Marathon Training Thread week ending 4/15

Goal Marathon: Columbus, 2:19

Next Key Race: Louisville Half-Marathon

Mon: 6.9 miles (7:19); 6.2 miles (7:08)

Tue: 10.2 miles with 20x60s fast/easy. Started out a little bit easy and gradually worked into it. Averaged about 4:25 pace on the fast portions and upper-mid 5:30s for the entire 40 minutes. I'm happy with the session because this was my first extended speed workout in quite some time; 5.8 miles (7:09)

Wed: 4.5 miles (6:31); 9.5 miles (7:03)

Thu: 10.1 miles medium (5:48); 5 miles (7:20)

Fri: 8 miles (6:53); 4 miles (7:27)

Sat: 11 miles with 10k race in 30:50. My plan was to keep it right around 5:00 pace, so I was pleased. Splits were 4:52, 4:59, 5:01, 5:02, 5:03, 4:52. Felt controlled and I feel like I could have broken 30 if I ran my hardest; 3 miles (7:22)

Sun: 20.1 miles (6:18). Legs felt great

Week Total= 104.3 miles.

Good luck to samblackbones and all of the other Boston runners. Don't melt out there!

Good luck Sam and co. I haven't yet, but before tomorrow I'll double check so I can be tracking everyone (including at least 5 or 6 personal friends outside of LRC. Like I said, multiple tabs/browsers ;-) )

Everyone stay hydrated and try to run a smart race.

Goal: 2:4x

Race: Pocono

Mon - 6am 6pm (7:20/7:25 Both easy)

Tues - 6am 10pm (7:20/7:24 pm included 8x100 strides)

Wed - 6am 15pm (7:30/7:21)

Thurs - 6am 6pm (7:22/7:45)

Fri - 12 (7:15 avg Called for 7 @ HMP. Stressed, tired and hungry so I just charged out the door. First very uphill mile in about 7:20 then got to 5 at 32:30 Backed of for a couple than ran a really fast 2 miles downhill 11:45 or so, then c/d back uphill to get home)

Sat - 10 (7:30 included 8x100)

Sun - 22 (7:12 First mile fairly easy then ran steady effort of roughly 7:05-15 pace most of the way. Picked it up from about 16.5-18.5 and ran 6:50/6:46 then backed off to the end.)

Total 105 Another all time high!

Early in the week (esp. Tues - Thurs) for the first time I was feeling kind of beat up and overall tired. Had a fair amount of stress in life and I don't think I was eating enough early in the week. I was starting to wonder if I needed to back off from the higher mileage training, but I'm back to feeling OK now. Yesterday's 10 felt really comfortable and the fact that I could fairly easily pick it up for a couple of miles late in today's run has me feeling confident again. I still need to monitor my efforts and I should probably ease off even more on a lot of my runs.

Hope everyone else had good weeks as well.

Goal Boston: (was) Sub 2:45

Monday: 5x1 mile on 1 min rest, all in 6:08. 8.5 miles total.

Tues: Off

Wed: 7 mile run with the last 2.5 miles in 5:55, 5:54, 2:51.

Thurs: Easy 5 miles but last mile was still 6:12. Stupid. Couldn't help it though....feeling awesome.

Fri: Easy 5 with 4x30s pick ups. Feel great.

Sat: Easy 2 miles with strides.

Sun: Off

I've changed my race goal to sub 2:50. I'm in great shape and feel good. I suck in the heat though. I'm not sure if sub 2:50 is too aggressive or too easy but I'll be around 1:24 at the half, hopefully feeling like I am ready to race.

I'm # 895. Yellow BAA singlet, black visor, black sunglasses.

Good luck to all the Boston runner tomorrow. Hope I don't see you in the med tent!

Wow, first of all good luck to Samblackbones, 1st Timer and all the other Boston runners. Stay cool!

My week (NJ Marathon 5/6, Goal 3:05):

M 8, T 10, W 6, Th 10, F 8 (all pretty easy, 7:25-7:35 pace

Sa: 23, 21@7:58, last 2 at 6:55, no problems

Su: 5 easy

Week total: 70, 74 if you top off today and add last Sunday.

Feeling good after scary calf injury and 4 days off last week. Happy with how easy those 6:55s were at the end of my long run. Feel like I really need the 3:04:59 now, BQ+5. Pretty sure I can do it, as long as there's no heat wave.

Sitting relaxing Boston. Waiting to go to dinner. Be safe tomorrow. Exceptionally bad conditions in bright sun. Things can go from bad to worse quickly. Slowing your overall goal by 5 minutes won't be enough guys.

Stay safe there's always another race.

Baystate 10/12

Time: TBD

M: 0

T: 12

W: 8/6

Th: 8

Fr: 11

Sa: 10

Su: 10

65

Base week 4 of 12: c(urrent)MP = ~5:55

1/2 effort = cMP + 20-30s

3/4 effort = cMP + 0-10s

Tempo = cMP - 0-15s

Mon: am: 22.3m very easy

Tues: am 6.1m jog + strides

pm: wu, 10m @ 3/4 effort (5:55 m/m), cd.

Wed: am: 6m jog

pm: 16m very easy.

Thurs: am: 9m easy + weights.

pm: 9.1m very easy.

Fri: pm: 11.7m very easy

Sat: rest.

Sun: long wu, 3m TT (5:33m/m ), cd + drills

Total: 103m

For me, a Lydiard style 3m TT equates to 10k effort/pace (a 6m TT typically equates to HM condition).

I messed up Wednesday/Thursday with some poor nutrition/refueling (timing rather than quality) because of work, as well as a lack of sleep (work again) which left me very tired, so combined with it still only being my 4th week back I dialed it back and essentially made it a down week, by slepping in Friday am, taking it very easy in the pm (instead of a bit of effort), and just ran a 3m TT this morning, rather than a longer effort. All in the name of keeping the body in balance.

That means after 4 weeks back in training I have run 4 100m+ weeks (avg 104m) and am still (re)improving quite quickly. Hopefully the coming weeks will see a bump up in quantity as well as (hopefully) a continuing steady improvement in condition/ability.

blaznbison - very nice week!

VF Runner - sounds like we're both in a similar place with mileage adaptation. Having been there before, I can say that as long as you listen to your body the tiredness will pass.

Good luck to all @ Boston tomorrow. Hopefully the conditions won't be as bad as it sounds!

Some interesting races today in Paris and Rotterdam. Seems like the Ethiopians have taken up the challenge laid down by the Kenyans last year.

Also pleased to see Ireland in the unprecedented situation of having 4 women with the Olympic A standard (so far) as another got it in Rotterdam today. A few near misses on the men's side too!

Samblackbones - very best of luck. Stay hydrated and running by feel if it's going to be hot sounds like a very smart idea.

blaznbison24 - great week and a belting 10k in there. Great stuff.

1st timer - looks like you have a good plan for Boston, hope it goes great.

Some great training from VF Runner, Edgemont Dave, themack, kr.

Really enjoyed watching Paris and Rotterdam today, some astonishing racing.

M - 6 easy

T - 6 easy

W - 5 easy

T - 7 (incl. 5 x 800m, 90sec rest)

F - rest

S - 6 easy

S - 12 (incl. 2M @ MP)

Total: 42

Felt very average after the 10k Friday before last until Thursday just gone. But have been feeling considerably better last 4 days. Hope this is a good sign for London next Sunday. Don't think I'm in PB shape, so will probably run without a watch and just go by feel. Looking forward to it, London is always a great day out. Hope to see some of you there.

Hamburg 29.4. 2:30h goal

2 weeks to go, tapering starts next week

Mo: 20km/85" + pm 1-2-3-2-1km 3:08/6:16/9:00/6:08:3:02

Tue: 21km/84" (hilly)

Wed: 3km felt ill

Thu: 20km progressive + 8km fast

Fri: 8km felt ill

Sat: 3km/9:58 still unable to train properly

Sun: 4x3km 9:54, 9:36, 9:18, 8:58 recovery always 1km at about 4:30min

1048 miles this year

Chilling in my hotel room in Boston and about to turn in for the night. Goal was sub 2:50 but like someone else said, I totally suck in the heat as I live and train on the temperate San Diego coast.

I'm planning to go out at around 7min pace and adjust up or down from there. Good luck to all Boston runners. It could be carnage out there if we don't take good care. See you at the finish.

Aim: 2:45, late May

Mon.—4.5mi.

Tues.—14mi. easy.

Wed.—pm 10mi./ pm late 5mi. slow.

Thurs.—10mi.

Fri.—11mi. total with 65:30 in hills.

Sat.—14mi. easy.

Sun.—22mi. with 20mi. in 2:18:50

Week: 90 miles (ytd 1292). Friday’s tempo run in the hills (at 7000ft) was an indicator that I should be in 2:45 shape. It was a mistake though to wear racing flats on that course with long descents, as it left me very sore this morning. The long run went better than expected. Daniel’s calculator put this at 2:10 for sea level. Good luck to everyone in Boston!

Correction: Fri. 11mi. w/ 10mi.in 65:30.

Goal race: Boilermaker 15k

Goal time: 51

Next race: Buffalo HM, i guess?

First, i'll catch up from last week:

ending 4/8

Mo: 11 (7:31)

Tu: 4.5 (7:53) AM / 10 (6:59) PM

We: 6+ (7:48) travel day

Th: 9 (7:27)

Fr: 10 (7:30)

Sa: 17+ (7:18)

Su: 8 (7:47) AM / 5 (7:51) PM

Wk: 81

Mo: 4 (8:00)

Tu: 14 (6:55), closed in 6:13, 6:07, 6:02

We: 12.5 (7:06), including 12x~300m hill reps (~5:00/mi pace)

Th: 4.5 (7:53) AM / 10.5 (7:24) PM

Fr: 5 (7:57) AM / 12+ (7:07) PM

Sa: 20+ (7:20)

Su: 9.5 (7:22)

Wk: 92

all-time high mileage week, and i don't feel too worse-for-the-ware. looking to start doing more quality now.

good luck to all in Boston

I feel bad for everyone that trained hard to be ready for today. I'm depressed for everyone I know just from tracking them.

I hope that a lot of the race reports we end up hearing say things like "I packed it in and jogged so I could race again soon." You guys really earned all the post race beer you can get your hands on.

Away at the moment.

55 miles last week, 5 easy runs and one session.

Sounds like tough conditions in Boston today.

Sorry if I don't get a chance to comment on everyone this week. My number at London is 712.

I've been following several runners and the splits have been ugly across the board, especially the last 10km. The hills and heat have really chewed 'em up today.

Oh man, I was tracking some of our boston guys this morning, and it looked like a rough day.

I'll be real curious to hear from you guys: 1st timer and samblackbones.

A big congratulation for muscling through and still finishing though. Showed a lot of heart. Anyway, curious to hear what the conditions were like and how you guys felt.

Race: Country Music Marathon, April 28

Goal: 2:43

I had a very frustrating week as well. My legs felt great but i took a fall on a run on Monday that has proven to be a setback.

So the week:

M: 7 miles (8 min avg)

T: 21.6 miles (7:11 avg)

W: 4.5 mies (8:30 avg)

TH: 2 miles (blah)

F: 8.2 miles (7:30 avg)

S: 5 miles (7:30 avg)

Sunday: off

So what happened:

On monday i was doing an easy hour run around nashville. about halfway through though, I apparently stepped on the little circular wire that goes on the inside of a hubcab to make it stick into the tire. My left foot stepped on one side of it, and it must have lifted it into the air so that my right leg caught the other side of it. I did not see it at the time. In any case, I went straight to the ground and because i was tangled up in the wire thing, the outside of my left knee hit down on the asphalt first.

Pain. some passerbys saw me fall and asked if i was alright from across the street. i waved them off and began to walk to see the damage. it did hurt. still after 30 feet i began to run again and hoped it was a pain unrelated to my stride.

i finished my run alright and started thinking about what i should do for my long run planned the next day. the end of my run felt fine but i worried some swelling might make tendons tight in a weird way for the long run..

ok this is dragging out: long story short. after the first 5 miles of mile long run on tuesday, the pain in my knee went away, and i finished the 21.5 mile run exactly how i wanted to. it went perfectly.

the following days though the pain in my knee did not go away. on friday during my 8 mile run, everything felt fine after a mile but near the end i realized my right calf was especially sore and that i had probably been running a little strange to favor my knee.

so i bagged my tempo run on saturday, and i took off sunday. i think i am going to take off today as well because i feel like i had been limping a bit or something.

i am telling myself this is good rest. obviously i had different plans, but now i think if i can get back running by tuesday or even wednesday eveything will be fine.

what's so annoying is that, i am constantly reading my body signals to prevent overuse injuries, and then here i am getting an injury from falling down.

i imagine something is just bruised and it will go away soon, but i am not sure.

3:24 in Boston today. Saw 1st timer. Really really awful conditions. I bagged it early yet still struggled mightily. Tried to break into a run from a walk at mile 24 and basically did a flip. All leg muscles totally seized up people from the crowd came and stretched me out so I could walk in. Good god was it a gruesome experience but ideally I'll recover swiftly.

Hope everyone else had a better race than I did!