Fall Marathon Training- Week ending 8/30

Baystate sub-3

M-9

T-9

W-9

T-9

F-18

S-7

S-9

Various speeds throughout. Plan to throw in some speedier wo's soon. The weather is starting to improve

Following this thread....

1stTimeMarathoner... Just wondering. You said the 19 miler was the longest run you've had, but you did that in 2:02.. And your longest run last week was about 2:10ish right. Do you have a long slow/easy run of 20-22 planned before NY. Something where you'd be on your feed for 2:25-2:35? I'd be slightly concerned that your longest time on feet run before NYC would be 2:10...

Or I could be completely wrong...

Well, the longest time on my feet was last week (2:10:00) which amounted to 18. My furthest run ever was this weekend (19).

Here's the plan here on out as far as long runs are concerned. I plan on getting in an easy 20 this weekend (9/6) that I anticipate taking me about 2:20:00 min, next week do a 20 miler with 5 easy, 10 at MP, 5 easy (so similar to this weekend) (9/13), then no long run (racing a 5k on 9/20), then 20 again (9/27), then 22 with middle 13 at MP (during a half on Oct 4), then 20 (Oct 11), and then 22 (Oct 18). Then no long run (racing a 5k the week before the thon on Oct 25) and then the marathon (Nov 1).

So when its all said and done, my long runs will look like this: 13, 15, 16, 17, none, 14, 16, 18, 19 (this week), 20, 20, none, 20, 22, 20, 22, none, Marathon.

Oh, and I guess more specific to your question...

Any of the 20-22 milers where I'm not doing a workout within them should be a very relaxed 7:00-7:15 pace, so they'll be upwards of 2:20-2:40

Goal Race: Chicago

Goal Time: Under 2:40

I didn't even post last week, partly out of procrastination and partly out of apathy due to a second straight bad week capped by a half-marathon "race" in which I couldn't even hold marathon pace for more than 6 miles. Total for that week was 57

Fortunately this past week was better.

MON:

PM - 10.1 easy

TUE:

AM - 9.3 easy.

PM - 3.6 mile warmup then step-down sets on trace. 2 sets of mile at THRESHOLD (1:00 rest), 800 at INTERVAL (2:00 rest), 400 at REPEAT (lap jog rest). Times were probably too hard and I think I need to back off next week.

WED:

PM - 6.5 easy

THU:

PM - 14 easy easy

FRI:

PM - 10.1 easy

SAT:

AM - 10.2 easy in rain

PM - 10.4 easy

SUN:

PM - 18 with 6 at goal marathon pace. Not bad but my legs were really beaten up by this.

TOTAL: 96 miles

Try to not get discouraged Avg Joe. Sometimes the body just needs more recovery than we prescribe it, especially once we get caught up in training plans from books and stuff like that. I made that mistake before Boston last winter; I'd go down to whatever mileage for my dip week that was supposed to be enough for me to keep up with my recovery; I'd take my recovery days at the amount of mileage I was (again) SUPPOSED to recovery with, but it wasn't enough.

You're not out of shape, just under-recovered.

Cutter, damn, are those heat/humidity pace numbers for real? I'll remember that if I'm ever traveling somewhere like that while training.

Nice 10-miler, that's a good indicator.

L, Luck with your injury. I've had something similar when I let the back side of my body (calve ham back neck) get tight, usually after half mile repeats. It somehow puts presure somewhere in my back which makes my leg tingly/pins and needles. I think I have scare tissue from a wrestling injury that causes the pressure when I'm not loose. It goes away as I loosen up in a run. Yours obviously hurts worse, but maybe it is something similar? Is your back overly tight? (I don't usually stretch, excepting this problem)

Wineglass

Goaltime 3:20??

real goal:recover from low iron

M 8 w/ 6mi tempo run

T 6 EZ

W 6 w/ 3mi tempo run

R 4 steady

F 4 steady

S 20 w/ 10 at marathon pace...Sort of. Unlike my other MP runs, this one was not overly affected by the anemia thing, but it was high 80s with high humidity. So I could only hold MP+30sec/mile, right at the border of puking up my fluids. I felt like goucher, except really slow...

S 6 Legs felt great after 20 miler, since it was slower than I wanted. Ran 6 at MP (stupid, but I wanted to make sure I remembered the pace).

total: 54

I'll get my iron profile done again at the end of this week. Hoping I can double my ferritin (9 to 18). I think that will help my confidence that I won't blow up.

15k on labor day to try to get a real feel for what my fitness is. I actually had a couple of ez runs this week that didn't feel like I was carrying someone on my back, so maybe I'm over the worst. Its only taking 2 days to recover from tempo workouts instead of 4. I'm complete sick of liquid iron 3 times a day. This does not help keep fluids down, or the stomach in general.

Luck everyone else. Hope the heat breaks and everyone can get a feel for your fitness.

Cutter, do you have a A+ goal? You look faster than 2:30 if all of that was in the heat.

Ryan, I probably ran past you at the falls on my crappy long run. Great runs along the river up and downstream next time you are there.

Not even going to bother going day-by-day. I came down with some sort of weird stomach flu* on Wednesday, so off Wednesday-Thursday. I ran off-and-on Friday-Sunday, but didn't feel remotely normal until yesterday. Will try an abbreviated tempo today -- going to go about 7 (vs. the usual 10) and see how hard pace is.

Oh well. I was planning on doing a cutback week this week anyway, so we'll just switch it out with last week. The good news is that my legs are feeling strong.

* Seriously weird. No fever, but really inflamed intestines that were having trouble processing anything. Plus, whatever it was stimulated the appetite, so the first couple of days you are ravenous and eat everything -- but then the food promptly sits there and ferments in your digestive tract, which becomes very painful very quickly. And it makes your gut swell up, so when you go for a run, it starts bouncing, which absolutely kills because your intestines are so painful. Oh, and don't even bother sleeping for more than a couple of hours because of the intestinal pain. My wife had the exact same symptoms.

Cutter - I do appreciate the accolades, and you're right, my past few weeks have been going well...I can't have all of them go well. Looking back on it, it's not even like the week went terrible, just not what I wanted. You on the other hand seem to be progressing quite nicely, and like niarun suggested, if you keep this up, you'll be in line to run 2:28-2:29.

s-tipe - I know you're just trying to help, but I personally wouldn't call someone out based on viewing 7 days of running. However, if this trend continues, you bet I'll be re-adjusting my goal.

I'm doing a big workout Wednesday and another Saturday during my long run. Obviously you'll find out how things went for me next week when I post on this thread.

By the way Cutter, you being from St. Augustine, do you have any tune up races planned in the next month? I'm doing a 15k in downtown Orlando on 9/26. It would be cool to have someone else there with a similar goal in mind.

Pablo - the Miracle Miles is a back up race for me. If the 20K on Labor Day goes well, I probably will just do a 5K that weekend. If I miss my marks Monday, I'll jump in the Miracle Miles. What are you shooting to run there?

Chicago, goal: 2:47-2:50

Had a decent week, but still dealing with a sore left foot. Some days it's fine, and others it hurts a bit (when walking around, not when I'm running). I continue to stretch and ice (thinking it's plantar fasciitis).

M: Rest

T: skip AM due to sore foot; 10 miles with 4 at 5:40 pace (on treadmill) PM

W: 7 AM; 4 PM (both easy)

Th: 5.25 AM; 7.5 PM with 4.75 at 6:00 pace on fairly hilly course

Fr: 9 AM (foot pretty sore afterwards)

Sat: 8.25 AM (easy on trail)

Sun: 20 on trail, with last 10 at just under MP

Sore foot felt fine during the long run, but it's sore today. I've already iced it a couple times and stretched out the calf. Hopefully this thing goes away soon.

Harrisburg Nov. 8

Mon 4 mi

Tues lift

Weds 10 mi

Thur 6 mi

Fri off

Sat 6 mi

Sun 12 mi

total 38 miles

Planned to run a half marathon Saturday until I gassed the car in the morning and drove off with my wallet on the car trunk. Discovered it missing as I approached the turnpike exit and went right back to look for it. Amazingly, ran into a road construction worker who found it and, although some money was missing, he returned $26 along with the cards left in the wallet. Then, an hour later, he calls to tell me that they had found my Blood Donors History card and $16 more. I guess that the wallet fell off my car when I pulled off the ramp onto the PA turnpike and bounced along the road as vehicles hit it. All the bills came out and a few cards but my license, credit card, ATM card were still there. I went to the company's main trailer and wrote him a note and left some cash as a reward. These events were so odd that I also left an self-addressed, stamped envelope and asked that they mail whatever else turned up.

Not much running content there but what a morning!!!!

Decided to do Harrisburg after considering Columbus. Give me a few more weeks to get in some tempo work.

Good luck out there!!

Cutter - I'm aiming for anything around 50 flat. I think I'll probably run 5:25-5:30 to start and slowly drop the pace after about 3 miles. Good luck w/ the 20k.

shortshorts - If you want to know if you're ready to break 2:40, I'd say you should at least be around 1:16-1:17. Keep in mind that you haven't tapered yet, but you should definitely be able to break 6:00 pace.

Goal Race: Philadelphia

Goal Time: First marathon - Probably anything under 3

M- 9.5 medium (6:35 pace)

T- 10 planned on going long but felt horrible (7:25 pace)

W- DNR (long day at work)

Th- 10.5 night run, felt easy(6:40 pace)

F- 9.5 felt bad, ended fast (6:35 pace)

S- 14.5 (6:51 pace) - pouring rain made it easy

S- 9.5 easy (7:10 pace)

First time posting on the weekly marathon thread. Planning for Philadelphia in late November. I don't really have an exact time in mind yet as it's my first year out of college and trying out my first marathon. Probably will run a half marathon in early October to guage fitness. I just plan on qualifying for Boston.

Week went fairly well with reasonable temperatures/humidity up here in MA. Tuesday was the worst day and I didn't get a chance for any doubles thanks to work. Starting to ramp up and add some marathon workouts.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Decent week here, with around 75 miles including a day off (work travel). Tuesday I did 7 strong miles in the middle of 10 (5:52 avg). Friday I did 3000 (800j) + 2000 (400j) + 2 x 1000 (200j), starting around 3:23ish closing in around 3:16. Sunday's run was 16 miles with 7 of the last 8 at 6:30-40ish.

All else was EASY, maybe 7:30-8:00/mile.

Friday was supposed to be 3 x 3000 (800j), but it was windy and I didn't take that into account properly, so got in over my head on the first one and had to re-evaluate.

Will run a half in three weeks, aiming for 1:13ish. Hope to crack 2:40 at Philly. Going to sign up now to avoid the fee increase.

The last 2 posters are interesting. Both should run faster then your goals.

If you can run 1:13 for the half, you can probably shoot for mid 2:30s for Philly.

Similarly, to the poster before Pete, at least given last week, you can definitely run sub 3:00 and probably sub 2:50.

1stTimeMarathoner wrote:If you can run 1:13 for the half, you can probably shoot for mid 2:30s for Philly.

Likely not gonna happen.... I'm more inclined toward the shorter distances, and have never run a marathon at what the calculators would like to predict. I ran 1:13:41 in April and then ran 2:42:30 in May (was pacing someone who slowed then dropped out, so I could have goe a little faster, but not much better than 2:40 I don't think).

But thanks for the vote of confidence. I plan to stick with what should be a conservative goal this time, and then we'll just see how things go.

kjh87,

The weather is getting a lot nicer for training. I noticed that you suggest your work situation doesn't lend itself to much more mileage, but you should try to increase the volume if you can. And I would suggest a little more variety - harder hard days, easier easy days, and get a long run in there!

One thing to note, a LOT of you do your mileage at 6:30 pace for recovery. McMillian has you doing recovery runs for a 2:30 marathoner at 7:15-7:45. Even read some interviews from the elites... they don't hammer mondays.

Try letting your body recover. I'd bet a lot of money you can 'beast' your workouts just a little more if you slow down the recovery jogs. I was the same way, nothing slower than 7 min pace. but i slowed and it helped my workouts a ton.

anyway, heres my week.

M - 6 am, 4pm

T - 6 am, 4pm

W - 5 am, 5k - rolling course, very humid. 15:49. very satisfied with effort, but only leaves me guessing as to my current fitness level. 11 total.

TH - 9

F - 11

S - 8 w/ strides

S - 25 (just under 3 hours). following McMillians long run philosophy. small breakfast, no gels or energy during the run, just electrolyte strips and water.

89 for the week.

race: Chicago

goal: 230-233