Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 10/10

Really looking forward to the Chicago reports - hope everyone had a brilliant race. Was absolutely astonished by the elite men's race. Wanjiru defies belief, comes into the race less than 100%, looks beaten at a couple of points but still surges to win. Totally amazing. Shobukova also looked supreme.

Pablo - Great to hear you're bouncing back, a good sign.

Got an x-ray last Friday, dunno how to do links but image is here -

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/synaptology/BrokenFoot#5525607371766028402

Fractured 3rd metatarsal.

No running for at least 4 more weeks - been out 2 weeks already, so might have to do some x-training just to stay sane. Will likely be a slow recovery, so Spring marathon is probably out.

marmite - Wow, yep...that x-ray shows the broken foot, no doubt about it. I wouldn't count out a spring race just yet, even if you start running again by December, you could put together a complete cycle for a marathon in April or later. If you cross train enough, you can keep some great fitness (swimming is best in my opinion)...you just need some time to get your "running legs" back. Keep us posted!

Congrats to all Chicago runners today!....I have to give a special shout out to 3TM and Abu Seyame!

3TM - It may not be a sub-2:40, but you ran a huge PR in less than ideal conditions. You have to be happy with the effort you put in today! Looking forward to the report...

Abu - What can I say...after the summer you've endured with the achilles, you've got to be ecstatic with a 2:41. You said in the last post last week that your final goal was 2:43, and you absolutely nailed it! You were probably the most exciting to track, I knew every time I refreshed your splits, you would be right on. Not to mention you ran 40k-finish in 5:46 pace!....how many people did you pass the final 10k? You clearly know how to run the marathon, and I'm looking forward to your take on it.

...and the rest of the Chicago crowd, good or bad race, we still want to hear the reports! Report back soon!

Nice job in Chicago everyone. Like marmite said, can't wait to read the reports as I get ready for this coming weekend. Pablo, great that you are starting to get back into it. Good luck along the way.

Tapering down and starting to feel ready to go with the small exception of a tight hamstring. It felt good today though, and after getting through Thursday's workout, I think I'll be ok.

Mon - off (planned)

Tues - 8 (6:50 ish. Just ran a steady effort)

Wed - 6.5 (Easy fartlek? Running around the course watching my high school's home XC meet.)

Thurs - 8.5 (Included 3 x mile in 5:40's, the rest 7-7:30 pace)

Fri - off (Meant to run easy, but got out of work late and didn't want to miss the Phillie's game)

Sat - 7.5 (Comfortable 6:50-7's)

Sun - 13 (Steady and picked it up for 1.5 mi. in 6:40's near the end.)

Total - 44

The goal is around 2:50 this Sunday, so a week of easy days and fingers crossed for good weather.

Goal (Next) Race: New York 11/7

Goal (Next) Time: Who knows

marmite - ouch

Hope people are happy with their Chicago performances in less than stellar conditions. I remember '08 that wasn't fun.

My week after my 2:53 @ Wineglass.

M: Off

T: Off

W: 5 miles Elliptical in 40:05

T: Off

F: 3.98 @ 8:40

S: 6.14 @ 8:39

S: 8.00 @ 8:20

Tot: 18.12

Legs were very sore each run, but I guess better each day. I've got 28 days until New York. Should be interesting. In best case scenario I think I would try for 2:50-2:51. Next level would be to hit sub-3. Then 3rd level would be to just enjoy the race.

Goal race: 1971 Boston Marathon

Goal time: sub 2:30 and the top 35

Week ending 10/10/1970

10 miles in 67 or 68, 12, 12, 4 = 38

Hey Marmite,

I broke the exact same bone in the same foot when I was in high school. In fact, it went from being a stress fracture to a full break in the middle of a race. And it was definitely a longer recovery than I wanted. Certainly longer than the 6 weeks it took to heal. Even after it healed it hurt for a while.

Sorry you had to deal with this now. Definitely cross train. Swim a lot. Once you can get on a bike, bike a lot. It will help quite a bit once you get back to running.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the support. I don't have time for a full report, but needless to say I am ecstatic with how the race went. I wasn't sure what to expect because of my recent injury woes so I took it easy the first few miles and worked into it. Ironically, my legs felt tired and achy the first 14mi and then all of a sudden came to life the second half of the race. Hence, the negative split. People were really hurting the last 10mi but that only served to spur me on.

As for the last 2k in 5:48/mi, my apartment is on Michigan Ave right at Mile 25 so I got an extra boost.

My chip time splits were-- 1:21:51/1:19:36-- 2:41:25 -- 196th place.

Full report to come later.

Thanks for the shout out Pablo. Without you leading the way this thread may not even exist, so thanks for always getting it going.

Goal: Finish PhD

Goal time: Defense on 11/16

Some very solid running in Chicago despite some warm temps. Nice work 3TM, Abu, and mrb! And pablo, I never got a chance to congratulate you on burying your PR in TC! Some great running.

Marmite, I hope I didn't jinx you. What a bummer. Hang in there and don't rush to get back on it. Focus on healing rather than keeping your fitness right now as cross training will be all but impossible. Be confident that your fitness will rebound quickly once you can get back to weight bearing. I am resigned to being a couch potato until I can at least swim (still hurts to extend/flex foot) and bike without swelling up the next day. Is your doc recommending any physical therapy?

I just hit 108 pages on the dissertation, my new marathon front.

Hey guys. Thanks for all the support. It was a tough day out there. It got much warmer than predicted, and it affected me significantly. I went through the half in 1:12:52, feeling pretty good. But then the wheels came off in a hurry as the temperature shot up. I held it together and finished in 2:32:56. Not pretty. I'll write more later, but I wanted to get on here and let everyone know how I did and how much I appreciate all the support on this thread. Congrats to everyone who finished Chicago today. It was a battle.

Marathon -- Rocket City, December

Goal -- Sub 2:50:00

Monday -- 10 miles in 64 minutes

Tuesday -- 5 miles easy, 4 x strides

Wednesday -- Off (planned)

Thursday -- 2 miles (back hurting so cut run short)

Friday -- 5 miles easy on treadmill (back feeling better)

Saturday -- 21 miles in 1:40:00

Sunday -- cross-training, 30 minutes on indoor bike

Total -- 43 miles

Pablo - Thanks for the positive words.

VFR - Best of luck with the rest of your taper. Hope you have a great race next weekend. Which race are you doing?

Another - Hope the post-Wineglass recovery goes well.

AJ - Interested to hear about your experience. Thanks for the advice.

AB - Fantastic run. That's an immense -ve split. Very, very impressive. Huge congrats on a great result that was richly deserved.

PJ - Hope that your tibia is healing, what's the prognosis? For me, the odd thing is that I've been able to walk on it throughout and whilst there was some initial discomfort it feels ok now, so was planning to start biking this week. Good luck on the dissertation, what's it on? Completed my PhD in neuroanatomy in '94, seems like a very long time ago. Stick with it, writing your thesis is definitely a marathon, not a sprint ;-)

Funny you should ask marmite. It was supposed to be Columbus (which I would have sworn didn't have a field limit) but it was full when I went to register. Now I'm trying to settle on a plan B.

Shame about Chicago weather again. Great race, great course, but bad weather 3 out of 4 years. New York seems to be at a bettet time of year.

Marathon: Rocket City

Goal Time: 2:35

Abu:: Excellent race! Looks like your race strategy adjustment really paid off.

Everyone has looked great so far and with more upcoming races, it's about to get lonely in here.

Monday: 18 miles before leaving for Las Vegas. Ran thee first half of this over a lot of hills.

Tuesday: 7 miles easy

Wednesday: 10.5 miles through Red Rock Canyon. I had a few miles over 9:00 here because of the rugged terrain in some areas; 6 miles easy

Thursday: 8.5 miles easy

Friday: 5.5 miles warm-up, 5 miles of 1:00 very fast, 1:00 slow, mile cool-down; 4 miles easy

Saturday: 7 miles easy

Sunday: 20 miles with 14 miles easy, 4 mile tempo in 5:33,5:29,5:29,5:35, 2 mile cool-down.

Week Total=92 miles

Training was a little tough because of my trip. Running 85-90 miles a week isn't too bad on my legs, but walking a 3-4 miles a day really kills my legs/back. Running my first half marathon this weekend and hoping for sub 1:12 if I play my cards right.

Whoops, looks like I forgot to close out the bold.

OrvilleAtkins - I love how you're posting weeks from 40 years ago! I've seen Bill Rodgers logs and I enjoy looking at how folks trained in the days where running was just...running, no bells and whistles, just running. I assume you've kept logs from your "prime" running days. Do you run much (if at all) these days?

mrb - Sorry it wasn't your day out there, but really, it wasn't anybody's day...hope you're doing alright and learned something from this experience.

BlaznBison - I'd say given your recent mileage, and your 32:low 10k recently, sub-1:12 is definitely in the cards. Which half marathon are you running?

VFrunner - Aside from not getting into Columbus (that sucks, btw)...how's the taper going? What are some of your prime options for a plan B marathon?

Hey guys- obviously super disappointed. Just read mrb's post and feel exactly the same. The short report is:

Felt great at 10k, great at 10 mile (59:4X), pretty good at HM (1:18:32, perfect), not good 14.5, awful at 16 (6:30 mile), and DONE at 17 (6:53 and slowing). At this point, I knew even PRing was out of the question and I was questioning if I could even break 3 hrs. What's the point? I had to swallow my pride ans pack it in. I've never dropped out of a race. But I think today was a smart

Move.

Wasn't sure if I should go for 6min pace all the way up until the might before the race. Then, I said eff it I'm going for it. It just wasn't my day.

Btw, for everyone that wasn't tracking Chicago. I met up with 3TM and ran with him thru half. He looked great and pumping up the fans by raising his arms. I did not have that kind of energy. Haha. Great job bud and great job to Abu as well, amazing negative split!

After I have time to reflect, I will post what I think went wrong. Best of luck to everyone else.

Chicago

Goal: 2:40

Result: 2:46:58 (1:20:06 at half)

I felt pretty good through half but then started feeling bad a few miles later. I have never been good in warm weather and it beat me up today.