Last week:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9115819
I haven't started in a while...hope this isn't too early...
Congrats to some wicked fast Turkey Trotters!!!!!
Male, 50 yo, 5’7”, 127 lbs
Goals: sub 3:00 marathon. No “maybe.” (See, I was paying attention!)
Upcoming Race: Gomach HM 3/3 (6 weeks out from...) Boston 2019
M: 10k E Flat
T: 13k E Hilly
W: 10k E Flat
T: 20k = AM 9k E Hilly; PM 11k E Flat (Commute)
F: 11k E Flat
S: Rest (Ha! a 13 hour work day!)
S: 25k: Daniels 2Q Test Drive: 13k E + 5k T + 3 min jog + 3k T + 3k E
Total: 8:42 - 91k - 2790 ft
Highlights: My Tuesday run was nice.
Lowlights: Other than a somewhat challenging work sched, no lowlights this week. Things calm down after this week; many of my coaching charges are facing their goal race next Saturday: the SAT exam!
Marathon Training: (TL;DR version: 2Q@HR beginning 12/9)
Lot of reading and video watching this week and I’m on board for using the 2Q as a guide for my Boston training. According to vids I saw this week, Coach jtupper doesn’t really like my idea of using HR instead of pace, but if you don’t tell him, I won’t mention it either. Training by HR and time rather than distance and pace (a la Hadd) got me to my 15min PR and BQ last year.
After reading and considering a bunch of stuff, the 2Q by HR is essentially what I was approaching with my Hadd training last year: mostly low aerobic, one day at medium aerobic, and one day at high (basically 2Q per week). Prior to my goal race last year, my Hadd training had only just begun to progress into my Daniels “T” HR range (the high-aerobic near the end of the cycle); I had a limited amount of time at that level, but things still worked out really well. This time I already have a significant bit of T work thanks to the recent HM cycle.
The 2Q presents a challenging level of work, so I’ll monitor everything carefully, but going by HR mitigates the possibility of overtraining (IMHO). I’ll do “R” and “I” workouts by pace; which pace to use may prove to be a moving target but I’ll use my recent 10k and HM as a place to start. For volume, I plan to peak at 115km (70ish miles), a reasonable progression for me. That means cycling through weeks of 92k, 104k, and 115k. I have consistent stretches of 90km+ in my recent history with peaks over 100k so I feel this is an appropriately challenging level of stimulus.
Sooo...while my “goal” is sub-3:00, it could be more appropriate to call it a “hope.” It might be kind of ironic, but I’m gonna characterize this training plan as a “Too Hot 2Q”: Daniels progressions and proportions but training at whatever my body gives me on that day. By monitoring paces at T and M throughout the cycle, and then a HM 6 weeks out, I should have a very good idea of what to do on race day. Obviously, I want my body to give me 42.2 km at 4:15/km on Patriots Day. But I also know that I have overtrained using Daniels in the past due to training at overly optimistic Vdots (my fault, not jtupper’s). This is my chance to apply both past success and past failure to build something epic; can’t pass up an opportunity like that!