The past couple weeks I have been operating without my Garmin. As long as I was running familiar routes I didn’t really need the distance, so my backup watch was OK. The power cord was not functioning properly so there was no way to charge it. I was really thinking of getting a newer model, but after finding a new cord on eBay for $20 and free shipping I decided to give it a try. I received the new cord late last week at it works perfectly. I guess I’ll just have to wait a little longer for the new model now.
I notice that another local race has gone by the wayside. This race was in Wales and I ran it last year as a tune up before Lakefront. In previous years I had run one in Mukwonago that no longer exists on the same weekend. What’s up with that? I’m trying to see if there is any other race this weekend locally worth considering. Saturday will be busy so unless it is close I don’t think any race will work. It’s too bad. It really is a confidence builder to race and have a good result and is a good fitness test.
Training this last week went pretty well. In fact my run on Saturday was as good as I’ve felt in a while. I’m trying to examine my race strategy based on the last few weeks training. Everything I see points me to about a 3:20 marathon. Last week’s Parrot predictor told me 3:22. Plugging my last 5k time into the race predictor I get 3:21. Plugging in my half marathon time from a few weeks ago I get 3:22. I think I see a pattern. I have a couple of thoughts on this right now. My first thought is to start off with the 3:20 pace group and then hopefully have enough left to leave the group sometime after 20 miles. My second thought is to run at 8MPH. I would then be slightly ahead of the group. If I kept that up through mile 24 I would have 2.2 miles left with 3 hours ticked off the clock. So still an opportunity for a good race time. The first look at the weather that far out on race day shows things to be trending slightly lower than the normal of 50 low and 70 high.
Last week I took Monday off. My weekday runs were all done during my lunch break at work. Tuesday I ran 5 miles steady pace in 38:30. Wednesday I ran 6 miles in 47:11. The first 5 steady pace and then 1 mile on the treadmill at 7:20. Thursday I ran 5 miles easy in 39:02. Friday I ran 6 miles in 45:45. The first five steady pace and then 1 mile on the treadmill in 7:20. Saturday morning it was raining heavily and this was the only time I could run that day. I jumped on the treadmill and ran 7 miles in 52:30 or 7:30 pace. Sunday was a beautiful morning. I ran two loops of my favorite course. The first 8 miles I ran fairly easy, the second loop I pushed the pace up to 7:20. It was surprising how good this run felt. This was really a confidence booster and gives me hope for a somewhat decent marathon time. For the week I finished at 44 miles which is right about where I expected. This week will likely be in the 30’s.
WTD 44 miles
MTD 138
YTD 1707
ODO 26873
Hunting:
Second year in a row I didn’t get out hunting on opening weekend. Saturday and Sunday were just too busy. I thought about just going in the back yard on Sunday afternoon, but my lawn chores ran a little late and I decided otherwise. Having the tractor out in the back so late wouldn’t have helped my cause anyway. If I needed an antlerless deer to get an earn-a-buck sticker my thinking would be a little different. The stickers I got last year are still good for this year so a little pressure is off.
Gardening:
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