Part 1 of 3 parts to BQ

Alex Kubacki wrote:Tomorrow will be the final 20 and Sunday is a feel day as for pace. Then I start the taper. Unbelievable it's already here.

Time flies when you are having fun!!! You have really been throwing a lot of speed work in there and handling it well even with relatively high miles. If you don't meet your marathon goal, it will not be from lack of effort! Great job and I think you are going to have a fantastic race. I agree about running in the dark - makes me nervous too - be careful! Do you run with a headlight?

I would definitely recommend that you invest in a headlamp if you haven't already. It does help to know what lies ahead of you. I'll be doing a night run over the weekend to acclimate me to wearing it again.



Hope your 20 goes well this weekend!

Ah, I responded to this before seeing your questions about the FF for next weekend. I like seeing that you're doing something to mimic that end-of-the-race feeling; seems like a really important aspect of the final prep to me. Can't say that I remember what your goal pace is for this one, but judging by the quality of your workouts and your ability to throw down some really nice back-to-back days, I'd say the hay is in the barn. Trust the taper and let it rip on race day!

Looking like everything is going well! I am looking forward to having someone else taper around here. I feel like I'm experiencing the madness solo.

Thanks John, Jon, Mike, Julie. I don't have a headlamp but probably should get one with all the dark running I do.



Saturday - 20M. LSD. Last 20 in the books. Felt fine. Did the last mile around MP.



Sunday - 7M. MP. Planned on going longer but felt a twinge in my knee and decided to shut it down. I'm three weeks away and not taking any chances.



Monday - 5M. Recovery. Could still feel something in my knee. Been icing and doing extra rolling.



Today was supposed to be a double but I'm bagging the recovery run. Tonight I have a tempo and I'll monitor myself closely. I am however officially in taper mode. Time to slowly start losing my mind.

Hard to believe you are in taper already! Nice last 20!

Good call bagging the "junk" miles if you just aren't feeling it. Hoping the tempo workout goes nice and smooth for ya.

Nice job on the 20! Good to have someone else tapering with me. I'm pretty far gone right now.

The headlights are really nice for running in the dark. When there is snow on the ground and the moon is out I can run without one, but on darker nights it is great.

Peg Coover wrote:Hard to believe you are in taper already! Nice last 20!

I know. Seems like yesterday I just finished my spring marathon.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Good call bagging the "junk" miles if you just aren't feeling it. Hoping the tempo workout goes nice and smooth for ya.

It was the right decision, thanks. The tempo went well.

Julie wrote:Nice job on the 20! Good to have someone else tapering with me. I'm pretty far gone right now.

I've got poison ivy so I've been scratching all over. Of course I would get it now.

Jim Lentz wrote:The headlights are really nice for running in the dark. When there is snow on the ground and the moon is out I can run without one, but on darker nights it is great.

Do you know a good kind Jim?

Tuesday - 8M Tempo. Did about 5 around 15K. It was pouring out so by the end I felt like I was wearing bricks for shoes. I could tell the knee was there but nothing to keep me from shutting it down. I'll just keep monitoring it and doing extra rolling and icing.



Tonight will be 10M GA which once again should be in the pouring rain as we've been getting the rain from Lee.

Hang in there on the rainy runs and tapering, too. Pouring rain can be pretty miserable, especially if it's cooler out.

The trail group I run with recommends a headlamp with at least 50 lumens - they suggested the Black Diamond ICON. And no, my name-dropping a brand has NOTHING to do with the fact that I dated the CEO/president's daughter for a year. Actually, if BD wasn't so universally known as being high-quality, it'd deter me from recommending it... But I digress.

Great job on the running and congrat son the last 20. Also smart move to cut run short with knee issues. Just continue to work on healing it and you will be fine.

As far as headlamp I use Petzle Zipka Plus have been for a few years and it works phenomenal. It weight almost nothing and unlike the other straps being thick this is dental floss thin which I wear either over a rim hat or just a headband. No problems with it moving or even knowing it is on my head. It has many different options bright not so bright, blinking, etc.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=petzl+zipka&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=390709234217903447&sa=X&ei=nXZnToe5G8acgQefg-3LDA&ved=0CHAQ8gIwBA

Hopefully you can avoid the rain. That was a nice run yesterday.



I have a nice 1W LED Brunton headlamp. You can adjust the angle of the light as well as set the brightness. If you want to go the more fiscally conservative route you can get cheap ones at hardware stores.

I have a Tikka Petzl II that works great and has a pretty solid battery life. I think it was $30 or $40, but definitely worth it.

Are you getting nutty from taper yet?

Thanks for the info on the headlamps. One question. How do you use it during the winter with a winter hat on? Does it go over it or how do you do it?



Thanks for the running comments everyone. Julie and Jim, the tapering is making me a little bonkers. It'll really pick up next week.



Wednesday - 10M GA. Amazingly I got a break in the rain for this. Went well. Threw in some MP miles.



Friday - 7M Easy. Finished with 6x100m. I did this on almost no sleep thanks to my basement.



So I spent all of Thursday and into early Friday morning in my basement thanks to Lee. I am 5 days away from my sump pump installation and this was one last dig until it gets in there. I could barely keep up. Until Thursday afternoon I couldn't even take 5min. I got a serious workout though. I kept having ot lift a 14gal wet vac filled with water almost 4'

off the ground to drain. I was doing this every couple of minutes for hours until it started slowing then it was every 15min, etc. Needless to say my body is a tad tired right now.



Tomorrow is 16M and I'll do a 4M fast finish at sub MP.

I actually prefer wearing it with a stocking hat over any other way. Just seems to fit better that way.

You have way more energy than I do. I'd be done with running for a couple days after an episode like that, and I speak from experience because I've done it!

In winter I wear it over my hat with no problem.

mul21 wrote:You have way more energy than I do. I'd be done with running for a couple days after an episode like that, and I speak from experience because I've done it!

It was really on adrenalin. I was down there at 3:30 this morning cleaning it up and then went and put on my shoes and gear and headed out the door. It was a slow run. It'll catch up to me later and I'm guessing tomorrow's 16M won't be fun.

Wow. I'm trying to imagine lifting 115+lbs repeatedly ad infinitum. My little runner's arms don't like the thought.

I hope the long run went well!

Mike MacLellan wrote:Wow. I'm trying to imagine lifting 115+lbs repeatedly ad infinitum. My little runner's arms don't like the thought.

After a little bit my back wasn't liking it either.

Julie wrote:I hope the long run went well!

It went well Julie thanks.

Saturday - 16M. Finish 4 @ MP-20. This started out very tough as Thursday's nonsense was catching up to me. I didn't think I'd be able to hit even MP for the finish. But around 8M in I started feeling better. Then when I hit 12M I popped the clutch and went. Overall I was pleased.



Sunday - 6M. GA. Went by feel as usual for this one.



Today will be 4M as we're now less than 2 weeks away.

Great training Alex and great to read you're 2 weeks away from your marathon and there isn't a big injury or anything getting in your way. I'm eager to read your race report in 2 weeks!