Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 4/3

Pittsburgh May 15

Monday lift

Tuesday 6 miles

Weds sick

Thurs AM 50min elliptical PM 6 miles

Fri lift

Sat 6 miles

Sund 18 miles

Not a good week. Had a 12 hr bug Wednesday, so skipped Wes night run and did two workouts Thursday. Did 18 Sunday and woke up today with very tight and sore heel area. Walked it off and it loosened up but has me concerned.

Looks like everyone had another strong week. Boston is getting close. Stay healthy, everyone!

This week my only workout will be Wednesday, a 10k cruise where I will try to run at a pace where I would lap myself if I was running MP. It's a confidence booster because if it goes well the 10k on the track feels ridiculously easy. Then a cruise 17 miler next Sunday. This week should be about 90 miles. Then the final week will be in the 60s, 10 or so every day except Sunday when I'll do 4.

Boston 2:23

M: 60 mn

T: 60 mn + strides

W: 6 x Mile (5:10 - 5)+ (15 mn wm/15 mn cd)

H: 65 mn

F: 65 mn

S: 60 mn @ MP (15 mn wm/10 mn cd)

S: 75 mn

~ 75 miles

Feel good. Not sure about exactly what kind of shape I'm but will find out in 2 weeks.

4TM another nice week - hay's in the barn.

rhrunner

I like the sound of what you're doing. I'm a big believer in cutting volume but not intensity during a taper. If you keep running fast you're going to feel fresher and more confident. Just cut your normal sessions in half so it doesn't take to much out of you. Practising your marathon pace is a good idea too.

I love this 'hay in the barn' phrase. My training partners and I tend to talk about money in the bank but this one's got a nice ring to it!

Keep up the good work guys.

sorry, that was meant to read: rhrunner and 4TM!

Note to self: check posts before you submit them.

I haven't had the best experiences going into marathons with a big taper or any significant change other than carbo-loading. I went into the LA Marathon this year with fresh legs after a double on Tuesday that included a workout and a very minor taper at the end of the week. I did the same last week for Cherry Blossom and that worked, so I'm not going to fix what's not broken.

I'm planning on doing 4 x 1.5 tomorrow and 6 or 8 miles at MP on Thursday with total weekly mileage between 70-80. Next week, I'll do a couple miles at MP on Wednesday and 9 miles with two or three 3-minute pickups with total weekly mileage between 60-65.

Goals: NYC Marathon (2:35??)

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

Mon: 12 (7:25 - medium long)

Tue: 9 (5 x 1000 w/ 200m jog rest; 20' w.u. / 3:07, 3:07, 3:13, 3:06, 3:07 / 20' w.d.)

Wed: 8 (7:30 w/ 8 x 100m stride / 100m jog)

Thu: 12 (7:20 - medium long)

Fri: 6 (7:30)

Sat: 9 (4 x 600 (200m jog rest) / 5' rest, spike up / 6 x 200m (200m jog rest); 20' w.u. 1:46, 1:47, 1:45, 1:48...28, 31, 30, 30, 31, 31 / 20' w.d.)

Sun: 9 (7:45)

Total: 65 miles

This was a good 'get back at it' week. Both workout sessions were very windy which made it tough! The Tuesday workout I struggled a ton on the 3rd repeat, but then on the 4th one I somehow got a second wind. I will do this workout at least once more in the next month. Like Pablo and Nolerunner, I think it is a bread and butter workout for the 5k. It's the same idea as 5 x mile @ 8k pace. Saturday's workout didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I was supposed to do up to 6 - 600s, but I just didn't have it in me after the 4th one, and felt it wouldn't do much good slowing down to the 1:50s. I guess I took out some frustration on the first 200 though haha. I eased back into control the rest of the way. This week will look pretty similar, but I'll try to add a longer run back in on Sunday. A lot of my workouts for the next 2 months will look different from everyone else here since I will be training mainly for the 1500 which I'll be racing end of May/beginning of June.

Marmite: Nice race!

Another: You have been very consistent this training period. It should serve you well for Boston. With 2 weeks to rest up and prepare, you should definitely be hitting your goal.

CTA: Same goes for you. I am finding out consistency seems to be the most important factor in running. All you guys are doing these 3-4 x 2 mile workouts...I might have to incorporate that into my training in September/October.

Brumrunner: Nice 5k! I've yet to win any sort of race in my lifetime. I wish I knew what it was like!

[Nolerunner: That is a smokin' 1k workout. I hope I can get my times down close to that in another few weeks.

blaznbison: That is one impressive Saturday workout. I imagine it was as tough mentally to get through that as physically. I can't see myself ever even attempting a workout like that haha.

4TM: See Another and CTA

Goal: Learn

You guys are looking good, cant wait to see what happens in the weeks to come.

I figure this will be a great point for me to see how you guys recover and prepare for your next races. After Shamrock I took a couple of days off and got in 28 miles for the week. This last week I just wanted to continue to ease back into it, and see how my body recovered from the beating.

M-off

T-6

W-6

T-7

F-off

S-7

S-10

Overall, I felt pretty decent, but I wasnt doing anything difficult. I want to put a race on the calendar, but have found my training to pretty subpar. I know a couple of you mentioned using particular training plans, which should I consider, and how should I go about picking the right one? As always, I appreciate the advice.

I haven't posted on this thread, but nice job everyone. I'm running my first Boston and it's been great to see how others are training. I've enjoyed the Pfitzinger schedule.

Another - I have a similar time goal of 2:45 - 2:47. Any thoughts on your first half pace? I was thinking go out in 1:23, and if I'm as fit as I think I am (ran 6:12 pace for a 20 miler about six weeks ago) I can hold that no problem or negative split, if not then hold on as much as possible.

brumrunner : I guess it is just you and me in London. This is my first time at London marathon. I assume it will be slow at the start but i am not unhappy about that because i want to start slow and build into my pace. For the first time, I am very relaxed about a marathon, and i am going to simply let the day unfold - it is what it is.

stamford : I agree about Another. I've been watching his workouts for awhile now and he clearly has jumped a level and is set up for a breakthrough race.

As for me, thanks for the vote of confidence. I have had a decent string of injury-free (knock on wood) training. Good things have been: higher mpw feeling easy; no heavy dead legs; not dreading a new week; not dying for the taper; a few solid 3x2M workouts. Bad things have been: slower paces on my easy long runs than in the past; no tune-ups races; only one solid uninterrupted MP run (i mostly did broken up MP workouts). I'm convinced that long MP runs are critical; but hard to do solo. OK, whatever. We'll soon see if the good outweighs the bad, or vice versa....

Goal: Gold Coast Marathon 2:35 July 3rd

Noosa Half 1:13, May 22

Canberra Marathon 2:55 with blind runner 10 April, this Sunday

M – am 6 (7:09) / pm 6 (7:28)

T - am 12 including 3200m(10:58) + strides + 8*400 (71) / pm 6 (7:15)

W - am 9 (7:31) /

T - am 11 with fartlek 2*3’on-2’off 4*1”on 1”off-4*30”on 30”off-4*15”on15”off / 6 (7:04)

F - am 8 w 6 (7:46) /

S - am 12 w 5k T (17:03) + 5 K (19:26) with blind runner, Gold Coast Spit park run / pm 6 (7:29)

S - am 18 w 4 (6:45) with blind runner

Total: 101

YTD: 1384

I felt a lot better this week. Looking forward to seeing how Canberra goes. You can tell there are some marathons coming up, training is sharpening up. Some of the sessions are ridiculously good. I’ll probably have a light week, although I think a 2:55 marathon will be comfortable I don’t want to let Damo down.

Good luck to any racers next week.