My training started immediately after the OUC Half. I was able to fit in the following training runs, including my longest run ever(!) at 15 miles.

12/7/2010     2 
12/11/2010    5.5 
12/14/2010    4.5 
12/18/2010    6.25 
12/20/2010    3.5 
12/23/2010    15 
12/27/2010    5 
12/29/2010    5.25 
12/31/2010    6 
1/3/2011      3 
1/5/2011      2.6 

Midway through training I was feeling stiff and achy on the anterior side of my lower left calf. My legs were also feeling heavier than usual and I felt I was hitting the ground hard. Usually when I feel this I think I need new sneakers. I was only about 160 miles into them and they should last closer to 300 miles. I went to Track Shack to get a diagnosis and they did see excessive wear at the forefoot. I have been practicing more of a mid to forefoot landing since I read Chi Running. I've been running with the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9 for the past 6 months. I came from the Asics 2140 and just wanted to try something new, but I was never totally happy with the Adrenaline. The sales guy showed me a pair of the Brooks Trance and they felt so much better. He said they have equal amounts of padding in the front and back and would do much better for the mid-foot strike. The Adrenaline have more padding the the back.

I planned my next and last long run in a couple of days and the sales guy said it was ok to jump right into them. The run went very well and I felt very confident I could beat the PR in my first half. This was a long slow distance run, so I wasn't trying for speed here, but was moving faster than I thought at a comfortable pace.

These were my splits for that run.

1	0:09:37
2	0:09:38
3	0:09:36
4	0:09:47
5	0:08:55
6	0:09:18
7	0:09:49
8	0:09:40
9	0:09:26
10	0:09:24
11	0:09:56
12	0:10:01
13	0:09:23
14	0:09:55
15	0:09:45

After the 15 miler, I started a 2 week taper. About a week before I tried some intervals and I was feeling very weighed down. I thought it was maybe all the food I ate over the holidays. I did a 30 minute warm up run but was breathing heavy throughout. Then I could only do about 400x3 intervals, before I had to stop. I've done at least 6x400 in the past. I didn't realize it until later, but there was a brush fire in the area, which explains my breathing.

I never felt 100% after the interval and on top of that my right calf had a big knot in it and was feeling rock hard. This gave me a feeling of shin splints starting to develop. I right away started to stretch, ice and use the foam roller and The Stick on them. It helped, but I didn't know how it would feel on race day.

Like OUC I starved myself of carbs day 3 and 4 before the race and carb loaded days 1 and 2. I also did the Pasta in the Park Party at Epcot on Thursday. I kept a log this time of how much carbs, protein and fat I ate. I was aiming for 70% carbs and it worked out well.:

 

                         Carbs	Protein	Fat	
2 English muffins	52	14	3	
2 eggs	                 1	12	9	
jelly	                 4	0	0	
Oatmeal	                 23	6	2.5	
Banana	                 31	1	0	
grapefruit	         18	2	0	
electrolytes             19	0	0	
Subway FT Turkey	        94	35	7	
Rice with tomato sauce	23	3	1	
1 teaspoon olive oil	0	0	5	
Totals	                 265	73	27.5	
% carbs	73%
Total Grams 365.5

 

Also on the Thursday before the race, we were required to attend the Expo at the Disney ESPN Wide World of Sports, where we pick up our racing packet, which includes our race bib number, shirt, program and some goodies from the sponsors. The race bib was picked up in a separate building from the shirt pickup. In the race bib building, there was a running related speaker presenting every hour. We didn't make time to listen to them and headed to another building to pick up the shirt and goody bag. The second building had all the vendors in it. After picking up the shirt and goody bag, they required you to exit into the vendor area where there were about 7 rows of companies selling their products. I bought a Donald Half Marathon pint glass, a pair of socks, an iFitness arm gel holder and a race belt that says "1 more mile" on it to hold my gels and cell phone. I wanted to buy more stuff, but left it with those items only. I was interested in compression socks because of my tight calves, but didn't want to spend $40-$60 at the time for a pair.