Philadelphia Taper Time

The Philadelphia Marathon is a mere 12 days away. I have been more or less indifferent to this marathon. Life has been really crazy for the last couple of months so I have not spent a lot of time obsessing about the usual marathon related things. HOWEVER, I have still been running like a crazed idiot, and that familiar excitement of an upcoming marathon is starting to creep up on me. It is time to catch up on some obsessive marathon related blah blah:

Tapering
I have always done the 3 week taper thing. Three weeks seems like such a long freaking time, and I am relatively injury free. I capped off my training with 18.5 miles on Sunday and am going for the 2 week taper.

Weather
This will be my 4th marathon and the first 3 all involved rain. I'm not obsessing too much about the weather this time, I am just assuming it will be raining.

Clothing
It was like 22 degrees at the start last year when I ran the half marathon at Philly - that was cold. I would really like to run this thing in shorts. As long as the temperature is above 30 degrees I am thinking shorts and running jacket. New Balance on both counts.

Weight
It's Tuesday, I just ran 18 miles on Sunday, and I still feel like I've gained 20 pounds in the last 15 minutes. That's the taper for you, it sucks. I am really going to try to focus on my diet during the taper. Enough about weight.

Hydration Strategy
I have resigned myself to running with a 12oz handheld and carrying some pretzels. That's it. No gels, no electrolyte pills, no shot blocks. Way too much to think about. I will refill the handheld at the occasional water station and go with the flow. Philly is too crowded to rely soley on the stations early on so the handheld should work fine.

Goal Setting
This is the tough one. I signed up for this race a week before starting a new job, so I originally figured I would be happy just to run across the finish line and pick up another medal. However, I have been feeling pretty good and logging a bunch of miles, including knocking off the Asbury Park Marathon three weeks ago, so logic would dictate I've got a PR in me. I'm not very logical though - I'll probably decide on a goal somewhere around the 5 mile mark.

Thats about it. I will probably end up posting a list of changes next week, but I think I am good to go. Go Philly!

Neon Brooks Boy

So a couple of weeks ago I snagged a Brooks Nightlife hat on eBay to replace my ugly yellow RoadRunnerSports hat. In an instant twist of Karma, right after that I saw the Brooks Nightlife half zip on sale at RunningWarehouse.com so I pounced on it. In my elation I ended up bragging to BrooksRunning on Twitter who was kind enough to send me a complimentary pair of Nightlife gloves. So my early morning outfit is now pretty complete - if BrooksRunning is reading, I seriously think you guys should be making Nightlife themed shoes. The Adrenalines would rock in neon.

As it stands now, I think my shoe of choice for the Philadelphia Marathon will be the Brooks Ravenna. I have been sporting the Adrenalines pretty religiously but I think the Ravennas have a little more fore foot cushioning in them than the latest breed of the Adrenalines (although I have been trolling eBay hard for a pair of the older Adrenaline 8's). This is the pair I ran the Asbury Park Marathon in - I think they have another marathon in them.

Congrats to Meb Keflezighi, first American man to win the NYC Marathon since 1982. I got home from a 16 mile run on Sunday just in time to turn on the TV and watch him blow by Robert Cheruiyot coming into Central Park. Awesome race!

Asbury Park Race Photos

Since this was an 8 loop course, the photographer had excellent opportunity to snap enough pictures of everyone, especially the dopes that were doing all eight loops. One of these days I am going to actually buy an official race photo. Considering the price of race photos usually rival the cost of race registrations, I have never come close to pulling the trigger on one. Here are some of the official race photos, including one I poached from a friends Facebook page:

At the Start

Mrs. P bringing in the first loop

Coming in the transition area

Flyers, Colleen,Sarah & I

Scott about to lose his hat

Sandy getting the transition

Somewhere around the 7th loop

Finish line

1st Annual Asbury Park Marathon Relay

Today I ran the 1st Annual Asbury Park Marathon relay. This race is put on by the NJRRC, who also manages the NJ Marathon and which I happen to be a member of. The race director sent out emails months ago introducing this race to participants in the last NJ Marathon. The race is a relay which consists of teams of up to 8 people. There was also the option of registering as a "Team of One". Registering early and being a member of the NJRRC got me into the race as a Team of One for $30, so it was hard to pass up considering it is towards the end of my Philly Marathon training cycle. There was also the added bonus of Mrs. Progman registering a team consisting of several friends and family. And I was able to talk a couple of other marathoning nutjobs, including Flyers26, into running it, so it all but guaranteed a good time.

This race is an eight loop course which I knew would be a bear mentally so companionship was key in not going crazy. Luckily my buddy and experienced marathon pacer Colleen was also running today so I hitched onto her for most of the race. My approach to this race was just to run it as a slow training run. The weather forecast was for cold, rain & 20 mph winds, so I was not looking forward to it when I woke up Sunday morning. I had a great run though, ran comfortably through the entire thing and finished in 4:26:51.

Perfect weather forecast for Race Day (um, not)

Mr & Mrs Progman (first time we got to run together in a race!)

Me with Flyers26 post race showing off the hardware
Former college roommate and Mrs. P teammate Sandy

Colleen & Sarah, my pacing team for most the day
Mrs. P & her brother and teammate Scott
Mrs. P, sister in law Beth & Sandy
Joanne & Tara from Mrs. P's team
Coming into the convention center for the finish

Playing Catch Up

Wow, no blog posts in September - I'm lame. Does't mean I've stopped running though. I logged 187 miles in September and have already run over 1500 miles in 2009, surpassing my 1401 total miles in 2008. I had a back pocket goal of 2009 miles in 2009 but that doesn't seem likely now unless I crank it up a couple of crazy notches (hmmm...). I've got the Asbury Park Marathon next weekend and then the Philadelphia Marathon in November, so if I can keep from getting injured, who knows.

So, my September recap, in pictures:

Mrs. Progman rocking the Susan Koman 5k at Great Adventure (#3082, so proud that she is not wearing a MP3 player):

My new Fall Marathon Hat - the Brooks Nightlife hat - It is far brighter than the much uglier RRS Sports Hat I retired this year, I love it:

Me running a 20 miler with ShoreTurtle last weeked (picture shamelessly poached from his site):

That's it. Hope to have some cool Asbury Park Marathon photos after next weekend.

Back from Vacation

I've been on vacation for the past week in Ocean City, NJ. I managed to cram in about 51 miles in the six days we were down there. Something about running someplace new, along the ocean, when I don't have to be heading to work afterwards that just makes me want to lace them up and go (the fact that I was guilt ridden over eating like a pig helped also). I'm pretty sure I would have went well over 60 miles but I did take a day off due to my achilles squawking at me a little bit one day. Otherwise, I maintained a steady diet of 10 mile days. Now that I'm back I think I'll concentrate on adding in a strong midweek tempo run and stretching out my Sunday long runs in preparation for upcoming Fall marathons.

Mrs. Progman has also been hitting the road hard in preparation for the upcoming Asbury Park Marathon relay on October 18th. She is considering running the the Pier Village 5k this coming weekend. I have also been looking at races to run in the next month or so to gauge my current marathon fitness. The Jersey Shore Half Marathon is tantalizingly close but the desolate two loop course kind of turns me off. Two other interesting possiblities are the Brielle 10k Challenge on September 12th or the Newport Liberty Half Marathon on September 27th. Or I could just whimp out and run a bunch of easy miles sans race fees. We'll see.

Turkey Swamp 25k

I ran the Turkey Swamp 25k this past Sunday. I credit ShoreTurtle - even though this race is only about 25 minutes from my house, it did not occur to me to sign up for it until I read about it on his blog, and it fit in perfectly for my marathon training. I ran most of the race with ShoreTurtle and Hurley, which was a huge boost and a nice change from the solo long run schedule I have been keeping lately. Turkey Swamp has events of 50k, 20 mile, 25k and 10 mile. This race is too close to not consider running the 50k at some point - maybe I'll think about taking a shot at it next year. My time for the 25k was 2:35:40.

What Are You Doing on November 22nd?

Yeah, so much for my "wait and see what happens" approach. I just couldn't resist the temptation of registering for Philly. I got injured last year training for it and had to fall back to the half marathon. It just wasn't the same. Supposedly there is some town called Manayunk or something in the second half of the race that is cool to run through and has hills? And there's an unofficial water station up there where people serve beer? I don't know, but this marathon was just sitting there mocking me since I bailed on it last year so I had to register for it again. Plus I think I may know a few people who are running it. So shout out if you are in for Philly. Looking forward to kicking asphalt in November!

Change of (Life) Plans

I am officially starting a new job in the beginning of August. My new gig is in New York City, which means I will be joining the throngs of New Jersey people heading into the city every day on NJ Transit. Not sure yet how this will effect marathon training - at the very least I will need to be getting up (ugh) a little bit earlier to fit in the morning stuff before hitting the train.

I have been going back and forth about whether to register for the Philadelphia Marathon or the Harrisburg Marathon. The new job thing kind of throws another wrench in the mix since I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to fit all of this stuff in. I have resigned myself to hold off on registering for Philly, since I don't want to register and then change plans since I did that last year because of an injury. Harrisburg is one of those rare marathons where you can actually still show up the morning of the race and register, so I am keeping that as my back pocket race after the Asbury Park Relay Marathon on October 18th.

Yikes, Asbury Park is less than 13 weeks away. I'm taking suggestions anybody has on a nice 12 week training plan. As it is, I have been holding steady on 40+ miles a week (give or take) with a speed workout or hill workouts sprinkled in. Any suggestions are welcome.

Long Time No Blog

I know I'm lame - it's been over a month since I've put anything on here. I have seen a couple of other fellow runners retire themselves from the blog-o-sphere in the past couple of weeks so I think there is a bit of blogging malaise going around. In my case it is due mainly to:

(a) busy with little league (last game this weekend)
(b) busy with work related stuff
(c) running (yeah, still doing that)
(d) general lack of anything interesting to say

So little league is done after this week and school is over after next week - that means a big collective sigh of relief in the Progman house (Mrs. P is a teacher after all, end of school year = hectic hectic) and life will become a little more leisurely.

As far as running goes:

- I did not get into the NYC Marathon. Kind of glad about that one, part of me is actually dreading when I do get in and have to deal with the big registration fee, dealing with getting to the expo, race start, etc. I have become a running recluse, preferring smaller races or no races at all in favor of just running a bunch. NYC is definitely on my to do list though.

- I am working on getting my MPW back into the 40 mile range after officially recovering from the NJ Marathon. I would kind of like to then bump it into the occasional 50+ zone. I would prefer to do this by bumping the distance of my average weekly stuff as well as the occasional double thrown in, as opposed to relying on heavy weekend long runs. I think the 18 - 20 mile stuff is where my body starts to squawk a little at me. I am leaning towards limiting my max long run to 18 miles or less (during marathon training), in favor of greater weekly volume. I have seen a lot of knowledgeable folks plug this strategy and think it may be something worth trying.

- I have been registered for the Asbury Park Marathon Relay as a team of one for some time now (October 18th). I have planned all along to treat that as a long slow training run with the thought of a later Fall marathon (yeah, kind of contradicts my previous bullet). Still haven't decided if or what that later Fall marathon will be. Philadelphia seems to make the most sense. I would love to hear from other people committed to Philly or with any other marathon suggestions.

Oh, and I've been meaning to get back out and run with this group. It's been a while since I've twisted an ankle or taken a mud induced fall on my ass. They should be able to remedy that.