The Eugene marathon is in exactly 12 weeks and I want to log how things have gone up to this point.

I’ve been following ‘the plan’ for the last four weeks. My coach wrote the plan with a goal of 2 hours and 30 minutes, which is 5:43 mile pace. That is faster than I think I can run, but after the last couple of weeks a small part of me is starting to believe.

My last four weeks have been 65, 64, 68, and 68 miles. I think it will increase just slightly in the next month or so to ~75. This Friday was my best workout so far.

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THE WORKOUT

The goal was 18 miles straight with:

• 6 miles easy
• 4 miles @ 6:00 – 6:10
• 4 miles @ 5:50 – 6:00
• 4 miles @ 5:40 – 5:50

I attempted a version of this two weeks ago and aside from cramping horribly before the end, I couldn’t go sub 6:00s AND I ended up stopping early.

BUT THIS THIS TIME I DID:

• 6 miles easy in ~7:30s
• 4 miles @ 6:04s
• 4 miles @ 5:54s
• 4 miles @ 5:43s

It was great. It felt natural. I wasn’t super tired by the end, my breathing was in control, and cramping was a non-issue. I’ve never felt that good on a long run before. A year ago I would’ve been happy with a four mile tempo in 5:43s. This exceeded what I thought I could do, especially after just four weeks of real training. This is what makes me think 2:30, though still a stretch, is actually possible.

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RACES?

I have two races between now and the marathon.

The first is the Frostbite 5 Miler in two weeks, which is a staple of winter racing. I ran 27:43 last year. I like to think I can cut at least a minute off that. That will be a great little test. Tom is also running it! We’ll do a double post-race recap post I’m sure.

The second is the Philly Love Run Half Marathon in late march. The course runs throughout the city and I’ll be looking to improve upon my Pittsburgh time. The winning time is usually around 70 minutes. I think in a perfect world I could run 70 minutes. I do not think I will win this race, but even the thought is exciting.

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ANY INJURIES?

My right leg is a little tender. It’s been a recurring thing through the years and it didn’t stop me last year at all, so I’m optimistic it won’t cause problems, but it’s something to monitor. It’s scary, because signing up for the race and booking the plane tickets / hotels is a pretty committing act. But if I get injured in some way, then I really wouldn’t want to do the race at all. I’ll probably wait a couple of weeks to officialize everything, but thinking like that is for losers. I should book the damn stuff!

That is all. That is the only purpose of this post. I just want something to look back on to measure how I’m feeling. Does anyone want to go to Eugene in April?