Critz Tybee Run Half-marathon Results and Lack-of-Blogging Apologies

First, it appears I owe the masses in blog-land (and all three of you that actually read this) an apology, as I've been lax in my recent updates and have been lambasted because of it. We're down a couple of people at work, so my spare time (i.e. "blog time") has been drastically reduced. Couple that with the fact that I've been using most of this time to work on an editing project I've been tasked with (and am getting paid for), and that leaves very little extra time for blogging. So, until this blog starts making me money, it will remain in its current slot in my schedule: niche-filler. But still, I apologize.

The Critz Tybee Run Half-marathon was a success on many fronts: I remained injury free, ran in my target zone (I was aiming to run it in between 1:20:00 and 1:25:00), and felt tremendous afterward (i.e. able to complete any workouts shortly thereafter without issue). Not necessarily tremendous during, but definitely after. I felt very strong initially, then tired just after the 7-mile mark (though I got my second wind with about 1.5-miles remaining)--I could tell that I'd been doing 6 and 7-mile pace runs in my training, as it was just after this point that my body seemed to say "hey, umm...I think you forgot to stop at the usual spot. So this is what I'm gonna do: I'M GOING TO SLOW DOWN (or at least not get any faster). This is for your benefit, believe you me--you may hate me now, but you'll appreciate me later."

Saturday: Ran the Critz Tybee Run Half-marathon in 1:23:52 (6:24 pace, 20th place overall).
Sunday: REST - decided I'd rather be lazy than run.
Monday: Ran 3.99 miles in 30:33 (7:39 pace).
Tuesday: Ran a 1.65-mile warm-up (12:52) and a 0.75-mile cool-down (6:25), with 5x800 in between. My splits were: #1--2:41, #2--2:40, #3--2:41, #4--2:37, #5--2:39.
Wednesday: Ran 4.22 miles in 31:17 (7:25 pace).

There are supposedly quite a few good race-day pictures of me floating around out there, so once I can get them in my hands, I'll post a few here. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with (click on the image to enlarge it):

Monthly Mileage and the "Magic Number"

Because I'm all for a good routine, I'll begin by listing my recent workouts, as per my norm:

Thursday: Ran a 7.32-mile tempo run (in 52:14; 7:08 pace).
Friday: REST
Saturday: Ran a 6-mile marathon-pace run (in 39:38; 6:36 pace) with a 0.5-mile warm-up (in 4:09). Was supposed to run 7, but due to time constraints was unable.
Sunday: Ran 13.94 miles in 1:45:59 (7:36 pace).

That brings my weekly (Monday-Sunday) mileage total to 38.74 miles (up from last week's 27.44 miles), and my monthly total to 139.48 miles (up from last month's 114.13 miles). As for my monthly increase, I upped my mileage by approximately 8%, which is on-par with the 10-Percent Rule to which many runners stick (for more info, please visit http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--1051-0,00.html).

There will be a noticeable drop-off in my mileage this week, due to my taking at least one extra day off (Thursday, with the possibility of Sunday depending on how many "ouch's" I utter that day) in order to accommodate the Half-marathon I'll be racing on Saturday (the local Critz Tybee Run Half-marathon). The more races you run, the better you get at determining how much rest your body requires to be at it's best on the big day--one day too little and your heavy legs will drag you down, while one day too many can leave them listless and cold. And while there's no true "magic number" (realizing that your legs will never feel exactly the same x-amount of days out from a race), I've found that I'm generally best-served hanging up my trainers as follows (for those days where I do not include a static figure, it is assumed that if I do feel like running on the day furthest out from the race, I will do so very slowly and shortly):

5k: 1-2 days
10k: 2 days
Half-marathon: 2-3 days
Marathon: 3 days, though I generally run a short distance--perhaps a mile--on the second day, to keep my legs loose

Observations from this weekend:

1.) Vinnie Van Go-Go's pizza is hard to beat, whether they get your toppings correct or not.
2.) I was funnier than usual this weekend; either I'm growing as a comedian or others are getting used to my quantity-over-quality approach. I've always laughed at myself...just glad to see others doing it now (at least for one short, glorious weekend) too.
3.) Barbecue sauce and grape jelly (when it comes to crock-pot meatballs) are like peas and carrots--the perfect coupling.

Lastly, here's my dog pretending like she's well-behaved: