Marathon Training Week Ending April 15th

Where are you doing this training at?

Grandma's - Sub 2:22.

Another solid week for me. I was hoping it would feel easy after my weeks of 120, 130, and 140 mile but it didn't. Sort of a recovery week.

Monday - 14 Easy

Tuesday - AM 9 Easy / PM 8 Medium (5:51)

Wednesday - 14 Easy

Thursday - 12 Medium (5:49)

Friday - 10 Easy

Saturday - 4 warmup/strides, My team's mini meet 5K on the track in 16:01 (solo effort, won by 2 1/2 minutes), about 10 min jogging stretching, 400 in 64 (1st), maybe 5 minutes rest, 1500 in 4:43, 2.5 cooldown

Sunday - 24 Easy

Total of 102 miles for the week. Time to bring the mileage under 100 for a week and see how that goes.

Goal Grandmas - sub 2:25

Disapointing week. 12 miles easy was the run of the week.

M: 12M

T: 16M - 4 x (5:20on/1:40 off)

W: 12M/12M

Th: 12M

F: 8M + 10 x 100m strides

S: 18 M - 13 miles at 5:30 pace.

SU: 12M

100 miles.

Sunday was awful in NY.

See you in Duluth - Miles.

Yeah see you there. Are you sure you won't be ready for the sub 2:22 group?

curious one wrote:

Where are you doing this training at?

Edmonton

That's great training, Matt and Miles. Matt, what race are you training for?

I ran well enough this week that I feel comfortable posting it on LetsRun. My goal is 2:55.

Monday - 72 minutes easy

Tuesday - 77 minutes steady

Wednesday - 5 x 4:30 with 3:00 jog over rosedale

thursday - off

Friday - 16k tempo in 66:31 just faster than goal marathon pace on a hilly course, splits of 34:28/32:03

Saturday - 74 minutes easy

Sunday - 2 hours and 22 minutes

110 km

Goal Marathon: Poconos

Goal Time: Not sure

Ran Boston yesterday. Dropped out at 30k. Not much to say except that it really sucked. Pretty much the same story of all my other Bostons except that this time I wasn't willing to play out the death march all the way.

I hope I at least managed to save my legs a little for the Poconos marathon in 3 weeks. Not sure what kind of training I'm going to do over the next 3 weeks.

Flying Pig May 6

goal 3:40

Monday off

Tuesday 10 mi (8mi in 63min)

Weds 10 mi

Thurs 1hr spinning

Fri 6 mi (4mi in 31min)

Sat 6 mi w/8x100

Sunday 20 mi

Solid week in rainy western PA. Tempo run on Tuesday felt good. Glad to have last 20 miler in, and starting to cut back the miles while still doing some hard running.

Sorry to hear about Boston. The weather was horrible out I live in Mass and was sitting on my coach watching it on TV and looking out my window and just felt horrible for those running the marathon.

It was a good choice dropping out and saving your race for the Poconos. I would forget about the distance at this point and focus on the quality workouts.

See you at the Poconos.

Pocono Marathon May 6th - Goal Sub 2:50

Training was going great until a rolled ankle last Friday. Hopefully it will be fulled healed soon.

Mon - 7 Miles

Tues - 11 Miles

Wed - 12 Miles

Thurs - AM 4 on the treadmill, PM - 9.5 sleet and cold rain to start

Fri - 4 miles until I rolled my ankle and fell to the ground and hobbled 20 minutes home.

Sat - 24 Miles - 2 hours on trails and 1:25 on the roads

Sun - AM 6 Miles in snow and cold rain, PM - 3.5 on the

treadmill

81 miles for the week. It was supposed to be a little higher but the ankle did me in.

ok. will be ready.

Miles and Miles wrote:

Yeah see you there. Are you sure you won't be ready for the sub 2:22 group?

Hey don't let me change your mind that easily. It's a gamble going after a faster pace. For all I know you might not be American so the sub 2:22 doesn't really matter that much to you. I was just asking the question.

Boston

I qualified with a 3:30 at Steamtown and was just hoping to requalify with the same time.

I never really felt 100% for the race and the bad weather forecast did not help. There were some stiff headwind gusts at certain points in the race, but I knew it was going to be a tough day when I split 8:12 for the first “flat” mile – 5, and it already felt like work. I soldiered on and using the downhills and screaming Wellsley girls, managed to come through the ½ in 1:45:47.

The first ‘heartbreak’ got me through the 18th mile in 8:33, but I was deteriorating badly and the second hill saw me thru the 20th in 8:43, and 21st in 9:10.

After all the downhills to Beacon Street, I couldn’t decide if it hurt less to walk or to run, and alternated doing both for the last 3 miles to finish in 3:38:49.

So I split 1:45:47/1:53:02. I played out the death march yesterday because it was my first Boston and I wanted the experience of the course.

Sorry to hear about the Boston woes..

I too had a rough go of it yesterday. Thankfully, I managed to stick it out and it didn't quite turn into an unmitigated disaster (though it was close).

Wanted sub-2:30...once I saw how bad the headwind was, I decided to run for sub-2:33, and I formed a group of guys at the start with that in mind. We worked together sharing the wind for 15 miles (a very cool experience--though a few guys, not originally in the group, mooched a few miles and refused to help). We consistently hit 5:45-5:50, right on pace, but I let them go at 15 because I knew I was in for some trouble. Now I was alone in the wind; I jogged up the hills, hoping to save my legs for the last 5--but when the hills were over, my hip flexors began seizing up and I was pulling up lame every other stride. I ran 6:30's for those last 5 miles and managed a very modest PR (2:38:13)-- I had fuel left in the tank but my legs wouldn't let me run.

I guess it was a combination of heinous headwind and my own underestimation of the course. I'm just glad it's over.

training for chicago with a goal of sub 3 hours. not really expecting much... not expecting much last time and ran 2:55. i should probably be in better shape for this one, but i just want a qualifier for boston.

monday - OFF

tuesday - 8 miles total. 2wu...3miles of continuous hills...3cd

wednesday - OFF

thursday - 8 miles on the treadmill at YMCA (bad weather)

friday - fartlek, 7 miles total 10x1 min

saturday - 6 miles on the treadmill (bad weather)

sunday - 12 mile long run (windy)

total: 41 miles

Race: Rotterdam Result: DNF, at 37k

I'm afraid this will be my last contribution to the marathon training thread for a while. The last week of the taper went very well, and I felt ready to go. Unfortunately, the heat got the best of me. It was probably 75+ degrees at the start (11 o'clock), and warmed up quickly from there. I pretty much abandoned thoughts of a sub 2:25, but I still wanted to go under 2:30. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the temperature, but a combination of no clouds, no wind, and very little shade.

5k Splits:

17:23, 16:59, 17:20, 17:28, (1:13:00 half) 17:36, 18:05, 18:54

The melodramatic race recap mixed with reflections on running and life ensues:

The second 5k was too fast, otherwise I felt like I was in a good rythm. I was grabbing 4 cups of water at every station, trying to cool down. There was lots of carnage up in front of me - I watched a guy stop and puke at 10k, and I passed Benoit Z (European record holder) just before he dropped out. Up to 30k, I felt like I was running well, given the conditions. Even afterwards, I was passing people until about 34k and I felt like I would definitely be able to close out the race at around 6:00 pace for a decent time. Things started falling apart around 34k and sometime before 37k the wheels came off completely. In the span of 10 seconds I went from running to cramping horribly and nearly falling over. I spent a fun 20 minutes in the red cross medical tent and was feeling fine again after oxygen, fluids, and a Mars bar.

It was definitely a disappointment, but that's the nature of the marathon. I invested plenty of training and money into running Rotterdam, so I wasn't going to just do a workout and then try to find another marathon in a month. I think I made mistakes in not slowing down the second 5k and in not taking a gel pack at 20k. Besides that, there's not much one can do in those conditions.

This was my second marathon after Boston last year. I started training for the marathon because I needed a new challenge running-wise post-collegiatly. I know that I'm not focused enough to spend a year of training with the intention of lowering my 5k PR by a few seconds or running a bunch of local road races. For me, the benefit of the marathon is that it offers one big goal - that "idea" is enough to get me to train hard. The "idea" of running a 5 second PR on the track or running a good 10k on the roads, while nice, is not. The drawback to the marathon is that, unlike shorter track or road races, you only get one shot. Any conditions out of the "norm" are going to play a huge role in a race that lasts over 2 hours.

First and formost congratulations to all those who raced this past weekend (Boston or Rotterdam). The conditions were very trying which leads to increased emotional stress leading up to the race and physical and emotional stress in the race. Each of you should be congratulated for attempting the race regardless of if or how you finished. As the years fade away its not the time we ran in these races that we will remember but that we had the guts to get out there and try our best and face adversity as it came. That is the memory we share cherish.

I had much better conditions than most for my half marathon race this past weekend. Sunny, mid 50's with only a slight breeze.

Mon: 7.7 miles recovery

Tue: 12.5 miles easy

Wed: 11 miles easy

Thu: 11 miles easy

Fri: 5 miles easy

Sat: Half Marathon Race - 1:21:16 - 9th Place - "second career" PR. Good 4 mile cool-down jog afterwards.

Sun: 5 miles easy

The race went well although I never felt particularly good. Ran alone in 9th place for most of the race. Tough hills at 7 miles, 10 miles and 12 miles.

Making two changes (one planned, one new) in my training after this past. First, as planned, I'm moving to doubles starting this week (13 runs per week). This should boost my mileage from a typical 80-90 per week on a training week to around 100 miles. Second, I am going to get more serious about taking off a few more pounds. I'm at 147 lbs now and I use to race at 132 lbs in college (I'm 38 yrs old now). I need to get back under 140 for sure and hopefully at 135 lbs by the time Grandfather Mountain Marathon comes around in July.

Best of luck to everyone in the coming week and congrats again to all marathon participants this past weekend!

Flying Pig May 6th - Sub 2:45

Mon 4/9 – hilly 11.5 Mile Tempo – Felt Smooth - Averaged under 6min/mile, lifted back/ abs

Tues 4/10 – AM – 4.5 Easy, PM - 7 East, lifted Chest/ abs

Wed 4/11 - 13 Easy, hail. Thunderstorm – felt good.

Thur- 4/12 – planned 3 x mile at 5:40ish, turned into 8 miles easy on the track, legs dead

Fri – 4/13 – off

Sat – 4/14 – AM - 2+ warmup, Raced a half marathon – official time 1:18:11, although I went a bit faster. Felt strong the whole way picked it up at the end. Cold and rainy. PM – 5 mile recovery.

Sun – 4/15 – 5 miles easy

Total – 70 miles

3 weeks till the race.

Monday – did about 24.5 all on the marathon course (had kinda planned on doing the whole thing). Legs were still a bit tired when I started, but loosened up. Started dieing and needing to poop toward the end, but it went ok.

Taking today off, and cutting this week’s mileage to 60 as part of the taper.

Hey Matt, glad to see your training is going well, can't believe it is a year since we ran London, I'm having another pop at sub 2.20, build up has gone well, just a slight hamstring problem which has bothered me since I started to taper, maybe I'm less flexible running less!

Good luck in your next Marathon

D