The national anthem was sung, the crowd was cheering and the gun went off. I was moving forward in the culmination of twenty one weeks of training and preparation. In fact, the mental buildup for this moment has been going on for years. I was not as nervous as I thought I might be and was glad to be underway.
The Ocean Drive Marathon also has a 10 mile event that ends on the Wildwood boardwalk. The runners for both races start and run the first 10 miles together. The first mile or so is on Beach Avenue in Cape May and was just a little crowded on the street. But it was not hard to settle into any pace you wanted. I finished the first mile in 9:05, then we took a turn to the west to head out of Cape May. Mile two was slightly faster at 8:56. Soon after mile two, we were running on the west end of Cape May Harbor making our way across the back bays and the first of the bridges. At this point I felt Ok with the pace. As we took a turn to the north, the fun started.
***
On Friday night, we went to see Maddie in her school play. She was wonderful to watch and the school’s production of My Fair Lady was a good show and welcome distraction from the upcoming race on Sunday. I got home from the show at about midnight, 33 hours before the race. I decided to check the weather one last time. The forecast for the winds was solidly coming from the North East and the wind speed forecast was now up to 15 MPH with gusts to 25 MPH. Whatever worries I had about the wind, were worsened.
Saturday morning came and went and I was off to take Danny to Millersville University to take a math placement test. Danny came through the school’s music audition process well and he (and us) had recently informed the school that he would attend in the fall. Millersville is a ninety minute drive and Danny and I were home in time to go to 5:00 Mass. After a pasta dinner at a local restaurant, Patti and Maddie were off for the second night of the show and Danny, Peter and I loaded up the car and headed to the shore for the race.
The three of us were staying at a friend’s house in Ocean City. The plan was for me to get on the bus in Sea Isle at 7:15 Sunday morning, while Danny and Peter waited for my brother John and my dad to come down and pick them up. The three generations of men from the family would then meet me along the course at the 10 mile, 18 mile and finish. At least that part of the plan went as expected.
***
Miles three, four and five were out along the bay heading out of Cape May and into Wildwood Crest. Out on the open road along the bay, I really felt the wind for the first time. My pace slowed to about 9:30 for these miles.
I was generally familiar with the entire course, but only specifically knowledgeable about the final 10 miles. I underestimated the amount of mileage that it would take to get from Cape May onto the Wildwood island. We were heading north east and the wind was strong in our faces. I kept looking for some relief in the form of a bridge to enter Wildwood. I did come to a bridge, but that was just followed by another long stretch of road around the bay and harbor only to be followed by another bridge, then more road and another bridge. The elevation of the bridges was not slowing me down, but the wind was.
I got to mile six at 55:30. I was already behind schedule by a minute and a half. My average pace was just below 9:15. At the time I was feeling good and had a positive outlook for a good race. I realized that 9:15 would not get me to the finish in under 4:00, but my mile six split was 9:07 and I had come through a tough part still feeling fresh and strong.
I had four miles to go until I would be greeted by my support team at mile ten. The sun was bright and the temperature was perfect in the 38 to 40 range. During this part of the race, I looked around and could see the drive on the faces of those running the 10 miler. They were in the homestretch.
We were running on a bike path that ran right along the beach in Wildwood in front of several large hotels and condos. It struck me as a great place to run in the summer. As we got on the boardwalk in Wildwood, I struck up a conversation with a woman who had the yellow bib number that identified her as a 10 miler. She caught me checking out the color of her bib, and she commented that I had a lot more ahead of me than she did. We talked a little about the wind. We wished each other luck and I went a head.
My splits for miles 6 through 10 were consistent in the 9:25 range. Overall I was approximately 4 minutes off my pace. The plan of running 9:00 miles, provided me with a 4 minute cushion to still break 4:00. I realized that I had completely exhausted that cushion. I also knew that my mile times were now slower than 9:00. But I was invigorated by the running and still fresh enough to stay positive and accepting of what was going on. I expected to reach a point in the race, where I would pick up the pace. I might not pick it up enough to break 4:00, but I was being patient for the right moment.
As the 10 miler participants went into their finishing chute on the boardwalk, I caught sight of Dad, John and the boys. They were cheering me on as I came up to them. I don’t know if they expected me to stop, but I did. I was wearing an old pair of sweats on top of my running shorts that I decided to get rid of. We talked briefly as I pealed off the sweats. I’m not sure of what we said but it was probably something about the weather. They gave me some encouragement as I took off again and they said they would see me at mile eighteen.
It was great to see them for obvious reasons, but also because it meant a large chunk of the race that was behind me. I was enjoying myself. Leading up to the race, I thought of the phases of the race and viewed the miles between 10 and 17 to be the hardest. I figured that it was too late in the race to feel really fresh but too early to think about finishing. I left my support team and headed off into North Wildwood trying to prepare for the lonely miles across the bay before I would hit the familiar streets and beaches of Stone Harbor and Avalon.
***
It was 7:00 AM on the morning of the race when I left Danny and Peter with the car and walked to catch the bus that would take me to the starting point. I gave them money for a WaWa breakfast and instructions to buy some hoagies for Dad and John. One of the buses pulled away just as I arrived at the designated place, but we were assured another would be around soon.
While we waited for another bus, I looked up and saw flags flying. All along I hoped the forecast would be wrong, but there was no mistaking the direction and strength of the wind. It was cold and they told a bunch of us to wait in the heated tent. I made a few friends to pass the time. We didn’t exchange names, just hometowns. They were both from New Jersey, both younger than me and both also running their first marathon.
One of the guys asked me if I was following a plan. I of course said Yes without hesitation. He then asked me which one. This was my moment of truth. I should have said:
“ I am glad you asked. I am running the BEST training plan. I am sure you have read all about it on the Internet. It starts with a Base building phase, then Endurance, followed by a Speed phase and a Taper. Would you like me to tell you more?”
But instead, I just said “My own” I blew it! It is my only true regret of the day!
They soon loaded us on the bus which was nice and warm and equipped with a bathroom. I had a cup of coffee for the ride and thought of the girls back home and wondered if it was too early to give them a call. The bus ride probably took about 30 minutes and was a relaxing way to collect my thoughts before the race.
We unloaded at the starting line at about 8:30 with a half an hour to kill before the start. The timing was perfect. The night before, I cut off a pair of sweats just below the knee. I had them to keep warm at the start and planned on trashing them at some point during the race. As the start grew near, I made a quick call to Patti and described how silly I probably looked in my capri’s. I wanted to be laughed at one last time so I wouldn’t take this too seriously; I knew I could count on my wife. I was getting ready as the guy on the loud speaker kept telling us that they would start promptly. And they did.
***
The next 6 miles took me from the boardwalk in Wildwood, through North Wildwood, across the bay and eventually to the southern tip of the seven-mile island that is home to Stone Harbor and Avalon. John and the gang drove by me on one of the bridges between Wildwood and Stone Harbor and I could see Danny trying to get a picture of me from the moving car. .My pace was very erratic during this portion of the race. Miles eleven and twelve were real slow (9:57 and 9:43). But I caught a break and the course turned away from the wind for a large portion of mile thirteen, which was my fastest mile of the day (8:55). I was feeling pretty good about the 8:55 when I dropped a bomb with a 10:15 in mile fourteen. I now fully knew that any cushion was long gone and it would take a solid second half effort to break 4:10.
The run was now starting to takes it toll on me. I was beyond the halfway mark, but was again running along the bay in between islands: this time going from Wildwood into Stone Harbor. The long stretches heading right into the wind were hard to take with no end in sight. The reality of my prospects for the day had settled in, but there was still plenty of positive vibes. I passed someone around mile fourteen and noticed that I had not been passed by anyone in a long time. I put off trying to re-predict my finish time until I hit the mile sixteen. I thought that with 10 miles to go, the math would be easier.
I got into Stone Harbor and arrived at the mile sixteen at 2:32:30. My average pace for the day was 9:35, but miles fourteen through sixteen averaged 10:00. I figured that if I could stick to 10:00 I would finish at 4:14. The next three miles were 9:56, 10:00 and 10:01.
While running up through Stone Harbor, I had the feeling that the end, while not near, was at least imaginable. I knew the streets that I had to run to get to the finish. There was only one bay crossing remaining, and I have run over that bridge and causeway several times in previous summers. I also knew that I would be seeing my crew at somewhere near mile eighteen.
I was running north on First Avenue in the area where Stone Harbor becomes Avalon. I was searching for mile marker eighteen when I saw the guys up ahead of me. By this time, I had become somewhat familiar with the runners around me. There was this tall guy with a Cleveland Browns hat who looked like he was walking, but his long legs were really eating up lots of ground with each awkward stride. There was also a woman who must have been ten years older than me. She was holding a bag of food while she ran with her windbreaker flapping in the wind. I exaggerated my form to a sprint past these dubious runners and ran up to my dad and asked if the I looked as slow as the people around me. I knew that my brother would be well aware of my pace and projected finish time. I told him that my best possible chance was 4:10. He generously told me that I was in good shape. I felt the need to explain that 4:10 was probably also not going to happen. While he was still talking, I said “4:15”. I don’t think he heard me. They offered me something to drink, but I refused. I was hitting every aid station and didn’t feel like carrying anything with me.
After the brief respite, I was on my way knowing that they would be at the finish line waiting for me again. I hoped it wouldn’t be too long of a wait.
***
Going into this race, I thought about the obstacles to reaching my goal. I am aware of the advice that you really should just experience the first marathon and learn from it. Then, armed with knowledge about the distance and your ability, you can set time goals for future races. But as I have said in previous entries in this journal, I accept that point of view as being valid, but boring. So I came up with three things that might cause me pain in the final miles and an unsatisfactory finish time.
Weather: This is something that is out of your control completely. It can be a factor in every race and this race is notorious. I took interest in watching this unfold.
Pacing: Go out to fast and you bonk at the end. Go out too slow and you will never make up the time. In order to do a good job of pacing, you need to know your ability. So this is partially out of your control. For a first timer, it is even more out of your control. Pacing is something that you must do for every race from 5K on up. I tend to think a lot about this.
Hydration: If you google “Marathon Hitting the Wall”, you will surely come to many articles about hydration. You need to drink enough fluids and take in enough useable carbohydrate fuel to last the distance. This is something that is in your control. If you practice this in training, it should not be an issue. I thought I learned my lesson during my 17 miler many weeks ago.
As I was pulling together my final race plans, I was hoping for favorable weather, trusting my body to properly pace and was confident that my hydration plan was adequate. I never gave much thought to how I was prioritizing these factors in my preparation.
***
I never saw mile marker eighteen. Some time after I left the guys, I looked at my watch and could see that my split time was over 12:00. I knew that I must have missed it and continued my trek toward nineteen. When I arrive at nineteen, my spilt was 20:01. I realized that I had continued to run consistently at 10:00 for the past several miles. At this point the pace was acceptable. My overall time was 3:02. I had hoped to be at mile twenty at 3:00. So now I found a new way to measure my deficit. Instead of minutes behind schedule, I now figured that I was a full mile behind schedule. Nevertheless, I thought the pace acceptable. I had been through a lot and if I was still doing 10:00 minute miles, I was Ok with that. I had over 7 miles left to run and realized that I would be on the road for over an hour before I finished.
I ran the last four miles in Avalon (20 to 23) in an average pace of 11:03. The 10:00 miles were nice while they lasted. There were two aid stations during this stretch and I stopped at each to drink water and take in an energy gel. I was now looking for that moment of inspiration to finish this thing off with some faster miles. But I was pretty sure that such a moment would never come to me on this day.
As I was nearing the end of my time in Avalon, I had been running for over three and a half hours. My butt was sore and the aching got gradually worse down my legs. There were some runners around me who would start walking, and I would pass them. Then they would start running again, and they would pass me. The thought of walking crossed my mind, but I didn’t stop. I would like to say this was sheer determination on my part, but I knew that walking a little would turn into walking a lot. In the long run, I was better off to continue what had now become a shuffle. I had 3 miles to go and wanted to finish as best I could.
I got to mile twenty three at 3:46. The mile marker was at the foot of the bridge that takes you into Sea Isle City. In all of my visualization of this race, this was the first of two triumphant moments. The other would be when I got to the boardwalk with the finish line in sight. Running across the bridge was not triumphant by any means, but it was satisfying and not without some pride.
At this point, I knew that my time would end up somewhere in the 4:20 to 4:25 range, probably close to the 50th percentile of those that would finish this race. But my mind was really not handling complex calculations at the time.
After the bridge we took a right turn up 93rd street and then a left on Pleasure Avenue. We would stay on Pleasure Ave until 57th street and then get on the boardwalk for the final .8 of a mile. The turn north was met with a gust which was sustained until the finish. My running on Pleasure Avenue was the slowest of the day. There would be no final push to the finish. But it was nice to see a mile marker with a 25 on it. I ran the final stretch on the boardwalk with the finish line banner waving in front of me. I watched patiently as it got closer and closer. There was nobody in front of me to even think about passing and I actually looked behind me to make sure I wouldn’t be passed. I finished in 4:24.
John. Dad, Danny and Peter were all there and cheering me on. Since this is a small race, and I was finishing alone, the entire crowd was watching me at the end. I walked through the chute; they put a medal around my neck and tried to drape a foil wrap over me. I opted to skip the foil wrap and headed for the benches. I didn’t care if my legs seized up for good. I wanted to sit down immediately. I did and it felt good.
Epilogue (Short)
384 people completed the race and I was the 218th to cross the finish line. My finish time was actually same as the average time for the race: 4:24.
I will naturally conduct a full analysis of the training plan and the race. But I put my finish time in this perspective. My conditioning at the time was probably in the 4:05 – 4:10 range (not a sub 4:00). The weather likely cost me at least 10 minutes. I should have eaten something more substantial during the run. My 11:30 miles at the very end should have been a minute faster, so that probably cost me 3-5 minutes also.
Aside from the finish time, there is simpler perspective. In my first post, over four months ago, I said that this was just something that I wanted to do. And so now I have.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
End of Training
Since the 10 miler last Saturday, I spent this week running easy, finishing the week with 20 miles. For better or worse, the BEST training program is now complete. The final number for my training comes to 475 miles covered over 76 hours. I think it’s a common feeling at this point to look back and find flaws and deficiencies in your training. I realize that now is not the time to second guess. The race is in two days and I should do whatever I can to be as prepared as possible. But no matter what I do, I won’t become a better more conditioned runner in the next forty eight hours.
It’s too early to rate my race performance and after all that will be the biggest factor in assessing my training. But if I had to grade my training, my report card would be:
Consistency – A
Overall Mileage – C
Training with Purpose – B
In preparation for Sunday, I’m eating lots of carbs. I have not scripted my diet for Saturday night and Sunday morning, but I’m pretty sure that nutrition won’t be a problem. Danny, Peter and I will get down the shore Saturday night and won’t really do much except watch a movie and go to bed. On Sunday morning, I will probably wake up at 6:00AM, three hours before the race. I’ll eat my usual bagel with peanut butter, some fruit and skim milk. I get on the bus at 7:15 to ride to the start. At some point, I’ll have a Power Bar and a 20 once Gatorade. During the race, I’ll stop at every aid station and alternate drinking water and Gatorade. Later in the race, I’ll have a gel with my water. This worked well for both 20 milers.
The temperature at the start of the race is predicted to be 35F and go up to 45F during the race. I plan to run in shorts with a long sleeve shirt covered with a tee shirt. I expect to be cold before the race starts and will likely have a throw away pair of sweats.
The temperature for the race has not and is not a concern to me. The wind is another story. Even with an obvious understanding that the weather is totally out of my control and almost equally hard to predict, I have been watching and tracking the wind forecast for the Sunday. The current forecast is for 10 MPH winds coming from the Northeast at the start of the race. That’s would be a direct headwind. Then the forecast calls for a gradual shift to an easterly cross wind but probably not until the race is over. Clearly, this is not optimal, but it could be worse. From my many days on these same beaches, I know that the wind can shift at any moment. It’s a unknown that adds some excitement to the race.
While it might seem trivial, I still have not decided my Ipod situation. I have run probably 90% of my training miles, listening to music. So I think I will have it with me. I’m still not sure, if I will spend the time to update or change playlists for the run. One of my drawbacks is that my 46 year old eyes have trouble reading the display on my Nano while I am running so I won’t want to be fishing around for music. One option would be to create 4 hour play list and just go with it.
The best news of all is that physically, I am in good shape. From head to toe, I can’t really complain about any lingering ailments. I’m sure that 4 hours on the road will change that, but at least I’m starting fresh.
Finally, I continue to evaluate my pacing plan for the race. All along, I’ve stated that 4 hours was the goal and a 9:00 MPM pace would give me a 4 minute cushion. That has been the goal all along. Last week, I suggested that I need to run according to the way I feel and a controlled relaxed pace was essential for the first half of the race. The reality is, my mind will be constantly calculating and will not allow me to casually decide to run slower just because it feels better. On the other hand, I hope that my legs, lungs and heart, will help me judge the best pace. I expect to reach a balance between mind and body to run a smart race. After all, I do have a pretty good handle on the range of my ability. What causes me to obsess over this is the fact that my goal is pretty much on the fastest end of the range.
So, I’ll keep an eye on the weather and get to the starting line and see what happens. One thing is for sure, I plan to be happy when its over,,, strengthened from the 21 weeks of training and pleased with the outcome.
Then it’s on to the Media 5 Miler.
It’s too early to rate my race performance and after all that will be the biggest factor in assessing my training. But if I had to grade my training, my report card would be:
Consistency – A
Overall Mileage – C
Training with Purpose – B
In preparation for Sunday, I’m eating lots of carbs. I have not scripted my diet for Saturday night and Sunday morning, but I’m pretty sure that nutrition won’t be a problem. Danny, Peter and I will get down the shore Saturday night and won’t really do much except watch a movie and go to bed. On Sunday morning, I will probably wake up at 6:00AM, three hours before the race. I’ll eat my usual bagel with peanut butter, some fruit and skim milk. I get on the bus at 7:15 to ride to the start. At some point, I’ll have a Power Bar and a 20 once Gatorade. During the race, I’ll stop at every aid station and alternate drinking water and Gatorade. Later in the race, I’ll have a gel with my water. This worked well for both 20 milers.
The temperature at the start of the race is predicted to be 35F and go up to 45F during the race. I plan to run in shorts with a long sleeve shirt covered with a tee shirt. I expect to be cold before the race starts and will likely have a throw away pair of sweats.
The temperature for the race has not and is not a concern to me. The wind is another story. Even with an obvious understanding that the weather is totally out of my control and almost equally hard to predict, I have been watching and tracking the wind forecast for the Sunday. The current forecast is for 10 MPH winds coming from the Northeast at the start of the race. That’s would be a direct headwind. Then the forecast calls for a gradual shift to an easterly cross wind but probably not until the race is over. Clearly, this is not optimal, but it could be worse. From my many days on these same beaches, I know that the wind can shift at any moment. It’s a unknown that adds some excitement to the race.
While it might seem trivial, I still have not decided my Ipod situation. I have run probably 90% of my training miles, listening to music. So I think I will have it with me. I’m still not sure, if I will spend the time to update or change playlists for the run. One of my drawbacks is that my 46 year old eyes have trouble reading the display on my Nano while I am running so I won’t want to be fishing around for music. One option would be to create 4 hour play list and just go with it.
The best news of all is that physically, I am in good shape. From head to toe, I can’t really complain about any lingering ailments. I’m sure that 4 hours on the road will change that, but at least I’m starting fresh.
Finally, I continue to evaluate my pacing plan for the race. All along, I’ve stated that 4 hours was the goal and a 9:00 MPM pace would give me a 4 minute cushion. That has been the goal all along. Last week, I suggested that I need to run according to the way I feel and a controlled relaxed pace was essential for the first half of the race. The reality is, my mind will be constantly calculating and will not allow me to casually decide to run slower just because it feels better. On the other hand, I hope that my legs, lungs and heart, will help me judge the best pace. I expect to reach a balance between mind and body to run a smart race. After all, I do have a pretty good handle on the range of my ability. What causes me to obsess over this is the fact that my goal is pretty much on the fastest end of the range.
So, I’ll keep an eye on the weather and get to the starting line and see what happens. One thing is for sure, I plan to be happy when its over,,, strengthened from the 21 weeks of training and pleased with the outcome.
Then it’s on to the Media 5 Miler.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
End of Week Twenty 3-23-08
Happy Easter!
The first week of my Taper is now complete and I’m left with just seven days until the race. The last of any really hard workouts are also behind me. At this point I have run 465 miles in preparation for the race, which is about 97% of what I will end up running. Many would say that my total mileage is far short of what is considered proper preparation for a marathon. I also suspect that many have run 26.2 on much less. But one thing is true for sure: there is nothing I can do now to change how I trained. The training is essentially over. The preparation continues and there are things I should do and things I should avoid to give me the best chance for a good race, but the legs, the lungs and the heart are as good as they are going to get for the race.
I started week twenty with Maddie and Peter at the track. Maddie is juggling her role in the school production of My Fair Lady with track season. Peter is now preparing for his first track season (7th grade). The three of us went out to the high school track, each with our workout in mind. Maddie was going to do 400’s, Peter was doing some 400’s and 800’s mixed. My plan was to warm up with an easy mile and run a fast 5 miler. A couple weeks ago, I had this day planned to run a 10K as a prediction run for my marathon. I’m glad to say that I have stopped trying to predict my race time based on such measures. And anyway, I felt like running 5 miles.
It was one of the fastest 5 mile runs in my life. My first mile was at 8:08 and got faster each mile; my last split was a pretty fast 7:36. Total time was 39:46 (7:57 pace). This was the fastest workout so far, and I don’t expect any faster next week.
Thanks to this workout, I ended the week with my fastest overall pace (9:00). I am left wondering if there might be something significant in the coincidence of coming up with that number. I ended the week with only 20 miles and not much to mention about the other runs. I probably could have benefited from a few more miles this week, but I’m not too worried, at least about my mileage total for Week Twenty.
While closing out Week Twenty, I realize that the mile repeats and 800 intervals that I planned from the start are not going to happen. I had some success with mile repeats in the past and planned on getting in some track workouts during the Speed Phase as well as the Taper. I think I wrote earlier that I wanted to do these because I enjoyed them and they made me feel fast. At this point I am generally pleased with the speed work I am getting out of the tempo runs. And I am not about to introduce anything new to my training at this point.
The first run of my last week (Week Twenty One) was a 10 miler. I ran two 5 mile loops (same course as my last 20 miler). A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about workouts that would provide me a basis to lock in on my pace for the race. No such thing has actually happened. If one were to view my training log they would find a mix of long runs, fast runs and steady runs in between. My times for these runs surely provide some insight regarding my conditioning and race potential. I’ve had some interest over the weeks trying to justify my ability to run the race in four hours, but when all is said and done, my training can only provide an assessment of my ability. The distance is too far and the experience too much of an unknown for me to have too narrow of a window for my race pace. I don’t want to be misunderstood. My goal is still run this race in four hours, but I need to allow my body to dictate the pace on race day, not my watch.
My intention for this 10 miler was to run it at goal race pace of 9:00. I ended up finishing the 10 miler at an average pace of 8:47. That’s the good news. But I didn’t manage my pacing as well as I hoped. I ran the first 5 miles at 8:40 and the last 5 miles at 8:52. I would have preferred to flip those times in reverse.
It was during this run, when I really started to appreciate the feel for my pace. At mile 5 or 6, I realized that I hadn’t controlled the pace well for the first 5 miles. I slowed down just a bit and got to a place, where I felt like I could speed up if I wanted, or hold steady for a long time. Holding back for a while made my final mile at 8:03 possible. This is the feeling I need to have for the race: control. I expect to be in pain for the final 45 - 60 minutes of the race. But I need to avoid being in pain for any longer. I’m in good enough shape to run pretty fast (out of control) for 10 to 14 miles. But, if I don’t control the pace properly, I think a breakdown would hit pretty soon after the halfway mark and could be pretty severe. I just need to trust my conditioning and hope that my controlled pace is adequate to reach my goals. It might even be faster, but I need to feel it throughout my mind and body, not just my watch.
I’m going to take it easy the rest of the week. I intend to wrap up the loose items in my preparation and will provide a final report before the race.
The first week of my Taper is now complete and I’m left with just seven days until the race. The last of any really hard workouts are also behind me. At this point I have run 465 miles in preparation for the race, which is about 97% of what I will end up running. Many would say that my total mileage is far short of what is considered proper preparation for a marathon. I also suspect that many have run 26.2 on much less. But one thing is true for sure: there is nothing I can do now to change how I trained. The training is essentially over. The preparation continues and there are things I should do and things I should avoid to give me the best chance for a good race, but the legs, the lungs and the heart are as good as they are going to get for the race.
I started week twenty with Maddie and Peter at the track. Maddie is juggling her role in the school production of My Fair Lady with track season. Peter is now preparing for his first track season (7th grade). The three of us went out to the high school track, each with our workout in mind. Maddie was going to do 400’s, Peter was doing some 400’s and 800’s mixed. My plan was to warm up with an easy mile and run a fast 5 miler. A couple weeks ago, I had this day planned to run a 10K as a prediction run for my marathon. I’m glad to say that I have stopped trying to predict my race time based on such measures. And anyway, I felt like running 5 miles.
It was one of the fastest 5 mile runs in my life. My first mile was at 8:08 and got faster each mile; my last split was a pretty fast 7:36. Total time was 39:46 (7:57 pace). This was the fastest workout so far, and I don’t expect any faster next week.
Thanks to this workout, I ended the week with my fastest overall pace (9:00). I am left wondering if there might be something significant in the coincidence of coming up with that number. I ended the week with only 20 miles and not much to mention about the other runs. I probably could have benefited from a few more miles this week, but I’m not too worried, at least about my mileage total for Week Twenty.
While closing out Week Twenty, I realize that the mile repeats and 800 intervals that I planned from the start are not going to happen. I had some success with mile repeats in the past and planned on getting in some track workouts during the Speed Phase as well as the Taper. I think I wrote earlier that I wanted to do these because I enjoyed them and they made me feel fast. At this point I am generally pleased with the speed work I am getting out of the tempo runs. And I am not about to introduce anything new to my training at this point.
The first run of my last week (Week Twenty One) was a 10 miler. I ran two 5 mile loops (same course as my last 20 miler). A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about workouts that would provide me a basis to lock in on my pace for the race. No such thing has actually happened. If one were to view my training log they would find a mix of long runs, fast runs and steady runs in between. My times for these runs surely provide some insight regarding my conditioning and race potential. I’ve had some interest over the weeks trying to justify my ability to run the race in four hours, but when all is said and done, my training can only provide an assessment of my ability. The distance is too far and the experience too much of an unknown for me to have too narrow of a window for my race pace. I don’t want to be misunderstood. My goal is still run this race in four hours, but I need to allow my body to dictate the pace on race day, not my watch.
My intention for this 10 miler was to run it at goal race pace of 9:00. I ended up finishing the 10 miler at an average pace of 8:47. That’s the good news. But I didn’t manage my pacing as well as I hoped. I ran the first 5 miles at 8:40 and the last 5 miles at 8:52. I would have preferred to flip those times in reverse.
It was during this run, when I really started to appreciate the feel for my pace. At mile 5 or 6, I realized that I hadn’t controlled the pace well for the first 5 miles. I slowed down just a bit and got to a place, where I felt like I could speed up if I wanted, or hold steady for a long time. Holding back for a while made my final mile at 8:03 possible. This is the feeling I need to have for the race: control. I expect to be in pain for the final 45 - 60 minutes of the race. But I need to avoid being in pain for any longer. I’m in good enough shape to run pretty fast (out of control) for 10 to 14 miles. But, if I don’t control the pace properly, I think a breakdown would hit pretty soon after the halfway mark and could be pretty severe. I just need to trust my conditioning and hope that my controlled pace is adequate to reach my goals. It might even be faster, but I need to feel it throughout my mind and body, not just my watch.
I’m going to take it easy the rest of the week. I intend to wrap up the loose items in my preparation and will provide a final report before the race.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
End of Week Nineteen (3-14-08)
End of Week Nineteen
My recovery from this 20 miler was better than last time. After the long run, I managed to get out and cross train the following day to loosen up the legs. The following day was Tuesday, and I got in my 6 miler, but I took it real easy. I think it would have been a mistake to either skip the day (which I was tempted to do), or to attempt anything even moderately hard. My legs felt good for the rest of the week and I ran progressively faster for my runs on Wednesday and Thursday 6 milers.
I finished the week, with a plan high of 40 miles. My gradual increase in pace over the past couple weeks came to end with a week of relatively slow running.. But that was necessary due to the 20 mile long run and my careful attention to recover safely from the long run. I’m not sure if a touch of paranoia has settled in, but I iced my feet, Achilles and calves every night. They didn’t hurt much, but there was some stiffness and aches. In the end, I think it worked out well. At the end of the week, I feel fresh and fast for the taper.
The notion of a full out taper is feeling odd right now. I have two weeks until the race and I don’t feel as if, I ran enough miles or suffered enough to justify a big reduction in training. But I will cut back some and try to focus on the race.
In addition to my focus on doing the best workouts that will bring me to start line feeling fresh, fast and strong, I need to turn my attention to the days before the race and the actual race plan. I need to nail down my specific plans for:
Diet for the week before – carb depletion, then carb loading
What I will wear – should be easy because I don’t have much to choose from
Logistics – getting to the race and shuffling my support team about
Music – Should I wear the Ipod or not? If so, I’ll need some long playlists
Race Day Prep – I have this pretty well rehearsed from my long runs in terms of eating and hydration
Race Pace – An endless controversy in my head that will not likely be settled until the gun goes off.
My recovery from this 20 miler was better than last time. After the long run, I managed to get out and cross train the following day to loosen up the legs. The following day was Tuesday, and I got in my 6 miler, but I took it real easy. I think it would have been a mistake to either skip the day (which I was tempted to do), or to attempt anything even moderately hard. My legs felt good for the rest of the week and I ran progressively faster for my runs on Wednesday and Thursday 6 milers.
I finished the week, with a plan high of 40 miles. My gradual increase in pace over the past couple weeks came to end with a week of relatively slow running.. But that was necessary due to the 20 mile long run and my careful attention to recover safely from the long run. I’m not sure if a touch of paranoia has settled in, but I iced my feet, Achilles and calves every night. They didn’t hurt much, but there was some stiffness and aches. In the end, I think it worked out well. At the end of the week, I feel fresh and fast for the taper.
The notion of a full out taper is feeling odd right now. I have two weeks until the race and I don’t feel as if, I ran enough miles or suffered enough to justify a big reduction in training. But I will cut back some and try to focus on the race.
In addition to my focus on doing the best workouts that will bring me to start line feeling fresh, fast and strong, I need to turn my attention to the days before the race and the actual race plan. I need to nail down my specific plans for:
Diet for the week before – carb depletion, then carb loading
What I will wear – should be easy because I don’t have much to choose from
Logistics – getting to the race and shuffling my support team about
Music – Should I wear the Ipod or not? If so, I’ll need some long playlists
Race Day Prep – I have this pretty well rehearsed from my long runs in terms of eating and hydration
Race Pace – An endless controversy in my head that will not likely be settled until the gun goes off.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Long Run Report - 20 Miler (3-9-08)
I came up with a marathon training plan five months ago and have continued to modify and improve it along the way and make adjustments when necessary (foot problem six weeks ago). I am now in Week 19 of the 21 week plan and have been sticking to my mileage goals with some consistency. According to the most recent version of the plan, I should have run 438 miles to this point and I have actually run 417 miles (95%). For the most part, the plan has also maintained the originally intended progression from Base to Endurance to Speed and now I am nearing the Taper.
Throughout the 19 weeks of training, there have been some ups and downs. Some runs felt great, made me feel strong and were encouraging. Other runs felt impossible after the first 30 seconds and my need to struggle to complete them has caused me to question my objectives and ultimate chance of success.
I ran the last of my long runs yesterday. From the moment I stopped running, I knew that this 20 miler would not fall neatly into the Up and Down categories that I mentioned above. However, I think I learned a few things will say with optimism that I can draw more positive thoughts from the run that I can negative ones.
Several days ago, I checked on the weather and noticed that Saturday’s forecast was for drenching rain with temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s and Sunday would be a bit cooler and windy, but dry. I ran a few junk miles at the Y on Saturday as the rain forecast was indeed accurate and I planned my 20 miler for Sunday afternoon.
I used GMAP Pedometer to measure out a 5 mile loop through the streets of Swarthmore, Rutledge and Morton. The loop went by my father’s house about midway through and with my car parked at the other end of the loop, I had water and Gatorade at my disposal every 2.5 miles. These streets are flat for the most part and this is really the same as the 4 mile loop that I did last week for my sub 9:00 pace, 12 miler. I just extended it at a few locations to make it 5 miles.
I thought about what I wanted out of this 20 mile effort. As mentioned earlier, I want to gain training and conditioning benefit from the run. But I also want a useful baseline by which, I can determine if I need to make any adjustment to my 9:00 MPM goal race pace. After some thought, I decided that a perfect run for me would result in an overall pace in the range of 9:30 – 9:40 with the fastest miles at the end of the run which would be near race pace.
My overall pace for the run was 9:40 MPM, but my pace at the end was slower rather than faster. When you use the pedometer on the Internet, it is difficult to come up the exact placement for the mile markers, so individual mile splits aren’t always accurate. But the pace for each of the 5 mile loops is a good measure of how I ran.
Miles 0-5 9:42 pace
Miles 6-10 9:47 pace
Miles 11-15 9:23 pace
Miles 16-20 9:49 pace
I ended up being on my feet running for 3 hours and 13 minutes, which was pretty much my goal. I have read a lot about the benefit of fast finish long runs and I wanted to finish fast in the final loop (5 miles). What I learned on this particular day is that I can speed up after 10 miles, but my body was not about to speed up after 15 miles. Perhaps I was too aggressive on the third loop (miles 11 -15).
The weather turned out to be windy as predicted. Since my loop was basically a big circle with 90 degree turns, I can’t claim the wind was in my face the whole way. But, like running a hilly course, the fact that the net result might be neutral, does not take away from the reality that running on a very windy day (unless it is at your back) makes you slower.
There were certain stretches on the course where it was a real struggle to maintain pace. The Ocean Drive Marathon course brings the real possibility of having strong headwinds the entire way. If the weather is bad, the point to point course will be unforgiving. In 2007, the average finish time was approximately 10 minutes slower than previous years. For this 20 miler, I was cursing the wind at certain points.
My first 2 miles were at 9:18 and I realized I needed to slow down. I was in fairly good control of my pace for the next 8 miles. At the 10 mile mark, I decided that I was in good enough shape to start my gradual acceleration. I was cruising pretty good for a while. I was probably cruising too good, because as I came to mile 15 and my final loop, I realized I was very tired and very sore. Miles 16 and 17 were Ok, but the last three miles were at 10:00 MPM.
It was not a melt down by any account, but it didn’t turn out as I hoped. It might be as simple as I started to increase my speed about 3 miles too soon. I’m not in good enough shape to sustain an increase in pace for more than 5 miles after already running for 2 hours. I fought off the strong urge to walk and finished at 3:13, which is 14 minutes faster than the 20 miler I ran seven weeks ago.
Q: Did I reap meaningful benefit to my conditioning from this run?
A: I don’t know for sure. As a first timer, I think a 20 miler is essential for confidence/curiosity. Since I came up injured after my last 20 miler, I needed this more for the head than the legs. I think a 16 miler would have resulted in a much stronger effort that probably would have been more beneficial to my training with less risk of injury. My legs still don’t feel quite right (24 hours after running)
Q: How do the results of this run affect your planned race pace of 9:00 MPM?
A: I could talk all day about this one and would end up, right where I started. The experts tell you that your Long Run in training should be about 60 seconds slower than race pace. Mine was only 40 seconds slower, so I guess that’s OK. But I was totally spent when I was done, so that’s not good. Then there is the wind and the potential for weather on the day of the race. As a first timer, you really don’t know. At some level, I need to put away all the data and run the race as I feel it on race day. If I ever decide to do this again, I’ll be in a much better position to judge. For now, I’m sticking with the plan.
Throughout the 19 weeks of training, there have been some ups and downs. Some runs felt great, made me feel strong and were encouraging. Other runs felt impossible after the first 30 seconds and my need to struggle to complete them has caused me to question my objectives and ultimate chance of success.
I ran the last of my long runs yesterday. From the moment I stopped running, I knew that this 20 miler would not fall neatly into the Up and Down categories that I mentioned above. However, I think I learned a few things will say with optimism that I can draw more positive thoughts from the run that I can negative ones.
Several days ago, I checked on the weather and noticed that Saturday’s forecast was for drenching rain with temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s and Sunday would be a bit cooler and windy, but dry. I ran a few junk miles at the Y on Saturday as the rain forecast was indeed accurate and I planned my 20 miler for Sunday afternoon.
I used GMAP Pedometer to measure out a 5 mile loop through the streets of Swarthmore, Rutledge and Morton. The loop went by my father’s house about midway through and with my car parked at the other end of the loop, I had water and Gatorade at my disposal every 2.5 miles. These streets are flat for the most part and this is really the same as the 4 mile loop that I did last week for my sub 9:00 pace, 12 miler. I just extended it at a few locations to make it 5 miles.
I thought about what I wanted out of this 20 mile effort. As mentioned earlier, I want to gain training and conditioning benefit from the run. But I also want a useful baseline by which, I can determine if I need to make any adjustment to my 9:00 MPM goal race pace. After some thought, I decided that a perfect run for me would result in an overall pace in the range of 9:30 – 9:40 with the fastest miles at the end of the run which would be near race pace.
My overall pace for the run was 9:40 MPM, but my pace at the end was slower rather than faster. When you use the pedometer on the Internet, it is difficult to come up the exact placement for the mile markers, so individual mile splits aren’t always accurate. But the pace for each of the 5 mile loops is a good measure of how I ran.
Miles 0-5 9:42 pace
Miles 6-10 9:47 pace
Miles 11-15 9:23 pace
Miles 16-20 9:49 pace
I ended up being on my feet running for 3 hours and 13 minutes, which was pretty much my goal. I have read a lot about the benefit of fast finish long runs and I wanted to finish fast in the final loop (5 miles). What I learned on this particular day is that I can speed up after 10 miles, but my body was not about to speed up after 15 miles. Perhaps I was too aggressive on the third loop (miles 11 -15).
The weather turned out to be windy as predicted. Since my loop was basically a big circle with 90 degree turns, I can’t claim the wind was in my face the whole way. But, like running a hilly course, the fact that the net result might be neutral, does not take away from the reality that running on a very windy day (unless it is at your back) makes you slower.
There were certain stretches on the course where it was a real struggle to maintain pace. The Ocean Drive Marathon course brings the real possibility of having strong headwinds the entire way. If the weather is bad, the point to point course will be unforgiving. In 2007, the average finish time was approximately 10 minutes slower than previous years. For this 20 miler, I was cursing the wind at certain points.
My first 2 miles were at 9:18 and I realized I needed to slow down. I was in fairly good control of my pace for the next 8 miles. At the 10 mile mark, I decided that I was in good enough shape to start my gradual acceleration. I was cruising pretty good for a while. I was probably cruising too good, because as I came to mile 15 and my final loop, I realized I was very tired and very sore. Miles 16 and 17 were Ok, but the last three miles were at 10:00 MPM.
It was not a melt down by any account, but it didn’t turn out as I hoped. It might be as simple as I started to increase my speed about 3 miles too soon. I’m not in good enough shape to sustain an increase in pace for more than 5 miles after already running for 2 hours. I fought off the strong urge to walk and finished at 3:13, which is 14 minutes faster than the 20 miler I ran seven weeks ago.
Q: Did I reap meaningful benefit to my conditioning from this run?
A: I don’t know for sure. As a first timer, I think a 20 miler is essential for confidence/curiosity. Since I came up injured after my last 20 miler, I needed this more for the head than the legs. I think a 16 miler would have resulted in a much stronger effort that probably would have been more beneficial to my training with less risk of injury. My legs still don’t feel quite right (24 hours after running)
Q: How do the results of this run affect your planned race pace of 9:00 MPM?
A: I could talk all day about this one and would end up, right where I started. The experts tell you that your Long Run in training should be about 60 seconds slower than race pace. Mine was only 40 seconds slower, so I guess that’s OK. But I was totally spent when I was done, so that’s not good. Then there is the wind and the potential for weather on the day of the race. As a first timer, you really don’t know. At some level, I need to put away all the data and run the race as I feel it on race day. If I ever decide to do this again, I’ll be in a much better position to judge. For now, I’m sticking with the plan.
End of Week Eighteen (3-7-08)
This week I ran the highest mileage week so far (34 miles) and the fastest overall pace for all runs (9:04).
On Sunday I ran a flat 12 miler through Swarthmore and Morton at an 8:43 pace. That was a good run at a good pace. This was the first of the three runs I mentioned last week to help me target my pace for the race. This 12 miler was not the toughest test in the world, but the pace for this run was good enough (even for 12 miles) to maintain my goal of a 9:00 MPM pace for the race.
The rest of the week, I managed to be consistent with 4 and 6 milers. I pushed the pace on most of these miles. My run on Wednesday was supposed to be my fastest tempo run, and I just didn’t have enough steam. I realize that I should limit the amount of miles that I run too fast. Nevertheless, the faster running is working. I feel stronger and can see my times improving. I just need to be careful.
Next week is my final long run of the plan: a 20 miler. It has been seven weeks since my last 20 miler. Since that time, I have run a lot of base miles and some tempo miles. To be honest, I will be happy when this run is complete. Like the 12 miler last week, I’m looking for a good training run that helps build my physical strength as well as confidence. I’m hoping to run the first 10 miles at approximately 9:50 MPM, then pick it up over the last 10 miles and finish close to 9:00 MPM. I would be happy with a blended pace of 9:35.
I’m fast approaching the high point in my training. After this 20 miler, it will be mostly downhill. (that’s figurative). I still plan to run plenty of miles next week (40) and some fast running in my taper, but the end is in sight.
On Sunday I ran a flat 12 miler through Swarthmore and Morton at an 8:43 pace. That was a good run at a good pace. This was the first of the three runs I mentioned last week to help me target my pace for the race. This 12 miler was not the toughest test in the world, but the pace for this run was good enough (even for 12 miles) to maintain my goal of a 9:00 MPM pace for the race.
The rest of the week, I managed to be consistent with 4 and 6 milers. I pushed the pace on most of these miles. My run on Wednesday was supposed to be my fastest tempo run, and I just didn’t have enough steam. I realize that I should limit the amount of miles that I run too fast. Nevertheless, the faster running is working. I feel stronger and can see my times improving. I just need to be careful.
Next week is my final long run of the plan: a 20 miler. It has been seven weeks since my last 20 miler. Since that time, I have run a lot of base miles and some tempo miles. To be honest, I will be happy when this run is complete. Like the 12 miler last week, I’m looking for a good training run that helps build my physical strength as well as confidence. I’m hoping to run the first 10 miles at approximately 9:50 MPM, then pick it up over the last 10 miles and finish close to 9:00 MPM. I would be happy with a blended pace of 9:35.
I’m fast approaching the high point in my training. After this 20 miler, it will be mostly downhill. (that’s figurative). I still plan to run plenty of miles next week (40) and some fast running in my taper, but the end is in sight.
Friday, February 29, 2008
End of Week Seventeen (2-29-08)
This was the second week of my Speed Phase. I cut back miles slightly (27) this week but my overall pace for all miles this week was another 15 seconds/mile improvement to 9:09. I don’t think overall pace is a particularly important statistic, and based on what I have planned for the next couple weeks, I doubt it will get lower.
On Sunday, I ran 7 miles with Maddie at Ridley Creek. Our blended pace was real close to Marathon Pace of 9:04 and we ran the last two miles at an 8:15 pace.
On Tuesday, I ran a 6 mile progressive tempo run on the treadmill. Last week, I wrote about this type of run and extolled that benefits of increasing speed based on ‘feel’. Well this week, I did the opposite. I started at a good pace and increased the MPH by .1 at each half-mile regardless of how I felt. In reality, it all felt right. I was aiming for a certain overall time and completed this 6 miler at an overall pace of 8:33 (8:40 last week). I realize that this hard running is what will make me faster. I also realize that I should only do workouts this hard a couple times per week. I needed to follow this with a real easy day on Wednesday.
In addition to the run with Maddie and the tempo run, my other hard workout was a steady state run of 6 miles at 9:03. I did this on Thursday and realized that I put in some hard work this week and swapped a planned 5 miler on Friday with 40 minutes on the exercise bike. I think it was a good call. I have a tough couple weeks ahead of me.
There are now four weeks until the race. Over the next three weekends, I have important runs that I hope will serve two purposes. First, I hope they improve my conditioning and make me faster on race day. But I am also looking for these runs to add substance to my original belief that I could realistically break four hours in the race. If you were to look for advice or a list of tips for first time marathoners, you would find overwhelming evidence that one should run their first marathon to ‘just finish’ and one should not be too concerned with a goal time. The uncertainty about how the race will feel and the pace that should be run is significant. The results from your training along with race prediction calculators (based on other runs) help, but finding the right pace for a first timer can be tricky business.
Clearly, my goal is to run the best race possible in the fastest time without injury or hospitalization. For example, if my current conditioning and ability to run a marathon is really at a 4:15 finish time, and I ran the first half at pace for 4:00, I could very well end up running it at 4:30. Going well beyond my ability in the first 10 or 15 miles would result in a meltdown (hitting the wall) and a dramatic slowing of my pace. On the other hand, if I am capable of running it in 4:00, and I start off at a 4:15 pace for the first 10 or 15 miles, I would be able to make up some time, but not all of it. That’s pretty much why they say to run the first one to finish, or at least with an easily attainable goal. Rest assured that I will address this topic in the coming weeks.
This weekend I am going out for a 12 miler. I plan to do this at Marathon Pace. In the following weekends, I have a 20 miler planned and a 10K time trial. Along with these, I’ll continue with tempo runs and other base mileage.
Perhaps the real highlight of the past week was on Tuesday when I registered for the race and paid the money.
On Sunday, I ran 7 miles with Maddie at Ridley Creek. Our blended pace was real close to Marathon Pace of 9:04 and we ran the last two miles at an 8:15 pace.
On Tuesday, I ran a 6 mile progressive tempo run on the treadmill. Last week, I wrote about this type of run and extolled that benefits of increasing speed based on ‘feel’. Well this week, I did the opposite. I started at a good pace and increased the MPH by .1 at each half-mile regardless of how I felt. In reality, it all felt right. I was aiming for a certain overall time and completed this 6 miler at an overall pace of 8:33 (8:40 last week). I realize that this hard running is what will make me faster. I also realize that I should only do workouts this hard a couple times per week. I needed to follow this with a real easy day on Wednesday.
In addition to the run with Maddie and the tempo run, my other hard workout was a steady state run of 6 miles at 9:03. I did this on Thursday and realized that I put in some hard work this week and swapped a planned 5 miler on Friday with 40 minutes on the exercise bike. I think it was a good call. I have a tough couple weeks ahead of me.
There are now four weeks until the race. Over the next three weekends, I have important runs that I hope will serve two purposes. First, I hope they improve my conditioning and make me faster on race day. But I am also looking for these runs to add substance to my original belief that I could realistically break four hours in the race. If you were to look for advice or a list of tips for first time marathoners, you would find overwhelming evidence that one should run their first marathon to ‘just finish’ and one should not be too concerned with a goal time. The uncertainty about how the race will feel and the pace that should be run is significant. The results from your training along with race prediction calculators (based on other runs) help, but finding the right pace for a first timer can be tricky business.
Clearly, my goal is to run the best race possible in the fastest time without injury or hospitalization. For example, if my current conditioning and ability to run a marathon is really at a 4:15 finish time, and I ran the first half at pace for 4:00, I could very well end up running it at 4:30. Going well beyond my ability in the first 10 or 15 miles would result in a meltdown (hitting the wall) and a dramatic slowing of my pace. On the other hand, if I am capable of running it in 4:00, and I start off at a 4:15 pace for the first 10 or 15 miles, I would be able to make up some time, but not all of it. That’s pretty much why they say to run the first one to finish, or at least with an easily attainable goal. Rest assured that I will address this topic in the coming weeks.
This weekend I am going out for a 12 miler. I plan to do this at Marathon Pace. In the following weekends, I have a 20 miler planned and a 10K time trial. Along with these, I’ll continue with tempo runs and other base mileage.
Perhaps the real highlight of the past week was on Tuesday when I registered for the race and paid the money.
Friday, February 22, 2008
End of Week Sixteen (2-22-08)
It’s Friday morning and the snow is falling. I was awake this morning and getting ready to leave for the Y when the phone rang at 5:30 to let us know that the kids would not have school today due to the weather. Fortunately, the Y was open.
This ends the first of my Speed weeks. Although, my current plan is as much about building mileage as it is about speed. I had 30 miles scheduled this week and completed them all. I had some good runs and some not so good runs.
I opened the Y Saturday morning at 7:00 AM and did a solid 6 miler. On Sunday, I wanted to get on the track for a Tempo Run. My plan was to warm up for a mile than do 5 hard miles at around an 8:15 – 8:25 pace. By the time I got the track, I had been working around the house (kid’s bathroom renovation) for several hours. It was also very windy and I could tell it would not be a particularly pleasant run. The fast potion of my run consisted of 3.5 miles at 8:24. With the wind and the fact that each ½ mile was faster than the previous one, I ended up being satisfied with the run.
When I was finished running and driving home, I had that feeling that comes with a real workout. It’s different than the achy feeling after a long run. It feels like your muscles are still working even though you are not moving. I would have liked to hold the fast pace for longer, but decided not to overdo my first real speed work.
During the rest of the week, I had a junk 3 miler and a junk 4 miler. In between this junk, I was very pleased with a faster than usual 6 miler on Tuesday.
This morning for my next bit of speed work, I planned a progressive run of 6 miles on the treadmill. My intention was to up the pace at certain intervals so that I would be running the last four miles at around an 8:15 pace. But I read an article yesterday about progressive runs and how the movement from a slower pace to a faster pace is best when you do so by feel as opposed to a prescribed interval. I thought the article was unnecessarily wordy and transcendental, but the essence still struck a cord. Go faster when you are comfortable at your current pace and have more to give. As a training run, you do yourself no real benefit to force a pace. And in the long run, you can end up going faster and certainly feeling better. So, from the window in front of my treadmill, I watched the plow trucks scraping up and down Baltimore Pike and pushed the buttons to go faster when it felt right. I started slow and ended at an 8:00 MPM pace. The overall blended pace of 8:40 wasn’t super fast, but I was getting faster throughout and held at a good tempo pace for at least the final 3 or 4 miles.
My overall pace for the week was faster than last week by 15 seconds/mile to 9:24. This is OK because I was also adding mileage, and most of that was slow easy running. I’m not doing as much fast running as I would have thought three months ago, but the need for more miles to support hard workouts has taken on more focus. Nevertheless, this is the time when I will be running harder and faster workouts to build on the endurance base that I have. Next week I am bumping overall mileage up to 34 with some more tempo work as well.
There are now five weeks until the race. I spent some time planning the final weeks and I realize that I will always be planning up to the end. The adjustments that have been made to the plan over the past couple weeks have been to generally add mileage. I ran six days this week and will do so for the next two weeks also. Currently I have my last Long Run (20 miles) planned for 3/8/08, which is two weeks from now. At that point I will be transitioning to my taper. I can’t wait for the taper.
This ends the first of my Speed weeks. Although, my current plan is as much about building mileage as it is about speed. I had 30 miles scheduled this week and completed them all. I had some good runs and some not so good runs.
I opened the Y Saturday morning at 7:00 AM and did a solid 6 miler. On Sunday, I wanted to get on the track for a Tempo Run. My plan was to warm up for a mile than do 5 hard miles at around an 8:15 – 8:25 pace. By the time I got the track, I had been working around the house (kid’s bathroom renovation) for several hours. It was also very windy and I could tell it would not be a particularly pleasant run. The fast potion of my run consisted of 3.5 miles at 8:24. With the wind and the fact that each ½ mile was faster than the previous one, I ended up being satisfied with the run.
When I was finished running and driving home, I had that feeling that comes with a real workout. It’s different than the achy feeling after a long run. It feels like your muscles are still working even though you are not moving. I would have liked to hold the fast pace for longer, but decided not to overdo my first real speed work.
During the rest of the week, I had a junk 3 miler and a junk 4 miler. In between this junk, I was very pleased with a faster than usual 6 miler on Tuesday.
This morning for my next bit of speed work, I planned a progressive run of 6 miles on the treadmill. My intention was to up the pace at certain intervals so that I would be running the last four miles at around an 8:15 pace. But I read an article yesterday about progressive runs and how the movement from a slower pace to a faster pace is best when you do so by feel as opposed to a prescribed interval. I thought the article was unnecessarily wordy and transcendental, but the essence still struck a cord. Go faster when you are comfortable at your current pace and have more to give. As a training run, you do yourself no real benefit to force a pace. And in the long run, you can end up going faster and certainly feeling better. So, from the window in front of my treadmill, I watched the plow trucks scraping up and down Baltimore Pike and pushed the buttons to go faster when it felt right. I started slow and ended at an 8:00 MPM pace. The overall blended pace of 8:40 wasn’t super fast, but I was getting faster throughout and held at a good tempo pace for at least the final 3 or 4 miles.
My overall pace for the week was faster than last week by 15 seconds/mile to 9:24. This is OK because I was also adding mileage, and most of that was slow easy running. I’m not doing as much fast running as I would have thought three months ago, but the need for more miles to support hard workouts has taken on more focus. Nevertheless, this is the time when I will be running harder and faster workouts to build on the endurance base that I have. Next week I am bumping overall mileage up to 34 with some more tempo work as well.
There are now five weeks until the race. I spent some time planning the final weeks and I realize that I will always be planning up to the end. The adjustments that have been made to the plan over the past couple weeks have been to generally add mileage. I ran six days this week and will do so for the next two weeks also. Currently I have my last Long Run (20 miles) planned for 3/8/08, which is two weeks from now. At that point I will be transitioning to my taper. I can’t wait for the taper.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
End of Week Fifteen (2/15/08)
For Week Fifteen I planned on running 27 miles in preparation for speed work and to continue a gradual increase in overall mileage. The week went well and I completed all 27 miles. All the body parts appear to be weathering the storm.
The highlight for the week was the run that Maddie and I did together on Sunday. It was 8.5 miles that looped through Media and finished at my father’s house for Mass and dinner on Sunday. I was sure that I wanted to run faster than the 10:15 MPM pace that I’ve been maintaining for Long Runs. I wanted to see how close to Marathon Pace (9:00) I could run these miles. This was the first serious workout since the 20 miler, three weeks ago. We finished the run in 1:17:55 for a 9:10 MPM pace. It’s close enough for me and I can confidently plan on another Marathon Pace run at a longer distance.
The rest of miles were run at the Y at an easy pace. On Thursday morning, I ran my 6 miler on the treadmill faster than usual. My average pace for the week (9:39) was faster than any of the previous weeks in the Endurance Phase.
Next week, I start the Speed Phase of the plan. This will go on for four weeks, followed by a two week taper. I have a general plan for how I want to run through the next phase. I am trying to be mindful of what I did in the Endurance Phase and not repeat the same mistake. In this case, I need to be careful not to let my fast running miles make up too large a portion of my overall miles. Speed work can break you down as much as distance.
The plan that I have for the next four weeks includes a mix of Tempo runs, 1600 and 800 intervals and Marathon Pace runs. As I indicated in earlier posts, I should wrap plenty of easy miles around this speed work. Contrary to what I planned four months ago, I now realize the need to keep increasing total miles regardless of the phase. In some respect, I’m treating the Speed Phase as a prep for my final 20 miler in five weeks.
My current thinking on the elements of my speed work has me leaning toward more Tempo runs than anything else. In particular, the interval sessions are becoming less important to my training. Tempo runs are done at a pace slightly slower than your 10K pace. For me that will be in the 8:10 – 8:20 range which is significantly faster than my Marathon Pace. Tempo runs are intended to raise, your Lactate Threshold, which improves your ability to keep up the pace for an extended time when you are tired. I plan to start off with a 5 mile Tempo run this weekend.
Yesterday I printed the map for the Ocean Drive Marathon. I saw how the miles are plotted on the course. I posted the map on the office wall at home. When I think about running this course, it looks fun: Cape May, Wildwood (the boardwalk), Stone Harbor, Avalon (revisiting the youth of my 20’s) and finally Sea Isle, with all the family memories. But when I think about racing it at pace, fun isn’t exactly the first thought that crosses my mind:more intriguing than fun, hopefully better, or maybe much worse.
The highlight for the week was the run that Maddie and I did together on Sunday. It was 8.5 miles that looped through Media and finished at my father’s house for Mass and dinner on Sunday. I was sure that I wanted to run faster than the 10:15 MPM pace that I’ve been maintaining for Long Runs. I wanted to see how close to Marathon Pace (9:00) I could run these miles. This was the first serious workout since the 20 miler, three weeks ago. We finished the run in 1:17:55 for a 9:10 MPM pace. It’s close enough for me and I can confidently plan on another Marathon Pace run at a longer distance.
The rest of miles were run at the Y at an easy pace. On Thursday morning, I ran my 6 miler on the treadmill faster than usual. My average pace for the week (9:39) was faster than any of the previous weeks in the Endurance Phase.
Next week, I start the Speed Phase of the plan. This will go on for four weeks, followed by a two week taper. I have a general plan for how I want to run through the next phase. I am trying to be mindful of what I did in the Endurance Phase and not repeat the same mistake. In this case, I need to be careful not to let my fast running miles make up too large a portion of my overall miles. Speed work can break you down as much as distance.
The plan that I have for the next four weeks includes a mix of Tempo runs, 1600 and 800 intervals and Marathon Pace runs. As I indicated in earlier posts, I should wrap plenty of easy miles around this speed work. Contrary to what I planned four months ago, I now realize the need to keep increasing total miles regardless of the phase. In some respect, I’m treating the Speed Phase as a prep for my final 20 miler in five weeks.
My current thinking on the elements of my speed work has me leaning toward more Tempo runs than anything else. In particular, the interval sessions are becoming less important to my training. Tempo runs are done at a pace slightly slower than your 10K pace. For me that will be in the 8:10 – 8:20 range which is significantly faster than my Marathon Pace. Tempo runs are intended to raise, your Lactate Threshold, which improves your ability to keep up the pace for an extended time when you are tired. I plan to start off with a 5 mile Tempo run this weekend.
Yesterday I printed the map for the Ocean Drive Marathon. I saw how the miles are plotted on the course. I posted the map on the office wall at home. When I think about running this course, it looks fun: Cape May, Wildwood (the boardwalk), Stone Harbor, Avalon (revisiting the youth of my 20’s) and finally Sea Isle, with all the family memories. But when I think about racing it at pace, fun isn’t exactly the first thought that crosses my mind:more intriguing than fun, hopefully better, or maybe much worse.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
End of Week Fourteen (2-8-08)
It’s Friday morning and I just completed a good 15 miler. I did it in exactly 60 minutes. I actually got stronger during the finish and completed the 15th mile in just under three minutes. Yes it was on the exercise bike.
This was the first week after my setback. All things considered, I’m pleased with the results. I mixed in 3, 4 and 5 mile runs across the week and finished with 20 miles for Week 14. The pain in my foot comes and goes during the week, but I believe it is generally diminishing. I’ve been keeping true to my icing twice a day. Based on my expert medical opinion, I’m classifying this as a case of tendonitis. I won’t go into reasons that lead me to this diagnosis, but they are compelling enough that I have suspended all Internet based research on the topic.
Its very important for me to get the mileage cranked up real quick. Irrespective of the actual condition of my foot, I’m certain that it an over-use injury. I’m also relatively certain that the condition was triggered by the Long Runs of 15, 17 and 20 miles on consecutive weeks with overall weekly mileage that was only in the high 20’s and low 30’s. Finally, I’m betting it all on the belief that I can get back on track for 30-40 mile weeks without risk of injury as long as I manage the distribution of my miles better.
I re-read what I wrote a couple weeks ago about the adjustments that I wanted to make to the plan. After my setback, I still agree with most of what I wrote. In particular, I agree with the part about needing more miles and the relative importance of base mileage vs. individual Long Runs. However, I got one thing backward (I think). I wrote ‘The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that’. I now think overall mileage should be planned first and Long Runs placed whereby their duration and timing make better sense.
It is seven weeks until the race. Next week I plan to run 27 miles. That’s the same mileage that I was running back in Week Nine. From this point forward I can then count on safe and modest weekly increases to max out at 40 miles right before my taper. That will be when I run my next and final 20 miler. The multiple weeks of high mileage will surely make the Long Run easier and more importantly, it will make recovery easier. If this holds true, it will leave me with 3 runs of three hours or more. I can live with that.
Following next week’s mileage buildup, I am looking forward to hitting the track and roads for the Speed Phase. When my foot started acting up, I feared that the Speed Phase would need to be reduced or cut out completely in order to get to the starting line injury free. That was pessimistic thinking that is no longer with me. As the weather starts to warm up, I’ll be out there doing more Marathon Pace runs, Mile Repeats, and other fun stuff.
Does it sound like I’m making this up as I go along? I’m really not. The plan has kept its shape with the four phases. Yes, there have been some adjustments and doubt along the way and I’m sure there will be more of both before this whole thing is over.
This was the first week after my setback. All things considered, I’m pleased with the results. I mixed in 3, 4 and 5 mile runs across the week and finished with 20 miles for Week 14. The pain in my foot comes and goes during the week, but I believe it is generally diminishing. I’ve been keeping true to my icing twice a day. Based on my expert medical opinion, I’m classifying this as a case of tendonitis. I won’t go into reasons that lead me to this diagnosis, but they are compelling enough that I have suspended all Internet based research on the topic.
Its very important for me to get the mileage cranked up real quick. Irrespective of the actual condition of my foot, I’m certain that it an over-use injury. I’m also relatively certain that the condition was triggered by the Long Runs of 15, 17 and 20 miles on consecutive weeks with overall weekly mileage that was only in the high 20’s and low 30’s. Finally, I’m betting it all on the belief that I can get back on track for 30-40 mile weeks without risk of injury as long as I manage the distribution of my miles better.
I re-read what I wrote a couple weeks ago about the adjustments that I wanted to make to the plan. After my setback, I still agree with most of what I wrote. In particular, I agree with the part about needing more miles and the relative importance of base mileage vs. individual Long Runs. However, I got one thing backward (I think). I wrote ‘The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that’. I now think overall mileage should be planned first and Long Runs placed whereby their duration and timing make better sense.
It is seven weeks until the race. Next week I plan to run 27 miles. That’s the same mileage that I was running back in Week Nine. From this point forward I can then count on safe and modest weekly increases to max out at 40 miles right before my taper. That will be when I run my next and final 20 miler. The multiple weeks of high mileage will surely make the Long Run easier and more importantly, it will make recovery easier. If this holds true, it will leave me with 3 runs of three hours or more. I can live with that.
Following next week’s mileage buildup, I am looking forward to hitting the track and roads for the Speed Phase. When my foot started acting up, I feared that the Speed Phase would need to be reduced or cut out completely in order to get to the starting line injury free. That was pessimistic thinking that is no longer with me. As the weather starts to warm up, I’ll be out there doing more Marathon Pace runs, Mile Repeats, and other fun stuff.
Does it sound like I’m making this up as I go along? I’m really not. The plan has kept its shape with the four phases. Yes, there have been some adjustments and doubt along the way and I’m sure there will be more of both before this whole thing is over.
Friday, February 1, 2008
After a Week of Rest
Over the course of the past week, the dull pain on the top of my foot hasn’t really changed much. I have been icing it twice a day and made it out for three good workouts on the exercise bike and one on the elliptical machine. When I use the elliptical machine, I feel like I’m going backwards and really don’t like it very much.
Since I made the decision to take a week off, I have been anxious to see how the foot would feel during and after my first run. Of course throughout this week I gave lots of consideration on how I would proceed with my training. My weekly mileage has been above 20 miles per week for the past nine weeks and the last three weeks have been above 28 and topped out at 31 miles. I would like to start back up with something close to 20 miles in Week 14. Given the consistent mileage and with only one week off, I think that is reasonable. I haven’t gotten into real specific planning because, I realized that any plans I would come up with might become academic, based on how I felt when I started back up again.
If I ran without feeling a thing in the foot, I would be looking to get back to 30 miles per week almost immediately. On the other hand, if I fell over in pain, my plan would look much different and maybe not look like much like a training plan at all. I suspected that the reality would be somewhere in between.
I ran 3 easy miles on the treadmill at the Y this morning (Friday 2/1/08). As I expected, the pain was present, but certainly bearable. It felt very much like the two runs I did after I first noticed the alleged injury. So there is no dramatic announcement of either triumph or despair. Instead, I’m left with just enough encouragement to proceed with the assumption that there will be no more stoppages. I’m also left with the possibility that my week off was unnecessary.
At this point, who knows what the story is with the foot. It could be a bone problem or tendonitis or even a compressed nerve. In any event, I suspect that my overall mileage increase was probably OK, but the Long Run increases (as a % of total mileage) might have been too high.
I need to get my mind right. Instead of constant thought of injury, I need to get back to thinking about things like pacing, strengthening and overall mileage. I look forward to a solid week of running to flush out the doubt and tentativeness.
Since I made the decision to take a week off, I have been anxious to see how the foot would feel during and after my first run. Of course throughout this week I gave lots of consideration on how I would proceed with my training. My weekly mileage has been above 20 miles per week for the past nine weeks and the last three weeks have been above 28 and topped out at 31 miles. I would like to start back up with something close to 20 miles in Week 14. Given the consistent mileage and with only one week off, I think that is reasonable. I haven’t gotten into real specific planning because, I realized that any plans I would come up with might become academic, based on how I felt when I started back up again.
If I ran without feeling a thing in the foot, I would be looking to get back to 30 miles per week almost immediately. On the other hand, if I fell over in pain, my plan would look much different and maybe not look like much like a training plan at all. I suspected that the reality would be somewhere in between.
I ran 3 easy miles on the treadmill at the Y this morning (Friday 2/1/08). As I expected, the pain was present, but certainly bearable. It felt very much like the two runs I did after I first noticed the alleged injury. So there is no dramatic announcement of either triumph or despair. Instead, I’m left with just enough encouragement to proceed with the assumption that there will be no more stoppages. I’m also left with the possibility that my week off was unnecessary.
At this point, who knows what the story is with the foot. It could be a bone problem or tendonitis or even a compressed nerve. In any event, I suspect that my overall mileage increase was probably OK, but the Long Run increases (as a % of total mileage) might have been too high.
I need to get my mind right. Instead of constant thought of injury, I need to get back to thinking about things like pacing, strengthening and overall mileage. I look forward to a solid week of running to flush out the doubt and tentativeness.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sidelined - Injury Report
There is nothing to fear, but fear itself. Unless of course, you are training for a marathon and you think you might have a broken foot. I actually don’t think I have a broken foot, but something is not right.
I first noticed the injury soon after I was through patting myself on the back for the 20 miler on Saturday. The day after the run, my legs felt generally sore, but on Monday, I felt a noticeable pain on the top of my left foot. If felt like I had been hit with a baseball. The pain wasn’t great, but it was constant.
It didn’t take long to Google my symptoms and come up with a preliminary diagnosis: Metatarsal Stress Fracture. I became quickly educated on metatarsals and stress fractures. I can even go as far as to say, my problem is with the second metatarsal. I took each toe in my hand and gave them a tug and a wiggle. I felt nothing, except on metatarsal number 2. It’s the toe next to the big one. When I probed my foot to find the tender spot, it was at an area that lines up with that bone.
On Tuesday, I took Danny to a college music audition. I was home in the early afternoon and the went to Y for a run. There was no pain as I walked around on Tuesday and it seemed safe to test the foot. I ran six miles on the treadmill and I could feel it, but still the pain was not enough for me to stop. I rested on Wednesday and did some more research and ran again on Thursday with similar results. Although I did notice a momentary sharper pain on Thursday’s run.
So I’m spending all my time walking around trying to gauge how the foot feels. It has become an obsession as I foolishly search the Internet for a Costana-esqe ‘Stress Fracture,, Get out of here!’
Upon sifting through hundreds of web pages on the topic, I can find some common ground that probably qualifies as fact.
Of all metatarsal stress fractures, a fracture of the second is most common for runners – That’s Me
The cause is an increase in duration or intensity of activity – Me Again
The pain is localized to a specific spot on the top of your foot – Guilty
On the other hand, there is other information that causes me to be optimistic.
I have no swelling or redness
I can do the hop test (hop up and down on the bad foot) and the tippy toe test without any pain
While I can find the spot with my finger, I can not cause a sharp pain.
I do not have an irregular menstrual cycle
The good news is that this type of injury virtually always heals without complication. The bad news is that 4-6 weeks of no activity is the prescribed cure. Furthermore, this injury will not show up on an X-Ray until scar tissue from the healing process is present. It is often diagnosed from the symptoms alone. This leads me to the really far fetched idea of seeing a doctor.
I took Madeline to a sports podiatrist during last years track season. This guy has impeccable qualifications and I will go to him if the time is right. But I’m not there yet. If I were to visit him now, I think I know how it would go. He would likely interview me for my symptoms, tug on my toes, prod my foot and come to the same conclusion: it might be a stress fracture. He would order some combination of X-Ray, MRI and Bone Scan. And for the four weeks it would take, while I get a initial appointment, and then get the tests and the results processed and see him again for follow up, he would tell me to stop running. When he got around to letting me run again, I would be back at Week Two mileage. In other words, the 2008 Ocean Drive Marathon would be off.
I’m going with a more moderate approach:
* I have pain on the top of my foot
* I’m going to take a week off from running and concentrate on cross training
* I will ice the foot twice a day, every day
* I’ll see how it feels when I start running again in a week
A one week break is really more like two weeks, because you can’t just pick up where you left off. But I think I can afford it. I will rest and cross train during Week 13. I will then have six weeks of training before I start my taper (which I must now reduce from 3 weeks to 2 weeks). It is still to be determined how I train during the six weeks. I need to plan this with the assumption that my google-based medical research was an idiotic waste of time, and I am really OK, just a little banged up.
I have no intention of running through a serious condition. I have no intention of ignoring significant pain. But I do intend to the take the course of action that maximizes my chances for getting back on track for the race in March.
I first noticed the injury soon after I was through patting myself on the back for the 20 miler on Saturday. The day after the run, my legs felt generally sore, but on Monday, I felt a noticeable pain on the top of my left foot. If felt like I had been hit with a baseball. The pain wasn’t great, but it was constant.
It didn’t take long to Google my symptoms and come up with a preliminary diagnosis: Metatarsal Stress Fracture. I became quickly educated on metatarsals and stress fractures. I can even go as far as to say, my problem is with the second metatarsal. I took each toe in my hand and gave them a tug and a wiggle. I felt nothing, except on metatarsal number 2. It’s the toe next to the big one. When I probed my foot to find the tender spot, it was at an area that lines up with that bone.
On Tuesday, I took Danny to a college music audition. I was home in the early afternoon and the went to Y for a run. There was no pain as I walked around on Tuesday and it seemed safe to test the foot. I ran six miles on the treadmill and I could feel it, but still the pain was not enough for me to stop. I rested on Wednesday and did some more research and ran again on Thursday with similar results. Although I did notice a momentary sharper pain on Thursday’s run.
So I’m spending all my time walking around trying to gauge how the foot feels. It has become an obsession as I foolishly search the Internet for a Costana-esqe ‘Stress Fracture,, Get out of here!’
Upon sifting through hundreds of web pages on the topic, I can find some common ground that probably qualifies as fact.
Of all metatarsal stress fractures, a fracture of the second is most common for runners – That’s Me
The cause is an increase in duration or intensity of activity – Me Again
The pain is localized to a specific spot on the top of your foot – Guilty
On the other hand, there is other information that causes me to be optimistic.
I have no swelling or redness
I can do the hop test (hop up and down on the bad foot) and the tippy toe test without any pain
While I can find the spot with my finger, I can not cause a sharp pain.
I do not have an irregular menstrual cycle
The good news is that this type of injury virtually always heals without complication. The bad news is that 4-6 weeks of no activity is the prescribed cure. Furthermore, this injury will not show up on an X-Ray until scar tissue from the healing process is present. It is often diagnosed from the symptoms alone. This leads me to the really far fetched idea of seeing a doctor.
I took Madeline to a sports podiatrist during last years track season. This guy has impeccable qualifications and I will go to him if the time is right. But I’m not there yet. If I were to visit him now, I think I know how it would go. He would likely interview me for my symptoms, tug on my toes, prod my foot and come to the same conclusion: it might be a stress fracture. He would order some combination of X-Ray, MRI and Bone Scan. And for the four weeks it would take, while I get a initial appointment, and then get the tests and the results processed and see him again for follow up, he would tell me to stop running. When he got around to letting me run again, I would be back at Week Two mileage. In other words, the 2008 Ocean Drive Marathon would be off.
I’m going with a more moderate approach:
* I have pain on the top of my foot
* I’m going to take a week off from running and concentrate on cross training
* I will ice the foot twice a day, every day
* I’ll see how it feels when I start running again in a week
A one week break is really more like two weeks, because you can’t just pick up where you left off. But I think I can afford it. I will rest and cross train during Week 13. I will then have six weeks of training before I start my taper (which I must now reduce from 3 weeks to 2 weeks). It is still to be determined how I train during the six weeks. I need to plan this with the assumption that my google-based medical research was an idiotic waste of time, and I am really OK, just a little banged up.
I have no intention of running through a serious condition. I have no intention of ignoring significant pain. But I do intend to the take the course of action that maximizes my chances for getting back on track for the race in March.
Monday, January 21, 2008
20 Miler Long Run Report (1/21/08)
Friday night, Patti asked me how far I was going to run the next morning. I said “Don’t ask’. She said “20 miles?” I rolled my eyes and nodded yes.
During the week, I did some brushing up on proper hydration during Long Runs. As is usually the case, I came across lots of opinions with a wide range of answers. Most of the advice suggests that there is no set amount you should be drinking. It depends on several factors like: how much you sweat, the temperature, your weight etc. In order to determine the proper amount of fluid replacement, you should weigh yourself before a run and after a run to determine how much you need. That didn’t do me any good with Saturday’s run. Fortunately, I found some general guidelines.
The most consistent guideline is to take in 8 oz of fluid for every 20 minutes of running. For last week’s long run, I took in 34 oz over 3 hours. If you do the math, I took in less than half of what I should have. So now, I am really starting to think positive. Not only do my Long Runs qualify as hill workouts, I’m running in a dehydrated state. I can surely improve.
As Saturday morning came near, I tried not to think about the fact that I would out running for close to three and a half hours. I tried not to think about reaching mile 17 and knowing I had 3 more to go. I just planned the run as best I could.
For my provisions I got three 16 oz bottles of water and a 24 oz bottle of Gatorade. I also got two gel packs for the run. I had my peanut butter on toast and Gatorade about 60 minutes before the run. I loaded up my stuff into a back pack and was ready.
The plan was to run to the 1 mile mark with my fluids and dump them in a safe spot. I would then continue to the 2 mile mark and turn around. This gave me a 4 mile out-and-back that I would repeat five times. I would be passing my aid station every two miles. I checked the Ocean Drive Marathon web site and the aid stations will be similarly placed. I would drink water until mile 9, then switch to Gatorade. At miles 13 and 17, I would take a gel pack with water. I had 72 oz of fluid with me.
After I ate and went to the bathroom at home, I weighed myself, dressed and headed out the door.
It snowed a little on Thursday and the paved trail where I run doesn’t get much sun. I was hoping it would be clear. There were some icy spots, but it was not a factor.
When I am alone, I talk to myself quite a bit. On the run, I would be alone for well over three hours and the I-Pod can only entertain me for so long. So I alternated between music and conversation with myself. As you can probably guess the topic was running. In particular, I was breaking down the 20 miler into the five segments I had planned. Through conversation during the early part of the run, I decided that after 4 miles, I should feel like I was just warming up. After 8 miles, I should still feel good, but expect to be tired. At 12 miles, I should expect to be hurting, but still strong enough to keep up the pace. Finally at mile 16, I should be hurting some more, but with no fear of the last 4 miles and no inclination to quit or shorten my run.
I went about my business of running and listening to music and then at the end of each 4 mile segment I would interview myself in order to evaluate how I was feeling. I also took close tabs on my pace and would discuss that as well. Halfway through each segment, I would exercise my brain and predict my time for the next turn around.
Generally speaking, I was pretty close in predicting how I would feel along the way. My goal was to run at between 10:15 and 10:30 pace. That is not much of a slow down from last week, but I would certainly not attempt to run the first 12 miles at 10:00, like I did last week. I don’t have exact splits, but it is something close to this.
0-4 miles @ 10:18
5-16 miles @ 10:28 (even pace throughout)
17 – 20 @ 10:04
The total time of 3:27:00 comes out to a 10:21 pace.
Aside from the obvious pain and throbbing of every bone and muscle from my feet to my waist, the last 4 miles was a beautiful experience. They were the fastest 4 miles by far and I could have gone on further. My breathing was fine and I was talking to the end. It turned out to be a pretty good plan and I think it was well executed. Now I can take a week off from Long Runs.
When I got home, I dried off and weighed my self. I lost four pounds during the run. I consumed all 72 oz, so I will plug that into the fluid replacement calculators and see what it tells me. For someone of my size, I think a 4 pound loss for that type of run is OK. There was no dizziness and no tingling of the fingers.
Speaking with my brother John, later in the day, he commented that now I must feel as if I could actually finish the marathon distance. I agreed. 20 miles is a milestone for me. I think that if this were the beginning of my taper, I would feel good about breaking 4:20 or 4:15 for the race. But this is not the beginning of my taper. I have seven weeks until the taper and 10 weeks until the race. And 4:15 is not my goal. My goal is 3:59:59 or better. That is about 70 seconds per mile faster than I ran this 20 miler.
But rest assured, two things will be different on 3/30/08. I will be racing, not training and I won’t be nearly as talkative, at least not out loud.
During the week, I did some brushing up on proper hydration during Long Runs. As is usually the case, I came across lots of opinions with a wide range of answers. Most of the advice suggests that there is no set amount you should be drinking. It depends on several factors like: how much you sweat, the temperature, your weight etc. In order to determine the proper amount of fluid replacement, you should weigh yourself before a run and after a run to determine how much you need. That didn’t do me any good with Saturday’s run. Fortunately, I found some general guidelines.
The most consistent guideline is to take in 8 oz of fluid for every 20 minutes of running. For last week’s long run, I took in 34 oz over 3 hours. If you do the math, I took in less than half of what I should have. So now, I am really starting to think positive. Not only do my Long Runs qualify as hill workouts, I’m running in a dehydrated state. I can surely improve.
As Saturday morning came near, I tried not to think about the fact that I would out running for close to three and a half hours. I tried not to think about reaching mile 17 and knowing I had 3 more to go. I just planned the run as best I could.
For my provisions I got three 16 oz bottles of water and a 24 oz bottle of Gatorade. I also got two gel packs for the run. I had my peanut butter on toast and Gatorade about 60 minutes before the run. I loaded up my stuff into a back pack and was ready.
The plan was to run to the 1 mile mark with my fluids and dump them in a safe spot. I would then continue to the 2 mile mark and turn around. This gave me a 4 mile out-and-back that I would repeat five times. I would be passing my aid station every two miles. I checked the Ocean Drive Marathon web site and the aid stations will be similarly placed. I would drink water until mile 9, then switch to Gatorade. At miles 13 and 17, I would take a gel pack with water. I had 72 oz of fluid with me.
After I ate and went to the bathroom at home, I weighed myself, dressed and headed out the door.
It snowed a little on Thursday and the paved trail where I run doesn’t get much sun. I was hoping it would be clear. There were some icy spots, but it was not a factor.
When I am alone, I talk to myself quite a bit. On the run, I would be alone for well over three hours and the I-Pod can only entertain me for so long. So I alternated between music and conversation with myself. As you can probably guess the topic was running. In particular, I was breaking down the 20 miler into the five segments I had planned. Through conversation during the early part of the run, I decided that after 4 miles, I should feel like I was just warming up. After 8 miles, I should still feel good, but expect to be tired. At 12 miles, I should expect to be hurting, but still strong enough to keep up the pace. Finally at mile 16, I should be hurting some more, but with no fear of the last 4 miles and no inclination to quit or shorten my run.
I went about my business of running and listening to music and then at the end of each 4 mile segment I would interview myself in order to evaluate how I was feeling. I also took close tabs on my pace and would discuss that as well. Halfway through each segment, I would exercise my brain and predict my time for the next turn around.
Generally speaking, I was pretty close in predicting how I would feel along the way. My goal was to run at between 10:15 and 10:30 pace. That is not much of a slow down from last week, but I would certainly not attempt to run the first 12 miles at 10:00, like I did last week. I don’t have exact splits, but it is something close to this.
0-4 miles @ 10:18
5-16 miles @ 10:28 (even pace throughout)
17 – 20 @ 10:04
The total time of 3:27:00 comes out to a 10:21 pace.
Aside from the obvious pain and throbbing of every bone and muscle from my feet to my waist, the last 4 miles was a beautiful experience. They were the fastest 4 miles by far and I could have gone on further. My breathing was fine and I was talking to the end. It turned out to be a pretty good plan and I think it was well executed. Now I can take a week off from Long Runs.
When I got home, I dried off and weighed my self. I lost four pounds during the run. I consumed all 72 oz, so I will plug that into the fluid replacement calculators and see what it tells me. For someone of my size, I think a 4 pound loss for that type of run is OK. There was no dizziness and no tingling of the fingers.
Speaking with my brother John, later in the day, he commented that now I must feel as if I could actually finish the marathon distance. I agreed. 20 miles is a milestone for me. I think that if this were the beginning of my taper, I would feel good about breaking 4:20 or 4:15 for the race. But this is not the beginning of my taper. I have seven weeks until the taper and 10 weeks until the race. And 4:15 is not my goal. My goal is 3:59:59 or better. That is about 70 seconds per mile faster than I ran this 20 miler.
But rest assured, two things will be different on 3/30/08. I will be racing, not training and I won’t be nearly as talkative, at least not out loud.
Halfway Point Plan Adjustment (1/18/08)
For a few reasons, I wanted to take a closer look at the remaining weeks of the plan and make some adjustments. A few weeks back I made a change to spread my mid week miles during the Endurance Phase to be shorter in distance, but run more of them, without much change to overall mileage. At this point in the plan, I am pleased to see that I have completed 96% of the total planned mileage.
Looking ahead, I don’t think its smart to be only running three times a week. It will be better to have at least four runs per week. After the mixed results from my 17 miler, I did some more reading and evaluation of my own plan. My general conclusion is that I need to add more miles to the plan. In particular, I need to add significant miles to the Speed Phase.
The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that. My original plan had three more in the Endurance Phase (19, 21 and 23). I know I need a break and will replace one of these Long Runs with a faster weekend workout. I also had one Long Run in the middle of the Speed Phase (23) and another final Long Run (20) at the start of my taper, three weeks before the race. The original plan had 4 runs of 20 miles or more.
After my last Long Run, I gave much thought to giving myself a break from the weekend grind. My decision is to actually increase the length of my next Long Run to 20 miles, then take a one week break from Long Runs and finish the Endurance Phase with a 22 miler. I wouldn’t let myself take a break after a bad run.
In the Speed Phase, I’m going to skip Long Runs altogether. My final Long Run will be as I originally planned: at the start of my three week taper. The net result will be a reduction in 20+ runs from four to three. However, the mileage that I added amounts to approximately 70 miles across the remaining weeks. The thought is that the additional miles will help more than the one extra Long Run. Furthermore, a Long Run during the Speed Phase will take away precious weekend time from the track. There is also time set aside for quality Marathon Pace runs.
It might not make sense to go for a 20 miler this coming weekend, but I am eager to reach that milestone and the confidence that it should bring. I plan to watch my pace and fueling better.
Looking ahead, I don’t think its smart to be only running three times a week. It will be better to have at least four runs per week. After the mixed results from my 17 miler, I did some more reading and evaluation of my own plan. My general conclusion is that I need to add more miles to the plan. In particular, I need to add significant miles to the Speed Phase.
The first step is to plan my remaining Long Runs and then build around that. My original plan had three more in the Endurance Phase (19, 21 and 23). I know I need a break and will replace one of these Long Runs with a faster weekend workout. I also had one Long Run in the middle of the Speed Phase (23) and another final Long Run (20) at the start of my taper, three weeks before the race. The original plan had 4 runs of 20 miles or more.
After my last Long Run, I gave much thought to giving myself a break from the weekend grind. My decision is to actually increase the length of my next Long Run to 20 miles, then take a one week break from Long Runs and finish the Endurance Phase with a 22 miler. I wouldn’t let myself take a break after a bad run.
In the Speed Phase, I’m going to skip Long Runs altogether. My final Long Run will be as I originally planned: at the start of my three week taper. The net result will be a reduction in 20+ runs from four to three. However, the mileage that I added amounts to approximately 70 miles across the remaining weeks. The thought is that the additional miles will help more than the one extra Long Run. Furthermore, a Long Run during the Speed Phase will take away precious weekend time from the track. There is also time set aside for quality Marathon Pace runs.
It might not make sense to go for a 20 miler this coming weekend, but I am eager to reach that milestone and the confidence that it should bring. I plan to watch my pace and fueling better.
End of Week Eleven (1/17/08)
At the conclusion of Week Eleven, I realize that I am slightly more than halfway through the training program in terms of total weeks (21 in the plan). This is also the completion of the fifth of eight weeks in the Endurance Phase. As I look at my running log, I notice that there aren’t any comments on the mid week runs in Week Eleven. The Long Run on Saturday (1/12/08) is the only real story of the week.
The weather on Saturday morning was not remarkable. It was about 40 degrees when I started and the sun was coming through when I finished. I have been fortunate with the weather so far in this phase of my running. I had a real concern that if the winter brought some ice and snow, it would make weekend Long Runs difficult or impossible outside.
This is the weekend of Suzanne’s half marathon in Florida. She has been with me for the first portion of my Long Run for the previous three weeks. As I got ready to do this scheduled 17 miler, I needed to plan my individual pace from beginning to end. In the previous weeks, I knew that I would be going at Suzanne’s pace for more than half of my total distance.
I ran the first 6 miles at a 9:50 pace. I thought this was too fast for this run and tried to hold back a little. I ran the next 6 miles at approximately 10:10 pace. When I looked at my watch after 12 miles, I had mixed feelings. I was pleased that I was at right on target for an overall 10:00 pace. However, my body was telling me that this was too fast for this particular training run, on this particular day.
My feet and my legs were hurting more than they should at this point. I had five miles remaining and the next 2.5 miles would be uphill. I told myself to slow down , but as a runner, I knew that it was too late. The run should not be 70% complete when you realize that you have gone too fast. In the race, I expect pain in the final stages and I even expect that there will be some slowing of my pace. But for these training runs, the last bunch of miles should not be slowest: at least not by much.
I ran the last 5 miles at a 10:40 pace. The uphill portion was brutal. I was cursing the hills and at one point I realized I stopped running. My pace was so slow going up the hill, that this brief 30 second walk didn’t cost me any time at all. Nevertheless, this was not in the plan. I very quickly picked up a mantra, of ‘Push Through It’ and ran the rest of the way. When I got to mile 16, with just one more to go, I had planned to stop for water. I picked up the water without stopping and drank on the run to the finish. I thought that if I stopped briefly to drink (as I planned), I might melt down into a walk-run finish. I repeated ‘Push Through’. I lost the energy to say ‘It’.
The final blended pace for the 17 miler was 10:14. This was actually faster than the previous week’s 15 miler (10:20). But it didn’t feel right and certainly not a well executed training run. Unlike the previous week, I did not feel like I could go any longer.
When I stopped, I felt a little dizzy. I drove to the WaWa to get some Gatorade. I was still a little fuzzy in the store, but felt much better after the Gatorade. Next came the numb finger tips.
About 30 minutes after the run, I noticed one of my fingers was numb at the tip. Then it seemed that one by one, all ten finger tips went numb. I felt stable otherwise and the numbness went away after a shower. I read later some explanation for the feeling in your fingers after running for long periods of time.
Suzanne finished her race in 2:17. This was a faster pace (10:27) than her training pace, which is how it should be. Based on our runs together, I told her that 2:20 was doable and would be a great race for her. She smoked that time easily.
The next day, Peter and I went over to my dad’s to shoot the breeze for a while. Dad was a college cross country runner and continued to run into his seventies and still gets out now for tennis, bike rides, walks and maybe some jogging as well. In any event, he always has interest in this kind of thing so I mentioned that I ran 17 miles at Ridley Creek.
Dad’s first reaction was ‘Are you sure your OK to do that?’. I realized, I probably shouldn’t mention the dizzy part or the numb fingers. He offered to join me on the next one and ride along on his bike to make sure I had water and stuff. I’m not sure if he realized that would be a 3 + hour bike ride. But he later made a comment about the hills at Ridley Creek. I immediately ran with this in my brain.
‘Of course I was not able to do these Long Runs at 10:00 MPM. This was a hilly course. I am basically doing hill work as part of my Long Run. Am I a stud or what?’
The only way to prove this theory would be to find a good flat course for the Long Runs. Ridley Creek is so convenient in terms of location and placing water etc, that I question how seriously I will look.
The rest of the runs for Week Eleven were done in the morning at the Y. They were a group on uneventful 4 and 5 milers. I ended up with 31 miles for the week. This is another milestone in my training: the first 30 mile week of my life (I think).
I am scheduled to do a 19 miler next week, but I need to give the final ten weeks of the plan some further evaluation.
The weather on Saturday morning was not remarkable. It was about 40 degrees when I started and the sun was coming through when I finished. I have been fortunate with the weather so far in this phase of my running. I had a real concern that if the winter brought some ice and snow, it would make weekend Long Runs difficult or impossible outside.
This is the weekend of Suzanne’s half marathon in Florida. She has been with me for the first portion of my Long Run for the previous three weeks. As I got ready to do this scheduled 17 miler, I needed to plan my individual pace from beginning to end. In the previous weeks, I knew that I would be going at Suzanne’s pace for more than half of my total distance.
I ran the first 6 miles at a 9:50 pace. I thought this was too fast for this run and tried to hold back a little. I ran the next 6 miles at approximately 10:10 pace. When I looked at my watch after 12 miles, I had mixed feelings. I was pleased that I was at right on target for an overall 10:00 pace. However, my body was telling me that this was too fast for this particular training run, on this particular day.
My feet and my legs were hurting more than they should at this point. I had five miles remaining and the next 2.5 miles would be uphill. I told myself to slow down , but as a runner, I knew that it was too late. The run should not be 70% complete when you realize that you have gone too fast. In the race, I expect pain in the final stages and I even expect that there will be some slowing of my pace. But for these training runs, the last bunch of miles should not be slowest: at least not by much.
I ran the last 5 miles at a 10:40 pace. The uphill portion was brutal. I was cursing the hills and at one point I realized I stopped running. My pace was so slow going up the hill, that this brief 30 second walk didn’t cost me any time at all. Nevertheless, this was not in the plan. I very quickly picked up a mantra, of ‘Push Through It’ and ran the rest of the way. When I got to mile 16, with just one more to go, I had planned to stop for water. I picked up the water without stopping and drank on the run to the finish. I thought that if I stopped briefly to drink (as I planned), I might melt down into a walk-run finish. I repeated ‘Push Through’. I lost the energy to say ‘It’.
The final blended pace for the 17 miler was 10:14. This was actually faster than the previous week’s 15 miler (10:20). But it didn’t feel right and certainly not a well executed training run. Unlike the previous week, I did not feel like I could go any longer.
When I stopped, I felt a little dizzy. I drove to the WaWa to get some Gatorade. I was still a little fuzzy in the store, but felt much better after the Gatorade. Next came the numb finger tips.
About 30 minutes after the run, I noticed one of my fingers was numb at the tip. Then it seemed that one by one, all ten finger tips went numb. I felt stable otherwise and the numbness went away after a shower. I read later some explanation for the feeling in your fingers after running for long periods of time.
Suzanne finished her race in 2:17. This was a faster pace (10:27) than her training pace, which is how it should be. Based on our runs together, I told her that 2:20 was doable and would be a great race for her. She smoked that time easily.
The next day, Peter and I went over to my dad’s to shoot the breeze for a while. Dad was a college cross country runner and continued to run into his seventies and still gets out now for tennis, bike rides, walks and maybe some jogging as well. In any event, he always has interest in this kind of thing so I mentioned that I ran 17 miles at Ridley Creek.
Dad’s first reaction was ‘Are you sure your OK to do that?’. I realized, I probably shouldn’t mention the dizzy part or the numb fingers. He offered to join me on the next one and ride along on his bike to make sure I had water and stuff. I’m not sure if he realized that would be a 3 + hour bike ride. But he later made a comment about the hills at Ridley Creek. I immediately ran with this in my brain.
‘Of course I was not able to do these Long Runs at 10:00 MPM. This was a hilly course. I am basically doing hill work as part of my Long Run. Am I a stud or what?’
The only way to prove this theory would be to find a good flat course for the Long Runs. Ridley Creek is so convenient in terms of location and placing water etc, that I question how seriously I will look.
The rest of the runs for Week Eleven were done in the morning at the Y. They were a group on uneventful 4 and 5 milers. I ended up with 31 miles for the week. This is another milestone in my training: the first 30 mile week of my life (I think).
I am scheduled to do a 19 miler next week, but I need to give the final ten weeks of the plan some further evaluation.
Friday, January 11, 2008
End of Week Ten (1/11/08)
According to the plan that I devised ten weeks ago, I was scheduled to run 29 miles this week. I ran 28 miles and consider it a very good week. I am now in the middle of the Endurance Phase of the BEST plan and the focus is, and should be, the Long Run on the weekend. On that score, I am pleased with my Long Runs. My 15 miler this week was a good experience.
A general premise of my plan from the start was that after the conclusion of the Base Phase, I wanted the flexibility and rest afforded to me by reducing my runs to three per week. The plan called for two mid week runs to accompany the Long Run. I am finding that aside from the scheduled Long Runs, I need even more flexible scheduling for the other miles in the week. This week, I spread my two scheduled mid week runs (7 and 7) to three mid week runs (6, 4 &3).
So I guess you could say that I want to have my cake and eat it too. If I want more days off, I will run longer mid week runs and if I want to reduce the length of the mid weekers, I will run more days. It seems fair to me. Rationalization: In this phase, the focus is on the Long Run and the other miles can be scheduled when it suits me as long as I continue to increase overall mileage. The sharpening and pacing will come in the next phase.
As I previously mentioned, the longest I have ever run in my life was 15 miles. I did that about eighteen months ago in a half hearted marathon preparation. I remember that 15 miler, and I walked often during the final 3 miles and I would classify that run as a bonk. In fact, that run was convincing enough at the time to ditch any thought of the marathon for 2006.
On Saturday, I set out for what I hoped to be a much stronger 15 miler. This would be the last time that Suzy joined me for a Long Run, as her race is next week
There are lots of things that can wrong when you ask your body to run for four hours. While it’s impossible to eliminate all possibility of bad things happening, there are things you can do to reduce the likelihood of problems. Very near the top of the list of items for which to prepare is proper hydration and fueling of your body for the Long Run.
Like other aspects of marathon training, you can find volumes of information and opinions on the Internet about how to best fuel your body. I have read lots of the material and the one piece of advice that is universally offered is to do the same thing on race day that has worked well for you in training. Up until now, I have just basically followed a common sense approach to make sure I ate before I ran and had water during the run. As I now enter the 15 mile and beyond world, I need to make sure that my fueling before and during the race is not a source of any worry or doubt.
Fortunately, I do have experience with using Power Bars and Gels (Goo) and Gatorade. In my experience with them all, I have found them helpful and they do not cause any issues with my stomach or otherwise. My plan for the 15 miler this week was to drink lots of water the evening before my run. Then in the morning, have a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and some skim milk about an hour before I ran. I brought water and two gels to take during my run. I ran at Ridley Creek, so it was easy to bring water along and place it at a point that I passed several times during the run.
I started the run with Suzy at her pace of just under 11:00 per mile. I felt like my energy stores were fully loaded during the first couple of miles. At mile 6, I took my first gel with some water. At mile 9, Suzy stopped as planned and started her taper for her race. My goal was to run the final 6 miles at a much faster pace. I took my second gel at mile 10 as I was picking up the pace.
I completed the last 6 miles on my own at a 9:25 pace. While I was running the final 2 miles, my body ached a bit from my feet to my waist. But, I had a strong feeling that I could go faster if I needed or longer if I needed. The new shoes felt great and the blisters I reported earlier were not an issue.
Later in the day on Saturday, I felt the effects of running for 2 & ½ hours. But my assessment was positive. My fueling strategy worked: I didn’t run out of gas. And I knew that my legs had just ran 25 miles over the past three days and could take more punishment if required.
There is not much to say about the mid week runs. I ran a 6 miler, a 4 miler and a 3 miler to complete the 28 mile week. My attention is really on the Long Run and next week is 17 miles.
Over the next several weeks, each run will be the longest I have ever gone. I am hopeful that the confidence of each breakthrough will offset the physical discomfort of getting to three hours and beyond.
A general premise of my plan from the start was that after the conclusion of the Base Phase, I wanted the flexibility and rest afforded to me by reducing my runs to three per week. The plan called for two mid week runs to accompany the Long Run. I am finding that aside from the scheduled Long Runs, I need even more flexible scheduling for the other miles in the week. This week, I spread my two scheduled mid week runs (7 and 7) to three mid week runs (6, 4 &3).
So I guess you could say that I want to have my cake and eat it too. If I want more days off, I will run longer mid week runs and if I want to reduce the length of the mid weekers, I will run more days. It seems fair to me. Rationalization: In this phase, the focus is on the Long Run and the other miles can be scheduled when it suits me as long as I continue to increase overall mileage. The sharpening and pacing will come in the next phase.
As I previously mentioned, the longest I have ever run in my life was 15 miles. I did that about eighteen months ago in a half hearted marathon preparation. I remember that 15 miler, and I walked often during the final 3 miles and I would classify that run as a bonk. In fact, that run was convincing enough at the time to ditch any thought of the marathon for 2006.
On Saturday, I set out for what I hoped to be a much stronger 15 miler. This would be the last time that Suzy joined me for a Long Run, as her race is next week
There are lots of things that can wrong when you ask your body to run for four hours. While it’s impossible to eliminate all possibility of bad things happening, there are things you can do to reduce the likelihood of problems. Very near the top of the list of items for which to prepare is proper hydration and fueling of your body for the Long Run.
Like other aspects of marathon training, you can find volumes of information and opinions on the Internet about how to best fuel your body. I have read lots of the material and the one piece of advice that is universally offered is to do the same thing on race day that has worked well for you in training. Up until now, I have just basically followed a common sense approach to make sure I ate before I ran and had water during the run. As I now enter the 15 mile and beyond world, I need to make sure that my fueling before and during the race is not a source of any worry or doubt.
Fortunately, I do have experience with using Power Bars and Gels (Goo) and Gatorade. In my experience with them all, I have found them helpful and they do not cause any issues with my stomach or otherwise. My plan for the 15 miler this week was to drink lots of water the evening before my run. Then in the morning, have a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and some skim milk about an hour before I ran. I brought water and two gels to take during my run. I ran at Ridley Creek, so it was easy to bring water along and place it at a point that I passed several times during the run.
I started the run with Suzy at her pace of just under 11:00 per mile. I felt like my energy stores were fully loaded during the first couple of miles. At mile 6, I took my first gel with some water. At mile 9, Suzy stopped as planned and started her taper for her race. My goal was to run the final 6 miles at a much faster pace. I took my second gel at mile 10 as I was picking up the pace.
I completed the last 6 miles on my own at a 9:25 pace. While I was running the final 2 miles, my body ached a bit from my feet to my waist. But, I had a strong feeling that I could go faster if I needed or longer if I needed. The new shoes felt great and the blisters I reported earlier were not an issue.
Later in the day on Saturday, I felt the effects of running for 2 & ½ hours. But my assessment was positive. My fueling strategy worked: I didn’t run out of gas. And I knew that my legs had just ran 25 miles over the past three days and could take more punishment if required.
There is not much to say about the mid week runs. I ran a 6 miler, a 4 miler and a 3 miler to complete the 28 mile week. My attention is really on the Long Run and next week is 17 miles.
Over the next several weeks, each run will be the longest I have ever gone. I am hopeful that the confidence of each breakthrough will offset the physical discomfort of getting to three hours and beyond.
Friday, January 4, 2008
End of Week Nine (1/4/08)
It might be generous to say that my execution of the plan for Week Nine was not ideal. But it might also be harsh to say that it was just plain lousy. In the end, I think it’s fair to say that if my Week Nine performance becomes commonplace, the whole plan is in jeopardy.
The week called for a Long Run of 13 miles followed by two mid week 7 milers.
I got out on Sunday for the Long Run. Once again, I ran the first several miles with Suzy. Her half marathon is on 1/12/08 and today I ran the first 8 miles with her. She did well and we completed these miles at an approximate 10:45 pace. She left, and I went on for 5 more miles. I was generally pleased with my 5 solo miles, which I completed at a 9:23 pace. My total run was 13 miles in 2:12 (that’s hours and minutes).
Looking back on the Base Phase, I never got around to running much at my race pace. Now in the Endurance Phase, it will be even more unlikely to go out and do many runs at Marathon Pace (MP), it I want to get in all the miles. I look forward to the Speed Phase to start running faster. However, I am reminded of what I have read from a few marathon training experts, specifically Mc Millian, who promotes the value of the ‘Fast Finish Long Run’. The general principle behind this is to keep the first portion of your Long Run at 60-90 seconds slower than MP. Then run the last few miles at goal MP.
As you know, 9:23 is not my goal MP; I am shooting for 9:00. In McMillian’s writing on the Fast Finish Long Run, he suggests that these are hard workouts and should not be done every time you go out for a Long Run. On Sunday, I could have done the 5 miles at MP, but that really wasn’t my goal. My goal was to get under a 10:00 mpm pace. I chalk this up to a modified Fast Finish Long Run.
On the subject of pacing, I realize that I need to test myself at some time in the near future. I want to make sure that I am not delusional about running 26.2 miles at 9:00. I will consider a 10K or 10 miler in the coming weeks to test my fitness. McMillian also has an excellent tool for figuring equivalent performances at other distances. For example, you plug in your time for a certain distance and it will calculate equivalent race times/paces at other distances. Of course, you must have trained for the distance in order for this to be valid. My time for the half marathon was 1:49, which equates to a 3:50 marathon. This is one of the things that give me confidence of my ability. But my current running times are slowly chipping away at that confidence.
After the Long Run I took Monday off and Tuesday was New Years Day. The weather was good, but I didn’t run. Then I didn’t run on Wednesday either. To stick with the plan, I would need to put in a 7 miler on both Thursday and Friday. This is what I mean about less than ideal execution of the plan.
Patti and I are hosting a large family party this coming Saturday evening and I know I will spend all of Sunday in clean up mode and taking down Christmas lights, tress etc. I won’t have time to spend two and half hours running, so my 15 miler next week needs to be on Saturday. If my math is correct that totals 29 (7+7+15) miles in three consecutive days. That is what I mean about execution that is just plain lousy.
I should have run Tuesday and when I didn’t there was no excuse not to run on Wednesday.
I ran my 7 miler on the treadmill at Y on Thursday AM and it was monotonous, but not too difficult. On the drive to work, I was once again, going over the alternatives of running over the next couple days. At one point I was convinced to skip Friday and be fresh for the 15 miler on Saturday. Since I felt OK, I then convinced myself to suck it up and put in all the miles. In the end, I got on the treadmill Friday morning and did 3 miles.
I did 23 miles for the week, which is the same total as last week. I didn’t skip any runs, but did cut one short. I am pretty sure the right thing would have been to take the day off and focus on Saturday’s Long Run. I guess I can’t stand the shame. One thing is certain, as I write this on Friday afternoon; I am glad I didn’t do all 7 miles this morning. 15 miles is the most I have ever run and I am coming off two days of running.
While I should have been running on Tuesday, I went out and got a new pair of running shoes (Asics Nimbus 9). I like them very much after two runs, but have a little blister situation going that should make Saturday even more fun.
The week called for a Long Run of 13 miles followed by two mid week 7 milers.
I got out on Sunday for the Long Run. Once again, I ran the first several miles with Suzy. Her half marathon is on 1/12/08 and today I ran the first 8 miles with her. She did well and we completed these miles at an approximate 10:45 pace. She left, and I went on for 5 more miles. I was generally pleased with my 5 solo miles, which I completed at a 9:23 pace. My total run was 13 miles in 2:12 (that’s hours and minutes).
Looking back on the Base Phase, I never got around to running much at my race pace. Now in the Endurance Phase, it will be even more unlikely to go out and do many runs at Marathon Pace (MP), it I want to get in all the miles. I look forward to the Speed Phase to start running faster. However, I am reminded of what I have read from a few marathon training experts, specifically Mc Millian, who promotes the value of the ‘Fast Finish Long Run’. The general principle behind this is to keep the first portion of your Long Run at 60-90 seconds slower than MP. Then run the last few miles at goal MP.
As you know, 9:23 is not my goal MP; I am shooting for 9:00. In McMillian’s writing on the Fast Finish Long Run, he suggests that these are hard workouts and should not be done every time you go out for a Long Run. On Sunday, I could have done the 5 miles at MP, but that really wasn’t my goal. My goal was to get under a 10:00 mpm pace. I chalk this up to a modified Fast Finish Long Run.
On the subject of pacing, I realize that I need to test myself at some time in the near future. I want to make sure that I am not delusional about running 26.2 miles at 9:00. I will consider a 10K or 10 miler in the coming weeks to test my fitness. McMillian also has an excellent tool for figuring equivalent performances at other distances. For example, you plug in your time for a certain distance and it will calculate equivalent race times/paces at other distances. Of course, you must have trained for the distance in order for this to be valid. My time for the half marathon was 1:49, which equates to a 3:50 marathon. This is one of the things that give me confidence of my ability. But my current running times are slowly chipping away at that confidence.
After the Long Run I took Monday off and Tuesday was New Years Day. The weather was good, but I didn’t run. Then I didn’t run on Wednesday either. To stick with the plan, I would need to put in a 7 miler on both Thursday and Friday. This is what I mean about less than ideal execution of the plan.
Patti and I are hosting a large family party this coming Saturday evening and I know I will spend all of Sunday in clean up mode and taking down Christmas lights, tress etc. I won’t have time to spend two and half hours running, so my 15 miler next week needs to be on Saturday. If my math is correct that totals 29 (7+7+15) miles in three consecutive days. That is what I mean about execution that is just plain lousy.
I should have run Tuesday and when I didn’t there was no excuse not to run on Wednesday.
I ran my 7 miler on the treadmill at Y on Thursday AM and it was monotonous, but not too difficult. On the drive to work, I was once again, going over the alternatives of running over the next couple days. At one point I was convinced to skip Friday and be fresh for the 15 miler on Saturday. Since I felt OK, I then convinced myself to suck it up and put in all the miles. In the end, I got on the treadmill Friday morning and did 3 miles.
I did 23 miles for the week, which is the same total as last week. I didn’t skip any runs, but did cut one short. I am pretty sure the right thing would have been to take the day off and focus on Saturday’s Long Run. I guess I can’t stand the shame. One thing is certain, as I write this on Friday afternoon; I am glad I didn’t do all 7 miles this morning. 15 miles is the most I have ever run and I am coming off two days of running.
While I should have been running on Tuesday, I went out and got a new pair of running shoes (Asics Nimbus 9). I like them very much after two runs, but have a little blister situation going that should make Saturday even more fun.
Friday, December 28, 2007
End of Week Eight (12/28/07)
There are a lot of things that can steer a training program off it’s track. As I finish Week Eight and look ahead to Week Nine of my BEST plan, I am smack-dab in middle of the Christmas and New Years festivities. What makes training and sticking to the plan difficult during these days is the departure from a normal routine. For me during this season, it means family parties and days off from work.
After my 11 miler on Sunday, the plan called for me to run two 6 milers. I dismissed any idea or running on Christmas Eve (Monday) or Christmas Day (Tuesday). When I was a little kid, the day after Christmas used to be my second favorite day of the year (last day of school is the runaway first place winner). I loved December 26th because you still have the large majority of your holiday time ahead of you, and you had the added bonus of all those new toys. So on this December 26th, I knew that I should probably get in one of those 6 milers. But I didn’t really want to do it. I was with my family and comfortable in the Christmas aftermath.
After being inside all of Christmas Day, Patti wanted to get out in the elements for a refreshing walk. When I heard that, my mind quickly rationalized a skipped run. I knew Patti would walk about 5 miles and do so at a pretty good pace. I could join her and skip one of my 6 milers without total guilt. I did join her and we did have a brisk 5 mile walk before lunch. Our pace was close to 15:00 minutes per mile.
The day went on and it finally hit me that taking three consecutive days off from running probably wasn’t a good choice. So I went to the Y and put in a slow 6 miler before dinner. When I was done I was glad that now I could take Thursday off and still complete the week with a 6 miler on Friday morning.
Thursday came and I surprised myself by cancelling the day off and putting in my miles as planned. It was helpful that Maddie wanted to go to the Y for a workout also. For the week, 23 miles planned and completed. If I wanted to count the walk (which I won’t) it would be 28 miles.
The holiday season isn’t over yet. There are more family functions this weekend and I’m just today (Friday) getting back to the office. I have a 13 miler scheduled for the weekend and by running on Thursday, I have some options and should be well rested. I addition to the increase to 13 miles next week, my two mid week runs go up to 7 miles. I have now completed two weeks of the Endurance Phase and the miles will really start to get challenging. 7 miles is a pretty lengthy ‘short run’ for me.
After my 11 miler on Sunday, the plan called for me to run two 6 milers. I dismissed any idea or running on Christmas Eve (Monday) or Christmas Day (Tuesday). When I was a little kid, the day after Christmas used to be my second favorite day of the year (last day of school is the runaway first place winner). I loved December 26th because you still have the large majority of your holiday time ahead of you, and you had the added bonus of all those new toys. So on this December 26th, I knew that I should probably get in one of those 6 milers. But I didn’t really want to do it. I was with my family and comfortable in the Christmas aftermath.
After being inside all of Christmas Day, Patti wanted to get out in the elements for a refreshing walk. When I heard that, my mind quickly rationalized a skipped run. I knew Patti would walk about 5 miles and do so at a pretty good pace. I could join her and skip one of my 6 milers without total guilt. I did join her and we did have a brisk 5 mile walk before lunch. Our pace was close to 15:00 minutes per mile.
The day went on and it finally hit me that taking three consecutive days off from running probably wasn’t a good choice. So I went to the Y and put in a slow 6 miler before dinner. When I was done I was glad that now I could take Thursday off and still complete the week with a 6 miler on Friday morning.
Thursday came and I surprised myself by cancelling the day off and putting in my miles as planned. It was helpful that Maddie wanted to go to the Y for a workout also. For the week, 23 miles planned and completed. If I wanted to count the walk (which I won’t) it would be 28 miles.
The holiday season isn’t over yet. There are more family functions this weekend and I’m just today (Friday) getting back to the office. I have a 13 miler scheduled for the weekend and by running on Thursday, I have some options and should be well rested. I addition to the increase to 13 miles next week, my two mid week runs go up to 7 miles. I have now completed two weeks of the Endurance Phase and the miles will really start to get challenging. 7 miles is a pretty lengthy ‘short run’ for me.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Week Eight - Long Run Report (12/24/07)
Its Christmas Eve and yesterday (12/23) I did my Week Eight Long Run of 11 miles. My friend Suzy came along for the first 7 miles. Patti and I have been good friends with Suzy, her husband Tom and family for about 10 years. We were introduced through one of those suburban neighborhood playgroup things.
Suzy is going to Orlando with her sister to run the Disney Half Marathon race. Her race is less than three weeks away and Suzy’s longest run so far was a 6 miler. I think she has realistic expectations for her race and will walk when she needs to walk and plan on an 11 minute per mile pace. Suzy is a good athlete and even though she didn’t have the benefit of the BEST program from the start (she is following Hal Higdon), I’m sure she and her sister will do fine. Suzy is very excited about the accomplishment and her goal is to finish. Nevertheless she wants to extend her long run as much as possible. Her goal today was 8, but she ran out of gas and wisely cut back to 7. From what Suzy described to me, it sounded like her muscles were out of sugar: she had a mild case of hitting the wall. I know the feeling when your legs just can’t move. She only had some cheese and crackers before the run. I urged her to eat a bigger meal before these long slow runs. Her body is not accustomed to running for over 75 minutes.
We ran together at her goal pace of about 11 minutes per mile. When she was finished, I went on for 4 more miles. We ran at Ridley Creek State Park. Since this course is measured every tenth of a mile, it was easy to manage our distances. I ran the final 4 miles at a 9:30 pace: faster than the 10:00 Long Run pace but slower than Marathon Pace. With the first 7 miles at 11:00, my run will look pretty slow on the training log, but it was encouraging to be able to speed it up after already running for well over an hour.
I have to run two 6 milers to finish off the week. Hopefully the report on those runs is uneventful.
Suzy is going to Orlando with her sister to run the Disney Half Marathon race. Her race is less than three weeks away and Suzy’s longest run so far was a 6 miler. I think she has realistic expectations for her race and will walk when she needs to walk and plan on an 11 minute per mile pace. Suzy is a good athlete and even though she didn’t have the benefit of the BEST program from the start (she is following Hal Higdon), I’m sure she and her sister will do fine. Suzy is very excited about the accomplishment and her goal is to finish. Nevertheless she wants to extend her long run as much as possible. Her goal today was 8, but she ran out of gas and wisely cut back to 7. From what Suzy described to me, it sounded like her muscles were out of sugar: she had a mild case of hitting the wall. I know the feeling when your legs just can’t move. She only had some cheese and crackers before the run. I urged her to eat a bigger meal before these long slow runs. Her body is not accustomed to running for over 75 minutes.
We ran together at her goal pace of about 11 minutes per mile. When she was finished, I went on for 4 more miles. We ran at Ridley Creek State Park. Since this course is measured every tenth of a mile, it was easy to manage our distances. I ran the final 4 miles at a 9:30 pace: faster than the 10:00 Long Run pace but slower than Marathon Pace. With the first 7 miles at 11:00, my run will look pretty slow on the training log, but it was encouraging to be able to speed it up after already running for well over an hour.
I have to run two 6 milers to finish off the week. Hopefully the report on those runs is uneventful.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
End of Week Seven (12/20/07)
It is only Thursday and I am already writing my week ending wrap up. The difference between running three days per week and four days is huge. With a four run week, you are forced to have at least two runs on consecutive days. If you don’t plan well, you can be forced to run on three straight days. This happened to me on a few weeks in the Base Phase. Three runs per week is much more forgiving to the legs and the scheduling.
This was the first week of the Endurance Phase. The plan called for a weekend 9 miler followed by two mid week 6 milers.
Sunday was my day for the 9 miler. I had a busy morning with 8:30 Mass, Peter’s CCD Christmas Show and other household odds and ends. The weather forecast called for low 40’s and rain. By the time I went out for the run, the rain had stopped and the skies actually cleared up.
Earlier in the week, I went on the G-Map Pedometer web site to map out a couple alternatives for a 9 mile run. Where I live it is impossible to avoid lots of hills on a loop course or an out and back run. I know that running hills is good strengthening work, but I wanted to avoid excessive hills if I could.
I decided on a point-to-point run from my house to my father’s house. Patti and the kids would meet me there later for dinner. I played with lots of routes until I came up with one that measured almost exactly 9 miles. There was one stretch of road that I was unfamiliar with, so I took Danny for a driving lesson on the route to make sure the road went through and I wasn’t stuck 7 miles from home at some dead end. I even stashed a water bottle at mile 6.
I started the run at 3:15 and a little tired from the day’s activity. By the time I got to mile 2, I realized that I once again my outdoor running was faster than my treadmill pace. The course worked out well and had two significant sets of hills; each with a long downhill, followed by a shorter, but steep uphill. Since this was my first official ‘Long Run’ of the plan, I was allowing myself a 10 minute per mile pace. I was pleased with the run and finished in 1:23:39, a 9:18 pace. The run felt great; I could have gone faster. I put together a ninety minute playlist and didn’t even make it to the last song. Of course I forgot about the water bottle until I was about 200 yards beyond the spot. No way was I turning back.
I didn’t feel it until Monday, but I woke up to significant soreness. While walking around Monday, I was somewhat concerned that my two mid week runs would be tough and I might end up wishing I had gone slower on Sunday. I took Tuesday off also. This is the beauty of running three days a week.
I had no choice on Wednesday and took it slow for my 6 miler at the Y. This run actually helped shake the aching from my legs. I decided to run the next day (today) to finish off my week with a slightly faster 6 miler. All runs and miles were completed for the week.
Next week, I need to get in an 11 miler on the weekend and two mid week 6 milers. With Christmas in the middle of next week (Tuesday), I will need to be flexible on when I can run. Our friend Suzy is training for a January half marathon and is looking for some running companionship. We are going to run together this weekend. I just need to find a way to work her 8 miler into my 11 miler. The Ridley Creek State Park loop should be a good place for that.
I actually feel guilty about finishing this week on Thursday. But something tells me that tomorrow morning, I will be grateful to have the day off.
This was the first week of the Endurance Phase. The plan called for a weekend 9 miler followed by two mid week 6 milers.
Sunday was my day for the 9 miler. I had a busy morning with 8:30 Mass, Peter’s CCD Christmas Show and other household odds and ends. The weather forecast called for low 40’s and rain. By the time I went out for the run, the rain had stopped and the skies actually cleared up.
Earlier in the week, I went on the G-Map Pedometer web site to map out a couple alternatives for a 9 mile run. Where I live it is impossible to avoid lots of hills on a loop course or an out and back run. I know that running hills is good strengthening work, but I wanted to avoid excessive hills if I could.
I decided on a point-to-point run from my house to my father’s house. Patti and the kids would meet me there later for dinner. I played with lots of routes until I came up with one that measured almost exactly 9 miles. There was one stretch of road that I was unfamiliar with, so I took Danny for a driving lesson on the route to make sure the road went through and I wasn’t stuck 7 miles from home at some dead end. I even stashed a water bottle at mile 6.
I started the run at 3:15 and a little tired from the day’s activity. By the time I got to mile 2, I realized that I once again my outdoor running was faster than my treadmill pace. The course worked out well and had two significant sets of hills; each with a long downhill, followed by a shorter, but steep uphill. Since this was my first official ‘Long Run’ of the plan, I was allowing myself a 10 minute per mile pace. I was pleased with the run and finished in 1:23:39, a 9:18 pace. The run felt great; I could have gone faster. I put together a ninety minute playlist and didn’t even make it to the last song. Of course I forgot about the water bottle until I was about 200 yards beyond the spot. No way was I turning back.
I didn’t feel it until Monday, but I woke up to significant soreness. While walking around Monday, I was somewhat concerned that my two mid week runs would be tough and I might end up wishing I had gone slower on Sunday. I took Tuesday off also. This is the beauty of running three days a week.
I had no choice on Wednesday and took it slow for my 6 miler at the Y. This run actually helped shake the aching from my legs. I decided to run the next day (today) to finish off my week with a slightly faster 6 miler. All runs and miles were completed for the week.
Next week, I need to get in an 11 miler on the weekend and two mid week 6 milers. With Christmas in the middle of next week (Tuesday), I will need to be flexible on when I can run. Our friend Suzy is training for a January half marathon and is looking for some running companionship. We are going to run together this weekend. I just need to find a way to work her 8 miler into my 11 miler. The Ridley Creek State Park loop should be a good place for that.
I actually feel guilty about finishing this week on Thursday. But something tells me that tomorrow morning, I will be grateful to have the day off.
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