Nov 1
2009

I have observed a pace group divide: accuracy decreases with target time increase. The pace groups that approach 3 hours come closer than the pace groups that approach four hours and beyond. I have witnessed a 4:15 pace group come in close to 4:30, while the 3:10 pace group was pretty much dead on. I imagine the difference is that there are more experienced runners at the faster paces. No matter. It wasn’t the pace group’s marathon to run for you.

A marathon is a race. Run your own. Yes, I know that there is a popular movement to “just finish” a marathon, but let’s face it: If you’re capable of finishing a marathon, you’re capable of racing a marathon.

If you’re going to race, you have to maximize your performance. Now, most of that comes long before race day. You should have been training for marathon race day in mind for at least the last 16 weeks… Maximizing your performance means listening to your body. Part of your training for the marathon should have been toward understanding what your body is telling you. It’s good to practice this at progressively longer distances: 5k, 10k, 15k/10mi, 13.1 miles… Each one of these distances has a different feel in terms of the speed and fatigue factors.

To paraphrase some pacing advice I received:
On race day, start out by running at a pace that you believe you can sustain for 26.2 miles [forget what your Garmin is telling you]. Constantly listen to your body, the conditions, and the terrain. At mile 20, if you’ve run the race properly, doubt and some serious fatigue will set in. At that point, run like hell until you finish.

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Oct 31
2009

I hope I’m ready for my marathon now.  I just finished my first 300 mile month ever:

monthly200910

Build-up to a 300-mile month

I also just finished my first 80-mile week last week:

Last 6 weeks including 80 mile week.

Last 6 weeks including 80 mile week.

It’s a been long road since my best marathon time ever, in May 2009, to now.  I’ve had to learn how to push myself without putting myself out of commission for 4-8 weeks at a time, as the graph shows below:

injuryandweekly

The lessons learned? [Your mileage may vary]

  1. There should be at most only 2 strictly paced workouts per week:  1 tempo or interval, and maybe 1 long run at pace (don’t obsess on pace for the long run).
  2. If you’re going to be on the treadmill for easy/recovery runs, undershoot the pace on these.
  3. For a double-run day, one of the runs should be a minute per mile slower than “easy pace”.
  4. During the bulk of the mileage build-up, it’s okay to go slower than you’re capable of.  Really.
  5. If you must track your time and distance always, use a stopwatch on a measured route instead of GPS.
  6. If anything stops working for you mentally or due to time-constraints, make a change:
    1. Split up longer workouts if schedule is a constraint.
    2. Run at a different time of day.
    3. Run on the treadmill.
    4. Avoid the treadmill.
    5. Drive to a park that you don’t normally run in.

I’ve also learned that beyond about 50 miles per week, the mental, psychological, and political [home and work] aspects of getting workouts in become more difficult than the physical aspects.  I absolutely don’t have answers for any of that, except to be as generous and flexible as possible when not running to buy the good graces of those who you depend on and who depend on you.

RunningAHEAD – Strings_n_88keys’s log: View Workout.



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Oct 23
2009

I asked what’s my marathon goal:

I have no clue what I can really go for as far as a Marathon time goes.

Stats:

  • 3 months of 260+ mile months
  • 20:52 5k PR in September in warm (humid and 79) conditions.
  • Very manageable 58:46 8-mile tempo (10-miles total in 1:17:46) yesterday
  • Marathon on November 7 in Indianapolis.

My only hesitation is that I really didn’t have many recent longer medium/hard workouts (beyond 2-3 miles of faster running) until yesterday.
I assume that in the right conditions, 3:39 is too soft a target.  I was thinking to stretch for 3:30, but now I’m looking at what I’ve accomplished and started thinking that *not stretching* for something faster would be a complete waste of my training.

Any thoughts?

My favorite response:

Does it really matter? I’m not being a wiseass, seriously, does having a bunch of yahoos on the internet try to narrow the target really make people feel better?

I think if you’re actually well trained then you probably have a really solid idea what you’re capable of–within a small range. But even if you don’t…you’re going to run what you’re capable of as long as you don’t do anything stupid like stick to a preconcieved pacing plan that takes you out too fast even though your body is telling you it’s too fast (or at least it would be if you’d listen to it instead of staring at your pace pracelet and garmin.)

Do this: when the race starts, go out at a pace you feel like is about the fastest you can maintain for 26.2 miles or so. Take constant inventory of your body and your surroundings. At the end you sould expect it to get quite hard. When this happens, just go like hell until someone wraps you in mylar.

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Oct 20
2009

My 10k PR is 46:26, which is a 7:29 pace, and my target tempo pace for today was a 7:21 pace.  I had tossed around the idea of running a 10k race this weekend, but decided that I didn’t want to reduce my miles enough to make a strong showing at the race.

  • 1 mile w/u – 9:35
  • 10k split – 45:14 (7:17 pace)
  • 0.78 mile [rest of the 7 mile tempo] in 5:25 (6:57 pace)
  • 1 mile c/d – 9:26

It was a fun little exercise, and I’m happy that I have my legs back under me after having a rocky week of workouts last week.

RunningAHEAD – Strings_n_88keys’s log: View Workout.

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Oct 17
2009

I tried to repeat the workout that I pulled off last week–5-4-3-2-1 @ MP on a long run.  Last week, that run made me feel that I had a shot at 3:20 for a marathon.  This week, my run made me feel I would struggle to hit my PR.  While I *did* add 2 miles to the week and long run distance, my 20 miler today was 50 seconds per mile slower than my 18 miler last week.  Not to mention that the weather was much cooler this weekend.

I have had low quality runs this week, and had quite a bit of trouble with coughing today.  I also dropped about 2 pounds this week, and spent an hour and a half straight standing up last night and was feeling pretty sick last night.  I’m feeling quite a bit better now, although I still have this lingering cough.

- 2.08 mile warm-up, 19:04 (9:11/mi)
- 5 mile MP interval, 41:11 (8:15/mi)
- 5 minute recovery, 0.56 mi
- 4 mile MP interval, 31:55 (7:59/mi)
- 4 minute recovery, 0.45 mi
- 3 mile MP interval, 26:02 (8:41/mi)
- 3 minute recovery, 0.31 mi
- 2 mile MP interval, 16:55 (8:28/mi)
- 2 minute recovery, 0.21 mi
- 1 mile MP interval, 9:01
- 1.41 mi cool down 13:17 (9:26/mi)

RunningAHEAD – Strings_n_88keys’s log: View Workout.



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