Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 6/5

Here are the stats for the anoraks:

Split Time Dist Avg Pace

1 00:03:24 0.62 05:29

2 00:03:25 0.62 05:31

3 00:03:22 0.62 05:26

4 00:03:28 0.62 05:35

5 00:03:19 0.62 05:20

6 00:03:20 0.62 05:22

7 00:03:19 0.62 05:20

8 00:03:20 0.62 05:22

9 00:03:25 0.62 05:30

10 00:03:15 0.62 05:14

11 00:00:01 0 07:19

Summary 00:33:44 6.22 05:25

Solid stuff Marmite. I need to incorporate into my weeks some strides if only one time a week I know they go a long way.

Second post here - I have run 2:44:01 (2009), 2:38:50 (2010) and 2:35:30 (2010). I am 22.

Hope everyone has had a great week.

Goal Race: Detroit in Mid October

Goal Time: sub-2:30

M - AM = 8 miles. 8k race - 27:30. Mildy happy with the result. First race of the season (8 weeks in). Slipped in the woods because of bad conditions on the course (only for 1/2m of it though).

T - AM = 8 miles easy (6:52 pace). PM = 40 minutes stairmaster

W - AM = 15 miles - mid week long run (6:37 pace).

T - AM = 10 miles progressive run into a tempo (last 5 miles were 5:55/5:55/5:54/5:43/5:34). Solid run.

F - AM = 10 miles (7:11 pace)

S - AM = 10 miles workout = 5 x 800 meters, 5 x 400 meters. Pretty upset with the workout. Last weeks was monumentally better. But I guess the weeks are catching up to me. Splits. 3 minutes recovery. 800's - 2:30, 2:30, 2:27, 2:25, 2:30. 400's - 70, 74, 70, 68, 67.

S - AM = 15 miles (7:01 pace)

Total: 81M and 40 minutes stairmaster

I am in the second week of a six week speed segment which will be followed by a 6 week marathon workout segment. For the next few weeks it will be fartleks and mile repeats. Hoping for some solid races too!

I meant to post that I ran 18 on Sunday! Nice cool breeze and 70 degrees out.

Hey all!

Just checking in. Glad to see everyone is keeping things rolling along. Not in any specific "training" right now, that's why I haven't been posting. After a few weeks around 50 I got up to 60 this week including 17 today with a 2.5 mi. progression near the end. I'd like to work up to close to 100 over the next 3 weeks in part to get ready for a 24 hour race, but also just to see if it will help me jump to a new level.

Keep up the good work!

Goal Race- Payette Lake Run 30k

marmite- Nice job! Yeah that was a pretty sick finish Farah pulled off, he made the win look pretty easy.

M- 10M (2m w/u..5m (6:25)..3m c/d)

T- 11M (7:25)

W- 7M (7:45)

T- 11M (7:18)

F- 5M (7:43)

S- 16M (2m w/u..3 X 5k (6:55)(6:42)(6:28)w/ 1mile recoveries..3m c/d)

S- off

The week started out rough. I wasn't understanding the runs this week, and going forward, but I appreciate you guys getting me straightened out. As the week progressed, I was feeling a bit better about the schedule. Overall, I felt pretty good, other than dealing with the mental issues my hamstring is causing, in addition to the fact my PT is moving. He recommended a nerve entrapment specialist in my area, and hopefully he will take care of this thing.

Hope everyone had a great week!

Ran a 10 minute + pr today en route to a 2:53:12 finish in San Diego.

START 00:00:00 6:14:41 am --

5K 00:19:53 6:34:34 am 06:24

10K 00:39:47 6:54:28 am 06:25

13.1M 01:23:32 7:38:13 am 06:22

20M 02:09:24 8:24:05 am 06:39

FIN 02:53:12 9:07:53 am 07:03

Avg. Pace 06:37

I ran a pretty dumb race, coming through the half much to quick. I ended up hurting pretty bad at mile 16 and had to fight the urge to drop out all the way home. I will post a better report late in the day, but that is about 52 miles for my week.

I've read the thread for a few weeks now and am wondering if I could join the discussion even though I don't intend to do a marathon. I just finished with college and want to keep running competitively but have goals of running a fall half marathon and then focus on 1500-5k in the spring. I do want to try and learn as much as I can from everyone so that perhaps in a couple years when I'm ready to do a marathon I can hopefully prepare myself as well as possible.

I have enjoyed watching these posts for a while.

Mon- 3.01 Yeah long day, got in a run stumbling in the dark wishing I'd bought a brighter head lamp. Bad day.

Tue- 10.2mi Medium- Started using the Forerunner 610

Wed- 12mi Medium- Gofer hole rolled left ankle...ugh.

Thur- 12.1mi Medium- Legs feel good despite increase.

Fri-10mi/6.11mi 2nd run used HRM avg 144, decent recovery run.

Sat- 8.1mi easy

Sun- 10.01mi easy

Total- 71.54mi The best week I've had in 2 years. Over the injuries and ready to get moving.

I've run 2:36.

Looking to break 2:33 within 6-8 months. Sub 2:30 within 2

years.

Possibly a Marathon in Dec and either another Full in Feb or

a 100k ultra some friends are trying to talk me into.

I plan to continue raising mileage up to 110 without very many workouts. Long runs with tempo. Steady threshold a few times a week. Maybe 4-5 weeks of 4x1mi w/3min rest if I can find the time to get to the track. Not the best training but most of it is done alone.

Previous weeks include 36, 50, 63, 56, 65mi

Marmite - Nice 10k. It looks like your training is coming along smoothly.

samblackbones - Congrats on the big PR and holding it together that last 10mi.

branderson - Welcome to the thread.

Goal Race: Chicago

Goal Time: PR

M- am- 9.5 pm- 6

Tu- 10 (8x100m strides)

W- 7 (54min)

Th- 11.5 (10k of 400 hard/1200 steady - 400s~78s/79s, 1200s- 4:25-4:30 - 35:52)

F- am- 6 (44min) pm- 8 (57min)

Sa- 17 (2:03 - Hot, hot, hot. I was struggling on the way back)

Su- 7 (52min)

Tot- 82mi

Nice job Marmite! Do you feel that you are fully recovered from your stress fracture? You are setting yourself up for some great stuff in September.

Goal: Berlin in 2:56

I am just taking each week as it comes. Coming back slowly. I am not following any plans. Just trying to get in mileage when i have the time. As with last cycle, i will do one midweek workout and one "long" run workout. I am going to experiment this cycle and keep my long runs all below 20 miles. Perhaps my longest will be 18M. This week i did my first tempo workout, i kept it short (2x1.5M) and will build from here. I think this coming week i may do 5x1200m or 4x1M at tempo.

M: 4 (8:30) / 6.5 (7:28)

T: 7 (8:30) with 6x100m strides

W: am 4 easy

W: pm 10 = 7 (7:41) then 2x1.5M (6:40, 6:33) with 2:00 rest

R: 3.5 easy / 7 (8:30) (hot outside and legs tired)

F: OFF (first in like 3 weeks, well deserved)

S: 4 easy / 7.5 (8:08)

S: 6.5 (8:02) / 10 (7:31)

Total = 70

YTD = 1317

Ya, I know my week looks a bit disorganized. Nothing longer than 10M. I was supposed to do 12M instead of 10M but i had to end it early to meet my gf. Flexibility in training!

Btw, any comments as to whether it is wise to have 5 doubles in a 70M week? Were those junk miles or did i do a real 70M week?

branderson - looks like we have the same goals. I really think I can pull out a 2:30 hopefully within the next year or so. I would love that. Looking to break 2:33 in the next 6 months as well. Hope we both can achieve them!

marmite: Nice race!

Sam: Great job. Sounds like a painful experience. Boston qualifier though!

Goal #1: Mad Marathon July 10, Boston Qualifier (2:50ish?)

Goal #2: Fall Marathon(?), Sub 2:40

M: 9mi easy

T: 13mi progression (7s to 6:30s)

W: 5mi easy

T: 12mi; 4.5easy, 5K in 16:55(535,524,521), 4.5easy

F: off

S: 25mi in 2:54 (6:58pace) From 7:12 down to 6:35.

S: 10mi easy on trails

Week total: 74

Finally totaled some good mileage for the week. I ran a quick 5K Thursday to mix things up. I realized it's kind of strange to do a 3mi tempo in marathon training. Rather than start up with a 5-6mile tempo and drop down the pace as I had been doing, I decided it would be better to drop the distance, increase the pace, and add distance gradually over the summer. This is a Pfitz thing and seemed to work for me last year. Since my fall marathon goal is sub 2:40, I thought I should start building up to 6-8miles in 5:40. I didn't intend to run 5:27s, but felt good (relatively speaking) so I just went with it. I haven't run a 5K race in sub 17 in a long time so it really built my confidence. The 25mi run was planned as a 3hour easy run. I've never run over 2:30 and thought I should try to run longer than my marathon time at least once. The course was on a bike path with slight incline for 12.5mi out and (obviously) a slight downhill return. So although the pace looks a bit fast for it was easy. The grade also explains the gradual increase in pace. Overall, my legs handled the mileage very well. I have one more quality week before I start to taper down for the marathon. The taper will be short as my primary focus is the fall marathon.

Goals: NYC Marathon (2:35??)

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

Mon: off

Tue: 8 (7:15)

Wed: 6 (7:30, 95 degrees w/ 100+ heat index)

Thu: 9 (7:00)

Fri: 5 (7:45 w/ 4 x 100m strides)

Sat: 6 (4:00.63 1500m PR!!!!

Sun: 5 (7:00)

Total: 39 miles

Alright, not too much to say. Took it really easy this week and it paid off. Thanks to BostonBound for that tip! I didn't break 4:00 but am still ecstatic about the effort. Had a few rough weeks but came back with a balls to the wall effort and got a 3 second PR. Splits were something like 63, 64, 65 and 47. I felt like I was leaning for the tape the entire home straightaway but just could not go any faster.

I am very happy with this training period (late Dec. to now). I set PRs from the 1500 to half marathon, and despite some rough patches, have gained a lot of fitness (you are right about that Pablo). Now I'm taking a full week off from running...will probably still bike, hike, do something so I don't go crazy. Then it's mileage time for a few months.

This was a real experiment for me trying to find what type of training I benefit from. Increased mileage definitely works, but I think I did too much speed/anaerobic work this spring. Thanks for the advice and inspiration everyone!!

Race Report.

San Diego Rock’n’Roll Marathon, June 5, 2011 finish in 2:53:12

RocknRoll San Diego was, as I expected, a challenging course to set a really fast PR. With 30,000 people at the start, a June running and a course that leaves a lot to be desired, I knew that running 2:50 was possible, but that I would need to run a smart race. I did not. Came through the half in 1:23:30, feeling pretty easy, but by the time I got to mile 16 I begin to feel a ton of discomfort in my stomach. Not bad enough to make me spew, but just felt like I was not getting any benefit from the shot blocks I had been eating.

From there, I hung in at my 6:30 goal pace up until about mile 20, where I was feeling really discouraged. I ran the entire way alone, and I begin to battle with the mental demons inherent to the marathon "why are you doing this" "drop out DROP OUT" and "Just Walk it in." I have DNF'ed once before because of a Hamstring issue, but this was about as close as I have ever been to just calling it a race. Fortunately though, I got it together enough to just commit to not walking until "the end of the next mile."

The last 10k is along one a bay a little bit inland, and it was brutal. Not a lot of air, fairly warm weather and direct sunlight, combined with my glycogen depleted legs really demoralized me, but after seeing some of the people in front of me dropping out/spewing I figured I was actually hurting a lot less than plenty of others. I ended up coming in very slowly – ran the last 10k in about 42-43 mins, but the most brutal part of the race came at the end, when I got confused about where the finish line was. I sprinted through what I thought was the line, then slowed down, only to hear people yelling “keep going” then I did the same thing a second time. It was a pretty difficult race to be sure, but I definitely felt gratified by hanging in there and still making it a positive experience and a big PR. I am not hurting too bad today, and I jumped in the ocean and soaked in a tub with Epsom salt, so hopefully with some quality rest I will be back at it soon.

First time posting here, will also be running my first marathon this fall. Hoping for around 2:25

M: 10 mi

Tu: 5 mi easy / 45 min fartlek (10 mi)

W: 10 mi

Th: 10 mi / 3 mi

F: 10 mi

Sa: 8 mi progression run: 5:45, 5:42, 5:36, 5:32, 5:26, 5:23, 5:19, 5:18 (15 mi total)

Su: 18 mi.

Total: 91 mi

Sun- 10

Mon- 8

Tues- 7 with 10x 1/4 mile on trails (1:27ish avg.)

Wed- 15

Thurs- 11

Fri- 11

Sat- 10 trails

Total= 72

Goal Race: CIM

Goal Time: 2:45

Mon - 5 miles easy 38:15

Tues - 8 miles hard 54:28. felt horrible

Wed - off

Thurs - 10 miles comfortable 72:27

Fri - 6 miles hard (5 progression 6:28 to 5:52, 1 mile cooldown)

Sat - 8 easy 60:28

Sun - 8 easy 60:43

Total: 45 miles

Solid week and I'm starting to feel like an hour run isn't a long run.

I´m still a very young marathoner, but according to my other PRs, I think that i can cope with sub 2:30 (2nd Marathon)

Could someone gimme a reasonable plan with maybe 90miles?!

Stamford, Outstanding! Imagine what you could do if you were just training for the 1500. The final kick would definitely improve. Congrats.