Day After the End of the World

Hello, my name is Joel Hare and I have been a member of this community since it pretty much began and a part of Hal's site since 2007. I have been away from blogging for about 2 years when most of us were still on Hal's site. I haven't done one for many reasons but I have decided to join the blogosphere once again to keep track of how I am doing and hopefully to interact with you fine folks more often.

A little background on me, I ran in jr high and high school on the track/cross country team. I quit my Junior year of high school and I took 11 years off until one of my buddies challenged me to run a 1/2 marathon back in 2007. I completed my first 1/2 marathon back in January of 2008 and since then I have run 9 1/2 marathons and 2 full marathons and numerous other races including a 24 hr relay race over 203 miles of glorious Texas hill country.

After not running a full marathon since January of 2011, I have once again decided to do another full marathon in December. It will be the Day After the End of the World marathon on December 22 http://www.50statesmarathonclub.com/afterworld.html. I decided to not run Houston again because I have done 3 1/2 marathons and 1 full marathon on that course and I wanted to do something else. Plus, the Day After the End of the World marathon is run by the same group who runs the Texas Marathon in Kingwood and gives away a medal the size of a dinner plate and weighs about 2 1/2 pounds, who wouldn't want that as a medal?!?!?! My PR is 4:59:14 and I crashed and burned in a sweat fest in my 2nd marathon in 5:29:30. So my PR was set in my first marathon back in January of 2010 almost 1 1/2 years ago. However, I have run 3 1/2 marathons and plenty of shorter races. I have been running anywhere from 25-45 miles a week recently so I am in decent shape. My goal for the marathon is 4:29:xx or faster.

Also, I joined a local running group who is training for the Houston Marathon 3 weeks later so I have tweaked the schedule a bit to fit it to my race. My schedule is below and it is fairly aggressive as I have never done this much speedwork each week during marathon training but I have an aggressive goal too. I have been doing 1 speedwork a week so I think with the added speedwork and running with a group will get me to my goal on race day. The key will be to figure out the right strategy to use during training. The group meets on Tuesday and Thursday for speedwork and marathon pace runs (they call them tempo runs, I may turn some of them into tempo runs) and on Saturday for the long run. The rest are done on your own and the weekday runs are done in minutes (but I will convert them to miles, my brain doesn't work in minutes) and the long runs are in miles.

I will stop now and post the schedule. Glad to be back and I can't wait for the Day After the End of the World marathon....and yes they do have a race for the Day of the End of the World, I am just an optimist.

I first thought you were talking about weather.

I will see you later, Joel.

Good to see you are still alive and well, Joel! You've been MIA for a good long time. Sub 4:30 well within your capabilities. Stay healthy and motivated and knock out that good looking plan and you'll be in great position to do it on race day. Keep us posted!

A Joel blog! Finally!

I love the marathon you chose, and your training strategy and goal look great. Giddyup!

Yeah, Joel. Nice to see you back at it!!

Jerry - That would be Micheal's blog. I hope to see you in Houston this year. I will be there cheering people on.

Chris - It is good to be back blogging. I am nervous about the staying healthy part because it is a LOT of speedwork and I need to make sure and do things smart so I can reach my goals on race day.

Mark - I told you I would start one, I was just waiting for the training to start for the marathon before I created one. Took longer than I thought to get the info I needed for the training plan too.

Michele - Thanks, I am glad to be back blogging too.

Back in the spring I decided I needed to join a running group to help push me to the next level. I have been running my easy runs and long runs around 10:30-11:00 pace for way too long. I joined the group for their 5k/10k program to make sure it was the right group for me and since it was only 8-10 weeks long and only $35 I thought this would be a good way to test them out to see if I liked the group. During the 8-10 weeks I found out that it was a pretty good fit for me at least for the shorter distances. I was able to drop my 1 mile time from 6:40 down to 6:28 in only 8-10 weeks.

I was only able to join the group 1-2 times a week rather than all 3 times due to their schedule. However, the days I went were speedwork and tempo runs and that is where I have been lacking lately. The group work helped and so I decided to join the fall 1/2 marathon/marathon group. So we will see how this all goes but so far I am a bit nervous about the amount of speedwork they have on tap and I have heard from others that this group prepares you for the 20-21 mile runs at the end and not the marathon and so far I am getting that same feeling. However, with my prior experience and knowledge from you guys I plan to do the speedwork days as my hard days and make the rest of the days recovery days and make sure to run my long runs at the right pace and HR.

So here is a wrapup of my first week with the group.

Saturday - 3 miles @ 8:39 pace
Saturday was a pace finder to see what group you would be in and from the people in the 5k/10k program they all said I should be in the blue/green group which is the 2nd fastest group and the least structured of the groups (apparently the slower groups require you to not run ahead of people if you are feeling good, which doesn't make sense to me). To get into the blue/green group I was told I needed to run a sub 9 pace so I went out and did that. Based on this first week though I am not sure if I am ready for the pace these guys run.

Sunday - 8 miles @ 11:24 pace
Due to the pace finder yesterday my legs were not happy to be out running. I didn't overdo it yesterday but I could feel it in my legs. My pace, which was 11:02-11:12 was about 60 secs slower than I have been doing my long runs but I got the miles in and I felt good afterwards.

Tuesday - 4.8 miles @ 9:29 pace with a 2x10 minutes at MP
Ok, this is where I got my first taste of the group workouts we will be doing and I have to say these guys don't know how to pace. The coach talks about going out easy for 10 minutes, then bump it up to marathon pace for 10 minutes and then repeat that one more time. He asked what our goal was for the marathon and 5-8 of us said 4:00-4:15 (). So in my mind, the easy portion should be somewhere between 9:45-10:00 pace and they start out at 9:25-9:30 pace. I can tell that is too fast for me right now so I back off to the 9:35-9:55 pace and then speed up to 9:10-9:15 pace for the first 10 MP minutes and then I repeat the process and do 9:00 pace the second 10 MP minutes. I can tell this group is a bit faster than I am too because not a single person is going that slow. After this workout I am pretty intimidated by the speed of this group but I just need to remember to be smart and even if I am the last one in I will hopefully reach my goals on race day.

Wednesday - 4 miles @ 11:26 pace
This run was done on my own and in pouring down rain. The coach says to run 40 minutes but I translate that too 4 miles. Sorry dude, my brain doesn't work in minutes. I made it a recovery day and I felt sluggish at the start but ended up feeling better after the workout, which is exactly what I was hoping for with the run. Pace went from 11:00 down to 10:21 for the last mile and my HR was really low...bingo!

Thursday - 5.19 miles @ 8:55 pace
Another group run today and each of the workouts start at 6:30pm which I am not use too but I think it will help me in the fall deal with the heat better. So far our evening runs haven't been terrible because of all the rain we have been getting, the temps have been in the 80s. Last year at this time it was over 100 most days so I am glad for the lower temps. Anyways, I made this a Hal style tempo run, the coach said to run it as an easy run but an easy run for these guys is anywhere from 8:00-9:15 pace. We started out at 8:50 pace which is a bit too fast for this type of run but I cranked it down to low 8:30s for 2 more miles and then eased up to 9:00-9:25 the last 2.19 miles. Overall, a nice tough workout but something well within my capabilities.

Saturday - 5 miles @ 9:25 pace
Today was our first official long run day which was only 5 miles. I have been doing 8-10 on the weekends for my long run but since we added in so much speedwork this week I thought 5 would be a good idea and I was right. Again the group started out at a much quicker pace than I am use to running on my long runs but I told my self I wouldn't go faster than 9:30-10 pace. I ended up running with another guy who is in the same boat I am but he is truly a newbie to running. We hovered around 9:20-9:31 and both of us felt pretty comfortable. My HR was definitely higher than it normally is on a long run but I didn't bring water with me since it was only 5 miles and I was going a tad faster than normal. I do feel better about my strategy with the group and I hope more folks start to realize they are running too fast on their long runs because once we get to 15-20 miles 8:00-8:30 pace (which some of the newbies did) is going to be too fast for a 4-4:15 marathon.

Sunday - off
I was supposed to run today but I was exhausted when the alarm went off and my foot has been bothering me a bit lately. So I took today off and my foot feels better however my throat hurts a bit....ARGH!! I better not be coming down with something already. Plus I have to work tonight due to a quarterly release. I will run 4-5 miles in the morning so long as the foot and throat feel good in the morning.

Welcome back Joel & I love that marathon name. I wish I could run it.

Dave P wrote:Welcome back Joel & I love that marathon name. I wish I could run it.

Thanks, I thought it was a great marathon name too.

Monday - 4 miles @ 11:05 pace
Just so everyone knows I do a 5 minute warmup in my first mile so my overall pace always looks slower than what I actually run during the rest of the miles. It helps me get loose after getting up only 10 minutes prior to walking out the door and I don't feel like starting my watch after walking nearly a 1/4 of a mile. I will give you an example below just so everyone knows. My foot felt pretty good even though I still felt it a tiny bit during the run but my throat felt fine and I feel good now. I just cruised at what felt like a comfortable pace and my HR was in a good spot. Nothing fancy, just getting in the miles.

Mile 1 - 13:14 (includes a 5 min warmup)
Mile 2 - 10:23
Mile 3 - 10:23
Mile 4 - 10:21

Tomorrow is another group run, another 45 minute run with a 1x20 minute portion at MP.

At least you get to run. I only have biking and swimming...Sigh...

Nice run, and great job with the walking warm-up. Being able to go from bed to the street in 10 minutes flat is impressive, BTW!

Michael - Sorry you are dealing with another injury...but you know what I think about your training methods so I won't get into it here.

Mark - I have been doing the walking warmup for about 2 1/2 to 3 yrs now and it really does help get me loose after just waking up. As for the 10 minutes flat to get outside, I have figured out a system that works for me and allows me the most possible time in bed with the least amount of issues on the run. The key is be prepared the night before and have everything ready to go before you go to sleep....kind of like on race day. Makes race day a lot less nerve racking too.

Joel - I don't even know why you're training for this race. 12/21 APOCALYPSE 2012 NO REGRETS!!!

Mike MacLellan wrote:Joel - I don't even know why you're training for this race. 12/21 APOCALYPSE 2012 NO REGRETS!!!

Don't tempt Joel. He may get crazy and do a double.

Mike - Like I said in my intro, I am an optomist, plus the day after is on a saturday and it will be easier for my friends and family to come see me.

Jerry - I am not THAT crazy YET but my father in law is planning on doing the 1/2 marathon the first day and then another 1/2 marathon the second day, kind of a mini-goofy of sorts. Also, there seem to be plenty of people doing some sort of double between the two days and yes SOME of them are even doing a full marathon both days....NOW THAT IS CRAZY!!!

However, I do plan on doing the goofy challenge in 2015.

Hey Joel, it is great to see that you're blogging and taking on a new challenge. I must admit though that is seems as though you really don't want to run a marathon Happy training with your running group. The plan looks great and I'm sure you're going to score big... if the race is run that is.

T Miller wrote:Hey Joel, it is great to see that you're blogging and taking on a new challenge. I must admit though that is seems as though you really don't want to run a marathon Happy training with your running group. The plan looks great and I'm sure you're going to score big... if the race is run that is.

Thanks Tim, I knew I would get a lot of comments like yours about the race. However, I heard they found some more Mayan calendars that date way past 2012 so I think I am safe....if you believe any of that stuff anyway!

Sometimes I do wonder if I want to run another full marathon but for some reason I keep coming back to this site and realize that I do want to run another one and someday run Boston just like you fast guys and girls.

Tuesday - 4.95 miles @ 9:17 pace
Another group run tonight and despite my goal of 4:29 for the full marathon I am currently training for a 4:00 marathon...not sure if that is wise based on what my HR is telling me but for now that is what I plan on doing. If I can continue to train at 9:00 pace then great, if not, I will back off and slow the pace down. So today's run was a 45 minute run with a 1x20 minutes at MP, which right now is a 9:00 pace. One thing to note is 9:00 pace is faster than my current 1/2 marathon PR pace which is 1:59:18. So, this is going to be a fun ride. Most of the group started out at a much faster pace with most of them running at 9:00 or faster but the guy who I ran with on Saturday buddied up and we ran together at a 9:20 pace for the first 10 minutes of warmup, then dropped the pace to 9:00 pace and held it there for 20 minutes and then cooled down the last 15 minutes at 9:30 pace. I have to say the warmup/cooldown pace was faster than I wanted and hopefully I can maintain some discipline and slow it down a bit.

Wednesday - 4 miles @ 10:59 pace
Nice and easy recovery run. I noticed my foot a tiny bit last night and a tiny bit today but definitely better than last week. My pace for the non-warmup miles were 10:24, 10:21 and 10:13....HR was in the perfect spot for an easy/recovery run. I will take that.

Tomorrow is another group run, 45 minutes "easy"...my goal is 9:45-10:00! We will see if I can keep it that slow.

So good to see you back Joel!

Good luck with the training--it looks good so far!

I saw your post about the back to back half's---I am going to do a double half in October--one on Sat and one on Sun! It sounds challenging and fun. Since I'm not doing a marathon this year, due to a super busy work/family schedule, the double half should be something I can work in.... we will see.

Peg Coover wrote:So good to see you back Joel!

Good luck with the training--it looks good so far!

I saw your post about the back to back half's---I am going to do a double half in October--one on Sat and one on Sun! It sounds challenging and fun. Since I'm not doing a marathon this year, due to a super busy work/family schedule, the double half should be something I can work in.... we will see.

Thanks Peg. I have been around the boards for a while but it is good to be back on the blogs too.

I thought about doing the back to back halves but I really want to drop my full marathon time down to a more respectable time and more aligned with my other races. Good luck fitting in the training for it, do you plan on running the first one all out and then jog the second one or something different? My FIL, is doing the all out race the first day and then see how he feels the second day, I am going to assume for now that means jog the second one...I know I would.

Certification:
The course is not USATF certified and is not a Boston qualifier because Boston 2013 will
not take place because of the end of the world.


Did you notice that on the race website?

Jerry wrote:Certification:
The course is not USATF certified and is not a Boston qualifier because Boston 2013 will
not take place because of the end of the world.


Did you notice that on the race website?

Yes, Jerry I did. The entire website is written that way, it is supposed to be funny/ironic/etc. If you look at the Texas marathon website http://www.50statesmarathonclub.com/texas.html which is the exact same course and run by the same group it has the following:

Certification:
The course is USATF certified and is a Boston qualifier. Course number TX02112ETM.

Plus, I am not fast enough to qualify for Boston so I don't really care about it being BQ certified at this point in time. However, in a few years I might.

Thursday - 4.68 miles @ 9:38 pace
I think I pretty much ran in the hottest weather I have ever run in before last night. It was mid 90s with high humidity making the dewpoint 77 or so at 6:30pm. Before joining the running group I use to do all my runs in the morning or at lunch time but only during the winter/spring time. So these mid 90s runs are new to me. The past few weeks we have received a lot of rain so the temps have only been in the 80s in the evenings which is abnormal for around here this time of year. Anyways, I could tell I was dehydrated before the run because I did not drink enough during the day and I didn't eat right but I only had my water bottle for after the run. So of course it was a disaster of a run with that kind of combination of not eating right, no water and high temps. It was supposed to be an easy run but it was more of like a survival run to me. I went out at what seemed to be a comfortable pace around 9:35-9:40 pace but it soon became apparent that I was going to get my butt kicked. I was able to hang on and finish the run but it was brutal. My HR hit 204 during the last mile and I could tell. I had some sports beans and took them in the last mile and that helped but I should have taken them before that. Also, I will be bringing my camelbak to even these short runs because the temps are getting too bad for me and I need some water on the run. I don't carry a water bottle or fuel belt, I use a camelbak, which may be weird to most of you but it works for me and I have run in it since 2009-2010 for almost all of my runs, so I know it works.

Today is off and tomorrow is a 5 mile run with the running group again. This time it will be in the morning so the temps should be bearable.

Saturday - 5 miles @ 10:11 pace
Oh my dear lord, what happened? Today was a disaster of epic proportions. I believe a lot of factors contributed but I woke up at 3:30am this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep. Come to find out one of my little 2 legged critters must have turned down the fan at night and in my sleep stupor I couldn't figure out what the problem was and suffered until about 5:45am when I decided to get up. Then I was out of gas in my car and I forgot so when I left at my normal time to get to the park I was running late due to having to stop to get gas. Then I couldn't find a parking spot at the park and took an extra 5 minutes to find one. I finally made it to the park but I could tell I was amped up a bit but felt sluggish at the same time. Anyways, the run was AWFUL. I started out right around 9:45 minute pace but after a 1/2 mile or so I could tell I was working a lot harder than normal. I looked down at my HR and it was already 181, I tried to slow down a bit but could tell it was going to be a long day. I was running with another girl for the first 2.5 miles and then at the turn around I decided it was not a good idea to stay with them. I ended up dropping my pace all the way down to 10:51 but my HR was still 193. By that point I decided to just finish and when I did I could tell something was wrong, I just couldn't tell what it was, my HR wouldn't come down below 165 even while walking back to the car. Finally once I got in the car and turned the air on my HR finally dropped down to below 100. When I got home I had some chocolate milk, took a bath/shower and even took a 1 hr nap. Finally after the nap I felt back to normal for the most part.

I was pretty freaked out by the whole experience and now realize that running in the evenings requires a totally different strategy than running during the morning. I have been doing all my runs in the morning since 2007 unless the temps are below 70 so these evening runs are new too me. I say that despite Saturday being a morning run I think the Thursday run without fluid during the run screwed me up more than I thought. Definitely a learning experience for sure.

Monday - 5 miles @ 10:32 pace
So my suspicion was right about Saturday with all those different issues causing me a problem, sleep deprivation, heat issues and many other things because I had a FANTASTIC run today. After taking off yesterday to go to the beach with the family and getting a good night sleep last night I felt good from the start. The temps were pretty much identical to Saturday at 78-80 degrees with dewpoint of 75 or so. My pace and HR were TOTALLY different though. Here are my splits to compare:

Sat:
9:42 (181 HR)
9:55 (188 HR)
9:58 (192 HR)
10:27 (193 HR)
10:51 (193 HR)

Mon:
13:04 (122 HR) includes a 5 min warmup walk
9:58 (158 HR)
9:58 (162 HR)
9:49 (163 HR)
9:48 (163 HR)

I realize it isn't a complete apples to apples comparison with the 5 min warmup but still there is no way you can't tell me that something was wrong on Saturday. I know part of it could have been excitement with being in the group but not 25-30 bpm difference.

With this new info, I will be bringing fluids on the evening runs until the weather breaks and that will mean bringing my camelbak with me because I don't run with bottles in my hand and I hate the fuel belt. I may look goofy but the #'s don't lie in this situation. Fluid will be with me!!