| Ciakra |
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My 2nd marathon was a BQ back in October, about 1.5 months after which I tore a calf muscle. I was out for about 2 months as I recovered/went to physical therapy. My problem was that too quickly after my marathon I was simultaneously building mileage (I was only in the 40s at this point post-taper), doing too many intervals/tempos/marathon pace runs (and building them up) without much previous speed-training in my last training period, and overall just not running smart. But whatever, lesson-learned. My approach now has been to build up to a base of about 70-80 miles a week by late October, which gives me pleeeenty of time so I don't rush myself like I did last year. I'm currently up to 25 miles a week at 7 days of running; not much, but I pretty much started over mileage-wise after PT was finished. The mileage has felt great and have had no real problems; I've been tempted to amp it up a bit, but I'm holding myself back to ensure that I focus on the base-building. My question is this: Should I start off with very low-mileage tempo runs/marathon paces, in proportion to my low weekly mileage, and gradually increase as I work up to 70-80 mpw, or should I just stick to easy runs the next 6 months until I have a solid base? On the one-hand, I don't want to repeat my previous mistakes by doing too much too soon, but I also feel like by only running easy miles, I'm neglecting a lot of areas that contribute to a solid marathon foundation. I did a very short Tempo-run this week, 1 mile at about 6:08 (a bit faster than I should've gone, probably) that felt good. I've been a bit sore in the calves since, but not noticeably and it feels more like general "haven't used my muscles like this in a while" soreness. But I also don't trust myself because I'm liable to want to do too much too soon! So what do you guys think? Thanks in advance! |
| blaznbison24 |
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When is your next marathon? Why not work on your 5k speed some this spring and then go back to the marathon build-up this summer? |
| Ciakra |
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I haven't picked a marathon yet, but I wanted to run one sometime in late October. Interesting, I hadn't thought of 5K training, then marathon build-up. I've only ever run marathons (two last year), so that's sort of where my heart is. My plan was to spend this year building up mileage for a race in October, then after having that base, amp up the speed training a la Daniels' or Pftizinger's plans for Boston in 2013. Since Boston is my ultimate mid-term goal, would 5K training followed by base building really be preferential to what I've already planned? |