Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 2/13

pablo - You looked so relaxed and like you were holding back the entire time. You are going to roll out at the 5k. Get some!

Goal Races: Ortega River Run 5 mile / UNF 5000m / Gate River Run 15k

Goal Times: sub 26 / sub 15:20 / sub 50:00

Mo - 10am w/ 3.5 tempo in wet grass (5:45, 5:20, 5:20, 2:31) / 8pm (7:23s)

Tu - 11am (7:21s) / 9pm (7:13s)

We - 13am (7:13s) / 6pm (7:00s)

Th - 10pm (6:46s) couple quicker miles in the middle

Fr - 8am (7:15s)

Sa - 17am w/ 10k in 33:06 / 5pm (7:48s)

Su - 13am (7:23s)

Total - 110

YTD - 615

Ran a 10k race on Saturday and was very displeased with the way it went. I raced like a jackass the first 5k and a little girl the second 5k. Went with pablo and his friend for the first 3 or so miles and completely missed the first 3 mile markers. This proved to be fatal, as later I would find out from pablo that we came through 2 miles in 10 flat (much faster than I intended). Finally saw a mile marker at 4 (21:13) and realized I was still under 5:20 pace. Went 5:28, 5:12 but just never feel good.

I PR'ed by 56 seconds but I've only raced one other 10k. Just know I can run so much faster. And if I hadn't raced like an idiot the first 5k, probably would have ran 32:3X and be pretty happy about it... On the positive side, I feel confident that when I come down from this high mileage and race smart, I can come thru the 10k in 33 flat at Gate River Run feeling good.

Hope everyone had a good week.

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: 2:47-2:49

I guess I recovered OK from last weeks stomach bug. At least it got me down to a more runner friendly weight. Legs felt good most of the week except for today. Didn't have that spring today. Will see what this week holds, supposed to be 100 miles.

My week:

M am: 6 @ 8:20 TM

M pm: 5 @ 8:25 TM

T am: 10.02 @ 7:51 (+ 10 100m Strides)

T pm: 4 @ 8:31 TM

W: 15 @ 7:31 TM

R am: 6.11 @ 8:20

R pm: 4 @ 8:16 TM

F: 14 @ 7:22 TM (Boston Simulation)

S: 10 @ 7:37 (+ 8 100m Strides)

S: 20.01 @ 7:26

Tot: 94.1

Legs were a little tired for today's 20. I think I might have ran yesterday's 10 a little fast, but legs felt good yesterday. Hopefully, less and less TM running as hopefully we start getting a little warmer weather.

Goal Race: London (17/4/2011)

Goal Time: Sub 2:50

M am 4 / pm 6

T am 6 / pm 9

W am 5 / pm 3 sets of 5x30 secs hills. The idea was to get back to the bottom after each 30 sec effort up so it was more of a constant effort as the jog down the hill was fast.

T am 6 / pm 6 (had planned on mile reps but was so tired there wasn't any point in forcing the issue so just jogged round the track, nice to get a flat slow run in for once.)

F am 10 / pm 6

S am 5 / pm 6

S am 20 in 2:24 (7:12). Was pretty please as I'd not had much sleep and ran decent miles this week so I was expecting to blow up a bit. Did a 10 mile loop twice, 71:30, 72:30. The route had 1500ft of climbing which I struggled with as I'm no good at hills but it was a solid effort.

I've taken Pablo's advice and gone for the sub 2:50 goal, this is subject to change though depending on how quick the fitness comes back and also how well I do at a HM I've got coming up in March.

Hope everyone had a good week!

Pablo Looks like you're starting to come around. I bet you could knock out that 15:20 now.

Nolerunner No worries man. Running a big 10k pr after going out in 10:00, and coming over several hardcore weeks isn't a bad showing at all. You have a 32:00ish on fresher legs in you right now I bet.

Goal: 2:50

Race: Gansett

I have to call this a good week as it was my third highest mileage for a week ever (I was a bit surprised when I went back to look it up and found that out.) Came out of it feeling a bit tired but overall healthy and getting stronger. Specifically, I could have used an anchor on some of my runs during the week. It's just so nice to be able to really run again that I pushed harder on average than I should and that (in part) kept me from being able to run Sunday's long run the way I should have.

Mon - 5 am/4 pm (7:45/7:40 easy runs)

Tues - 8.5 (7:37, easy overall, but pushed on hills)

Wed - 13 (7:03 - 2 min faster in return of out and back. Felt great)

Thurs - 5 (7:40? Random easy run)

Fri - 13 (7:08 - Same out/back but in the dark. Stupid to have pushed so hard again and left me with a slightly achy knee from the harder foot slap of running in the dark.)

Sat - 6 (7:40 easy)

Sun - 19 (7:10 - Supposed to have 10 @ MP, but between footing and tired legs I didn't try to hit specific times. Pushed hard from 1hr - 2hrs and was probably close to MP for about half that time. Definitely dragging by the end of the run)

Total 73.5

This weeks focus is going to be a better distribution of efforts - harder on the hard days and easier on every other day. Not that I want to become a techno geek, but I may have to start using my HR monitor for even more of my runs.

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

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

Learned a lot about post race recovery (well, lack of recovery to be specific) over the past three weeks after my winter half-marathon race (Jan 23rd). Bottom line: half marathons are no joke. Training "through" one is not a graceful experience.

Week One: Sore for a day or two, but legs seemed to be coming back around quick. Thought I was going to even run a workout late in the week (70 miles total)

Week Two: Just plain tired all week. Not a single good run. Gruesome 16 mile long run / death march (59 miles)

Week Three (this past week): Ran with out a plan. No workouts at all, just relaxed runs with the occasional stride worked in when it felt right. Feel guilt admitting this, but ran with my mp3 player for the first time in like two years, and loved it. (70 miles)

Nole - not a bad race at all. Got another 10k planned for later in the season, or was this your gate river tuneup?

Pablo - nice work on the tempo/pacing

Goal Race: Boston

Goal Time: sub-2:33

M- am- 9 pm- 6

Tu- 11 - Workout on the indoor track, 3mi w/u, then the plan was 2 x 1mi,12,8,4. I got halfway through the second 800 and had to stop b/c of a nasty blister on the ball of my left foot - Splits: 5:17 (600jog), 5:18 (600jog), 3:54 (400j), 3:52 (200j and tried to fix sock/shoe), 2:35 (200j), 75

W- 10 - Odd run. I ended up helping a dog rescue group try to catch a stray pitbull for about 30min to no avail in the middle of the run.

Th- off

F- am- 11 (Progression run- 708,644,633,626,624,613,606,600 followed by 8x100m strides) pm- 7

Sa- 11

Su- 10 - "4mi" Race - (Debacle of a race up in the north suburbs. No competition. About 400m into the race I was supposed to turn, but the cop with this designated post was late to his position. Thus, I ran a good 400-500m past the turn before the cop showed up and some runners behind me who also went the wrong way got my attention. Then the mile markers btw 2mi and 3mi were way off unless I ran a 6:38, so I really have no clue how fast I was going the whole race. I ended up winning by 2mins in 25:01 running somewhere btw 5:15-5:35/mi. Then for all that trouble I got a stinking coffee mug for overall winner.)

Tot- 75mi/6d

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

Races: NYC Half and Boston Marathon

Mon- 6

Tue- 16/ AM: 7, PM: 9

Wed- 16/ AM: 10, PM: 6

Thur: 16/ AM: 9, PM: 7

Fri: 16/ AM: 8, PM: 8

Sat: 10

Sun: 20 much faster then I normally go. 7:15, 7:15, 6:55, 6:59, 7:00, 6:50, 6:48, 6:46, 6:40, 6:45, 6:49, 6:40, 6:38, 6:33, 6:30, 6:30, 6:34, 6:35, 6:35, 6:14. Was definitely running hard, and its a fairly hilly route, but needed to get back because I promised my wife I would be home and showered before noon so we could go to lunch and get the kids to bed for naps before 1:30. Ha. Ahh, balancing a family with 100 mile weeks!

Total Mileage: 100

Very solid week... especially since 94 of those 100 miles were Tue-Sun. Starting workouts this week (3x2M and 13 miles at MP in the middle of a long run). 4 100+ mile weeks and 8 workouts and then a down week the week of the NYC half. Traditionally, these next 4 weeks are when I see big fitness jumps... hopefully that happens this time as well. I'm tired right now, but not feeling overly banged up. Little niggles and whatnot, hip/hammy is of course still an issue, I'm pretty sure I have a hernia (double over in pain when I cough), and the PF is constant... but I have learned to run through all of it pretty well. Sounds worse then it is as I don't notice the PF while running, the hernia only hurts if I cough or try and hammer downhill, so really, during the run itself, the only thing that sucks is the hip/hammy. But I've dealt with that for so long, and if I'm inside of 10 miles, its not bad at all.

GOAL: London Marathon in 2:35

Monday: 10 miles (10)

Tuesday: 8x1k, 200 recoveries (3:05/09/10/08/10/12/10/13), mile steady, ran home (13)

Wednesday: AM 3 mile recovery ~30 mins (3) PM: 10 miles (10)

Thursday: 1 mile at marathon pace, 10x300, 3x600, ran home (11)

Friday: AM 3 mile recovery ~30 mins (3) PM: 9 miles ~1hr (9)

Saturday: AM 4 miles easy (4) PM Birmingham League XC in Northampton (35:19, 33rd) 10k (8)

Sunday: Hilly 20 (20)

Week total: 91 miles

2011 total: 485 miles

Best week yet in this marathon cycle. Particularly pleased with the cross country race. Starting to recover more quickly.

Keep up the good work guys!

Goal: London in 2:56

M: 6 easy

T: 3.5 easy / 10.5 @ 7:34 incl 4 @ 6:50 (dark/dangerous footing)

W: 3.5 easy / 9.5 @ 7:28 progression

R: 7 @ 8:16

F: 8 @ 8:11

S: 7 @ 8:50

S:am 18 = 6 easy then 10 @ 7:02 (7:15/7:03/7:01/6:56/6:52) then 2 easy

S:pm 3 @ 8:45

Total=76

Felt a bit better than last week. I'll take whatever i can get at this point. I was travelling this week in a new location and planned a 4 or 5 mile tempo run on Tuesday but the trail was really dark and full of potholes. There was also a 1km hanging wooden bridge on which i actually went pretty fast but on each step i kept thinking about going through it and ending up in the rocks/water below anonymously. I was upset that i couldn't get a tempo effort in but at the same time i can't believe i went as fast as 6:50. Wednesday i did a solid progression run starting around 8:10 and ending around 6:50-7:00. Felt good. Sunday i wanted to do a 6-8 easy and then 10@MP. The 10 miles were all at MP effort but started at 7:15 and only the last mile was 6:48. A bit slow, so not very pleased with the run. It appears that at this point in training i am not even in sub-3 hour shape.

Aim: Boston 2:44

Mon.—morn. 5mi.; eve. 9mi.

Tues.—4mi.

Wed.—14mi. in new snow, very cold.

Thurs.—morn. 15mi. very cold; afternoon 6mi.: 1mi. up; 8x440y hills w/440y rec. 1mi.dn.

Fri.—morn. 10mi. very slow; afternoon 6mi. 7:40.

Sat.—morn. 10mi.; eve. 4mi..

Sun.—20mi. in 2:22.

Week: 103 miles. A pretty good week. The weather was harsh at the beginning but turned nice toward the end. I felt good after the hill repeats. I’m thinking of doing these weekly for a month or so. I’d rather go to a track, but the nearest is too far away and inconvenient. The long run went well – my main goal being to run the third five mile segment, that ends with a ¾ mile climb (a little longer than Heartbreak I think), under 35:00.

Goals: Georgia Half Marathon (3/20),

Pittsburgh Marathon (5/15)

Paces: Still unknown. :-)

Pfitz's schedule called for a recovery week this week. I hadn't been sure if I was going to take one until I woke up with a slightly sore throat Monday morning. Between that and a trip to the west coast, that settled it. Made an effort to run slowly this week until Sunday.

M: Off, nursing sore throat

T: 6mi treadmill easy/recovery pace, throat sore.

W: 6mi treadmill easy+ (finished last two miles a bit faster)

H: 11.8mi am incl. trails w/1200 feet of elevation gain (8:10 pace)

pm 3.1mi recovery, 8:22 pace

F: 13mi incl. trails w/1300 feet of elevation (8:12 pace)

Sa: 5.6mi recovery, no trails. :( (7:59)

Su: 16.4mi: 3 warmup w/company, last 13.4 at about 7:00 pace

Total: 62mi

I'm pleased with the continuing progress: For the first time, my "easy long run" pace (I run it at about 72-73% of max HR, or 135 for me) dropped under 7min pace on the flats - about 6:55 pace. Next goal is to get "steady state" (LT-raising) pace under 6min/mile. Just going to continue building up the mileage, keeping easy days easy and running some tempos and stride days. Still trying to bridge from Pfitz 55-70 up to Pfitz 70-85, which I think I'll catch up with in about 2-3 weeks.

The trail running in California was a wonderful change from February in Pittsburgh. I hadn't necessarily planned to run 13-15 miles each of those days on a recovery week, but, well, it was 4mi from my hotel to the trails, and once you're there you can't just turn around, and, ... :)

Goals: NYC Marathon (TBD)

NYC Half (1:15 - 3/20)

4:00 (1500), 15:30, 33:00

Mon: 12.3 (7:19 - longish run)

Tue: 8 (7:21 w/ 4 x 100m strides)

Wed: 9 (7:13 - 8 x 75" on / 90" jog - on was ~3k pace, 45' w.u./w.d.)

Thu: 10 (7:15)

Fri: 6 (7:24 w/ 4 x 100m strides)

Sat: 7 (4:21 mile race, 45" w.u./w.d.)

Sun: 15 (6:46 - long run with my buddy...tired legs last 4 miles)

Total: 67.3 miles

Very solid week for me. I wanted to run the 3k on Saturday, but didn't get in with my seed time. Worked out well though as I knocked off 3.5 seconds from my last mile for a big PR. The best part was watching the first heat of the mile before my warm up. I was at the Valentine meet, and saw 5 guys under 4:00. The place was so loud the last 2 laps. Coolest thing I've ever seen at a meet.

I am really excited after that race, because I haven't done any real hard training yet. All my workouts have been some form of a fartlek, and most aren't over strenuous. Looking forward to this year, and to see what I can do at the longer distances too.

You guys are all kicking ass. Everyone is putting in some big weeks right now. Keep it up!

Question for everyone...what are some key workouts you guys have done leading up to a half marathon? I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do in the next 5 weeks leading up to nyc, but any advice would be great. Thanks!

Austin (2/20)

Goal: 2:32

M - 4/6 (72' total)

T - 9 (57')

W - 12/7 (130')

Th - 10 (62')

F - 6 (42')

S - 20 (148')

Su - 11 (80')

Total - 85mi

YTD - 635mi

Goal Marathon: Country Music Marathon

Goal Time: 2:30

Mon: Easy 3 and 8 mile runs

Tue: 7 miles easy; 6 miles with 6x10s hill sprints

Wed: 6.5 miles with 5 mile fartlek of 3:00 steady, 1:00 easy. I was planning on doing a 4 mile tempo with 4x200m afterward, but we got out of school two hours early because of snow, so I had to rush the workout so I could help with dismissal. Easy 5 miles

Thu: Easy 7 and 5 mile runs

Fri: 3 miles easy; 5 miles easy with strides

Sat: 8 miles with 5k race in 15:20. Splits were 5:07, 5:06, 4:38, 29. I'm happy with my time because this was actually a pretty tough course and I'm really rusty right now, but I was a little disappointed because I lost by a second. I was racing a "true" 5k guy, so I was hoping to break him in the 2nd mile. That mile had a strong headwind and a couple big climbs, and I ran it a good bit harder than the first. With a mile to go, I pushed hard again and thought I could break him, but he left me with 600m to go, which mentally broke me. I felt really good after the race, and never got the 5k pain feeling, which frustrated me. It's hard to go from the patience of a marathoner back to the killer instinct of the 5k.

Sun: 20 miles easy

Week Total=83 miles

4TM: I know the wife troubles. Last week mine thought I was running for an hour, when I was doing 19 miles and texted the guy I was running with because she thought I was kidnapped or killed. This week, I was running later than I thought and luckily I ran into one of the kids' I coach and had him text her that I wasn't dead. What's worse is trying to house shop with her when she's six months pregnant.

stamford: Great mile! Looks like you're well on your way to sub 4:00 1500m. I like using an 8-10 week 10k/half-marathon phase before starting my 6-8 week marathon specific phase. I'm a couple weeks into that now, and what I like doing is one workout a week at 3k-10k pace with another more traditional type tempo one. I'll do a long run every week with every other long run having some faster running in it. 3x5k with 3:00 rest at hm pace is also a good indicator workout that I like.

Goal Cleveland 5/15- Sub 3

End 2/6

Sun 16

Mon 8 with 6xmile (6:25)

Tues 10 easy

Wed 11 with 10 miles in 69 minutes

Thurs 13 easy

Friday 9 with 5 miles at 6:25 pace

Saturday 10 easy

Total= 77

Another solid week.

End 2/13

Sun 18 Hilly

Mon 11 Hilly

Tues 13 8 am with 3xmile- half mile jog recovery (5:53, 3:52, 5:57, 3:57, 5:55) 5 pm

Wed 10 Hilly

Thurs 10 with 6 miles at 6:25 pace

Friday 11 Hilly

Saturday 13 with 10 miles at 6:43 pace

Total= 86

An excellent week.

Race: Boston

Goal: 2:38

M: 7

Tu: 10.5

W: 14 w/ 5 x mile in 5:36, 5:29, 5:25, 5:24, 5:10(2 minutes rest)

Th: 10

F: 8.5

Sa: 20 at 6:47 pace

Su: 10

Total: 80 miles

Just lurking for sec. Funny stories and great running, guys! Today I ran 2mi and delivered three babies. Whoosh.