Marathon Training Thread -- Week Ending 12/19

Goal Races: Spring 5k, 10k, 15k

Goal Times: 15:30, sub 33, 50:30ish

Mo - 12am (7:05s) / 8pm (7:52s)

Tu - 10am (7:12s) FREEZING 15 degrees in FL / 6pm (7:25s)

We - 12am w/ hill w/o (2 sets of 4 by 90s hills)

Th - 8am (7:30s) / 6pm (7:03s)

Fri - 11am w/ hills (15 by 30sec steep hill repeat) / 6.5pm (7:27s)

Sa - 10pm (7:02s)

Su - 18am with pablo!!! ... 4 warmup, paced a friend to a PR in the Jax Bank HM. 1:16:55 felt great. 1 mile cooldown.

Total Mileage - 107.5

No wonder pablo is soooo fast. He's friends ran 1:08:XX and 2:31:XX today. BAMFS!

Hope everyone had good weeks. I have gone 90, 91.5, and 107.5. I am planning a down week this week. I guess 80ish.

Goal Race: Arizona (1/16)

Goal Time: 2:35

M - 6 easy AM 8 easy PM

T - 10 moderate AM (7 degrees at 5:30am, sooo cold)

W - 6 easy AM 10 moderate PM

T - 6 AM (ridiculous run, 1/3" of ice on the ground) 6 PM (tried running outside again, didn't go well so went to my works treadmills and got kicked out because no one was there. Frustrating day)

F - 8 easy AM 8 easy PM

S - 22 mile progression run starting at 7:30 pace down to 5:40 for the last two miles

S - 12 very easy

102 miles for the week, got pretty frustrated with the weather. Very good long run though, never felt bad and finished very strong. This week I head to Colorado for the holidays so I will be able to get in some great training at altitude while spending time with the family.

Just finished second week of a return to training.

10M last week (M - 2, W - 2, F - 3, Su - 3).

15M this week (M - 3, W - 3, F - 4, Su - 5).

All runs at ~7:30m/m avg, with a couple of miles at ~6:30m/m on Friday to test the water.

Keeping on with the x-training at the moment, gym bike session on Tue, Thu & Sat.

Hope you've all had a great week.

I had a much more satisfying week this week. Heel was still slowly getting better, but I was getting tired of waiting so I finally added an NSAID to knock down the inflamation. Now I'm ticked for waiting. Still not back to 100% but what a difference. In reality though, it was probably a good way to force some rest on my body as a whole and as long as I build intelligently I think I'll be better off in the long run.

Goal: 2:48

Race: Gansett

Mon - 3 (7:3x Very easy)

Tues - 3am 8pm (am very easy. pm hill run. Easy overall worked up hills a little.)

Wed - 4.5 (7:4x very easy)

Thurs - Off

Fri - 3am 6pm (am 8ish. pm 7ish - wanted to strtetch my legs out a bit)

Sat - 4am 5pm (7:3xx, 7:09)

Sun - 13.5 (7:1x including alot of hills on trails)

The 5 @ 7:09 on Fri was the only timed run on a measured course so all the others are feel based estimates. Another - I took your reminder to heart after last week and backed off on overall pace of runs, thanks.

Abu, another similar week to mine. Nole, you're an animal.

Races: 5k-Boston

Goals: 15:59, 26:30, 1:13:59, 2:35:59

Mon- 8 easy

Tue- 9 easy

Wed- 5 easy

Thur- 14/ 5&9 last mile of 8 MIler hard

Fri- 12/ 6&6. Second 6 on treadmill and progressing over the last 3 miles. Last mile got moving (down to 4:56 pace). Last mike probably close to 5:10-5:20

Sat- 10 easy

Sun- 14'ish. Tempo'd a couple miles at the end. All on feel so don't know how fast it was. Maybe 5:30-5:45 pace.

Think that's roughly 72 on the week. First solid week since Chicago. Up to about 90 next week, then 2 weeks of vacation where I hope to hit 100... Though it always harder to run high mileage on vacation. Felt good about this week and liked the informal progressions when I felt good. Will keep that up for a while. Nothing structures until Feb now. Just unstructured fartleks, tempos and progressions with some racing thrown in as workouts.

Goal Race: Disney (3 weeks to go)

Goal Time: 2:28

My week went well, actually, looking back at my logs...it was my first 100+ mile week since August. Nothing like cramming last minute for a marathon, eh?

M: am - 10 easy (7:09) / pm - 4 easy (7:37)

Tu: am - 10 easy w/ random fartlek (6:37) / pm - 4 easy (7:36)

W: am - 8 easy (7:19) / pm - 4 easy (7:29)

Th: am - 13 progression (last 4 @ 5:30ish) / pm - 4 easy (7:17)

F: am - 8 easy (7:16) / pm - 6 easy (7:27)

Sa: 10 easy (7:20)

Su: 22 total; 5 warm-up, 13 @ 5:52 (with NoleRunner in Jax), 4 cool-down

Weekly Total - 103 miles

YTD - 4,100 miles

NoleRunner is a cool dude, glad we were able to pull his friend to a significant PR. And not to mention, I also got in a good long run, lol! Seriously, that's a helluva week, you're definitely laying a solid base for the spring season.

marmite - Keep on keepin' on!

Long time reader, first time poster.

PR of 2:35 from National Marathon in 2010, ran a disappointing 2:37 at Chicago. Going to run some road races this winter/spring, and then a late spring marathon somewhere in the NW.

Goals for 2011:

15:15, 1:11, 2:30

My Week

Su: 15

M: 4 / 6

T: 4 / 9 (small workout of 2 x 1 mile uphill)

W: 6

R: 5 / 8

F: 14 (8 mile "tempo", maybe 6' pace...)

Sa: 4

= 75 miles

Good week. Finally getting miles back up there (had a long string of haphazard 50 miles weeks during November).

Goal Race: VCM, PR

Next Race: small indoor 3k, sub 9

M: 9 easy. Got to the gym to do a workout with a friend but they closed early due to weather, so I had a good snow run

T: 20 with a 5 mile tempo in 28:00. It felt so much better than last week's tempo (farther and faster)

W: 20 easy

Th: 20 total including 12x400 with 200 recovery (with a friend, splits were all the goal of 72 except 2 71s and 2 73s). Also felt very easy.

F: 20 easy

S: off - flying + driving all day

Su: 20 easy at home for the holidays

Even with the day off I'm happy with the week. My workouts went much better anyway, and although I didn't start doubling I'm getting pretty used to 20 milers again. I don't have strong goals for the next couple weeks other than mileage (i.e. no planned workouts but maybe some impromptu tempos or fartleks, weather permitting).

Abu - That's pretty cool about having a mutual contact. I'm planning on being in Chicago for a weekend in February and sometime in June (track meet to watch and graduation to watch), so if you want to do some runs together then that would be fun.

Goal Race: Davis Stampede Half

Goal Time: 69:29

M: 7.5 easy (6:31)

T: 9.1 hilly (6:39)

W: 9 moderate (6:18 w/4 @5:40)

T: 4.4 easy (6:55) / 6.05 easy (6:44)

F: 8 easy (6:40)

S: 12 easy (6:36)

S: 6 easy (6:50)

Total: 62

First workout was the 4 miles at 5:40.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:40:00

Monday - AM: 4.6 miles, PM: 2 mile w/u, 8x100m strides, 1000m time trial - 2:52.0, around 5.5 mile c/d.

Tuesday - AM: 8.5 miles, 8x100m strides PM: 6 miles

Wednesday - AM: 6 miles, PM: 8 miles, 8x100m strides

Thursday - AM: 6 miles, PM: 2 mile w/u, 8x100m strides, 8x400m with 60 seconds recovery in 71, 70, 71, 70, 71, 72, 72, 70, 2 mile c/d

Friday - AM: 6 miles, PM: 9 miles, 8x100m strides

Saturday - AM: 7 miles, PM: 6 miles, 8x100m strides

Sunday - 3 mile w/u, 8x100m strides, 16x200 with a 200 jog all continuous on the track, 1.5 mile cool down.

93 miles for the week.

Most of my runs this week were comfortably easy since I'm ramping up my mileage. Today's workout was tough since it was cold, windy and raining, and my watch broke so I did it based on feel. Overall a solid a week, and I'm hoping to continue at least this level of mileage from here on out.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:45

M: 10

Tu: 6

W: 12 w/ 6x300 meter hill repeats

Th: 8

F: 14 w 3x Mile w/ 2 minutes rest 5:44,5:30,5:16

Sa: 15

Su: 7

Total miles: 72

Race: Boston

Aim: under 2:45

Mon. – 10mi., morning.

Tues. – 10 mi. , morning with 8x100m strides

Wed. – 9 mi. late at night.

Thurs. – 10 mi. early morning.

Fri. – 12 mi. late afternoon. Heavy snow.

Sat. – 10mi..

Sun. – 18 mi. up and down hills.

Week: 79 miles. I thought I had hit 80mi for the week and just realized that I had miscounted. Anyway, it’s too late now. On Friday I got out the “yaktrax” – wire and rubber things you slip over your shoes for running in snow. They really help with traction. This is my second year using them (whenever there’s more than a couple inches of fresh snow) after a lifetime of winter running. No quality this week because of conditions.

Goal Race: London!

Goal time: 2:56

Long story but i managed to weasel my way to a London race number..... I am pretty excited to have a target race now. I am not sure yet how i will approach my buildup -- but i do know that i will not follow a defined plan. Rather i will build mileage on feel and post some solid workouts along the way -- especially alot of MP work.

This week i continued to just run when i had free time and the pace was what it wanted to be for the day. I am worried that i am running my easy runs too fast now -- but that seems to be what my body wants to do. I hope i don't burn out or get those dreaded heavy dead legs.

M: 10 @ 7:33 (7:50 -> 7:07)

T: 4 @ 8:06 / 11 incl 10 @ 7:16 with 4 @ 7:05 + 2 @ 6:34

W: 4 @ 8:15 / 8 @ 7:45 (8:00 -> 7:17)

R: 4 @ 8:06 / 9 @ 7:40 (8:00 -> 7:20)

F: 4 @ 8:05

S: 8 @ 8:25

S: 13 @ 8:02 / 4 @ 8:25

Week total = 79 miles in 11 runs

The first 4 days i seemed to run my easy runs pretty hard. I guess Tuesday night's run was an informal tempo run but i didn't plan it as such. I was pretty tired on Saturday so took that easy. Sunday's run started out slow but after 5 miles i started to feel pretty good. All in all, a decent week for me.

Race: Walt Disney World Marathon 2011

Goal Sub 2:22

Monday- 5, 12 with 5 x 1mile (4:53,4:57,4:57,4:55,5:13)

Tuesday- 5, 10

Wednesday- Off

Thursday- 5, 12 with 10miles steady at 6:00pace(Treadmill)

Friday- 5, 12

Saturday- 10

Sunday- 20 with easy steady 6:00-6:05 pace (2:03:00)

Total- 96 miles

Decent week, Monday's workout felt good, had a nice rhythm going, and Sundays long run was nice and steady(easy/moderate) in 18 degree weather.

Keep up the great winter training everyone and keep pursuing that race or goal in mind for 2011!

Happy Holidays!!

Lots of new names this week (at least to me... Ive been posting on here since September). Keep em coming. Good to see. Several solid weeks this week!

Im still recovering from achilles injury (4 weeks now). Been doing elliptical as my only training. I ran a couple miles Saturday mixed in with the elliptical. Definitely not ready to run, but it was noticeably improved over previous week when I ran a couple miles. Was going to do Disney, but no way I should do it now. Will have to just watch my wife (& LRC posters)...

Summit Taurine wrote:

Race: Walt Disney World Marathon 2011

Goal Sub 2:22

Nice! That time should have you compete for the win. Unless this is Adriano Bastos posting...then you WILL win.

rhrunner - Great week! Doing those progression long runs (or fast finish long runs) are key in running a solid marathon.

VF runner - Think you're right, it was the rest that helped out more than the NSAID's. It's amazing how seemingly little rest can have a huge affect on recovery. A day or two off when your body needs rest can sometimes save you months later on down the road.

4TM - Good week. Getting in 100 miles during a regular week is difficult enough, during vacation....honestly, just get in what you can.

Silky - Welcome aboard! With a goal of 15:15, I think you shooting for a 1:11 half is a little too conservative. Just a few weeks ago, I ran a 15:17 about 10 days before running 1:09:28.

CTA - Didn't we have this discussion last week? Or at least something similar? Without doing long runs or workouts, running a little quicker than usual is perfectly normal for you easy/regular runs. At least that's how it always is for me. I think you do a good job of listening to your body, when it needs to slow down, you will. Great job on getting into London....you must know some pretty important people!

Road Racer - Sorry to hear that Disney is out for you...it's probably for the best though. No sense in trying to race a marathon coming off an injury (or being currently injured). But, as you may have noticed, I'll be there!

Pablo,

Thanks, I'm hoping to just be in contention for the win, though it'll be tough to throw the Brazilian off his thrown. Good luck in your final weeks in prep as well. My pr is 2:21:xx.

Summit Taurine - I'd like to see you do it. How many times has Bastos won the damn thing? 6 in a row right?

Welcome Newbies!

Speaking of newbies, anyone remember that random kenyan/troll that posted here a while back? He counted the mileage he walked with his dog. Haha, still standing by troll.

NoleRunner26 wrote:

Speaking of newbies, anyone remember that random kenyan/troll that posted here a while back? He counted the mileage he walked with his dog. Haha, still standing by troll.

Yeah man, seriously...I called that sh!t his first post!

That's one of the things I like about this thread, none of the trolls that invade the rest of the forum. I think most of it is because this is far less "annonymous" than the other threads. Assuming nobody is lying about their times and races here...we can easily look each other up in race results. It keeps people honest.