Well it's been an outstanding week and it got even better these past two days. First off, I headed down to the Philadelphia Distance Run expo. While I was there, I bought a couple things. The highlight though was the panel of experts they had speaking. Frank Shorter (1972 American Olympic Marathon winner), Grey Meyer (last American Boston Marathon winner in the 80s), Ryan Hall (current American half marathon record holder) and Catherine Ndereba (two time Marathon World Champ, 2x Olympic Marathon Silver medalist, 4x Boston Marathon winner and 6x Philadelphia Distance Classic winner), all spoke about some of their experiences.
It was great hearing their stories and I only hope one day I can be even remotely as good as they were/are. Catherine and Ryan are both running in the Philadelphia Distance Classic tomorrow morning and are the favorites to win it. It's a flat and fast course (consisting largely of the Schuykill Loop) that puts out a lot of record times.
Despite that interesting discussion, the highlight of the weekend came at the beginning of this morning's run. As I was about to start, the Kenyans ran by me along boathouse row. I'm pretty sure it was them anyways. It was 3 male runners and 2 female runners. They were definitely elite distance runners from Africa. I'm pretty sure it was Catherine, her talented brother and a couple other good Kenyan teammates.
When they passed me, I was walking, but about to start my run. I only planned a half mile run out on Kelly Drive and back, before doing the loop. I started off and ran hard. They were actually running relatively slow pace (by their standards anyways). It took some work, but I caught up and ran right behind them for about half a mile. They would've dropped me shortly at this pace though.
I thought about following them for awhile, but I decided that it was too early in the run to change my route. Too bad they didn't pass me after a few miles. I might've tried to hang with them. One thing that I noticed is that they were all heavily dressed for the weather. They had jackets and tights on, when it's still shorts and T-shirt running weather. I ended up reading a question and answer article about Catherine and the author commented that they seem to overdress when training. Typically, you want to dress like it's 20 degrees cooler than it is.
It's interesting because the Kenyans actually live in a house owned by their agent in Norristown. They train in Valley Forge Park. I might have to venture up there a few times and see if I can find them. Maybe I can join them again. I was really surprised how skinny legged the one guy was. I expect them to be thin, but still have some obvious power to their legs.
Anyways, on to my run. Their quick pace helped me through the first mile. I went out nice and felt very good as I headed through West River Drive. Since the drive was closed to cars, I ran on the road. The temperature was perfect, although there was definitely a strong head wind at times.
As I was running by, I noticed that there were still markers for miles 11 and 12 of the Philadelphia Marathon. Sometimes it gets annoying because there are markers everywhere for all the various runs throughout the year. They'd be helpful if all the races started at the same spot. The marathon ones will be useful though as I continue on with my training. I'm surprised that they are still there. They must be from last year, because they are faded. Unless someone painted a rough outline. I'll have to see if I can find the ones on the other side of the river too.
I felt very strong thoughout the first half. I even decided to concentrate on pushing the pace a little more as I hit the 30 minute mark. I planned to run faster for the next five minutes. That pace wasn't too hard, so I kept it up.
I felt good at Falls Bridge and on the way back. I knew I was making some nice time. I started to work on running segment by segment again and that was a big help. I saw a young girl running up ahead about a quarter mile and worked to catch her. I did so within the next mile.
I continued to push on as I hit the trail portion of Kelly Drive. It wasn't nearly the pace and effort of Wednesday's run. It was somewhere between comfortable and hard. My legs started dieing a little and I just backed off ever so slightly.
I stayed focused though and watched my times closely. As it became evident that I might be able to break an 8 minute pace, I really went for it. I went up the hill by the Art Museum strong and finished at nearly a sprint, to come in under 8 minutes.
I'm really impressed with how fast I am now as I'm approaching the half marathon. I feel very smooth and fresh. All the hill work that I've done in the past week has been huge. Running only 4 days a week, is giving me a lot of recovery too. Just a few months ago, an 8 minute 5K race pace wasn't easy. Now I'm cruising 10 miles at that rate on a training run.
This has easily been the best week of training I've had thus far. There's still plenty of room for improvement though and I have a long way yet until the marathon. I know not every week will be as good as this one, but hopefully there will be plenty of great weeks ahead. For awhile, I felt slow and stuck in a rut, but not anymore.
One nice thing about running for so long is that you can analyze things. I've done a very good job of relaxing my face now when I run. I concentrate on doing so and that's a big help. Today, I really noticed how stiff my shoulders still are though. It made my arms sore. I tried to relax them, but it wasn't easy to do. I found that by swinging my arms a little more, rather than being so stiff, did help. It's something that I have to work on. I'm probably wasting some energy by being so tense.
Tomorrow, I'm getting up extra early to watch the Kenyans and Hall in the Philadelphia Distance Run. First, I'm going to ride my bike for an hour though. I'm still not sure of my plan for this week. I might just keep it similar to this past week. I would like to add some more actual hilly runs though. Now would be a perfect time to start to taper for the half marathon, but I'm not going to do it because the marathon is my main focus. The half is just a fast training run.
I'm thrilled with my progress so far. It's amazing where I've come from in just a few short months. I just adapt to distance running so well I guess. As long as I can stay healthy, it'll be a great final two months heading into the marathon and hopefully even brighter years to come.
10 miles - 1:19:08 (7:55 pace)
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