Dallen

3 easy miles of running. I am a big believer in the taper. I believe that any real running the week of the marathon is only going to slow me down. A few miles here and there is all thet is need to keep me loose.

Originally I wanted to run the marathon in 2:30. It's probably not a realistic goal. I am not hoping for something in the 2:32-2:33 range. 2:30 is still a possibility, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Here's my reasoning: Last year I did Chicago in 2:39. I think it was hot enough that day to slow me down 3-4 minutes. With my current downhill running skill St George is probably 2-3 minutes faster than a flat course. My training this year is about the same as I did last year. A little more mileage, but probably a little less quality. There are always intangibles, but 2:32 seems like the "A" goal. 2:35 as the "B" goal and anything over 2:37 is a "bummer".

Weather is always a factor, and it is predicted to be windy saturday, but the hourly forecast has ideal temps in the 40's and only 5 MPH winds.

This was not my day. I nerver felt good. About 20 seconds into the race I heard Sasha yell "Dallen, you're going to fast." He was right. Unfortunately it was the only time I ran fast all day.

Before the race I wrote the split times on my arm that I needed to hit in order to run a 2:32. For the first 10 miles I was consistantly abot 10 second too slow. Once the hills ended I figured I would speed up, but I couldn't. My legs were pretty much shot when I hit the halfway point in 1:20:00. I held on hope for a negative split for a couple miles, but I knew I was doomed when my planned 5:30-5:40 miles were about 30-40 seconds too slow. I was fine going my slow pace, but couldn't force my body to go faster. Gradually slowed to 7:00 pace by the end. Finished in 2:45:20.

Analysis later, probably tomorrow.

Post race analysis:

First of all, I think that it just wasn't my day.  Sometimes that just happens.

I did have some flaws in my training.

1 -  I only had 3 months to train with hills. I just don't think my body was able to handle the downhill yet.

2 - I need to do more racing. My last real race was a 10 miler in May. I was not ready for an all out effort. Every other marathon I have done was preceded by a recent half marathon as a warm-up. I think it helps.

3- I got to the race too early and had to sit around for 90 minutes wasting energy and inhaling smoke from the fire that was keeping me warm.

4 - I have never done great at a race that I traveled to. I need to start showing up to races a day earlier.

5 - Not nearly enough quality work. I put in lots of miles, but most of it was junk. Very slow. I did a decent long run each week, but that was about it.

I'm going to have to try to fix this stuff. I'm not sure when my next marathon will be. I may not do one mext year. I am still working on my plans. Maybe tomorrow.

It's time for the plan for 2010.

I've got a 3 tier emphasis for the year.

First, and most important is Robie Creek in April. This will be the emphasis of the winter training. I looked forward to the 2007 version this race for about 3 years while living in Chicago. I quickly learned that you can't properly train to run over a mountain while living in a place without even a small hill. 3 years later and I am in mountainous SLC. 2010 will be my revenge.

Second, Squaw Peak 50 miler. I did a 50K this year and enjoyed it. Now it's time to try a real untramarathon. Ben Crozier and I almost ran this thing on a whim back in the 90's. I would have died back than, but I think I can handle it now. This will probably be approached in a noncompetitive manner with me just trying to see if I can put in a nice performance. This is only 7 weeks after the more important robie creek, so training will be limited, but hopefully there will be a lot of overlap.

Third, triathlons. I plan to do a few of these in the summer/fall, but I don't yet know which ones because I still don't have a job. My fellowship in SLC ends in June. Triathlon training will actuall begin after Robie Creek and overlap with Squaw Peak. I've been intrigued by triathlon for a long time, but never got aounf to it until this summer when I decided to join the rest of my family in a sprint triathlon. I did pretty good off of only 6 weeks of swin and bike training and am now hooked. Odds are that by 2011 this will be a triathlon blog rather than a running blog.

I plan to start racing as often as possible this winter as this was something that was missing from 2009 and definately held me back. (only  6 or 7 2009 races). Canyonlands Half is definately on the schedule. Nothing else set in stone yet.

I don't know if I will do a fall marathon or not. If I do it will be for fun off of triathlon training. A late season race would be best, maybe just the local small town marathon. New York is also a consideration or maybe Disney World. Maybe nothing, but I bet the bug will get me. I know I still have a better PR left in me, even it the training is not ideal.