2013 Springfield Marathon

2013 Springfield Marathon 

Marathon
1/2 Marathon
10k 

October 20th, 2013
Location: University of Illinois-Springfield


10k Results

Pre-Race 

Justin Stewart
Place: 1st Overall/324
Time:  34:37 (5:32 pace)
Speed: 10.8 mph

10k Race Recap
I decided to run in this race last week.  My base mileage has been going really well and with only 3 consistent weeks of running I feel stronger than ever.  Over the years there have been plenty of times where I havent ran in a while and then I start my base training which usually consists of a couple months of increased mileage and easy runs with a few fatlek and dynamic runs as well as tempos mixed in there.  So far my weekly mileage started at 15, 20, 20, 30. I will keep increasing the mileage up to about 60 miles a week then start to incorporate some speed work getting ready for some indoor and outdoor track races this winter and spring. In the past my base building mileage usually consisted of 6:45-7:00 minutes pace miles. This year with my stair climbing training included in my base building I am hitting 6:10-6:30 paced runs easily and feel stronger than ever. I believe this strength showed in todays 10k I decided to hop in on a whim. I went out with the mindset of working into the race. Start as a tempo for the first couple miles then work into it. I honestly was expecting 5:45 pace but ended up hitting 5:32 pace which I was thrilled about. I led the race from start to finish and was out by myself the entire race. It wasnt until mile 2 when I started coming up on the tail end of the marathoners which helped in me keeping my pace honest and uptempo. The mile markers werent consistent and I only saw mile marker 2 and 3. I went threw the 2mile marker in 11:26 and the 3 mile mark in 16:54.

Overall, it was good race to get into last minute. Its always nice to win a race especially the inaugural event, so I guess you could say I have a course record as well. After the race I also was interviewed by 3 time Olympian and record holder Craig Virgin which was pretty cool as well. Overall great event and hopefully this event only grows bigger and more competitive over the next years to come. Congrats to all who participated and thanks go out to the fans, family and friends who came out to support.

With Craig Virgin after the race

Finishing stretch

12 Hour Stair Climb Training

Week #7 

Workout: 8 hour stair climb training session
Goal: Stay at a nice tempo that I think I can keep up for 12 hours and eat right. 
Location: Springfield Hilton (32 floors), Springfield IL


Done with 8 hours of stair climbing at the Springfield Hilton. I got through 7 hours and 40 minutes just fine, tried to pick it up the last 20 minutes and paid for it and crashed. 79 times up in 8 hours. Climbed the equivalent of Mt. Everest. Probably could have gotten the record today if I had climbed another 2 hours with better pacing and eating better. This will be my last long climbing session in my training. I figure if I can do almost 80 time up in 8 hours and feel pretty good then I can manage to climb at least 20 more times in 4 hours to get the existing record of 33,000 vertical feet. At the pace I had going today I could have gotten the record at hour 10 and still had 2 more hours to climb. I figure a whole lot isnt going to change from here on out till the event. Once theres people there encouraging me I think itll be a ton better mentally for me instead of being alone like I was for the 8 hour training session. 

Splits:
4:45
4:45
4:44
4:44
4:44
4:43
4:44
4:43
4:44
4:43
-----
4:43
4:41
4:41
4:40
4:39
4:41
4:39
4:38
4:39
4:39
-----
4:39
4:38
4:34
4:42
4:38
4:33
4:36
4:33
4:38
4:36
-----
4:39
4:37
4:33
4:31
4:24
4:32
4:34
4:26
4:28
-----
4:26
4:19
4:23
4:26
4:20
4:30
4:25
4:19
4:22
4:21
-----
4:18
4:22
4:21
4:15
4:19
4:20
4:22
4:21
4:18
4:20
-----
4:19
4:20
4:14
4:12
4:15
4:16
4:13
4:14
4:12
4:11
-----
4:14
4:11
4:10
4:03
4:00
4:01
4:07
4:13
4:38
4:45

Totals:
42,028 steps
26,268 vertical feet

12 hour stair climb training

Week #6 

Down Week

Workout: Sprint workout
Goal: Give myself a down week without a long climb and do some sprints.
Location: Springfield Hilton, Springfield IL

Splits: 

1.)  4:40 warm up climb
2.)  3 x (sub 3 minute climbs with 2 minutes rest between)
             2:45
             2:47
             2:55
5.)  4:50 cool down climb
6.)  12 x 5 floor sprints with 1 minute rest between

12 Hour Stair Climb Training

Week #5

Workout: 6 hour stair climb training session
Goal: To stay at 12 hour climb pace, stay under control and eat right. 
Location: Springfield Hilton, Springfield IL

Today I broke through a huge barrier. 6 hours of climbing was a success. Again, I had no crash or tiredness what so ever. I even negative split every hour and even climbed the last one in 3:24. This workout gave me a lot of confidence in what I can do come event day. On event day I know I will have the elevator on my side with shorter rests so I might be able to squeeze in another climb every hour even when I am staying at 4:20 intervals for the first 6 hours, which I plan on doing. It's just that in these training climbs I keep feeling really good and I loosen up and just find a groove and stay there. Yet with the 12 hour climb I will have to force myself to stay at 4:20's no matter how Im feeling. In this workout I am way ahead of record pace. I climbed almost 20,000 vertical ft in 6 hours only leaving 13,000 ft left for the second 6 hours if I continued on. Only 13,000 in 6 hours is doable even if I am starting to tire I feel I can reach that.

Splits:
4:22
4:21
4:22
4:20
4:18
4:18
4:20
4:19
4:16
4:19
-----
4:17
4:19
4:18
4:16
4:16
4:17
4:17
4:17
4:15
4:14
-----
4:13
4:17
4:18
4:15
4:16
4:15
4:16
4:18
4:13
4:15
-----
4:12
4:10
4:09
4:14
4:10
4:07
4:09
4:04
4:02
4:04
-----
4:06
4:03
4:05
4:03
4:02
4:02
4:03
4:03
4:05
4:01
-----
4:00
4:01
4:00
4:03
4:00
3:59
3:53
3:46
3:38
3:24

Totals:
19,950 vertical feet (3.8 miles)
31,920 steps