Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 11/6

Can't wait to hear some NYC results, it looks like a great morning to be out there running.

I had a good week, nothing special, but some decent volume.

Goal Race: ????

Next Race: Founders Day 10k (11/13)

Goal Time: sub-32 or win

M: am - 10 easy (6:57) / pm - 4 easy (7:41)

Tu: 8 easy (7:52)

W: am - 9 total w/ 3 miles of in/out 400's (avg 72/88) / pm - 4 easy (7:55)

Th: 10 easy (7:17)

F: 4 easy (7:55)

Sa: am - 10 total w/ 3 mile tempo (15:57 - 5:19, 5:21, 5:16) / pm - 4 easy (7:51)

Su: 15 easy (7:18)

Weekly Total - 78 miles

YTD - 3,661 miles

Felt absolutely awful on the 3 mile tempo, I had 4 miles planned, but decided to cut it off. It was windy and just one of those runs where nothing felt right. On today's long run, I decided to do something a little different: I tried to keep all my miles above 7:00. After about 10 miles, it actually became difficult to keep the pace slow. I finished the run feeling like I had just gone out for a recovery run...certainly didn't feel like my normal 15 milers. Don't know what to think of it, but I think I'll keep with that routine for a while and see where it takes me.

I've got a 10k next weekend, after my horrible tempo run, I don't know if sub-32 is possible, but I still feel it's attainable. We'll see, the main goal is to win.

brumrunner - Sorry to hear about your apartment, that sucks. Great tempo on Tuesday...you were moving! Don't underestimate how much a 12 miler the day before your 5k takes out of you...I'm sure that had something to do with how your 5k went. Plus the added stress of getting broken into surely took a mental toll as well. On the whole, you're still very much in line with your 32:30/71:00 goals next month.

missed posting last week so I'll throw in both weeks this week:

Goal Race: Jacksonville Marathon (12/18)

Goal Time: 2:35-2:37

week ending 10/30

M: 10

T: AM: 5/PM: 10.5

W: AM: 4/PM:15 total w/ 4mi(6:02/mi)(4:00 jog recovery), 3mi(5:59/mi) (3:00 jog), 2mi(5:57/mi)(2:00 jog), 1 mi 5:45

T: AM: 4.25/PM: 10.25

F: AM:5/PM: 10

S: 26 (6:58/mile)

S: 10 Easy

Total: 110

week ending 11/6

M: AM: 4.5/PM:10

T: AM: 4/PM: 10.5

W: AM: 4/PM: 13 w/6xroad miles (3:00 jog)(on a rolling loop) ~5:40avg (snow cancelled my plans to try to hammer these on a track)

T: AM: 4.5/PM 10.25

F: 9.25 easy

S: 22 total w/7 easy (7:00/mi) + 13.1 in 77:44(MP) (5:55.8/mi) + 2 cool down

S: Off (planned)

Total: 92

I am not sure how I feel about yesterday's MP run (as part of a race). I feel like I shouldn't be disappointed because I was just about at my goal of 77:30, it was at 5,000 ft, and parts of the course had snow/ice on it. However, I was pretty disappointed with how I felt. I felt really flat the last few miles. I was running with a friend through 5 miles, and I felt decent enough at that point. Then he wanted to pick it up so I let him go with the intention of trying to move up a bit later in the last 3 miles, but I just couldn't find a way to maintain a faster pace. I stayed consistent between 5:50 and 5:59 the whole race but there were times when I looked down at my garmin in the last few miles and surged a bit to bring that time sub 6:00. It just got me thinking about how I could maintain that pace for a full marathon, if I was feeling flat at that pace for a half.

Last weeks 26 was pretty similar. I wanted to close hard like on my other longruns where I've done the last few miles in around 6:00. I was pleased with my sub 7:00 average, but I struggled to hit 6:30 the last few...

I planned today to be an off day for a whle now, but after yesterday, I was contemplating putting in another 10 this week (watching nyc this morning certainly hasn't helped since it made me want to run out of my apt and hammer haha), but I'm realizing now as I type this post, a day off might be what I need... Anyway those were my past 2 weeks..

I'm excited to hear how everyone did at nyc.

pablo: For feeling awful on the tempo, you were still moving pretty well. Good luck in the 10k next week!

brumrunner: Sorry to hear about the robbery. I hope you'll be able to recover your stolen items and sense of safety in your home... Solid tempo on Tuesday and race on Saturday. I agree with pablo, your goals for next month are definitely still in reach.

Goal - BOSTON 2:4X:XX

Sub 16 5k

New Yorkers - I hope your experiences mimicked Mutai and not Keitany . . . look forward to hearing about it.

Brum - that blows man. No 2 ways about it. I hope it gets hemmed up allright.

Pablo - You are looking to be solidly recovering from CHI town.

Des - Nice MP run.

Tough week for me, but a decent finish.

M- 10 w/ 3x1000 + 3x800 too fast. Ran negative splits but was trashed for the rest of the week.

T- 10 easy

W - 10 easy. At the end of the run I basically felt my left leg 'give out' or something. Shut it down and ran really slow back to the gym I run from.

Th- Off needed

F - 10 felt like crap

S - OFF

S - 11 w/ 10K in 36:22 for 3rd place. Had a really tough go of it, and just couldn't find the will to push harder. I led for the first 5k and felt good, but then just didn't push it to catch the leaders. It didn't help that there was rain and a strong headwind for the last 3 miles of the race. To be fair though, it was my best overall finish ever, technically a stand alone 10K PR (ran faster in my last 1/2) and I won 50 bucks to Dicks sporting goods so I can get some sorely needed new socks. Definitely nice to be on a podium for the first time although I ran the race with a friends bib so my name was "Andrew Gardner"

My body is begging for some rest. I think I am going to do two weeks of slow easy mileage, no workouts, just base/recovery. This rules out getting sharp for a turkey trot, but is what I am guessing to be the right thing for my body.

Goal Race: Myrtle Beach (2/18)

Goal Time: 2:25

M - 8 recovery AM 8 easy PM

T - 8 easy AM 3 wu, 4 easy tempo in 22, 2 cd

W - 8 recovery AM 8 easy PM

T - 8 easy AM 8 easy PM

F - 8 easy AM 5 easy w/ strides PM

S - 1 wu, Taterbug 30 Mile Ultramarathon Race, 1st in 3:19:13, course record by 8 minutes

S - 8 recovery AM 8 recovery PM

Total - 125 miles

YTD - 4234 miles

Race Report: Race went really, really well. Wanted a good training run but did get competetive and did more of a warmup than I would for my long runs (those have none haha). The course is pretty tough, has 1500 ft. of climbing, most of it during the first 15 miles with a brutal climb 4 miles in. My 10 mile splits were 1:09:14, 1:07:04, 1:02:55 with my last 5 miles in 30:30 including a 5:44 last mile. I had a lot left for sure, legs feel no different today than after any other long run.

Hope everyone else had a good week and those running NYC today had a great race! Also, thanks for the kind words last week on my 400+ day running streak, I need to do a better job responding and commenting on everyones training because there are a lot of great things going on here!

Race: Philly

Goal: 2:25

S - 10

M - 18, had to move my long run to monday

T - 10

W - 15, 10 mile tempo in 56:36

T - 10

F - 9, first time under 10 in a long time, I've only had one other day under 10 miles in the last 10 weeks

S - 13, 8mi tempo 43:17, I was going to run 10 but it wasn't my day, I'm ready for the taper for sure. The last few weeks have taken a toll.

Total - 85

Two weeks to Philly. I'm ready to start stepping down to the taper. I just want to start feeling springy. I know that I'm in good shape. I'm also crossing my fingers for good weather.

NY was pretty exciting today. The Mutais were quite impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing the results from the people on the thread.

M - 8 miles (6:43)

T - 9 miles (6:25)

W - off

TH - 6 miles (6:45)

F - 8 miles (6:50)

S - 10 miles (6:51)

S - 12 miles (6:32)

Total 53 miles

Had the opportunity to watch the marathon on tv this morning.. man do they make it look easy! amazing pull by Mutai, and overall performance by Meb! age is not slowing him down, yet!

next up is categorically, best of luck with the taper

on my side, left pf has been bothering me like hell. I have been able to keep running as it doesnt bother me when I run, but the pain lingers around after.

Goal Race: Phili in 2:48

Mon: Off (planned)

Tue: 8 @ 7:32

Wed: 8.8 @ 6:50 (busted tempo run, guess I wasn't well recovered from my Canova special block on Sunday).

Thu: 8 @ 7:35

Fri: 6 @ 7:45

Sat: 9.4 @ 7:11 w/ 2.44mi race in 14:35 (5:59). Horrible, don't know what to make of this result. I did the two loop version at the same pace in the middle of a long run in September.

Sun: 20mi @ 7:15.

Total: 60.7

I took a lot of easy days this week as it was the first week of a 3 week taper (target 80% of peak mileage), so I was pretty disappointed to toss out such a terrible time on Saturday's race. Looking back at my training logs, it seems impossible that my fitness is that low, so I will just have to count on a taper to bring my legs back.

Did want to see if anyone has any comment on my upcoming taper week plan:

M - Off

T - 5mi Easy

W - 11mi w/ 10mi avg M pace, alternating M+15s/M/M-15s

T - Off

F - 6mi Easy

S - 5mi Easy

S - Half marathon. Plan to use this as a dress rehearsal of sorts where I practice nutrition and pacing for the actual marathon. Plan to run 8-10mi at M and mail in the remainder.

brumrunner - that sucks with the burglary! Nice tempo and parkrun (what was the course like? - the weather has really turned down here so between the sudden dips in temp + rain I'd hazard it would affect perceived effort if it's the same there).

pablo - better a bad workout than a bad race!

des - hitting MP target for a HM whilst in heavy training is not to be sniffed at.

Congrats on the podium samblackbones.

And likewise on the win/cr rhrunner.

Nice tempos again categorically. Good shape indeed!

Reasonably pleased with my week. Some decent efforts, plus most days as per plan (Monday and Sunday affected by poorly kids). Tuesday's tempo hills was very tough on the legs, but probably the best executed session I can remember doing. Feeling positive to be running efforts so smoothly in just my 2nd week back in focused training. Good signs.

Mon: pm: 11.2m - 5 easy, 6.2 progressive steady (av 6:17)

Tues: am: 7m - jog + 8 x 30/30 strides (7:56)

pm: 11m with 40mins tempo hills

Wed: midday: 20.4m - very easy with 11m on The Nutcracker (7:50)

Thurs: am: 5.2m jog (8:24)

pm: 5.2m jog (7:54)

Fri: am 5.8m - jog + 10 x 15/30 strides (7:50)

pm: 12m with 4 x 3km/600m on track - 3km: 10:25, 10:23, 10:22, 10:20

Sat: am: 9.2m easy prog + drills (7:22)

Sun: midday: 8.2m with 6m split tempo (33:57 - ~5:50/5:29 split)

Total for the week: 95m

Helluva race upfront at NYC today, every year I always watch this one on TV and it always makes me want to sign up for NYC next year....one of these days.

I was able to track those of you who posted bib #'s at NYC today. Gotta give a shout out to printer86, who nailed his 2:57 goal time!!! Even though you kinda backed your way into it, you still got there. Looking forward to the report.

stamford - Looks like it was a rough one for you today, hope everything is alright. Big props for gutting it out even when you saw the goal time was long gone.

Another - Not bad for someone who didn't really train for this race :) Here's to a quick recovery and a solid buildup to Houston!

des - Don't underestimate how difficult running MP actually is within a full week of training. Not to mention the altitude and ::gulp:: ice/snow (that's so unreal to me) slow you down for sure. You'll have days where it feels effortless and days where it feels difficult...the important thing is that you still hit it.

samblackbones - Congrats on the podium finish! It's a great feeling, huh?

rhrunner - I am genuinely impressed with what you post every week. That's a really impressive negative split in your 30 miler. BTW, you will successfully pass my YTD mileage from all of last year tomorrow...with 8 weeks left to go in the year. Looks like you'll eclipse 5k for the year.

marathonE - Good to hear the PF doesn't bother you while running, but you've got to keep a close eye on it. That thing can escalate quick. It doesn't appear to be slowing you down much, so I think you're alright for now.

categorically & cyhawk - Welcome to the taper! It's all about rest and absorbing all the mileage you've done now. cyhawk, personally, I don't think it's necessary (or even a good idea) to run 8-10 miles at MP the week before your marathon. If you want to do a dress rehearsal, run 3-4 miles at MP.

ZaTTu - Very nice week! I had to think hard about what you meant about the "Nutcracker"...then I remembered it's your long run loop. I was worried at first that you're some kind of masochist incorporating some weird things during your long run.

Thanks Pablo. It was hard to hold back and I still think I went too fast. I saw I could break 3:10 so I ran my fastest non-downhill bridge mile as mile 26 and sub 6:30 pace after mile 26. A marathon still takes some out of you.

Monday 8x400m repeats :72-:75 (7)

Tuesday Easy 4

Wednesday All out mile 5:12 (5)

Thursday Easy 6

Friday Easy 4

Saturday Race 32:40, knee hurt, mentally never got in race. (9)

Sunday Rest/Eating and drinking bad

Total 35

Overall it was a good week for workouts but the race was just never there. I am frustrated beyond belief when workouts indicate I am capable of doing so much better but come race day things go horrible. But right now, I am letting the past two months of my life go and moving on....

That means my half marathon qualifier is 4 weeks away. So I need some advice. I have two options

1) Hold out my season for a month more, lose some weight increase miles, and try for the 1:16:40 I need

or

2) Take a week off, build a new base, and attempt a half in the early spring leaving 6-8 weeks to be ready for a marathon.

I hope you all had good weeks and any help I get will be greatly appreciated. Also the past few weeks have been part of my coaches training plan, clearly it has mixed results and my HM training wont include that crappy taper plan

Goal Marathon: Rocket City, 2:19

Mon: 5.6 miles (7:16; 8.5 miles (7:20)

Tue: 8.2 miles (6:57); 6.8 miles with 5x12s hill sprints(7:37)

Wed: 3 miles (7:28); 17.6 miles with 4x5k@ marathon effort with steady 1k jog. Times were 16:34,16:28,16:28,16:24 and all my 1k jogs were 3:50. Really happy with this workout. It was almost 70 and really windy, so I thought I'd run these 15s slower than I did. Aerobically, I felt very controlled but my hip flexors and hamstrings were worn out from the long run and hills, so it was hard to turn my legs over. Ran these over 1:00 faster per 5k than last year, so I was really happy.

Thu: 10.2 miles (7:11); 4.2 miles (7:34)

Fri: 10 miles medium (5:40). Really pleased with how relaxed this felt, especially after my workout; 8 miles (7:11)

Sat: 9.1 miles (7:07); 4.9 miles (7:34)

Sun: 24 miles (6:39). Did this with no carbs after waking up and all I ate for dinner last night was about 20 wings, so I was worried I'd struggle at the end but I felt really good.

Week Total= 120.1 miles, which is a new lifetime best. With how workouts went this week, I decided to be more gung ho, and shoot for 2:19 (but will be pleased with sub 2:22). Cross country is over, so I can now train better. Now I just need to cut out the junk (which is about 1/3 of my daily kcal).

Pablo: No worries on the tempo. You're just coming off your marathon, so it's hard to get the wheels moving. After both of my marathons, I really struggled to even run marathon pace for 3-4 miles for a couple of months after the race. When you get back in the race environment you'll find your mojo again.

des: It sounds like the course conditions were at least 15s a mile slower than sea level on a bad day. Not to mention it's hard to run 13 miles at MP when you're training hard.

rhrunner: Solid ultra! You're just reaping the rewards of your hard training. When is the next race?

Tiger_runner: It sounds like you need a break, both physically and mentally. Not to mention, racing a half marathon 6-8 weeks before a marathon is almost ideal.

Goal: CIM sub 2:45

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Easy 6

Wed: 9 @ 6:45 pace

Thurs: AM - 7 mile tempo in 41:00, 11.5 total. PM - Easy 5. Could not get HR up on Tempo - disappointing. Perhaps due to 1/2 marathon on Sat.

Friday: Easy 5

Saturday: Hilly 10 @ 6:50 pace

Sunday: AM - Hilly 13.5 @ 6:52 pace. PM - Flat 13.5 @ 6:57 pace. Struggled into a strong headwind for final 3 miles of second run and slowed to 7:20 pace. Still, good week of 74 miles.

Congrats to all the NY'ers today!

second week posting in thread...

Disney, Jan 8

Goal: 250-255

M - 6 at 731

T - 6 x mile w/ 400 recovery at 6:10

W - 5 @ 725

Th - 10.5 at 655

F - 7.5 at 713

S - 5 at 709

S - 19 at 655 (1st half at 714 2nd half at 636)

Battling some plantar fasciitis, ice/stretch/lacrosse ball helps quite a bit

OWWWW. 2:58:48. It most mostly my own fault and a beginner's mistake. Did not take nearly enough fluids in early on and it hurt me BIG time as Pablo saw. I'll write up a full report tomorrow. BTW G. Mutai...2:05 for real??? That is absolutely nuts.

2:45 Goal

Mardi Gras Rock and Roll (3-4-2012)

25 week program and I'm 9 weeks in. I'm coming from a low mileage background (30-40) for 17 years or so.

Here is the first 8 weeks mileage wise.

56, 56, 53, 53, 60, 62, 57,

Last week was:

Sunday (12 miles) 7:15

Monday (3 miles) 7:00

Tuesday (13 miles) 2 up and 2 down ( 3 x 3 mile 18:09, 17:58, 18:14) with 3:00 jog recovery

Wednesday (5 miles) 7:00

Thursday (5 miles cut short due to family obligations) 6 x 800 @ 2:45's

Friday (6 miles ) 7:00

Saturday (6 miles ) 7:00

Really bad week for me with alot of stuff going on. Really wanted to hit 65 miles but I'll take it.

Ran 21 miles today @ 6:59 pace. Will definetly hit 65 miles this week.