Training Log for a 2:30ish Boston Marathon 2018

Here's what I did last week. Sure feels like I'm a long way from a 2:30. All that ultramarathon training isn't exactly making me feel fast.

worth noting that I ran a 3:02:00 marathon the sunday of last week, pacing the 3:02 group at CIM. not aerobically hard but it's still 26 miles on the pavement so I didn't expect to feel great for this week.

(Sun 26.2)

M 7.8 easy

T 9.5 easy, trying to force the mileage a bit

W 7 w/ 4x1k tempo(ish). felt awful, only ran 5:40-5:55 pace off 1min rest

Th 4.8 easy

F 8 w/ 5mi moderate (6:12s). attempted to run 5:40s but had to alter pace. still tired. wore VaporFly for first time

Sa 5 easy jog

Su 17ish mi trail run, 2600' gain. 2:16 with no food, just water. best run of the week by far. about 50k effort (maybe 6:20/mi effort)

total 59 miles.

Bought the vaporfly 4% this week and will start using it for certain workouts. maybe once every 2 weeks or so to avoid wearing it out before April. might even have to avoid doing warmups/cooldowns in it.

I'm racing a 50k this saturday so will have a down week to make sure I'm recovered by the weekend. won't do any real workouts but maybe some 1min surges if I'm feeling good. the 50k is low key but I'd like to race well. I did a 24ish mile race on the same trails in October and ran 3:11, so I'd like to run about the same pace but for an extra 7ish miles. winning would be nice but I'm by no means the favorite.

reed

Thanks for the response. I was not aware of this event. I noticed you say you're Sacramento based. I am not real far and come down to do sea level workouts on the bike trail. I try to race down there too, since anything closer to me is neither sea level nor flat.

I noticed a couple mention of 25 and 30k races. Besides the 25 in Michigan I have to say I don't know about many in this range but would like to. I have done and plan to do again the Clarksburg. 20.

Quest for 30km wrote:

reed

Thanks for the response. I was not aware of this event. I noticed you say you're Sacramento based. I am not real far and come down to do sea level workouts on the bike trail. I try to race down there too, since anything closer to me is neither sea level nor flat.

I noticed a couple mention of 25 and 30k races. Besides the 25 in Michigan I have to say I don't know about many in this range but would like to. I have done and plan to do again the Clarksburg. 20.

in addition to the clarksburg 20 miler there is also the "run the parkway" 20 miler on the bike trail, about the week before. Both are intended for CIM runners due to the timing but clarksburg is much more competitive.

if you like 15-20 mile races, a lot of trail races are about that distance, although they run more like marathons due to the slower conditions.

hope this doesn't sound creepy, but i used to post on the road racing and training thread back in 2013 under the name ramanujan. we were training at about the same paces, and i've only just crawled back on the running wagon but you've improved immensely! super cool to see. sub 2:30 is an awesome goal, i will use this thread to keep myself motivated as well. keep up the good work!

reed wrote:

Bought the vaporfly 4% this week and will start using it for certain workouts. maybe once every 2 weeks or so to avoid wearing it out before April. might even have to avoid doing warmups/cooldowns in it.

Verdict is out still on the ZoomX longevity. Mine already don't feel the same with 50 miles on them. I think the foam wears fast. I'd go less often than once every 2 weeks.

Careful with the shoes wrote:

reed wrote:

Bought the vaporfly 4% this week and will start using it for certain workouts. maybe once every 2 weeks or so to avoid wearing it out before April. might even have to avoid doing warmups/cooldowns in it.

Verdict is out still on the ZoomX longevity. Mine already don't feel the same with 50 miles on them. I think the foam wears fast. I'd go less often than once every 2 weeks.

my buddy at nike who designs their shoes said that even after the foam has compressed, theyre still great shoes.

welcome back ramanjan. can't say I remember you as 2013 was a long time ago but glad youre back competing. I'm really not much faster than I was in 2013. I think I ran 15:40s in 2013 and my PR is 15:20s from 2015...but my marathon is like 22 minutes faster lol

Well, I've gotten started. March race for me, so a bit earlier than many of you.

I work with HR a lot and I am trying to be able to run the race at 150bpm. If you subscribe to MAF, my MAF HR is 140bpm.

I haven't run lactate threshold more than a few times for years! I did one mile rep session with my daughters' XC team and my LT seemed to be just over 150bpm currently. Obviously, that would rise significantly with training.

All that said, 8.5M @6:30 pace didn't even get me to 130bpm (max 129bpm) and yet that was my legs done! A few days earlier I had done 12M @6:40 pace but faster in 2nd half of that and HR had gone up to low 130s.

So my engine is purring away smoothly, but the legs cannot keep up!

Plan is to just chip away at this week by week, getting the legs used to going faster and faster, and further at pace. Just have to take it slowly so as to avoid injury.

Goal is sub 6 pace on race day , so got a fair way to go in the next few months.

This.

Smoove wrote:

It's usuallycloser to 12-14 miles of 90s style intervals surrounded by 70 miles of basic aerobic effort.

12-14 miles of intervals per week? Oh do tell. I’d love to see the training logs for those weeks hardo.

Hi Pantman, not going for a 2:30 at Boston myself, but I'm loving this thread. Tons of good info.

I'm curious about your HR training. How long have you been running this way? And what are your plans to get a bit more speed in the legs? Strides? Intervals? Patience? Other? I'm coming back from injury and using HR as something of a barometer/governor for my progression, so happy to learn more about it.

Well, you can go to the 9th post on the first page and you can see my training log from my

2:30 cycle.

Ah geeze reading that is painful. I can only stand to skim it. Looks like if you combine tempo “intervals” and the normal intervals in a few weeks to cracked 11m of work. Have you ever tried actually running marathon pace in your build up rather than vomiting out endless “tempo” repeats? The aborted 6M at 5:35 pace “MP” pace is fascinating. You either don’t own a gps watch or are delusional. I’m not quite sure how you go from 5:2X “tempo” intervals to 5:35 “mp” pace. All very interesting though. Thanks for sharing !!!!!!

You're welcome!

Just shooting for a 2:37 at LA in March.

Been using HR in training since the late 1980s. Have been running at very low HRs since I came back to running seriously in 2003.

As to plans to get faster, I definitely should do strides, but have never really done them (don't have a track background) and so they scare me. I can run 200mpw without fear of injury, but fast running worries me! But I really should try and integrate them. I did do hill sprints for a while a few years back and survived okay.

Mostly patience though. It'll just take time.

I ran some hill reps today and really struggled to get the HR up. So much so that I did another short workout later on and got to a similar HR 141bpm - just under 6mm pace on the flat. I should be able to hold that HR for a marathon, but the legs are nowhere near it. Just hoping to see a bit of progression each week and chip away at it.

I was running faster last year, so I am confident it'll come back. I just didn't have enough time to get comfortable and improve speed endurance at those paces.

But I acknowledge it *is* weird. Most runners go out hard and have to be careful not to exceed AnT - I am not sure I could run fast enough to hit it right now! Seriously.

This is what happens if you just run lots of slow miles, kids! Not advised if you want to run fast.

Having been there, perhaps I maybe have some insight to assist in your endeavor.

I'm shooting for sub-2:30 at Boston 2018. Ran it last year for the first time just under 2:43 - I did not train or race smart, though I'll say I did do the work. It was my 2nd marathon and I fell apart the last 5 (stopped 6-7 times to stretch out hamstring/quad cramps). I invested in the McMillan Boston plan (which starts around Christmas), and I'm also looking at the BAC plan just for general structure and timing of workouts. In general, I'm surprised at the number and intensity of workouts in the beginning of the McMillan plan - looks like 1 hill repeat workout a week to begin with. I'll share as much as I can of the plan (time allowing), and would love to hear more input.

What are your thoughts/plans on tuneup races? I'll be doing a 10k (early February), half-marathon (late Feb/early March), and 5k (late March). The most important of these for me will be the half-marathon, which I'll be shooting for 1:11:30. I'm coming off a mid-33 10k at USATF Club XC Nationals last week. Given the travel it required (lack of sleep) and snowy conditions during the race, I consider that good for a 33 flat.

As for tuneup races, before my PR i did an xc series with about 4-5 races over maybe 8-9 weeks. Worked well despite not performing well in those xc races.

For Boston I'll do a more standard tune up with a half in early March (target 71min more or less) plus a 5000m and a 10000m about 2 weeks out. Goal would be 15:20 and 32:00.

I'll also do some long trail races but don't plan on racing all out.

I have an unusually aggressive race schedule. Houston Half and local 5k in January. Gasparilla and local 4 miler in February. Local 10k and Gate Roger Run 15k (my true measuring stick for Boston) in March. Houston will establish my goal, Gate will affirm it.

I'm a 1990s runner - we raced every weekend.