On The Loose: July 7th to July 13th

Monday, 6/7--University Mt. Tempo Run

2,687', 1:17

A huge confidence builder, since I nabbed the fastest known ascent at 41:26, beating Jason Schlarb's 41:43. In Schlarb's short write-up, he wrote that he "kept the effort moderately hard," so I'm sure he could have broken 40 minutes. Still, this was a good workout, and I hope someone posts a faster time soon because I know at least a few minutes can be knocked off. Splits were right on 24 minutes to the saddle, and 17:26 to the summit.

Tuesday, 6/8--Intervals w/Run Wild Missoula

3 x 1 mile @ goal marathon pace (5:50), ~45 minutes w/warm up, rests, water breaks

I was able to match my goal pace to within 2 seconds on each mile, so it feels well ingrained. The heat made it a little tougher than I hope it feels on Sunday, but I'll just start at 5:50 pace and see how things go. I know I'll do really well on the short 200 ft. hill.

Wednesday, 6/9--South Sentinel/Evans St. Loop

1,851', 1:04

Up the hill, down to Evans, and back via pavement. The pavement felt okay, but it's going to take a lot of work to get me through 26.2 miles of it on Sunday. Motivation-wise, this will be my toughest run. I'm sure I'm physically ready for it, but it's going to play with my mental side.

Thursday, 6/10--Golf Course/Pattee Rd. Loop

363', 25 minutes

A quick run to keep the legs active a little longer. Easy pace, with mostly flat stuff and a good mile + of road. I feel ready to conduct the marathon experiment.

Friday, 6/11--Off

Saturday, 6/12--Off

Sunday, 6/13--Missoula Marathon

Flattish, 2:46:55, 11th place

The perfect picture of the blow up, with a second half ten minutes slower than the first half (granted there's one small hill in the second half, but it's pretty negligible). 1:18:27 for the first half, 1:28:28 for the second. 2:40 was out the window by mile 17, and I was really struggling towards the end. I guess this is what I get for training on hills--the running doesn't translate quite as well as I'd hoped, but 2:47 is a time I can live with. It's more than a minute per mile faster than my previous PR, and with far less road running in my training. 2:47 is definitely okay, I'm just not sure if I'd want to still hunt for a sub 2:40 marathon. It would likely mean adjusting my training, and I want to keep the hills in. I love hills. Road running takes a lot more motivation for me, so this race was good mental training at least--keeping motivated was difficult.

4,901', 6:18

An actual taper week. Not too much to discuss here. I'm mainly looking forward to the now snow free trails around here, and just bought $85 dollars worth of maps. There's a lot of exploring to be done.