Marathon Training Thread - Week Ending 4/1

Baystate 10/12

Time: TBD

m: 10

t: 8

we: 12

th: 10

F: 10

Sa: off

Su: 14

third wk 64, shouldnt have been lazy yesterday

Goal: Boston sub 2:50

Pretty good week. I ran into some bad tendinitis last week and bounced back well this week with a bunch of easy volume.

Mon (rest) 0

Tue 8 easy

Wed 10 am easy / 10 pm easy

Thu 10 am easy / 5 pm easy

Fri 12 am easy / 13 pm easy

Sat 20 am easy / 4 pm easy

Sun 5k race (shitty) am plus 5 mi warm up + cool down

100 mi with almost nothing other than easy. Now it's just sharpening with a couple final tempos and short race pace runs prior to 4/16.

Base week 2 of 12: c(urrent)MP = ~6:10.

1/2 effort = cMP + 20-30s

3/4 effort = cMP + 0-10s

6-8m tempo = cMP - 0-15s

Mon: midday: 22.1m easy

Tues: am: 5.1m jog + strides

pm: 12m easy

pm: swim

Wed: am: 5.2m jog

pm: wu, 10m @ 3/4 (6:11m/m), cd

Thurs: am: 9m easy and hilly (Nutcracker loop). Weights session.

pm: 9m easy.

Fri: am: 5.2m jog

pm: wu, 12m @ 3/4 (6:14m/m), cd

Sat: rest.

Sun: am: wu, 45mins fartlek on my Nutcracker loop (~5:2 eff:rec), c/d.

Total for the week: 108m.

Pleasing second week. Both 3/4 efforts were over some mildly undulating routes which included some decent climbs (particularly the Friday one). Fartlek this morning was a good solid workout consisting of efforts ranging from ~2:30-8:40. Best run though was Thursday pm where any climbs felt flat, and flat sections felt like running downhill (usually a sign of good/sizeable improvements on their way for me).

Had a funny incident coming to the end of Friday's tempo too - three properly chunky teenagers were taking up the whole pavement in front of me next to a busy road. I hollered and two moved, but one deliberately stepped out, took a stance and dropped his shoulder just as I approached. Though weight was obviously on his side, momentum and a youth spent playing Gaelic (Irish) football were on mine, so he, literally, was launched in the air and landed in a very prickly looking bush! I think he might think twice before trying that again! :-)

Stormin - Cheers for the tempo info. I saw you at Reading this morning. You looked strong coming through the 4m mark. I heard there were some directional issues - did you get caught up in it?

Some nice quality there brumrunner.

Haha - I think you must have been posting as I was searching to see if I'd overlooked it.

brum Maybe a lighter miles week for you, but that's a pretty nice Sat/Sun combo.

Goal: 2:4x

Race: Pocono

Mon - 6am 5pm (7:31/:37 Easy)

Tues - 6am 10.5pm (7:30 / 6:51 - 33:50 through 5 then eased off, included 10x100)

Wed - 15 (6:57 - Too hard. Started out fighting wind and hills and it just got me going at a higher effort level than I should have.)

Thurs - 6am 4pm (7:40/:20 easy)

Fri - 10 (Included 4 w/u 4 @ 6:06 then 2 c/d)

Sat - 10.5 (7:22 Comfortable and included 8x100)

Sun - 18 (*?)

Total 93.5

YTD 1000.5

Supposed to have been an easier week, but my idea of using an anchor to ease my pace on runs didn't take. Wed. was just silly. I started into the wind and whenever I do that I kind of get an attitude of "Dammit wind, you aren't going to slow me down.") Easy runs were still run very easy though. Friday's tempo included a very down hill 2nd mile.

*Not sure about the pace of today's run - I haven't actually done it yet. I was helping race direct a 5k this morning and have been at work since so my run will be at about 5:30. Seeing as how my only variance from Pfitz's plan in the first 5 weeks is skipping 8x100 on a rainy day I'm pretty confident about posting early. (And yes, I did just knock wood.)

Looking forward to seeing how everyone else made out.

I am so dissapointed right now and annoyed. I've copy and pasted below from my training diary. I feel like i've had a wasted weekend and a missed opportunity. If I can take one thing from the down week I took for this half marathon it is that I am in great shape and if my foot settles down i've got a big run in me soon... hopefully at the marathon!

Week Beginning 19th March

Monday 8 Miles 58:01 Avg 7:15. In morning before driving to Scotland for work.

Tuesday AM: 6 Miles 41:55 Avg 6:59 in Aberdeen

PM: 8 Miles 55:00 Avg 6:53 in Inverness along the river before driving to Edinburgh where I stay tonight. Great evening for running.

Wednesday 2PM: 11 Miles 68:51 Avg 6:15 Including 10 by 400m with 400m jog back recovery. Did this in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. Had wind behind me so all were good pace but very comfy. Garmin suggested I was running them in around 65-67. Taper session.

7PM: 3.5 Miles 32:54 Avg 9:24. Had a 'Run with Ron' evening at a store I deal with in Edinburgh (I am a sales rep for Ronhill, the run clothing brand). Ron

is a legend having ran 2:09 for the marathon and is the only Brit to have won Boston. He has ran every day since December 1964 and its good to get his advice when away with him. Went out for dinner after the event and chat about marathon running ofcourse and got some good advice on the taper.

Thursday 5.5 Miles 40:05 Avg 7:19

Friday 6 Miles 42:59 Avg 7:10

Saturday 6 Miles including leg 12 of the North of England 12 Stage Relays. Easy as possible. Promised my club I would run around at 5:30 pace and do what I could to maintain position. Went out in 9th and held 9th although I had to run the last 600m harder than I wanted to to hold off a kid that caught me. 5:26, 5:29, 4:50 pace for last 0.4 miles. Short legs were 2.4 and long legs 4.8 miles.

Not what I wanted to be doing the day before tomorrows big half marathon but I am a club man and like to support my club.

Sunday 19 Miles including Reading Half Marathon. I knew I was in shape to run 64:30 and went out through 5 miles in 24:39 (4:45, 4:55, 5:16 (hill), 4:53, 4:50). On 4:50 pace for mile 6 myself + the other leading 3 brits + 3 kenyans got sent the wrong way at 5.75 miles. After 400m one of the lads realised and shouted. We re joined the course behind the 3rd lady having run an extra 3 mins + I was

so dissapointed knowing I was on for 64:30 and bewildered that in a race of 18,000 people we could get sent the wrong way I soon decided to jog in and stopped about 800m from the finish when my Garmin showed 13.38 miles. Average was 5:19 for the 13.38 including jogging a lot of it at 5:50 pace. To make matters worse my foot got really sore in the last few miles jogging. Its been a bit sore this week underneath and its definitely on the bone. I just hope

its not as serious as I think it might be. Physio tomorrow.

Total 73 Miles

Marathon Week

The Goal: 2:25

Monday = 12.5 km (6:48 mile pace)

Tuesday

Am. 8.5km (8:01 mile pace)

Pm. W-up, 10k Tempo Run - easy, W-down (5:25 mile pace)

Wednesday = 10.5km (6:59 mile pace)

Thursday = 15km (7:18 mile pace)

Friday = OFF

Saturday = 10km (6:46 mile pace), strides, 1km w-down

Sunday

CSOB Marathon - 2:41:42 (6:06 mile pace)

16:40 - 16:25 - 16:46 - 17:11 - 16:58 - 17:52 - 23:11 - 25:11 - 11:30

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/163645981

(Garmin Link)

Wind: 15mph wind (at some places the wind got even stronger)

Temperature: 39-45 F

Weather: We had some sun, some rain, even snow (April Fools weather)

I am quite dissapointed with the result. I have started at fairly quick pace and joined a group of half marathoners and 4 marathoners just to run in a group against the wind. Went through the 1/2 marathon in something just under 1:11. It felt easy and I was thinking I might get the time I was actually dreaming of (2:22-2:23), but then after the mile 13 the 1/2 marathoners were done and marathoners started to get away... I was left alone running against a wind and at mile 16 my legs started to get heavy; mile 18 just heavier... and ... soon not too much after I was running close to 8 minutes per mile. The weather (mainly the wind) was definitely a factor today, especially in the second loop when I was running alone for the entire time; but still... I did not expect to die this much; especially after so many 100+ mpw and four weeks of 115mpw.

Well it has been about 2 weeks since I posted, mainly because I ran a poor half marathon (for me) and decided to just clear my mind and not visit this site...

So to recap: ran a half (67 mid) then took 2 weeks easy.

This week:

M: 12

Tu: 10

W: 8

Th: 12

F: 12

Sa: 9

Su: 22 "workout": 10 miles @ 6:30 pace, 5 miles in 27:00, 7 miles @ 6:30 pace.

Total: 85

Drey - Sorry to hear about the marathon - from your workouts you are in 2:25 shape, sometimes these bad races just happen. I have friends that have run 2:45 (blowing up) then a few months later run sub 2:30. The unfortunate part of a marathon is that when it isn't your day you can't just hop in another race next week (unlike a 5/10K). But keep your head up, you have put in some monster training and that's not going anywhere.

Hi All,

I haven't posted here in 4 weeks due to one crazy ass work schedule. However, I've been working hard at building my legs back up after my trail run injury in January. After taking 4 weeks off in February, I re-injured my foot. This time it was a strain from walking through airports in my dress shoes.

I finally got back into regular training on March 3rd. For the past 4 weeks, I've been running 6 x per week consisting of three easy runs of 6 miles, two 9 mile "workouts" and one 12-15 mile long run. 48-50 MPW.

My 4 week build concluded this morning with a fitness test. I ran the Gumbo Limbo 10k in Boca Raton, FL while visiting my parents. I ran 38:49. Good enough for 5th place overall and 1st Master. I'm happy with my conditioning right now.

Next race for me is the Tarheel 10 miler on April, 21st. Two weeks after that race, we are moving to Boston. I'll need to find some good running groups up there.

Good luck out there.

Drey & Stormin: Tough luck guys sounds like it was a rough day for both of ya.

VF - Training is looking solid man. sub 250 should be like falling off a log. . .

Brum - training looks solid

Goal: Boston

Goal Time: Sub 2:43 . . . .

M- 12 w/ 8 mile tempo (from 6 flat down to 5:40 really good effort)

T- 6am/6pm 12

W-11

Th - 10

F - OFF (planned)

S - 3.5 w/ strides

S - 7 w/ Carlsbad 5000 in 16:46 - a 5 second PR on a shitty/windy day!!!!!!!!

I am ecstatic about today's race. The weather was far from ideal, as the course is along the ocean from 1.25-2.6 and the wind was straight in my face. I did manage to draft off of another guy close to my size (I am 6'2+ so I am like a sail in the wind). I kicked hard and ran like 70 flat for the last 400. Garmin splits were 5:11/5:29/5:24/4:19 (obviously the splits are distorted as my Garmin distance comes out to 3.2 w/ avg pace of 5:18). All in all it was a great day for me. After my race I got to watch Gebremeskel DESTROY the last 300 meters and run 13:11, as Tirunesh Dbaba crushed the woman's field. Really really cool event. I'd recommend it as a bucket list running event.

First - Sun 18+? 7:10-15. Random course so not sure of the details. First 7 (largely downhill) in 6:50's. Some trail + mixed nice and steady. My week really is complete on schedule now.

Samb - Thanks! I'm trying to avoid thinking that too much though.

Printer/2nd - Welcome back. Steady progress is what it takes, so keep it up.

Drey - Marathons are fickle, that's why we are all here looking for answers. Great training will pay off eventually. You'll get that 2:25.

Storming - That. Really. Blows. Fitness is there, so great results are right around the corner.

Goal: Boston sub 2:45

This was a recovery week for me after 245 miles in the previous 3 weeks.

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Easy 5

Wed: 2x5K tempo in 17:55, 17:45, 11 miles total.

Thurs: Easy 5 on trails

Friday: Off

Saturday: 12.5 mile, hilly loop in 1:19. I ran this same loop in 1:21 before CIM. I felt good but not great. I don't think my legs have fully recovered yet from all the downhill running last week.

Sunday: 5 easy

Samblackbones: Great week! You are ready to go for Boston. Taper well the next two weeks.

Next Race- Big D Half Marathon (4/15)

Goal time- 1:18

M- 5 miles easy (8:55)

T- 6.1 miles @ 80% HRmax (7:19)

W- 7.3 miles easy (8:18)

Th- 7.7 miles easy (7:46)

F- 2.5 mile warmup + 8.4 miles @ 83% HRmax

S- 3.9 miles easy on treadmill (8:00)

S- 11.4 miles @ 80% HRmax (7:52)

Total= 53.2 miles

YTD= 523 miles

On tuesday I had planned on going between 60-70 mins but the heat was causing my HR to jump up too much and i got frustrated and bagged the run at 45. Decided to do the HRmax test Hadd wrote about. Went 2:14 for 800, 2:00 rest, then 67 for 400 with a max of 203 BPM.

Sorry to hear about Drey's race especially about coming home in 8:00/mile which must have been painful.

Stormin - definitely frustrating. I would have been pissed and hit someone.

M: 8 / 3

T: 16 as 5 easy, 2x2.5M (6:20, 6:20), 1M (6:15), 5 easy

W: 10.5

R: 4 tm (legs tired)

F: 14 as 1 easy, 10M (6:54), 3 death.

S: 12.5 (9:05)

S: 6 feeling bad

Total: 74

YTD: 1016

As for me, i am still trying to figure out why i don't feel great. This all started the same week i hit 102 miles. I have had mild sore throat, diarrhea, fatigue symptoms for the past 3 weeks. I am thinking it is overtraining. I have been doing way too much for someone like me. I took a big jump in mileage and i think i am paying for it now....

Tuesday's session was excellent. But Friday was horrible. Of the 10 miles at MP, i ran the first 7 at around 6:51 but the subsequent 3 miles were 7:03, 7:09, 7:06, clearly a fade-away into a death march if this were the actual marathon. I then couldn't even run easy. I was planning on running 7 easy but i stopped after 3 very slow and painful miles. I then curled up in bed for a couple hours.... Not pleasant.

Well, here's to hoping that tapering does the job.

Good luck to all with upcoming races.

Goal: NAIA Marathon 2013

Time: 2:35-9 :/ (we will see)

Monday 6- nice and easy on the trails

Tuesday 8.5- again trails

Wednesday 6- trails, knee tendons started to hurt from so many uneven miles of footing

Thursday 5.5- did a grass loop around soccer fields/school ground. Realize that I am SLOW, going fast down steep trail hills doesn't count I now realize. Did a pitiful pick-up at the end

Friday- 7.5 pretty pacey on the trails to restore my now damaged ego.. somewhat

Saturday 5 at the track meet I went to with the team. Was HOT for march 90 degrees. I sizzled and now am pretty burnt everywhere. The run was mostly on concrete, took a beating on my shin, but not my bad knee so I thought that was positive.

Sunday 4- went out for a morning run, slow with sore shins and a burnt body. Was gonna do another run but got distracted with some slip n slide, disk golf, drinking action.

Running miles 43

Cycling miles 45

I've needed to drop pounds more than I once realized, I am close to a return to concrete and being able to hold a solid pace with out worrying about a rolled ankle or tight corner. If I can get 5-10 pounds off me then 70-80 miles will be possible. Gotta work hard, you guys motivate me, the comeback is halfway home, my gears are low right now, but I've came from 0 miles a week and having pain when I walk to 45 nearly in 3 months.

Good job everyone Drey I winced looking at those last two 5k's. You gave the race all you got, it wasn't your day but another will come around, you put quality in week in and week out. Good luck next time.

kr - another good week of solid base work. Enjoyed the story about your Friday run.

VF - Is your race next month? I forgot.

Stormin - gutted about Reading, especially since you travelled all the way from Manchester for it. There's no excuse for organisation like that for such a big race. The main time they need good marshalling is when the guys at the front are coming through and are spread out.

Drey - sorry to hear it didn't go to plan. You're in great shape and will be running low 2:20s in no time.

printer - welcome back.

samblackbones - well done on the PB. It must have been great to see all those world class athletes up close.

CTA - I get the same feeling sometimes. It will go. You've got a few weeks of lower volume now which should sort you out.

Tiger - your patient approach will pay off and you will soon feel your fitness improving. Keep it up.

Brum - great week. The Weds & Sun sessions were superb and a very impressive run at the Midland too, nice one.

kr - looking good mate, nice miles and structure.

Stormin - that's inexcusable for a race of that size to have the leaders go off course. No doubt you're furious, but the early miles clearly show that you're in great form.

Drey - really sorry to hear that. Looks like you were flying for the first half, well done on seeing it through. I've no doubt the sub-2:25 will be yours in time.

printer - well done on the 10k, sounds like everything is heading in the right direction.

samblackbones - congrats! Getting a PR in bad conditions is seriously impressive, nice one.

CTA - think the taper will see you right. You're clearly in great shape as the Tuesday workout proves.

M - 5 easy / 8 easy

T - 8 easy

W - 12 (incl. 3k - 2k - 10 x 400m, 3 min, 2 min 60 sec rest; 5:19m/m, 5:35m/m, 5:20m/m)

T - 5 easy / 8 easy

F - 8 easy

S - 8 easy

S - 21 (incl. 15 @ 6:31m/m + 5 @ 5:42m/m)

Total: 83

Weds session was a bit strange. Felt fine during the first 3k, but just couldn't get going again for the 2k or 400s. Glad to just get it done. Sunday's run was great though. Ran with a couple of mates who are also doing London. Felt good throughout. Will ease back just a touch this week and race on Friday.

May 20th so I still have a bit. Starting week 6 of a 12 week plan. So far I seem to be handling the higher mileage well. I still need to work on going a little easier on the simple mileage runs so I'm not wearing myself down.

This week will be a good test. 6x1200 in the middle of the week, new high miles and finishing the week with 18 w/ 12@mp.

Goal Marathon: Columbus, Sub 2:19

Next Key race: Louisville Half, 4/28

Mon: 5.9 miles (6:56); 7.2 miles (7:06)

Tue: 7.3 miles with goal session of 8x1/4 mile on a greenway at sub 65 with 90s jog rest. I accidentally packed two pairs of "right" shoes, but luckily my work shoes are Nike Free Runs, so those weren't too bad. I ended up averaging 65.08 and only managed six before dying completely. A little frustrated that my speed is so poor, when it used to be my bread and butter; 6.8 miles very easy

Wed: 4.6 miles (6:37); 9.6 miles (7:18)

Thu: 2 miles easy, 8 miles at 5:54 pace; 5.2 miles with 4.2 miles running a fast 45s stride every half mile

Fri: 5 miles (6:41); 9 miles (7:27)

Sat: 4.4 miles (7:44); 5.6 miles (7:23)

Sun: 15.5 miles with Knoxville Half Marathon in 67:21 to finish in 3rd place. The clock said 67:02 when I crossed but official times were 19s faster than what people ran. I'm not listed in the results for some reason and they've already given out the awards, so hopefully it gets straightened out and I at least get my prize money. The course was really hilly and I would have been really happy with anything sub 68, since I ran 68:34 on a dead flat course three weeks ago. I ran in a pack for the first few miles and after 5 miles, it was just me and two other guys. The pace felt good but after two killer hills back-to-back, I suddenly was 10s back. I rallied back a little bit over the next two miles and narrowed the gap to about 5s but with a couple of miles to go, the guys took off and I wasn't able to go. Effort wise, this felt much easier than two weeks ago, I just wasn't able to find that extra gear that would let me dig deep. It felt like I could have run that pace for several more miles, I just wasn't able to run any faster. It was frustrating because they had a 5k as well and I had to zig-zag around walkers for the last 1/4 mile, which cost some time. Splits were: 5:19, 10:05, 5:01, 5:20, 5:04, 5:03, 5:28 (got dropped), 4:56, 5:01, 5:20, 5:24, 5:32 (1.1 miles); 3 miles (7:41)

Week Total=99.1 miles. I feel I'm ready to start some faster stuff, so hopefully I'll become more efficient at faster paces. One crappy workout, but a good race made up for it.

brumrunner: Nice week and London is getting close. I like how you're still doing strength/endurance stuff, which I feel is key when you're close to the race. You seem ready to go!

VF Runner: I know what you mean about the hills and wind. I've also found out that when I start with the difficult stuff early on, I get warmed up really well and by the time that stuff is over, I have a hard time slowing down.

Stormin: Sorry about the unfortunate race. You're fit enough and have enough miles in the bank where a crappy week or two won't have much effect and may result in you charging up your batteries.

Drey: I've figured out who you are! Hope you're enjoying life in the motherland. You've had some solid training lately and I know you wanted to run faster but you have plenty of solid races left in you.

samblackbones: Congrats on the PR! Running a 5k pr in bad conditions, while doing marathon training is impressive stuff.

Race: Boston

Goal: 2:27 or so

S - 15, I was going to do a long run but got pressed for time and decided to cut it and run long on Monday.

M- 18, Then I got hit with strong winds and stomach problems. Oh well.

T - 10

W - 8.5, I went out to do an important workout. Minutes in it started pouring so I turned and went home. I knew I needed good conditions for the workout so I was just going to wait for the afternoon and get some easy miles. Then it cleared up and I decided to give it a go again. I made it exactly 2k into my tempo when it started raining really hard again, with lightning. So I stopped. It was a frustrating day.

T - 10, on my standard loop.

F - 15, 10mi tempo in 52:27. Another attempt at the workout from Wed. This time I got good weather and felt great. 5ks of 16:25,16:34,16:18, then the last 1k in 3:10. I didn't push it. I felt great. I recovered quickly. This tells me that my half marathon pace is probably under 5:15 right now, which would be a PR. Hopefully that means I am in PR marathon shape, too.

S - 10 easy

Total - 86.5, a little lower than planned because of the debacle on Wednesday. But I was happy to trade a few miles for Friday's quality workout. It gives me a lot of confidence.

Here is my plan for the taper:

I ran 18 yesterday. This week will be about 75 with maybe a 5mi tempo at MP. Then next week will be about 45-50 with only 1 really easy workout - maybe something like 10x400 at MP. I just want to lock in that pace so I don't get out too fast in Boston.