For Whom the Dogs Bark

45F, 93%, calm and clear.  Really skeptical it is quite that cold, but maybe it is.  Felt good and didn't feel like I needed long sleeves.  Up most of the night again with flu-like symptoms.  Took aspirin at 3:00 a.m. and finally got up for good at 5:00.  I knew I would feel better if I ran, and I needed to run anyway or risk losing fitness in the final week -- but I will pay for it this afternoon.  So did 8 at GMP, 1:03:59, 8:00/mile, 152 bpm average.  But heart rate climbed pretty fast and I had to push somewhat to maintain the pace.  Got up to 160 bpm average for mile 7, which was a 7:39.  Let it back down to 157 for mile 8, and ended up with an 8:08, quite a difference.  Can't really explain it, but maybe it is heart rate deterioration earlier in the run than I am used to -- not good if that is true.  Would have preferred being able to run 8:00 flat at 155 but maybe I can attribute that to my symptoms.  Mainly trying to get some muscle memory today so I will be dialed in for Saturday.  Off to Richmond in the morning.  Latest forecast for Saturday is clear and cold, would be a shame to whiff because of a head cold.

60F, 94%, calm and foggy.  Visiting my son this week.  We ran together this morning for a final shake-out.  Problem is that my legs are noticeably weaker from flu/cold or whatever I had.  The headache, congestion and similar symptoms are gone for the most part, but not sure there will be time enough to fully recover.  Won't know really until Saturday.  Today I ran 5, a warmup at about 8:30, then 8:11 and 7:53, all with Clint, followed by 2 quick miles on my own, 7:28 and 7:27.  Heart rate peaked in the low 160s, not that bad, but these miles were difficult.  Part of it is the hilly terrain in this neighborhood, I haven't done any hill work this year and the course itself is not that hilly.  But mostly the legs felt weak, like I had gained 15 pounds or that I was running at altitude (there is no altitude here).  That really has to change in the next 72 hours.  Still hoping though.  I am on the ground in Richmond, sleeping well at night and getting naps.

Race morning is predicting about 31F at race start (7:50 a.m.), about 43F at the finish.  Couldn't ask for colder weather, might even be too cold but I doubt it -- the winds will be light, I may even run in short sleeves.  Everything is lining up well if I can get healthy.

28F, 65%, N 10-12 mph.  Pretty good day, even though I didn't get a PR.  Everything pre-race was like clockwork.  Went to the expo on Thursday night and got switched to the marathon.  Drove the course on Friday to remind myself of where the hills were (probably prevented a meltdown in the second half of the race).  Then this morning I drove with my son from his house to the race, had a little trouble finding parking, but we were there in plenty of time for him to start his race at 7:30.  Mine started at 7:50.  Main indecision of the morning was whether to wear a second layer, knowing I would be a little warm in the second half.  I decided at the last minute to keep my short-sleeved undershirt, it was cold out there.  I felt a little warm at times, but I don't think it affected my time.  Stood in PoP lines long enough to miss the start gun, my offset from the gun was about 3-1/2 minutes, started out with the 4:45 group.  Didn't get a heart rate until mile 3, as usual, and it was in the 162-164 range already.  It held pretty well through 10, but still too high.  Hit 170 after about mile 17 and couldn't hold it all the way in, finished up at about 167.  My ability to control my heart rate has been the prime feature of this training cycle, not a good time for it to fail me.  Because of that single data point, I am guessing that the cold/flu symptoms from earlier in the week were still affecting me to some degree, probably took on 5 bpm because of it, a little too much for a stellar performance.

Using my best crowd navigating skills I managed to get 8:01 on the first mile without making any crazy course alterations, running on the sidewalk, cutting off little old ladies, etc.  Second mile was 8:07 so I picked it up a little bit and by mile 3 I was banking time.  Tried not to run too fast, knowing what was coming, but felt pretty good and didn't slow down specifically because of my heart rate.  The half came in at 1:44:20, so a 3-1/2 minute positive split.  Not ideal, but all of the significant uphill was in the second half.  In addition, we turned into the wind for large parts of the journey back.  Mile 16 was a long uphill climb over a bridge, not steep but long and completely exposed to the wind.  A new feature this year was a steep climb over I-95 at mile 20, not welcome at all, not sure who thought of that one.

At mile 20 I was 20 seconds slower than a 3:30 pace, in theory right where I wanted to be but I was wiped out at that point.  A couple of times I had to really fight the urge to break into a jog, but managed to hold it together somewhat by forcing myself to concentrate on the current mile and not worry about the ones coming up.  Mile 25 was 8:35, slowest mile, but I had hit sub-8 paces as recently as mile 22, also got a 7:50 pace for the steep downhill 0.37-mile stub at the end (course measured 0.15 long, which cost me about 1:20, still not enough to get me down to a PR though).  I don't have my Garmin with me, so don't have indiviual mile/heart rate splits; I will add them later.

So I managed to hold it together on what turned out to be a tough day despite the very cold temperatures. Probably would have had a better day at 55F with light breezes.  I left everything out there and was happy with my effort.  The good things:  My second fastest marathon to date and only my third marathon under 3:40; I got a BQ time for 2016 (23 minutes under); got a good enough time to move up a couple of corrals for Boston 2015; and beat my previous best time on this course by 9 or 10 minutes.  But the truth is, I should have run 3:25 today, and someday I might.

From the race I got directly in my rental car, drove to Dulles airport and am now on a layover on my way to Perth, Australia, still wearing my warmups, I look pretty ridiculous sitting in the lounge.  Legs are pretty stiff but I seem to be recovering fine. 

UPDATE: Back from Australia now, here are my splits for this race:  1:  8:01; 2: 8:07; 3: 7:40 (166); 4: 7:48 (164); 5: 7:51 (164); 6: 8:00 (165); 7: 7:37 (161); 8: 7:57 (164); 9: 7:44 (165); 10: 7:54 (164); 11: 8:15 (166); 12: 8:06 (165); 13: 8:02 (166); 14: 7:57 (166); 15: 7:48 (165); 16: 8:18 (168); 17: 8:06 (169); 18: 7:50 (170); 19: 8:04 (168); 20: 8:24 (168); 21: 8:05 (169); 22: 7:58 (168); 23: 8:11 (167);  24: 8:09 (166); 25: 8:35 (165); 26: 8:29 (163); stub 7:50 (159)

Here is a photo right before the I-95 overpass:

Interesting, because this is what I thought I looked like: