Goal Marathon: Fall?
Goal Time: Sub 2:19
Finally back from the dead. I had about six weeks of near non-existant running, got in about 35 miles of easy jogging, then had to take off another week of running because of the flu. This past week was week #4 of base training.
Mon: 10 mile progression with segments of (6:15, 6:14, 6:19, 6:14), 5:48, 5:54, 5:59), (5:26, 5:37, 2:45 for 1/2 mile). I was shooting for 3 at 5:30 pace at the end, but my legs were dead. Last week, I only made it a mile at 5:30 pace, so it's progress; 4.2 miles (8:01)
Tue: 9.1 miles (6:54); 3.4 miles (7:28)
Wed: 7.2 miles (8:00ish); 4.6 miles (6:33)
Thu: Rained all day, cold and windy. Heck no.
Fri: 4.5 miles (7:15); 4.2 miles with strides)
Sat: 16.1 miles with half-marathon in 68:34. I was really pumped with this because I honestly thought I wouldn't break 70. My right shoe lost all of its tension in the first mile, so it was sliding up and down the entire race, which was pretty annoying. Ran with a guy for the first five miles, and the early pace felt really uncomfortable. We were clicking off consistent 5:17s and I got a little bit giddy at one point and put a few seconds on him with a 5:12. I knew it was too fast but I got locked into a rhythm and slowly built a 5-10s lead over the next couple of miles. I expected to die after 10 miles and I couldn't shake the guy at all. I knew if I had one bad mile, he would be right one me and I was getting pretty tired but was still clicking off the miles. On the 12th mile, I picked it up a good bit in hopes to break the guy's motivation so he wouldn't try and chase me down the last mile. I put a good bit on him that last mile and was able to relax the last half mile and win by a little over 30s. Splits were: 10:34, 5:16, 5:18, 5:12, 5:16, 5:11, 5:10, 5:16, 10:24, 5:06, 5:51 for the last 1.1
Sun: 5.8 miles (7:53). I explored what I thought was a runnable power-line trail but it turned into an hour long walk through thorns bushes with a mile of running in about 11 minutes. Headed to a new place to knock out the last few miles. Butt is really worn out and calves are jacked,; 3.3 miles (7:51). Tried running with my dog, who used to do 15 mile runs with me without a problem but after 1/4 mile at 9:30 pace, she was done. Legs feel worse than they did when I woke up.
Week Total= 72.4 miles. Really happy with this week because I thought my fitness was much worse than the race showed. I can tell I'm still really rusty and have a long way to go.
Drey: You're looking fit, so stay on top of that knee!
Pablo: The stomach issues sound like a random fluke, so no worries. Bad races are good for you though. They fuel your fire some, and make you re-evaluate what went wrong so you can make future improvements. Good races really don't teach you anything.
80-90 miles Good work this week! I definitely think you have the half marathon fitness to blow that 2:30 out of the water. Make sure to get in those runs at 5:40 pace to get more efficient at goal marathon pace and help your fat-fueling rate.
Foogo I would say it depends on the shoe. If there isn't a large difference, I think it's good to do your long runs and fast workouts in that shoe. You may put some pounding on your legs for the first few sessions, but your body will adapt.
I'll have to catch up with the rest of you later. Unfortunately, it's time to do yard work again.