Raod Warrior's Running Blog

Today was the first day of my 2-week taper for the St George Marathon.  I did a 2 mile warm up then ran 6 miles at race pace of 6:46 / mile at the local high school track.  I like to to run in the morning but so does the local track team.  So I try to get there by 6am so as not to bother them. They don't get there until 7:15am which is about the time that I generally finish.

Well, this morning I stepped out the door and it was raining cats and dogs.  So I figured I'd wait a bit to see if it let up because certainly the track team wouldn't be running in the rain on a wet track.  So about 7:15 it let up a bit so I drove back to the track, but there they were, running in the rain.  Shucks!

So I drove back home and told myself that I'd come out and run in the afternoon.  Well, I'm an early morning runner and its easy for me to get distracted during the day and not get in my run if I wait until the afternoon.  But I did it so I'm pleased ;-).

Now, I'd really like to get some comments from you experts out there that have run the St George Marathon.  I'm training for sub three hour marathon and would like to know what should be my splits.  I was thinking of something like 1:33 for the first half and 1:27 for the 2nd half.  What do you all think?

No running today.  I had to go to Austin, TX for some business meetings.  Just got back and found this great little pace calculator for the St George Marathon on the discussion board.  It looks so good that I thought I'd add a link to it here for those interested.  Just plug in you time and press the calculate button to see a mile by mile pace chart for St George.  As was quoted in the discussion board "This pace chart will give you an idea of how the hills affect your pace: http://www.xmission.com/~abx3/sgm_pace.php"

This is the third day of my taper prior to St Gerge Marathon.  I ran 2 miles warm up then 3 miles of speed work at 6:02 per mile.  The 3 miles were run in intervals of 1.25 miles, 1 mile, and 3/4 mile with 1/4 mile jog in between.  I learned this from Logan Fielding last year and I have found it to be more difficult and I think better for marathon runners that the typical 6x800,400 jog that you see in most marathon training plans.

Ran 5.25 mles in the morning and rode the bike for 25 miles in the afternoon.  Tried a new route on the bike.  Started off with decent bike lanes, but they ran out so won't go that way again; expecially not at rush hour on Friday afternoon in San Antonio ;-). 

I rode the bike for 55 miles today at 15 MPH.  I'm not too fast on the bike but its some good cross training.  There's some good road biking trails ~10 miles north of San Antonio.  Usualy I put my bike in the back seat of my convertible and drive it 10 miles out of town to start my ride.  Well, my roof broke this week and wouldn't go down so I started my bike ride from home this morning.  I've gotta get the roof fixed this week because its a much more enjoyable and safe bike ride to start out of town.  I will miss getting to know the locals though ;-) 

12 miles today at 7:30 per mile.  Just two more training runs until the St George Marathon.

I ran the St George Marathon.  I was training for sub-three hour marathon.  My PR prior to that had been 3:07:50.  I went out too fast at 6:38 per mile for the first 6+ miles then slowed down some to run the first half in 1:31.  But my quads were shot at the half and the last 12 miles (which is where you're supposed to make up time) was increasingly slower.  I finished 3rd in my age group at 3:06:19, but was disappointed because I believe that I had the speed and the stamina for sub 3 hour, but my quads simply didn't hold up.  Two lessons learned for myself and others that might be running St George in the future.: 

1) Training: really work the quads prior to the marathon.

2) Racing: start off slow and easy then push it at the end.