Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 2/6

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:48

Well I guess when they say 24-hour stomach bug, they really mean it. On Thursday I went from having 2 good recovery runs, to getting the chills, to feeling like death and having a fever around 9pm to praying to the porcelain god around 2 am and feeling OK 24 hours later. Well at least it got me down to a better training weight quickly from 164-165 to 160-161...

My week:

M am: 6.00 @ 8:14 TM (165.0 lbs)

M pm: 5.00 @ 8:18 TM

T am: 10.00 @ 7:11 TM (5 in 30:48, 6:09) (164.6 lbs)

T pm: 4.00 @ 8:28 TM

W: 15.00 @ 7:34 TM (164.0 lbs)

R am: 6.14 @ 8:12 (163.8 lbs)

R pm: 3.86 @ 8:30 TM

F: USRD, Off, 24-hour stomach virus, fever

S: 7.00 @ 8:04 TM (160.4 lbs)

S: 18.09 @ 7:29 (161.8 lbs)

Total: 75.1

I kept yesterday on the TM because I didn't know how I'd feel, but it went well. Today I had no clue how I'd feel. Feel a little woozy, weak before the run but started out slowish and only got stronger and was running 7:1x's at the end fairly easily. Last mile 6:55. So that was a confidence booster. I guess I'll pickup right where the schedule is. Nice to run in shorts today.

Also, it helps when getting sick to have the lights out so at least you don't have to see your dinner for a 2nd time...

Hope everyone had a good week...

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: sub-2:33

M- 11.5 (7:33)

Tu- 10.5 (7:03- first 4mi in the Chicago snowpocalypse, then I retired to a parking garage where I did many loops and 10x100m strides)

W- off (head cold)

Th- 9 (7:30 - looped around plowed parking lots)

F- 11.5 (first 10mi on treadmill, then 4x200 strides on the indoor track)

Sa- 21 (6:54 - 1st 10mi @7:08/mi, next 11mi @6:42/mi)

Su- 9.5 (7:35)

Tot- 73mi/6d, one unplanned day off because I came down with a head cold, but the day off definitely helped me get over it quicker.

YTD- 343mi

Hey guys, mind if I join in? Always read this thread so thought I should enter into the spirit of things.

Goal Race: London

Goal Time: erm...

Bit of background... never run a marathon before so kind of shooting in the dark. Run for a few years but last 6 months or so have been really sporadic training wise. Managed a 34:23 10k in November but since then I've really struggled for motivation. London is fast approaching so I really need to pull my finger out... initially my goal was sub 2:45 but I dunno how manageable that will be with my pathetic training recently. I've got about 10 weeks to salvage something so I thought I'd give it a shot. Hopefully this will help with my motivation!

Mon: Off (uninterested)

Tues: PM: 4x1mile off 400 jog... too embarrassed to post splits but it was the worst session of my life... this was the shot in the arm I needed I think as to just how out of shape I am.

Wed: Off

Thursday: AM 10 miles. PM Track. Was gonna do some 800's but it was ridiculously windy.. worst I've ever run in so I just tried some 200's and jogged around a bit. Ran 31, 32, 33, 33, 40, 33, 34, 36, 30.... erratic pacing due to wind, if a gust hit me then I'd basically be blown backwards. 4 miles.

Friday: AM 8.5 miles / PM 5 Miles

Saturday: AM 5 miles easy / PM 4 miles easy (legs a bit tired)

Sunday: PM 16 in 1:56. Was out night before, carbo loaded on 6 pints of Bulmer's and a Dominos before crashing on someone's floor at 4am. Drove home at midday and got straight to work. Still crazy wind and rain and the route I did had 1552ft of climbing apparently so I'm semi-pleased with this run as I haven't really run anything over 10 miles for a while.

Total: 55.5

Well it's a start at least... if I can do what I did from Thurs-Sun for the next 10 weeks then maybe I can pull out something for London... got a half marathon in early March too... YIKES!

Great training folks!

I'm still posting now, so I have to call it a good week. Icy cold and sloppy in the NE for much of the week but it only cost me one short easy run (2nd shorter half of an easy day double anyway). Can't quite get my heel/foot to feel 100% but still not backsliding at all. I suppose 2 weeks of 0 then straight back into my highest mileage since Oct. isn't the perfect recipe to get over an injury.

Goal: 2:48-50

Race: Gansett

Mon - 6am (Missed 4 PM, time/weather)

Tues - 10.5 (7:57 Slow run w/ group, but hard on hills - not the planned 10 w/ 6 at 1/2 mp though)

Wed - 10.3 (7:20 Tired but ok)

Thurs - 6 (Easy, 7:35's)

Fri - 12 (Actually more like 11.5 @ 7:18's. Ran by time and effort/g-mapped after. Lots of weaving and pace changes due to darkness and ice patches. Felt like 7:15's out/6:45's back)

Sat - 6 (7:30 easy but annoying in darness, ice and fog.)

Sun - 18 (7:25. Last 30-40 mins mostly uphill which killed my pace. Overall, felt pretty good though.)

Total - 68.5

Learned the hard way after last Sunday to hydrate even in the winter. No water and my legs felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to them most of the week. This Sun, no problems.

Race: Boston

Goal: 2:38

M: 6.5 easy

Tu: 10

W: 10.5

Th: 11 w/ 12 x 400(45-60 seconds rest)

F: 8

Sa: 4

Su: 20

Total: 70, ran a lot of slow easy miles at the beginning of the week due to soreness from a hard half marathon last Sunday. Hope everyone had a good week.

Goal: 1:13:00-1:13:59 and 2:37:00-2:39:59

Race: NYC 1/2 and Boston Marathon

Mon- Off, still sick

Tue- 9/ Ran 3 miles easy (7:20 pace avg) then went 6:00/7:00/6:00/7:00/5:25? (basically progressed from 6:00 pace to 4:50 pace for 1.2 miles)/7:30. It was all treadmill and essentially just decided to alternate pace to keep it interesting. Running 6:00 pace on the treadmill is so much harder then running 6:00 pace outside!

Wed- 14/ AM: 8 on treadmill. Increased from 8 mph to 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 on miles 2, 4, 6 and increased incline at miles 1, 3, 5, 7 (from 0-2%). Coughing pretty bad as soon as I stopped. PM: Easy 6

Thu- 15/ AM: 6 easy on treadmill. PM: 9 with running some hills hard.

Fri- 14/ AM: 6 easy on treadmill. PM: 8. 2 easy, 4 miles of progressing from 6:00 pace to 5:35 pace (probably average 5:43'ish). 2 easy. Treadmill again!

Sat- 10+ easy

Sun- 19 easy. Was pretty tired and thought it was 20... then I mapped it and it was a mile short. Oh well.

Found out on Thursday that I have bronchitis, so been on antibiotics for the last 4 days. Finally starting to feel better. Cough is still there, but not nearly as bad. 2 weeks of illness sucks.

Weekly Total: 80 miles in 6 days. Before I got sick I ran 100 miles in 7 days (Wed Jan 19th - Tue Jan 25th), then was floored, and it looks like unless something goes wrong, I should get another 100 in 7 days through this Tuesday (Wed Feb 2nd - Tue Feb 8th). Basically a 38 mile week bookended by 2 100 mile weeks. Damn that illness. Feeling like I'm getting fit enough to start handling marathon workouts. One more week of mileage and impromptu hard running and then I'll start formal workouts next week. Good times.

Goals: 15:15, 1:12, 2:30

Prs: 15:28, 1:13:15, 2:35

S: 16 (7:00 pace - barely finished the run)

M: 5 am / 7 pm

T: 10 (4 x 1k at 3:09, 2 x 400, 4 x 100 - sucked)

W: 3 (why did I even bother to run??)

R: 7

F: 6

S: 5

Total: 59 (Jan total: 330 miles)

Not transitioning back into training well post 1/2 marathon race (two weeks ago today). I kind of jumped right back into training, and am just now realizing that the race must have really taken something out of me. I cut out my 2nd workout this week, and did four straight easy days.

M - Off

Tu - 8/4 double

We - 9/4 double

Th - 6

Fr - 11 miles, 4 mile tempo in the middle, 5:28 pace

Sa - 8/4 double

Su - 16, about 7 flat pace.

Solid, 70 miles in 6 days, with one of those being light. Not too ashamed of the tempo either, felt good the whole time. I am hoping to get on the track and do a 5k time trial next week to get a fitness gauge, depending on if the snow melts enough.

4TM - Glad you are feeling better man. Nice week. Can't wait to see you round into marathon shape... just like you always do.

SilkySlim - HMs take a lot more outta you then we realize. Way to listen to your body and cut out a workout. Smart.

Goal Races: Suncoast Classic 5k or 10k?? / Gasparilla 15k or HM?? / UNF FSU UF 5000m / Gate River Run

Goal Times: PRsssss sub 15:20 5k / 49:59 15k at GRR

Mo - 15am (7:02s) / 6pm (7:05s)

Tu - 10am (7:12s) / 8pm (7:15s)

We - 11am w/ 4 mile tempo at goal 15k race pace (21:20... 5:24, 5:27, 5:18, 5:10)

Th - 12am (7:22s) / 10pm (7:00s)

Fri - 10am (7:14s) / 11pm w/ 5X1000m & 4X200m

(3:10, 3:09, 3:06, 3:05, 3:01) with 400m jog recovery

(35, 34, 33, 31) with 200m jog recovery

Sa - 10am (7:30s)

Su - 16pm (7:13s)

Total Mileage - 119

YTD Mileage - 505

Ok, I'm back. Highest mileage week w/ two solid workouts. Both workouts were done solo as well. Running 5:20 pace solo for a 4 mile tempo leads me to believe I have a shot at breaking 50mins in the 15k. We'll see. First track workout went pretty well too. I was working pretty hard on the last couple 1000m repeats, but would recover extremely fast. My aerobic capacity has improved noticeably as of late. I'd like to stay at 110+ for two more weeks, then come down and start nailing some solid track workouts.

Goal: Gold Coast Marathon, July 3, 2:35

Conditions: The cyclone in Queensland has not impacted the gold coast apart from causing a week of 95 degrees 90-100%humidity.

M - 8 (7:32) / 8 (7:50) w 6 30 sec strides

T - 15 (7:26) w 2mile @ 5:48

W - 9 (7:28) w 10 80 sec pick ups / 6 (7:58)

T - 15 (8:03)

F - 5

S - 10 w last 5 @ 5:50-6:50 / 5

S - 20

Total:101

YTD: 559

Humidity made it tough so some runs I didn't even take a watch. I just wanted to get the run done and not be disappointed with the pace. Thanks pablo and rh will be continueing with strides, progressions, tempo etc, but still no structured sessions. Pablo, I will ease into specific training, treat the first six weeks a lot like an extended base, thanks.

Happy running everyone!

Austin Marathon 2/20

Goal - 2:32?

M - 21mi slow (2:35 on treadmill)

T - 10mi a.m./5mi p.m. (1:42)

W - 14mi slow (1:38)

Th - 10mi slow (1:20)

F - 6mi slow (45:30)

S - 20mi moderate (2:07 with 2300 elevation change)

Su - 17mi slow (2:12)

Total - 103miles

Coming off 10k race (32:27 from Sunday), wanted a workout, just didn't get it in...lots of slow running from 10+inches of snow/ice that fell...

YTD - 484 miles

Great work to everyone training right now, it's tough in many areas right now! Great start to the year, keep working hard.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:31

M: am - 8.5 (7:03) / pm - 6 (6:48)

Tu: am - 11 (6:43) 9 on treadmill, 3 on indoor track

W: am - 8.8 (6:49) / pm - 6 (6:40)

Th: am - 8.8 (6:49) / pm - 6 (6:54)

F: pm - 12 (6:43)

Sa: pm - 8.8 (6:51)

Su: am - 21 (6:59) very hilly course, stiff wind

Weekly Total - 96.9

This was kind of a rough week. Tuesday and Wednesday the temp didn't get above 0 so I ran on the treadmill and indoor track. I'm not sure how people can run on the treadmill everyday... it was killing me. My legs were really sore from running on the indoor track for pretty much the rest of the week. Unfortunately didn't get in a workout because I was afraid of straining my legs more. Today's long run was hard; hilliest run I've ever done and there was a good 20mph wind.

I think I really need to get doing some workouts. My mileage has been good but I haven't done much quality work.

Goal races: Georgia Half Marathon, Pittsburgh Marathon

Paces: Still figuring that out...

M: 4 am, recovery on TM

T: 10.2 with 5mi @ LT (about 6:20s). Crap weather, went to indoor track.

W: 14.5 (7:16), hilly but finally found some dry ground.

H: 5.2 recovery (~8min pace)

F: 13 (7:27). Didn't mind the distance but body definitely didn't want to run faster than easy pace.

S: 5.3 recovery w/company (~9min pace)

Su: 18 (6:56 overall) w/last 10 at MP (about 6:40 pace) on mostly flat ground.

Total: ~70

First time I've hit 70. This is the first time I've really tried to run seriously and I'm returning from a few years of letting myself get out of shape. The last 5 miles of that 18 miler were uncomfortable, so I assume that was reasonably close to my current marathon pace, but I'm still trying to figure out what paces I'll end up running. I'm mostly doing my MP, long run, LT, and easy runs by heart rate, but the resulting paces seem to match up well with McMillan's calculator (6:20 steady state/LT, 6:40 MP, 7:10 - 7:40 easy). They've been steadily dropping every few weeks.

This is a hybrid of week 13 of Pfitz's 55-70 and 70-85 plans; I'm trying to ratchet up the mileage as fast as my body can handle without breaking. Previous weeks were 67, 59, 56, 50, 27 (xmas), 50, 50, 50, 36 (rest), 46, 46, 46, ... so I feel like I've chewed off a big chunk of mileage in the last month and am still trying to figure out if I should take a rest week (pfitz's schedule), how much more I can increase, etc. I'd love suggestions on this front, though I'm guessing I'm the only one who really knows how I'm feeling. :)

Aim: Boston 2:44

Mon.—morn. 9mi.; night 5mi.

Tues.—morn. 10mi.; eve. 4mi.

Wed.—morn. 10mi.; eve. 7mi.

Thurs.—morn. 8mi.

Fri.—morn. 9mi.; eve. 7mi.

Sat.—morn. 9mi.; eve. 3mi.

Sun.—eve. 20mi.

Week: 101 miles. A very good week for me if I take into account adverse conditions: snow, ice, and the coldest weather I think I’ve run in (-12 F. on Thurs. and close to that in the early mornings on Tues. and Wed…) I tell myself that this will make it seem easy when the weather is nice and streets are clear – but that may be a delusion.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:40

Monday - AM 6 easy; PM 6 easy, 8x100m strides

Tuesday - AM 2 w/u, 8x100m strides, 6 x mile 2:00 recovery on a rocky dirt path 5:41, 5:33, 5:37, 5:35, 5:35, 5:27, 2.5 c/d

Wednesday - off

Thursday - 7.5 easy

Friday - off

Saturday - 60 minutes elliptical

Sunday - off

Total: 37 miles

Well my week sucked. I'm not sure where it came from, but one of the extensor tendons to the outside of my lower right shin is killing me. I mildly rolled my ankle Monday night but didn't feel any pain, and when I woke up Tuesday I felt some discomfort in my shin. I ran my mile repeats ok, but I could feel it, and my run that night had even more discomfort. I took Wednesday off, but I had even more pain on Thursday's run so I took the rest of the week off.

I'm not really sure what to make of this since I went to bed feeling fine Monday night and woke up in pain on Tuesday. It's definitely not my tibia either, but the muscle or tendon to the outside on my lower shin. I'm just hoping it doesn't turn into a lingering tendonitis issue.

Goal 2:26

Sun- 11 miles easy

Mon- 2mile warmup, 6xmile repeat 5:19, 5:18, 5:18, 5:15, 5:10, 800 jog recovery 3:35, 2mile cooldown (13miles)

Tues- 71 min easy (10miles)

Wed- 8.5miles 1hr with 1mile hills at 10% incline, 3.5 miles easy (12miles)

Thurs- 2mile warmup, 8mile tempo 43:36 6:01 progressing to 4:52, 2mile cooldown (12miles)

Fri- 9miles easy

Sat- 13.1miles 1:27:50, .9 easy (14miles)

Total- 81 miles

Slowly building up, plan on running a 20K on Feb 19th at goal marathon pace 5:36, hopefully it feels easy. Workouts this week felt very comfortable, shouldn't have progressed to sub 5 on thursday but oh well im still working on controll.

Hope everyone's training is going well, we need to produce more american elite marathoners!

Goal: London in 2:56

M: 3.5

T: 4.5

W: 7 on TM as an unplanned fartlek, 4 minutes at 8:00 and 1 minute at 5:40

R: 4

F: 5

S: off

S: 13 incl 10 @ 7:25

Total: 37

Bad week, no energy. I planned on bringing mileage down to 50 but to keep the intensity there. Didn't happen. In fact, i planned on doing 16 including 10@MP on sunday but after the first mile i knew it would be a bad struggle so i converted it to a solid steady effort.

The past 8 weeks were 79,77,70,41,70,71,75,37.

This week was planned as a down week, but it ended up more down than i planned. As a mid-40s old guy, i think i need to worry ALOT about rest -- and i need to figure out what works for ME. I am still experimenting with it. I've tried the "keep going until your body tells you to stop" approach but i always end up with heavy legs. Currently, as you can see above, i have been doing 3 weeks up and 1 week down. I think i will now try 2 weeks up (at 70-85) and 1 week down (50). Next cycle, i may try a 2 workouts per 9 day schedule. Has anyone here tried such a thing? It may make some sense as it will allow sufficient recovery but i wonder if i am giving something up. I guess it doesn't hurt to try it next cycle.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:30

M - 10 easy

T - 10 easy

W - 6 moderate

T - 10 easy

F - 2 moderate

S - 5 easy

S - 15 moderate to fast at end

Total - 58 miles

YTD - 340 miles

Awful week, I hate traveling for work. Coming back Friday was the worst travel experience of my life, ended up getting stuck in Cleveland Friday night and didn't get home until 5. Oh well, it was supposed to be my last down week anyways, this week will go much better.

Some great mileage being put in, good job everyone!

Goal Race: National Marathon (3/26)

Goal Time: 2:55 – 3:05

Monday: 5 easy (did not wear watch)

Tuesday: 8 on treadmill (6:30)

Wednesday: 12 (7:30ish)

Thursday: 8 w/ fartlek – Slipped on ice 1/2 way through (8:04)

Friday: 6 easy (did not wear watch)

Saturday: 10 (6:50ish)

Sunday: 20 (7:22, 7:08, 7:36, 7:26, 7:29, 7:23, 8:25, 7:38, 7:57, 7:12, 7:03, 7:11, 6:55, 6:49, 7:17, 6:25, 6:41, 6:46, 6:41, 8:00)

This was a good week for me. My Thursday workout was inspired by Pablo’s random fartlek workouts that he has been doing. I have never done fartlek before, but despite falling on ice and the slow time I think it was a good workout. I was happy with my long run, and was able to pick it up the pace at the end before getting crushed by steep hills in the last mile. I am still trying to figure out what my target time should be, but starting to lean towards 2:57 (6:45 pace).

Total: 69