Marathon Simulator!

On Friday night, our football game did not get over until 11pm and I did not get home until midnight. And with my milkshake, I didn't get to bed until 1am. That, however, was not going to stop me from taking part in what transpired on Saturday morning in Huntersville!

About a week ago, an e-mail from Bill Shires started circulating regarding a planned 10 mile warm up, followed by a 12 mile marathon paced run, and finally a 2 mile cool down. I immediately thought of 2 things: #1. this is exactly the type of workout that fits into my training for New York and #2. when Ryan Hall and Terrance Mahan were training for London '08, they would focus on their "marathon simulator" run. Their plan was 10 @ 6 min. pace, 10 @ 4:55 pace,and 2 cool down.

On Saturday morning, I pulled into the Huntersville Business Park at 5:20am and immediately spotted Mike Beigay. Caitlin and Jay followed. Followed by Paul, Nathan, Derrick, Adam, and Bill. What a group...I was stoked!

The 10 plus mile warm up was a nice comfortable pace and I got to chat with Adam who I just met that morning (very nice). I thought Jay was a little quiet and I asked him if he was getting himself ready for the second loop...he was! I asked Paul how his breathing was and he said that he felt like he was walking...oh boy! As for my first loop, I was feeling pretty good. I couldn't get a read on Bill (it doesn't matter with Bill...he always brings it!) Caitlin was chatty...and fit!

After we got our Gu, water, bathroom breaks and flats...here was the plan:

Nathan (super nice expectant guy who I also just met that morning and would take pictures of us on our second loop and supply Gatorade and bananas) and Derrick (I thought was AJ) would sit out the second loop.

Paul and Jay would absolutely "rock" a 58 minute 10 mile tempo! And...

Mike, Bill, Caitlin, Adam and myself would do the 12 miler...

Mike was awesome especially when he threw in a 5:57 uphill 3rd mile that left us all somewhat gassing. I recovered quickly and decided to throw in a surge of my own. Caitlin was glued onto my right shoulder blade until she turned right to go on and run 10 miles at 6:10 pace (which, incidentally, was my pace for the 12 miles). Bill would go on to run a total of 28 miles! Adam looked good the whole way to think about a sub 3 for his next one. A mile and a half cool down to finish the run.

Special thanks for all of Nathan's support! That was a nice touch. Thanks, also, to all of the runner's for bringing their A game. Another piece of the NYC puzzle for me...

In looking at my training from last year, I was doing 3 workouts a week plus a long run, and 3 10 mile recovery runs. This year, I am doing 2 runs a week and that includes my long run, plus 5 easy 7 milers. My training is sort of based off of Kyle and Drew Shackleton's training for their last marathon...lots of marathon paced running.

For this week my 2 workouts are: a 3X13 minute interval workout on Wednesday morning, followed by a 13 mile tempo (marathon pace) run up in Davidson on Saturday morning.

I would appreciate any comments regarding my training...thanks!

Question: Who was the first man to break 27 4 10?