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.
Friday, February 29, 2008
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)