can't wait.

thanks

thanks so much, that was very kind of you to look into that for me. Judson has a special workout for me to do tomorrow, to see if I might be capable of a 3:45. I'm really excited to try it! The truth of the matter is, I will be smiling as long as I run sub 4, anything faster than that will be spectacular. Heck, I need to be prepared to run slower than 4 hrs., anything can happen depending on the day. I don't want to be too hard on myself.

Mile 1

Mile 1 starts at Cathedral Pines Campground on Route 27 in Eustis. Flat, and fast can make this mile very dangerous but if you run it right will shorten the race and then you will only have 25.2 miles to go. The key here is to run it easy. If you think you are running too easy, back off some more.
When I first ran this 4 years ago I basically thought I was jogging and still got to mile 1 in 6:00. For me I felt I went out perfect, but there was a whole group of guys with me at this point. 6:00 pace is just over 2:37. Well second place that day finished 2:43:01 which is 6:13 pace. On the other hand I went out in 6:00 pace and ended up averaging 5:46 pace for 2:31:26. Being so fresh and excited are good, but do not allow those things to let you go out 10 seconds or more faster than goal pace in this mile. The best advice is to run this mile 10-15 seconds slower than goal pace.

Do I have to run to the top of that?

Judson and Tim.

Mile 2

The second mile is another flat fast mile. Just like the first mile I used mile 2 as a warmup and ran another 6:00 mile in 2004. Using this mile as yet another mile to warmup also shortens the distance of the race. You now have 24.2 miles to go.
At the end of this mile is where one of my decisions is made. First if you are running to finish, stay at this comfortable pace. On the other hand, if you are racing it's time to start to ease into a slightly faster pace. Packs will form and you need to make decisions whether or not to stay with the runners around you or not. They may be going too slow or too fast. At this point I'd stick with the slower pack than risk going too fast this early. You could also decide to go on alone. Run your own pace and not run in a pack. If you are mentally tough you can do this. Although running in a pack is much easier.
Also at the end of mile 2 is your first water station. My advice is to start drinking as early as you can. I usually carry a small 8oz water bottle to the start with me to sip on before the start and during the first couple of miles. Usually you'll get your first waterstop at about 2-miles of most marathons and I like to be hydrated when I get to it. The water bottle in my hand for the first couple of miles also is a symbol that I'm not racing yet and that I'm simply warming up. Come mile 2 I chuck the water bottle and for me anyways, it's time to start easing into things.
If you find you've gone through 2 miles too fast, then slow down. You've got lots of miles ahead.

I'll write more later on tonight after kid's are in bed. This is all gonna really help me.
I love the pictures, that's the place where I'll stop for my nap. You know I'm going to have something hilarious to say about every picture.

Judson this is very good the input will help those running it. Right now I feel as if I am running with you just a few feet behind like a quarter mile.
Don

Mile 3

Mile 3 is again as flat as miles 1 and 2, but here you go past a couple of lakes which can be windy on certain days and the road in places has a super slant in it.
Speaking of that. Most road races let you have the whole road to use, while Sugarloaf makes you run on the right side of the road. Since most of us, I hope, run against traffic when training, a problem can happen at the loaf. The main problem is the slant in the road and the toll this takes on your muscles of the right leg. You are used to running against traffic where the slant is forcing you slightly to your left. Here, you are forced to run on the right and the slant at Sugarloaf on route 27 is a lot worse than most roads and I've had some problems in the past both on the 15-k and marathon course. You've got two solutions. One is to run in the middle of the road. By doing this the road is flatter, but the course is also measured on the far right side, so running in the middle will add on distance to your race. The other solution is to train on the right side of the road before you ever get to the race, thus training your right leg to withstand the abuse it will take. If you do this, pick a road that has very little traffic and wear a vest and/or a light and step off the road if you hear traffic coming since this is dangerous.
So as I said at the end of mile 2, this is where I start easing into my racing pace. Basically that means staying at the same effort, but now that you are warmed up you'll run a few seconds faster this mile than the first two. 5:57 for me and feeling good.
Everyone is now behind me and I am running solo with Larry biking near me. We are talking about how important going out easy is. This brings up another thing, you should be able to talk fairly comfortably at this point. Whether it's talking in a pack, or singing music, it's a good way to test if you are running too hard. When you get to mile 3 the worst of the slants in the road are over and you've gone past the lakes and thus probably the most windy area.
I hope you've enjoyed the flat course so far because in mile 4 you'll see your first small incline which is a tuneup for things to come.

not stoopid monkey pictures. You never know, you might be behind me at mile 3, anything can happen.

I asked Brian to send me my Sugarloaf splits from 2004 and 2005 which I had left in Bar Harbor.

Above I had guessed that I'd run the first 3 miles in 6:00, 6:00 and 5:57.

Well the splits were really 5:58, 5:59 and 5:51 for the first 3 miles. So I was close. But now that I have all of my splits for both 2004 and 2005, thanks to Brian, no more guess work.

Mile 4

a little heavy in the hips there. Side leg lifts would have helped with that.

It's funny, I was thinking the same thing about mile 10 and pretending it's over. It's a good way to mentally break up the marathon. I have to say, the hills didn't phase me last year. I was laughing and singing until mile 17 and then the focusing began. The hills did phase me my first year when I ran 4:54. In fact I almost quit at mile 10, I couldn't believe I had 16 more miles to go. Tim had the car and I just wanted to dive into the backseat and disappear. Tim talked me into finishing. I never want to quit a race, I did it once (MDI half 2005)and it was an AWFUL feeling, I really regretted it. I don't recommend it, unless you're injured.

Mile 5

let's here about it. You can eat lunch and write at the same time. Speaking of lunch, my appetite has more than doubled. Tim and my mom were amazed at the size of my lunch yesterday. After lunch I didn't even feel like I had eaten anything either. I can't even imagine how hungry you must be.

it all makes sense to me. This next long run/workout you've given me should be a good test. Looking forward to it.

Mile 6

I'm glad we cleared that up, now lets here it!

you beat me. You passed me somewhere along the way with some encouraging words, and I didn't even know who you were. I found it tough that day too.

We are on mile 6. And collectively we are saying something like "ok, little bumps in this mile. Boy is it gonna feel good to test out my hill trained legs!" But, we are also saying something like "easy killer. you know you're hot, but there are 20+ to go with a nice stretch of uphill and one dangerous downhill coming right up. Save those legs".

I'm bad at remembering individual miles as well, but somewhere through this section, I was having an internal dialog similar to this.

My split for this mile was 5:52. Although the biggest hill so far is in this mile, the majority of the mile is downhill or flat and by mile 6 I find myself in a groove and the uphill doesn't phase me. But don't push it. Same effort as the past few miles. Another water station is placed here and if you haven't taken any energy yet, do so.

Mile 7

is that you running up those stairs? Lookin good.

You wait and see. If you think you've seen me skinny then you are up for a surprize. I'm lighter than I've been since high school.

Anyways, when I run stairs I take 2-3 at a time.

Mile 8

when I'm in a race I'm always fine. I'm usually so dehydrated I don't go for an hour or two after.

There's a lot of trees, pavement and a hill I think.

I remember at MDI, getting to mile 7 and thinking how amazing I felt. Hitting 4 hours was absolutely not going to be a problem. It's amazing how you can go from feeling better than ever to feeling terrible all within a few miles. At Sugarloaf, I don't care how good I feel, slower is better than faster this early on. One big reason why I tend to go out a little fast is to prove to myself that I can do a certain pace, it's a big confidence boost for me. I hope I've matured enough in my running to not need to do that anymore. Does anybody know what I mean? It's like when Judson tells me to run a 9 for instance and I do an 8:20 instead, I think wow that's even better, but not necessarily if you're running long distance.

was my finishing time at MDI, and I struggled BAD from 13 on. I wish I had my splits. I know early on I had some 8:40ish miles, stupid.

Miles 9,10,11

when I hit the hill should I slow down enough so the effort stays about the same, or is it okay to feel the heart rate go up and tire the legs a bit? One of the biggest changes I've seen in my running lately, is my ability to recover. I never used to recover well.

It will be tricky to stay on pace going down that hill at mile 12. I need a good pacer to run with me. Any suggestions?

I've actually been studying this. It's amazing how even your splits are, and how they slowly creep up faster and faster. Can't wait to read more!

Would you mind (when you have time) putting up what my splits should look like to give me a 3:45? I want to go to the track and practice 8:40, 8:50, and 9:00, that will help me early on.

Mile 12

Mile 12 drops 182 feet although most of that is in the first 1/2 mile and you need to use extreme caution. In 2004 I ran on the dirt shoulder on the steepest section of this. Now it's paved and you have no choice but to pound the pavement.
My split for mile 12 was 5:49. It was very hard to run this easy. Now I easily could have run 50 seconds faster, but it's too early to go crazy and if you fly down the first half mile of this mile then you'll actually feel like you've hit a wall in the second half of this mile. Although still downhill, it flattens out and can be deceiving. My goal was to run the first half of the mile as easy as I possibly could go and then get back into my groove in the second half. This way you feel like you are speeding up instead of hitting a wall.

Get ready for a roller coaster over the next bunch of miles. You drop a few hundred feet and this whole section is super fast. But as I'll show later with my final 10-miles, you can run the last 10-miles very fast, but you must stay in control over the next few miles, no matter how easy it feels.

My splits for miles 13,14 and 15 were 5:48, 5:52, 5:51 over what has to be some of the fastest running terrain I've ever raced on. So to update, through 15-miles my fastest split was 5:48 and my slowest 6:10. My average pace through 15-miles was 5:55 or a 2:35:03 finish projection. By the end I'll show you how I averaged 5:46 pace and ran 2:31:26.

Below is a link to my 2004 splits and calculations based on the 2004 splits for projected times of 2:22, 2:20, and 2:18:32. Thanks Brian.

Formula

that your final miles were the fastest. you've proved that going slow (you slow poke) in the beginning and finishing fast works, so I'm on it! In fact, I think I might get some knee pads and crawl the first mile, what do you think? This count down to Sugarloaf has been sooo helpful. I'm sure we'll discuss my the mile to mile paces soon. I'm the type that likes to know exactly what to do. If I start feeling bad, that's when I'll take the race into my own hands and do what I can to finish, but that shouldn't happen. If I finish in 5 hours it will be fine. I'll just try again in the fall.

I'm willing to take that chance, it's not the end of the world if I don't hit it. 17 min. is a heck of a lot of time to shave, I have to remember that. If I do get 3:45 I have no idea what kind of state I'll be in, I just won't believe it!

Mile 13

Somewhere in here you officially enter the Carrabassett. There should have been a water stop back in that last mile. The river is on your left so you need to become one with the river, flow downhill. Ya, cheesy, but true. After mile 12's crazy descent this mile might feel a little hard if you ran the last one too fast. But if you've held back then you should feel well in control here. Don't worry, the next few miles are a lot faster.

Split here was 5:48, so about what I'd run the last mile in.

As you pass mile 13 you soon pass the 1/2 way marker. If you've stayed in control, get ready to run 3-5 minutes faster in your second half. Even if you are struggling I believe you'll run this second half faster, based on sheer loss of elevation.

In 2005 I went into the race with a severe lung infection and was coughing up blood and flem. David Herr was at the race and I simply threw splits out the window and from 5 to 13 miles hung on to him for dear life. From miles 11 to 17 miles I decided I had to go and run as hard as I could to simply get rid of him because I knew the final 9 miles I was going to suffer with my sickness. I ran my final 10-miles over 2 minutes slower than I had in 2004, but by making an early break was able to create a big enough gap so I essentially was able to jog in. It was ugly and I still ran the second half faster than the first. So unless you've gone out and run the first half of the race as hard as you can, it's likely you will run faster in your second half.

Follow the river.

Mile 14

You get to change gears a little with a little rise you get to run over. But get ready, it continues to drop after that and it's going to get steeper in miles to come. My split was 5:52 which holds true to what I've been running the past few miles downhill. It's still not time to go. Hold back the urge and be patient, you'll get your chance once you make it a 10-mile race. Grab some water and relax.

you're obviously referring to an elevation map, right?

Mile 15

Again, this mile is blazing fast. I continued to hold back and ran 5:51 for this one. Like this year I'll be running easy through this mile. When I reach the end of this mile in 16 days I'll do a quick body check. If everything goes to plan I'll get here at 2:22 pace. If I'm feeling terrible then the goal is to stay at 2:22 pace. But if I'm feeling good like I should be then I'm aiming for that course record.
If you've run smart up to this point, get ready to roll, it's time to pass a lot of people and start to make up minutes.

at mile 15. Walked the last mile because I was having flashes of discomfort in my right hip/glute area. No big deal but didn't want to risk it, I'm instinctively starting to baby my legs. It felt right to walk the last 3/4 of a mile. I was content with my 10:16 pace for roughly 14.5 of it. Talked right along, but felt twinges of discomfort along the way. I was more tired than I thought I would be, especially the last two miles. No worries, I should be tired.

Mile 16

At this point you've got 11.2 miles to go. It's time to go, but ease into it. The next two miles are very fast and if you go too fast then you'll again have a chance at feeling like you hit a wall at mile 18. Yes it continues downhill after that, but less so.

Grab your water, take your gels, it's go time.

Here I ran 5:43 and the first mile so far under my average of 5:46 for the race. Up to this point Larry had been biking by my side most of the way and I'd learned my most crucial marathon lesson. Shorten the distance by running under control and you've given yourself a great chance at running a great marathon. The only time he wasn't there by my side was going up the hills from 8-10 when the weight of his bike kept him from keeping up. As I reached the end of this mile Larry simply said it's time to go and he turned around and headed back up the road to see how others were doing. I was on my own and it was time to roll. Every mile from here on would be between 5:28 and 5:38.

Some may think Larry was pacing me, well he never got in front of me at any point and even if he had most marathons in the world have paid rabbits to pace different groups. Fast times and World records are set in this way, and even Deena Kastor had a male pacer start with her at London last year when she ran 2:19. And that was an all womans start. The person still needs to run the distance and the time. I have no plans on having a pacer since I cannot find one that can run the pace I want, but if someone gets beside me with a bike I'm not going to turn them away, especially if I'm not running with anyone. And since I ran my fastest miles without Larry by my side, it shows I can run fast solo.

this is where my legs started saying "don't go" last year. I didn't hit a wall, but my legs started getting tight and sore and gradually started slowing down. Kind of felt like twigs about to snap on the downhill. This year will be different though because I'll start out slowly. Last year I was trying to run the same pace throughout, which I did until about mile 20. A 10k doesn't sound far to go, but it can be hell and you can lose a lot of time if you've screwed up along the way.

Mile 17

It's really up in the air whether this mile or mile 16 is the fastest on the course. I actually think you loose more elevation in mile 16, but I think it's too much to use without hurting yourself making mile 17 the fastest. Both times I've run Sugarloaf this has been my fastest mile. I think running 5:43 for mile 16 was a bit slower than I should have gone and and it should have been closer to 5:30.
Mile 17 split was 5:28 and I really hadn't used much energy yet. The goal was to get to the start of the 15-k before I started to increase my effort. And after 6-miles of fairly fast miles you'll need to save your energy. The main reason is from 17 to the finish it starts to flatten out. You still gradually go downhill, but nothing like the miles 11-17. I felt awesome at this point and from miles 18 to the finish averged 5:34 which is slower than mile 17. I think if you can stay as close as you can to what you ran mile 17 in over the final 9.2 miles then you will be running well especially given the fact you are in the final bit of the marathon.

What's funny is Ginger will go out slow but will go through 17-miles faster than she did last year. She's trained this way and should feel in cotrol at this point and want to speed up. If she does she'll take another huge chunk off her pr and if she doesn't she'll simply take a chunk off her pr. Both should make her happy.

9:14 was my avg. pace at the loaf last year. If I'm understanding you propery I should go through mile 17 a heck of a lot faster than mile 1 last year. Sub 8:30's right? Shouldn't be a problem considering how the track workout felt today.

thanks.

Mile 18

This is basically the first mile for the 15-k runners. Think of it as your first mile. Grab some water and get ready because as the course flattens out compared to the previous miles you need to focus to keep going fast.

There are a lot of straight stretches that seem endless, but take one at a time and think quick feet. The are some porto johns here just in case.

Mile 19

After a 5:35 split for mile 18 things sped up a little during mile 19 with a 5:31. Get ready. Not only are you running the toughest part of the marathon the next few miles, but miles 20,21,22 and 23 are the slowest of the final 10-miles. Even last year when I ran the 15-k I actually struggled through this bit. Don't worry, miles 24, 25 and 26 are faster.

Take some time to enjoy the water flowing off the cliffs on your right and fast flowing river on you left. They are nice and may just give you the energy you need. If you are feeling great then it's almost time to really go for it. But only if you are feeling great.

Time to put up your legs and relax. Any hard workouts now will only tire you out. You may feel like you need to do something, but sit on your butt and watch movies and read. Resist the urge to work outside, especially with the lovely weather this time of year. You'll only tire yourself out. If you have a job that requires you to stand, maybe try and sit when you can or ask for a few extra days off.

Get pumped up about the race. You've been working really hard for months and/or years for this.

I made out a list of goals last night.

0- Get to the starting line healthy
1- Finish, time doesn't matter.
2- PR(2:24:45)
3- Get B standard(2:22)
4- Get A standard(2:20)
5- Break course record(2:18:38), Zap record is 2:18:40, how nice.
6- Break all-time marathon by a Maine born runner(2:15:26)
7- Massage, nutrition, soak, rest
8- Go over race, what worked, what didn't.

Of course the are also goals along the way I'll add later.

DANCE ON TABLES!

Mile 20

Mile 20 on most courses would be pretty fast, but here it's fairly flat compared to what you have been running on and you need to focus on staying on pace. 10-k to go and I usually think about one loop around Eagle lake and how easy that is. I smiled for the camera here as Liddy took my picture in 2004. Cramps in my hamstrings and calves were starting up like I had gotten in 2002 in the 15-k. I felt great but held back because I thought I'd cramp up although I think it's from slowing down more than speeding up. Hopefully I've solved all those problems with lots of muscle strengthening and a lot of downhill running over the past few years. Even at Tallahassee I had to stop and walk a couple of times durin gmile 23 because my hamstrings knotted up. I think it's mainly from slowing down and my muscles getting tight. It really sucks because you can feel it coming on for a couple of miles and there is nothing you can really do except try and relax and delay it until you finish. In Tallahassee I stopped twice and stretched during mile 23, thus my 6:55 mile. After stretching I sped up over the final few miles and had no more problems, but for a few minutes I thought I was walking in. So I think keeping things fast will keep that from happening this time. Probably hydrating well and taking some electrolytes should help as well. It's a scary experience and I think sometimes the best thing to do is stop and stretch, although I find stretching a muscle that has cramped up always seems to hamper recovery after the race. But it may get you to the finish faster.

Looking at this mile it's identical to the miles I use in Todd and that should help make me feel at ease here. Here I ran 5:35. Get ready, mile 21 actually has a bump but it only seems a little tough because you've gotten used to running downhill for so long. And this section is so similiar to the miles I use in Todd that I don't think they'll slow me down all too much.

Mile 21

I just figured out if I avg. 8:50 pace for first 16 miles I would have to avg. 8:16 pace for the remainder 10. Am I figuring this right?

I ran 8:49's at the Midwinter Classic 10-miler. Who cares. I'm stronger now, the weather was miserable and it was hilly.