Just to qualify…

A couple of people emailed me about my last post, which was nice seeing as I have been such a crappy blogger (writer and commenter) this year I wasn’t sure anyone read it anymore! Anyway they wanted me to qualify my comment about times.

I wrote a couple of conflicting statements;

“My plan actually called for Marathon pace +30 which gave me a target of 7:39…” indicating my pace would be 7:09

and

… “when I “need” to average 7:23…oh well in two weeks I get to do it all again!”

The truth is that yes according to my 5k time of 19:11 the FIRST plan establishes a pace of 7:09 and predicts a marathon time of 3:07, to be honest that scares the bejesus out of me! That being said a 7:23 pace would give my a finishing time of 3:14, enough to make  the qualifying time of 3:15 for Boston by 1 minute. Under the new rules that does not guarantee me an entry as it is now fastest come first served:

To be honest running Boston was never on my radar although I can see the appeal. For me qualifying for the New York Marathon, which I did in August at this race (running a sub1:30 Half Marathon guarantees me a Masters entry)

and Boston in the same year has the cache. Now as to whether I run them in 2012 and 2013 we will have to see…I have some other fish to fry before then.

15s and 20s

I ran my second 20 miler this morning, I have one left to do in two weeks time and I did my first one two weeks ago. The first I ran just to cover the distance and make sure I could, it was the longest I had run all year and it was a good mental check mark to give me a confidence booster than my legs had the miles in them…they did and my average pace was 9:03.

Last weekend I had a 15 miler, a reduction in distance but an increase in speed. It actually went really well, really really well, I was ahead of my pace from the get go and stayed there for the entire run, finishing with a pace of 7:07

Today I had to combine them both, a quick pace and the 20 mile distance. My plan actually called for Marathon pace +30 which gave me a target of 7:39, as with all of these runs I tend to freak myself out with them, sometimes for no reason and others well for no reason too! Although this has been a big build week, nearly 11 hours and lot of cycling as well as my usual three training runs; intervals, short tempo and today’s long tempo. So that being said I hit the ground early to avoid the heat and to be back in time for things at home, my pace wasn’t fast and I was conscious about consistent pacing and running within myself. The first 15 miles went well and it’s not like the wheels cam off it was just that I felt the last five miles.

Yeah you can really see the last five miles..worrying a little given that there is another six after that and even more so when I “need” to average 7:23…oh well in two weeks I get to do it all again!

Tonight I’ll sleep well and tomorrow is a rest day…first one since September 4th!

Review; DIY Overhead Bike Rack

This is not a review per se but I thought I would share with you my solution for storing my bike(s). If like me you have little storage space and have some little people who let’s say can’t tell the difference between carbon and Crayola and will gladly push over your hard saved for precious to get their big bag of sand toys then there is only one direction to go…up!

Enter a trip to Home Depot…

…and $25 later we’re all set. Now I should caveat that this will only work out of the gate if you have exposed rafters, if you have a sheetrocked ceiling  this is possible but will need a little extra work. For this to work you need two Husky Hangs Alls and two rubber straps with S hooks…and unless you are really really tall a step ladder.

Now quite simply you throw one of the straps over the rafter, space out the other and do the same, depending on how high you want to go make it wider. From there thread one rubber strap around the seat and the other around the stem, be a little careful with the hooks, if you are paranoid wrap them in electrician tape. No drilling, no nuts, bolts or screws…nada!

Lift up, hook through and voila!

Subject to the amount of space you have you can hang as many as you like. It may not be the prettiest of solutions but there is zero set up time and with the $205 dollars you saved thing abut what kit you will need for the winter, an upgrade or two or something carbon and sexy!