Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 12/5

Pablo - DAMN!!!! That's an awesome run. Huge PB and a sub-70 1/2M is immense. As you mentioned, being able to do that by yourself indicates that there's more in there if you had someone to push you. FWIW, I think a sub-70 is a tougher mark than a sub-2:30, so reckon you're gonna destroy your marathon PB next time out. Brilliant running.

Did my first "run" in 10 weeks yesterday. 2M easy jog on a treadmill. Second x-ray I had 4 weeks ago showed a good callus forming and the radiologist and orthopedic specialist both thought it was ok to start back then. But a training partner who had a similar injury in '04 suggested taking a few more weeks as he'd re-fractured his 5th metatarsal, twice, by starting back too soon and too agressively. Have been doing 3-4 hours x-training to try and prevent everything turning to mush, but it's been a god-awful, never-ending 10 weeks. Hope that I can ease myself back into it from here.

Hope you've all been well and experiencing great training and excellent racing.

Pablo: we are not worthy! High miles is the way to go I think!

Goal race: London marathon 2011. Goal time: I don't have a goal time yet; ask me when I'm at the 24 mile mark. Goal times mess with my head.

My main goal for the rest of 2010 is just to stay healthy. I had mono June - September. I have had good training the last three weeks however.

Monday: 4 easy / 10 easy

Tuesday: (lots of snow in London, everything looked stunning) 4 easy / track 8 x 1100, stayed steady/fast

Wednesday: 4 easy / 7 easy (I had to go to a conference for work and was so, so bored. In the evening there were record-breakingly cold temperatures in UK)

Thursday: 4 easy / 10 steady, in snow (running in the snow makes me feel like a super-hero. I got an average of 4 hours sleep per night this week, so I was starting to feel a bit peculiar.)

Friday: 6 easy

Saturday: cross country race, 5.5 miles, in the snow. Got to the start about two mins before the gun so no warm-up. But still raced okay. Long warm-down.

Sunday: (London has thawed, I got some real sleep) 2 hours and 25 minutes starting easy and finishing steady. Felt pretty good actually.

I've not totalled my miles this week yet, I guess it will be mid 80s.

I hope everyone had good training!

Pablo- Great performance. I'd have to agree with Marmite, sub-1:10 is definitely more difficult than sub-2:30. It looks like the marathon training is paying off in a big way. Your the "marathon thread's" version off Ritzenhein -- train for a few marathons and then drop back down in distance and tear it up.

Marmite- It is great to have you back. I am happy to hear you are healthy once again...knock on wood.

Some Coked up Brit - Solid training week, especially on 4hrs of sleep per night. Also, your user-name is hilarious and makes me chuckle everytime I read it.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: sub-2:33

M- off

T- 3.5

W- off

Th- off

F- off

Sa- 5

Su- 7

Tot= 15.5mi

No real point in even posting my training this week. I was incredibly busy writing two papers, plus I've been having mysterious pain in my left knee since the 8k on Thanksgiving. Ever since I started icing it on Friday though it seems to be getting better. My mileage should be back up in the 60-70 range this week as long as my knee cooperates.

Congratulations Pablo!

I have been watching your training for some time and am convinced that your way is the way to go. Your running future is exciting!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your leadership and postings on this weekly thread. I enjoy it and am learning a lot.

Goal Races:

The Culver City Marathon Dec. 6, 1970

The Boston Marathon April 19, 1971

Goal Time: Sub 2:30

Week ending 12/5/1970--5, 6, 5, 8, 4 = 28 miles

Goal Race: CIM

Goal Time: 2:37:17 (sub 6:00/mile)

Actual Time: 2:42:11 (6:11/mi)

I'll post splits and more details when I am back in Denver tomorrow afternoon or evening, but I wanted to give a brief report about how CIM went.

Miles 1-20 were perfect. 78:26 through the half (5:59.0/mi). 1:59:48 (5:59.4/mi) at mile 20.

miles 21-26.2 were... rough

Still a pr though (I ran 2:48:01 in my first last year at NYC)

I lurk this thread weekly, but I thought I'd say congrats on the sub 70 Pablo. That is awesome, and something that I can't even aspire to.

Goal Race: Arizona (1/16)

Goal Time: 2:35

M - 8 easy

T - 6 easy AM 8 easy PM

W - 6 easy AM 10 with 40 minute tempo (5:40 pace) PM

T - 6 easy AM 8 easy PM

F - 6 easy AM 10 moderate PM

S - 10 easy at D2 XC National Championships. Fun to run around in the snow and watch the race

S - 12 moderate, was going to go longer but I had a late night last night with some adult beverages so making it to 12 was an accomplishment. Honestly I've felt a little tired this week so having a shorter day may be good to recharge the batteries a bit.

90 miles total for the week, one pretty good workout and no long run. Not the greatest of weeks but I feel ready to put in a solid week next week.

Pablo, that half is awesome, congrats!

pablo: wow! You are on a tear! Damn impressive. Congrats!

marmite: good to hear from you! Your positive attitude is always inspiring. Hopefully you will be back to your old self in a month or two.

I'm still base building.

M: 5 easy

T: 5 easy / 8 easy incl 6x100

W: 4 @ 8:30 / 9.5 with last 2.5 as 1 @ 6:42 and 1.5 @ 6:30

R: 5 easy

F: 7.5 @ 7:38 (8:16 out and 7:00 back)

S: 5 easy / 6.5 @ 7:45 incl 2 @ 7:18

S: 4.5 @ 8:20 / 11 @ 7:31 (5 @ 7:55 and 6 @ 7:11)

Total= 71 miles

Pretty easy week. 71 miles on doubles is not really a big deal! Did a few pickups but they were just arbitrary and unplanned. Just ran how i felt - and it really works well for me. Saturday night i ran with my 14 year old for the first time. He never really ran before and i just followed his lead and we did the first 3 miles at around 7:15-7:30 pace and then he got tired and we slowed for the remainder... Was really nice to run with him!

Pablo - Awesome job. If you're wondering about what you could do in a marathon right now, I'd guess about 2:26 flat, maybe faster. 4 weeks before Chicago in 2009 I won a half by 3 minutes in 1:09:49 and then ran 2:26:23, so that's roughly something to compare it to.

Goal race/time: Vermont City/PR

Next race/time: Spartan Relays 3k/sub 9

This week was all easy running again, unfortunately with a day off. I'm not sure how it happened, but I somehow never got the chance to go out the door and run.

M: 20 pretty easy

T: 20 fast, feeling good

W: 20 fast again, feeling even better

Th: 12 miles, crunched for time. Was going to do 9 but crossed paths with someone and ran with him

F: 20 miles, fast-ish, kept randomly running into people and running with them to add on

S: 0, f that

Su: 20 fast, had fun in the snow

Tot: 112

I'll try to add doubles next week. Certainly more miles, and I'll try to put in a workout or two before I go home on break and don't have easy track access (and do have lots of snow). Also the people I run into are all local college runners who I know, so it's not like I'm being super creepy to random people.

Goal: 2:48

Race: Gansett

Awesome race Pablo! I'm already trying to figure out how I can move from this years 26k miles (most ever) towards the kind of mileage you've been doing.

Weeks like this one won't help though. After mon. my heel/ankle was bothering me so I started googling to self diagnose. It's not a simple achilles issue since there is no swelling/tenderness etc. Closest I could come up with to the symptoms is retrocalcaneal bursitis, but it doesn't seem as bad as that can be. Long story short - tues-fri ended up being ice/massage/stretching/calf raises but no running. I hate not running at least 3 days per week, so I got back out this weekend and so far so good.

Mon - 4

T-F - off

Sat - 4 (easy)

Sun - 10 (mostly easy with a couple of miles under 7 towards the end.)

18 (2356 YTD - new max by 33. Not sure I'll make it to 25k though. On towards 3 next year)

Thanks everyone for all the kind words!

marmite - Glad to see you post again!....and glad to see you've started the journey back into running. The fact that you've been cross training means you WILL bounce back quickly, just remember that you do need to build slowly. I've had two separate occasions where I was forced to take 12 weeks off, both times I was cross training heavily during my time off and both times it took less than 2 months to feel "fit" again. I'm guessing you can put together some solid spring races if you choose...but you may want to put off another marathon until next fall...maybe Berlin again?

Coked up Brit - Good week, I'm not one of those guys that needs 10 hours of sleep per night to function, but if I don't get at least 7 hours...my running suffers. Props to you for getting in the miles off little sleep.

Abu - Take care of the injuries first and foremost, you've got a while until Boston. I know it's frustrating, especially considering what you went through before Chicago, but if you start Boston training with nagging injuries, it's safe to assume you won't make it. You seem to know how to handle this stuff, but I'm just saying...don't get caught up in mileage until you're sure this is something you can handle.

des - Congrats on the PR! Things get rough for EVERYONE from miles 21-finish. This is only your second marathon, it takes many people a lot more than that to figure out the distance (I still haven't done it either). Looking forward to the full report.

CTA - Your son has never run before, but was able to run 6.5 miles @ 7:45? That's really impressive, my first run was barely 2 miles before I couldn't go any further....and it was probably closer to 9:00 pace.

cadillac - 112 miles on only 6 runs?!? That's truly amazing...you're obviously built for the marathon.

VF runner - I would think 26,000 miles in a year would be pretty damn impressive! I think you meant 2,600 miles, lol. The only advice I can give on raising mileage is by adding more doubles, then increasing the distance of the doubles. I haven't really changed much in the way of my "main run", but you'd be surprised how easily mileage can add up by just adding in some more easy miles. Some people call them junk mileage....whatever, it's all mileage.

Goal Race: 2:50-2:52 at Myrtle Beach Marathon (2/18)

Monday: 8 Miles easy

Tuesday: 5 mile LT @ 6:08 (12 total)

Wednesday: 9 easy

Thursday: 9 easy am, 3 recovery pm

Friday: 3x3mile[.5 rec] (19:03, 18:58, 19:06) (14.75 total)

Saturday: 8 easy

Sunday: 18.2 easy

Week Total: 79

Good training guys. I'm new to this board. There's not a lot of marathon guys to train with where I'm at so I am here to just pick up some tips as this will be my first marathon and to just see some other guys training. Great job to the other runners taht raced this weekend.

Goal Race: Rocket City

Goal Time: 2:30

Monday: 3 miles easy; 3.5 miles easy with strides

Tuesday: 3 miles easy; 10 miles with 10x10s hill sprints

Wednesday: 10 miles with 9 miles medium-fast progression. Was gunning for 3 miles each at 5:55, 5:40, 5:25. Averaged 5:53 for 3, 5:41 for 3, one mile at 5:24, 1:25 400m split and then bagged it in. On the way back, there was a killer headwind and the 85 quarter split felt like an all-out sprint and I was hurting. I should have just slowed down the pace and kept on; Easy 5 miles

Thursday: Easy 3.5 and 6.5 mile runs

Friday: 8.5 miles with 8 mile progression (6:37, 6:05, 5:40, 5:38, 5:38, 5:38, 5:24, 4:54). I haven't run under 5:00 for a mile since January 2006, so I randomly decided to go after it on the last mile; 4 miles easy

Saturday: Easy 8.5 and 3.5 mile runs

Sunday: 13.5 miles

Week Total=82.5 miles

Man, this is my last week. What do most of you do for your typical last week? I've thought about running 8 miles on Wednesday alternating 2 miles easy/2 miles MP and then just some lighter strides on Friday.

And what do you do for a marathon warm-up? I was thinking about a progressive mile, some light drills and a couple of 30 second strides, but I'm definitely open to ideas.

Pablo: Holy crap man, nice half marathon. It looks like you're going to have to revamp some of those spring goals. In your next marathon, 5:40 miles will feel like a jog.

des: Congrats on the PR. 2:35 will be in the cards for you next time.

rhrunner: Did you used to run for a D2 school? I ran for Harding back in the day.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:40

Great racing guys! Pablo that's a great half time!

Monday - 8 easy, 8x100m strides

Tuesday - AM 3 easy, PM 6 easy, 8x100m strides

Wednesday - AM 3 easy, PM 2 w/u, 8x100m strides, 8x400m 69 average with 3:00 recovery, 2 c/d

Thursday - AM 3 easy, PM 8 easy, 8x100m strides

Friday - AM 3 easy, PM 6 progressive, last mile 6:10, 8x100m strides

Saturday - AM 7 easy, PM 5 easy, 8x100m strides

Sunday - 1 w/u, 8x100m strides, 4x200m sprints 27.8, 28.3, 28.7, 28.9, 4 miles easy

67 miles

Felt like crap running 200's today, and felt pretty lousy on Wednesday's track workout as well. Everything else felt ok, although the jump from high 30's in mileage up to 67 this week has left me feeling a bit tired. I'm hoping to at least get under 4:50 for my mile time trial/race on New Year's, but we'll see.

Pablo, Abu, CTA - thanks for the welcome back.

Pablo - Thanks for the encouraging words. Plan is as you suggest, will try and get into shape to run a reasonable 10k & 1/2M in the Spring. If the return to training goes ok I'd be sorely tempted to go back to Berlin in September as I feel like there's unfinished business. Having said that, Frankfurt in October also looks very good.

I feel and look like death today.

To the guy that asked about marathon warm-ups, personally I would do maybe three minutes of slow jogging and a couple of strides and no drills. That's what I did last time out anyway. I treated the first mile as a warm-up.

Congratulations on the PB Pablo! What were your PBs two years ago?

ming ding xiong wrote:

Congratulations on the PB Pablo! What were your PBs two years ago?

My shorter distance PRs from 2 years ago remain the same (15:13 5k, 31:47 10k) as they were both done in college and I haven't really tried lowering them since.

My half marathon PR from 2 years ago, however, was only 1:14:53. In fact, even earlier this year, my half PR was only 1:13:55. This year alone I've gone from 1:13:55 to 1:10:43 and now 1:09:28.

blaznbison - Personally, I like the week of the marathon to be very light. Here's what I did prior to TCM this year:

M: 8 easy (7:27)

Tu: 6 easy (7:25)

W: 8 total w/ 3 @ MP

Th: 6 easy (7:41)

F: 4 easy (7:14) w/ 4x80me strides

Sa: 3 easy (7:07) w/ 4x80me strides

Su: Marathon

As far as a warmup goes...the marathon is the only race distance where I won't do much of anything. I like a slow jog of about 5mins, just enough to loosen up so I can stretch. I don't do any strides or drills, though I'm not against anyone doing them...I just don't. Especially if it's gonna be cold, I'd do SOMETHING to get your blood moving before the start.