than my speed. I was, however, pleased with my consistent pace and mile splits of 5:53 5:52 5:53. Second place overall was a nice bonus too.

Sunday was a desperate attempt to regain some endurance and despite a nasty blister on my left foot, I managed to battle through 20 miles in 2 hours 26 minutes.

11/02 - 11/08: Typically, two weeks out from a marathon I’d usually be tapering — decreasing the miles, the intensity and the frequency. However, my non-typical situation (i.e. still really in recovery mode from the stress fracture), deemed that I keep logging the miles in the hope of gaining some kind of endurance and resilience. I started off the week with an easy seven on Monday and a steady nine on Tuesday. Wednesday I stepped it up and ran ten, which I followed up with a confidence-boosting eight miler on Thursday and an easy six on Friday.

Heading into the weekend I was feeling good and looking forward to the Saturday morning Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler. The race went well, and after a difficult-to-find-a rhythm couple of miles, I finished strong in just over 61 minutes. My second half of the race was faster than the first and I actually felt like I could have maintained the pace for a couple more miles. For the record I finished 7th overall and 1st in the 40-44 age group in what turned out to be a pretty strong field.

Sunday should have been a rest/recovery day, but again with the marathon just one week away, I was desperate to log one more long run before beginning my mini-taper. I headed to First Landing State Park and ran a solid 20 miles in 2 hours 23 minutes — no real blister problems this time and definitely feeling better at the end than the previous week. Oh yes, the 20 mile long run put me at 75 for the week, which somewhat surprisingly is my highest ever week of mileage. I guess it’s a PR?

11/09 - onwards: This week is all about easy running and preparing as best as possible for the Richmond Marathon on Saturday. So far I’ve just shaken out the legs with a four and a five miler, and don’t intend on doing much else at this stage in the game.

Race goal and prediction: Just over nine weeks ago, I was still wearing an aircast boot to help protect my broken foot. Hopes of running Richmond were slim, but I kept the thought in the back of my mind anyway. Over the weeks my goal has changed from getting to the starting line in one piece, to crossing the finish line in an uninjured state. Last week I posted on DailyMile that my plan was to go out at 6:52 per mile pace with the aim of reaching halfway in 1 hour 30 minutes. Of course, with my lack of endurance I would expect to fade in the second half, but would do all I could to minimize the inevitable slowing down. A 3:05 would be a pretty lofty goal and a creditable performance I thought.

Since Saturday’s race and Sunday’s long run, I’ve started [foolishly] to think a sub-3:00 could be possible. I must admit it would be pretty sweet to gain revenge over my Frederick Marathon humbling earlier this year, but maybe I’m getting ahead of myself? To complicate things even more, if a sub-3:00 finish seems impossible, I’ve even started thinking about a 2:56 goal which would give me my fastest marathon of 2009. Sound doable? I’m not sure to be honest, but I’ll have a better idea when I cross the 13.1 mile mark on Saturday morning.

Anyway, long story short, here’s the plan –

Goal #1 — finish the marathon with a smile on my face and a happy left foot. Naturally this would be a major victory after spending six weeks of the summer in an aircast boot and the last nine or ten weeks building up from a one mile walk to a 26.2 mile attempt.

Goal #2 — run the first half in 1 hour 30 minutes and fade as little as possible to a marathon finish around 3 hours 5 minutes.

Goal #3 — run the first half in 1 hour 30 minutes and maintain pace for the second half to record a marginal sub-3:00 marathon.

Goal #4 — run the first half in 1 hour 30 minutes and pick up the pace in the second half to finish in 2:56 or quicker.

Now that they’re down in black and white, I’ve made myself accountable…..and I like it that way. Of course, a smarter runner would stick with Goal #1 and be happy with it. I, on the other hand, am obviously not that smart and will be “going for it” from the gun. It may get ugly towards the end, but to be honest, it’s the only way I know how to run.

Finally, if you’re interested in tracking my progress on Saturday, the marathon starts at 8:00am. You can sign up for text/email alerts at the Richmond Marathon web site — just search on my last name “SPEIRS”. Also, good luck to wife Ally who is running her 2nd Richmond Marathon (9th marathon in total). I have a sneaky feeling she’s going to do rather well herself….

I arrived in plenty of time, registered, chatted with friends for a while before heading off on a two mile warm up. I timed the warm up to end a few minutes before the event start time, but must have incorrectly read the flyer and ended up having to wait an extra 15 minutes for the race to start. Oh well, judging by the quality field that had assembled on the start line, I wasn’t in with a chance of winning anything anyway!

The 5k course is quite a fast one — Virginia Beach flat with not too many turns and for the most part a good view of the runners ahead of you. The first mile marker was a little off (according to my Garmin anyway) and I think I was in about 12th place with a 5:48 mile split. The rest of the race was all about staying strong and maintaining good form.

I really don’t have any speed in my legs at the moment, so it was more a case of gutting out the distance and minimizing the fade as much as possible. The pic on the left is me in the last tenth of a mile, trying to stay ahead of the fast-finishing guy behind. I look better than I felt!

Despite the fade in the last two miles, I finished in 18:37 (a fraction under 6:00/mile pace) and picked up 3rd in the 40-49 age group. I think I was 9th overall, so not too bad a performance, but definitely plenty of work to do to regain my earlier season speed. Patience, patience, patience…

Sunday morning was long run morning. Thankfully the high humidity of Saturday had gone away and been replaced by cooler temps and a nice breeze. I wasn’t sure how far to run — Ally was planning a 20 miler in her build up to the Richmond Marathon; I figured I’d try for an even paced 15 or 16, with an outside chance of 18 if everything felt good.

I’m still on the fence about Richmond — I’m entered in the marathon but after being out six weeks with the stress fracture am not in any shape to race it. I could run it as a training run in the build up to the Seashore Nature Trail 50K, or I could switch down to the half marathon that takes place on the same morning as the marathon. At least I have some time to decide, so I guess I’ll wait a few more weeks to see how training progresses.

Anyway, back to the Sunday run. Before leaving the house I consumed by usual Sustained Energy liquid breakfast, topped off a spare water bottle to sip on the drive to the park and packed some Recoverite for after the run. I also picked up a Hammer Gel “just in case” I needed it on the run…

Before hitting First Landing State Park, I ran several miles on North Great Neck Road and by the time I’d reached the Visitor Center had logged ten miles. I stopped briefly to grab a drink and chatted briefly to JP and CB who were running some of the Seashore Nature Trail 50K course. Daughter Shannon was also at the Visitor Center - two miles in to her longest run for some time….

Feeling surprisingly good, I headed off down the main trail, thinking about Richmond, the 50K and some other stuff. Before I knew it I’d reached the 64th Street entrance, and with the sun in my eyes nearly bumped into Tim and Paul who were heading up the trail in the other direction. I decided it was a good time for a gel, chatted briefly to Ally who was 9 miles into her run and doing well. After a quick drink, I headed off towards the Narrows to continue the run but soon veered off the trail and thought it best to head back to the main Visitor Center and then back to the car which would give me a total of about 19 or 20 miles.

I think the gel must have kicked in at some point and my pace continued to quicken. My legs felt great and I started to think about extending the long run some more. The moment of truth came at the guard hut on the main entrance road where I could have turned left to run the two miles back to the car — instead I chose the right turn which would snake me back to the Visitor Center and the main Cape Henry Trail.

At this point I had the crazy idea of running 26.2 miles and plotted out a route in my mind that would give me the marathon distance. The last four or five miles went well. I half expected to hit a wall of some sort, but it never came; in fact, my 25th mile was the fastest of the day. I arrived back at the car in good shape, chugged down my Recoverite and stretched.

I’m still no closer to a decision about Richmond, but today was a great confidence booster and an interesting experiment. My foot felt (and still feels) great, and aside from a few aches and pains around the groin/hip area, it doesn’t feel like I just ran a marathon.

Splits from the run can be found at the Garmin Connect web site.

For the record: 26.2 miles — 3:14:40

The weather was absolutely perfect for a run — sunny with a very pleasant breeze — and it was one of those rare occasions when everything just clicked. Cool to watch my shadow lengthen on the soccer fields and interesting to see my pace get quicker and quicker. No real effort, it just happened that way. Totally enjoyable!

Splits:

7:52 7:35 7:35 7:31 7:23 7:13 7:08 7:04 6:59 6:57 6:53 6:38 6:31

For the record, most of the run was on the PAAC soccer fields. The soft grass was kind to the blister and the double-sock trick seemed to work well too.

I’ve also been using Anti-Friction Creme by MISSION Skincare to help relieve any fabric-to-skin irritation.

Anti-Friction Creme helps relieve irritation from skin-to-skin, fabric-to-skin, equipment-to-skin and footwear-to-skin friction. It is a vitamin-enriched formula, preservative/paraben free, doesn’t stain clothes and lasts forever!

I’ve also discovered another great use for the cream. In the past I’ve struggled to put on my Vibram Five Finger KSOs. My feet are a little weird in that the smallest toe is quite short and curls into the 4th toe. In fact, after much trial and error, I ended up purchasing a womens size 41 to compensate for my weird feet, as none of the mens sizes appeared to fit well.

However, even with the correct size VFF KSO, I found it difficult to marry up the last two toes with the last two toe pockets, but now after a quick application of MISSION Skincare Anti-Friction Creme, they slide in no problems at all!! Well worth a try if you too have problems pulling on the Vibrams…..

The more I read about the event, the better it gets!

Course description: The course is mostly single track trail with a mix of open fields, dirt road and some paved road and features nearly 9,800 feet of climbing. The starting loop of 3.6 miles is followed by two identical loops of 13.7 miles and there are four stream crossings that can be challenging depending on the water level.

(course profile courtesy of www.hatrun.com)

If you’re interested in taking part (better hurry as at the time of writing there are only 179 slots left), check out this great article about the 2008 HAT Run that was featured in TrailRunner Magazine. Still not sure? Take a look at this tremendous HAT Run video by Geoff Baker. If this doesn’t convince you to sign up, nothing will!

No doubt I’ll be writing more about the HAT Run as the months pass by, but meantime I’ll need to find some hills to train on and start increasing the miles to cope with the longer-than-marathon race distance. Exciting times.

PS The 2010 HAT Run takes place on the same weekend as the 2010 Shamrock Marathon, which means that for the first time since 2002, I won’t be lining up on Atlantic Avenue to brave the cold March winds of Virginia Beach. Kind of sad to end a seven year streak, but in the big picture, not really….

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It usually takes a while for qualifying times to be verified and the $130 entry fee (increases to $180 after February 1st, 2010) to be processed, but I hope to be listed as one of the registered entrants some time in mid-October. I’ll also be looking out for my official postcard from the B.A.A.!

Anyone else entered the 114th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 19, 2010? Maybe I’ll see you there…

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Still happy with eight miles in just under an hour, but I’ll need to treat the foot tonight and hope that it clears up before Sunday’s long run.

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The intensity isn’t super-high, but it lasts a long time (2 hours) and is definitely a great aerobic training session. I bailed after 90 minutes, but can see myself doing the whole workout in the near future. Recommended!

Splits: 8:10 7:36 7:28 7:17 7:06 7:18 7:14 7:18

I’ve noticed it takes a while for me to get into a run lately. The first couple of miles are always a bit of a struggle, but once I’ve loosened up, everything is fine. I guess I’m just getting old….

Today was also my first real training run since the stress fracture where I haven’t run exclusively on grass. This could be a contributing factor to the blister, but it’s possibly shoe related too. Probably time to retire my Adidas Supernova Glides that have served me well for just over 410 miles….

Quick post to record details of yesterday’s tremendous 10 Miler in Suffolk, VA — the 2009 Race for Literacy. If you didn’t venture out to Suffolk for this great race, I would definitely recommend adding it to your calendar for next year.

As for my race, going into it I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d only logged two “long” runs of 10 and 14 miles and knew endurance would be a factor. I was also unsure of a goal pace to shoot for, but kept a challenging 6:30 per mile in the back of my mind just in case things went well.

I arrived fairly early, registered and headed out for an easy three mile warm up with Fergie (who incidentally is in fine form at the moment and keeps getting better with every race). We ran the first mile or so of the course, chatting away before realizing we’d covered over 1.6 miles and needed to turn back. The pace felt brisk, brisker than I would have liked, but not uncomfortable. Turns out we’d logged a couple of just over 7 minute miles without thinking about it.

Back at the car I stretched, changed into my race gear and waited for Ally to return from her extended four mile warm up. I also had time to watch the end of the Kids Mile and chat to a few friends as we waited for the off.

The first mile felt good as I concentrated on my form and tried to get into a rhythm. Fergie looked comfortable leading the field as I settled in to about 5th place behind a couple of guys and eventual female winner Kelly Taylor. The first mile split was a little quick (6:15) but I wasn’t worried at this stage in the game — plenty of time to slow things down. Mile two headed out to the TCC and by this time I’d caught the leaders and was in my own little zone. 6:08 was probably much too quick this early in the race, but it felt good and I just went with it. Great to see Ally and DailyMiler John A as I headed back to the three mile mark.

The next two or three miles are a bit of a blur. I remember wishing it was a shorter race — an 8k would have been nice — but I dug deep and tried to enjoy the tremendous neighborhoods we ran through and slight breeze off the James River. I think at this point Joel (wearing the William and Mary singlet) was leading with Kelly Taylor and myself battling it out for 2nd and third, closely followed by Fergie and a couple of others. Kelly was naturally leading the women’s race and looking strong. Splits for three, four and five — 6:17, 6:19 and 6:14.

Foolishly I’d skipped the second water stop, and with temperatures rising, I was now desperate for a drink. I asked one of the bike leaders where the next drink table was located, but she wasn’t sure and offered me a sip from her bike water bottle. Just as I declined for fear of an “outside assistance DQ”, we both spotted the six mile mark and a group of enthusiastic volunteers at a water stop. Perfect timing! That’s me on the left, trying to drink on the run without spilling a drop. Thanks to Billy Chorey for taking the pic and providing much needed encouragement on the course!

The six mile split was a solid 6:18, but more importantly, the cup of water perked me up and I decided to go after William and Mary guy. Step by step I tracked him down, but it was more him fading than me getting quicker. Mile seven was another 6:18 and I was relieved to only have another three miles to go.

The next mile or so took place in another impressive neighborhood and around the South Links Circle. I must admit I was really tempted to look behind, but knew at the nine mile mark there was a turnaround point and if I could wait that long, would get to see whomever was my closest rival. Things were getting tough, but I reminded myself that only 4 weeks ago I was resigned to watching the Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon from the sidelines and how lucky I was to be racing again. Despite the difficulty in keeping the cadence going, the 6:19 eight mile split showed only minimal slowing down and gave me confidence I could last another two miles.

After one more much-needed cup of water, we left the neighborhood for the last time, and I knew there was only just over a mile to go. At the turnaround point, just past mile nine (6:21), Fergie was right behind me — closer than I thought and looking very strong. I dug really deep and gritted it out along Harbor View Drive, thinking that any minute Fergie would charge past and pip me to the post. Finally the finish line was in sight and there was enough left in the tank to kick it in and punch the air in the delight — I’d won my first race of 2009 and totally exceeded all expectations I’d had about the race.

I’m not usually a showy guy, and I hope my celebrations didn’t offend, but I must admit it was difficult not to contain my emotion after being out for six weeks with a stress fracture and spending the last four weeks methodically progressing from a walk, to a walk/run, to a run and more. Thanks to all for their constant support and encouragement over the last 10 weeks — don’t think I could have done it without you!

Congrats also to wife Ally, who finally broke her 4th place hoodoo and picked up a cool Bobblehead award (pictured above) for taking third in her age group. Her consistent training is definitely paying off and I’m convinced there are more great times to come. Proud of you Ally!

For the record: finish time 1:03:08, average pace 6:19/mile, 1st overall

Splits: 7:37 7:02 6:52 6:42 6:32 6:26

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