2.28.2011
2.22.2011
Congratulations to all Austin Marathon finishers!
Karolina 3:28 (PR)
Jessica: 3:33
Ryan: 3:37 (PR)
Kristyn: 3:45
Jessica: 3:33
Ryan: 3:37 (PR)
Kristyn: 3:45
2.11.2011
8 days 11 hours and 39 minutes
The marathon starts at 7/am. If the marathon were tomorrow, it'd be 33 degrees at the start and, if finishing sometime at or before 11/am, somewhere between 46 and 52 degrees at the finish. That ain't bad.
I've begun to think about fueling during the marathon. I didn't fuel at all during my training runs. The most I took was 16 oz. of water on long-runs only. I don't think I properly fueled during Green Mountain, so I won't repeat that approach (2 or so gels over the course of the marathon). I think a gel every 5 or 6 miles will do the trick. I have no problem stomaching them, so I might as well use them, as it beats the hell out of chewing chomps/beans or swallowing salt tablets.
What else? I've finally retired my second to last pair of Lunar Trainer at 950 miles. I gave them a final run on Sunday in Central Park. They treated me well. I'm now fully transitioned into my last pair, and I'll run the marathon in them. On March 1st, I'm going to pick up a pair of NB Road Minimus. I probably won't be able to run full-time in them, but I'll start working them into my rotation (which, currently, includes only one pair of shoes). I'm excited about them.
I'm at about 27 miles for the week. I'll finish the week off with 5 tonight, 3 tomorrow, and 13 on Sunday. I'll throw in a few MP miles on Sunday, but the majority of that run will be at a low intensity. At this point, I don't plan on doing anymore tempos, but a few MP miles on Tuesday or Thursday of next week won't hurt. This training has been made up of largely aerobic conditioning and very little anaerobic threshold and VO2 max work. I felt that, during this initial training of higher volume, aerobic conditioning was sufficient. However, I was able to get in a few tempos at the very end of the training but not any intervals. This was quite different than last training, during which I did a tempo or interval session on a weekly basis. In hindsight, that was too much hard training for my fitness level at that point. Now that I've done it, training the Lydiard way--that is, spending as many months as possible building an aerobic base and THEN for a short period only sharpening on the hills, doing drills (e.g., hill-bounding), and incorporating anaerobic threshold and VO2 max workouts--makes a lot of sense. The guy was a genius, and I plan to continue to train by his methods in the future. I find Pfitz and all the rest to be smart, but their plans are convoluted. For me, volume is important, so I know that I need to run a lot (mostly easy, some hard). That's pretty simple. Being a slave to a plan is bad news, as I've found that I don't always feel fresh on my hard days. What I do then is skip the hard day entirely. I buffer my last hard run with even more easy, aerobic running, setting me up for my next hard day. This has worked quite well for me. Following the Runner's World Training: Smart Coach thing for Green Mountain was a disaster. I felt stale for the good majority of the time and even worse at the mary.
I've begun to think about fueling during the marathon. I didn't fuel at all during my training runs. The most I took was 16 oz. of water on long-runs only. I don't think I properly fueled during Green Mountain, so I won't repeat that approach (2 or so gels over the course of the marathon). I think a gel every 5 or 6 miles will do the trick. I have no problem stomaching them, so I might as well use them, as it beats the hell out of chewing chomps/beans or swallowing salt tablets.
What else? I've finally retired my second to last pair of Lunar Trainer at 950 miles. I gave them a final run on Sunday in Central Park. They treated me well. I'm now fully transitioned into my last pair, and I'll run the marathon in them. On March 1st, I'm going to pick up a pair of NB Road Minimus. I probably won't be able to run full-time in them, but I'll start working them into my rotation (which, currently, includes only one pair of shoes). I'm excited about them.
I'm at about 27 miles for the week. I'll finish the week off with 5 tonight, 3 tomorrow, and 13 on Sunday. I'll throw in a few MP miles on Sunday, but the majority of that run will be at a low intensity. At this point, I don't plan on doing anymore tempos, but a few MP miles on Tuesday or Thursday of next week won't hurt. This training has been made up of largely aerobic conditioning and very little anaerobic threshold and VO2 max work. I felt that, during this initial training of higher volume, aerobic conditioning was sufficient. However, I was able to get in a few tempos at the very end of the training but not any intervals. This was quite different than last training, during which I did a tempo or interval session on a weekly basis. In hindsight, that was too much hard training for my fitness level at that point. Now that I've done it, training the Lydiard way--that is, spending as many months as possible building an aerobic base and THEN for a short period only sharpening on the hills, doing drills (e.g., hill-bounding), and incorporating anaerobic threshold and VO2 max workouts--makes a lot of sense. The guy was a genius, and I plan to continue to train by his methods in the future. I find Pfitz and all the rest to be smart, but their plans are convoluted. For me, volume is important, so I know that I need to run a lot (mostly easy, some hard). That's pretty simple. Being a slave to a plan is bad news, as I've found that I don't always feel fresh on my hard days. What I do then is skip the hard day entirely. I buffer my last hard run with even more easy, aerobic running, setting me up for my next hard day. This has worked quite well for me. Following the Runner's World Training: Smart Coach thing for Green Mountain was a disaster. I felt stale for the good majority of the time and even worse at the mary.
2.07.2011
Taper
So, the 14-week build-up to Austin is in the books. Here are my weekly mileage totals:
46.9, 49.1, 54.4, 46.4, 53.4, 54.2, 57.6, 49.2, 58.9, 63.5, 33.6 (ill), 58.4, 62.5, 59.3 = 747.4
That's an average of 53.4 miles per week (would have been more like 55 if I hadn't become ill at the end of week 11), which is a few miles more than I had planned, but I handled the volume quite well.
As briefly discussed below, I had a good day at the office yesterday. Even though my legs felt a bit on the tight side for the duration of the long-run, I knew I had several more gears for the final lap in Central Park. I had planned on running the last lap at about 8:00 pace (marathon pace if all stars align), but I ran it at 7:34 pace, which is, unquestionably, well below marathon pace. The legs just wanted to go, so I let them. My average long-run pace for this training was 8:33. That's 27 seconds per mile faster than my average long-run pace for the training leading up to my fastest marathon. If I had a guess, I'll finish Austin somewhere between 3:32 and 3:38.
I'll do 48 miles this week (mostly easy, aerobic miles--might throw in some 800m repeats if I feel good on Thursday), including a 13 mile long run on Sunday. Definitely plan to dial back the intensity.
46.9, 49.1, 54.4, 46.4, 53.4, 54.2, 57.6, 49.2, 58.9, 63.5, 33.6 (ill), 58.4, 62.5, 59.3 = 747.4
That's an average of 53.4 miles per week (would have been more like 55 if I hadn't become ill at the end of week 11), which is a few miles more than I had planned, but I handled the volume quite well.
As briefly discussed below, I had a good day at the office yesterday. Even though my legs felt a bit on the tight side for the duration of the long-run, I knew I had several more gears for the final lap in Central Park. I had planned on running the last lap at about 8:00 pace (marathon pace if all stars align), but I ran it at 7:34 pace, which is, unquestionably, well below marathon pace. The legs just wanted to go, so I let them. My average long-run pace for this training was 8:33. That's 27 seconds per mile faster than my average long-run pace for the training leading up to my fastest marathon. If I had a guess, I'll finish Austin somewhere between 3:32 and 3:38.
I'll do 48 miles this week (mostly easy, aerobic miles--might throw in some 800m repeats if I feel good on Thursday), including a 13 mile long run on Sunday. Definitely plan to dial back the intensity.
Hats off to Ian Sharman and Tony Krupicka
Ian won the Rocky Raccoon 100 in Huntsville, TX, in 12 hours and 44 minutes on Saturday. That's 7:38 pace for 100 miles!!! And a course record! Tony finished second in 13:18, which is 7:58 pace. Tony won this race in 2007 in 13:32. The course is a 20 mile loop of flat trails done 5 times.
2.06.2011
Two weeks out from the green mountain marathon, I ran 20 miles at 8:54 pace in central park. My splits were as follows: 9:12, 9:02, 8:39, and 8:12. Compare that to today's workout two weeks out from Austin for which I did 17.5 miles at 8:17 pace in central park. I did the first lap at 8:46 pace, the second lap at 8:24 and the last at 7:34. Probably could have kept it up for another three miles today. No clue what Austin has in store for me except I hope a fast marathon.
2.05.2011
Friday: Jogged over to the bank to withdraw a train fare to Branford and then to the train station; hopped on the train and then ran an easy six miles home. The roads were icy in spots, particularly on the hills. Almost ran into a car just to show the driver what happens when you don't look both ways before pulling out into traffic but then realized that that would probably hurt. I yelled at him instead. Ignorant drivers.
2.03.2011
Week 14 tempo
I had planned on running indoors after work yesterday (not willing to run in cold rain), but the gym was closed. Instead, I threw on my headlamp and did six easy miles on dark, black ice-covered roads. Fun run, actually. This morning, I did 11, including a 2.5 mile warmup, 3.3 miles at 6:58 pace (hadn't run this fast since 5K back in October of last year), and a 5.2 mile cooldown. Felt pretty good. Gonna run easy next two days. Long run in Central Park on Sunday.
2.01.2011
Slogged through an hour of easy running on the 'mill last night followed by some light strength training. Twelve hours later, Jessica and I were on the snowy/sleety roads of Branford just trying to put in an honest effort. The roadways this morning weren't terrible but they weren't great either. Gotta love Mother Nature. Really looking forward to being a bum on the couch tonight. Fingers crossed that this office will close early, which would mean more time to be a bum. It's not that I don't look forward to running on a daily basis, it's the weather. It's getting old. Without the looming marathon, I don't know that I'd be motivated to run everyday in this awful weather.
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