Another Week of Training (9/23 to 9/29)

Closer to marathon time means long, difficult workouts.  It also means I take lots and lots of recovery between each workout, so I usually only get in two per week.  This week's two workouts were:

• 24 mile progressive run
• 20x1 minute fast, 1 minute medium + 10x30 seconds fast, 30 seconds medium

The first one was done on Sunday, and it kicked my butt.  I went into it planning to run about 6:20-6:30 pace for the first 10 miles, gradually pick it up, and maybe knock out the last 7-8 miles at sub 6 pace.  Instead, as usual, I started out much faster than planned and decided slowing down would be wimpy. 

So I ran 6:08 pace for the first 5 miles.  Then sub 6 pace for the next 9 miles. Then 5:55 pace for the next 5. Then 5:50 pace for the last 5, for a total of 24 miles at an average pace of 5:56 per mile.  It wasn't the hardest workout I've ever done, but I made it harder on myself by doing it in heavy trainers (Asics Nimbus for the win!) and starting later than I should have so it was good and toasty by the last ten miles.  But after lazing around the house the rest of the day (and annoying Emily by constantly complaining about my poor achy legs) I was mostly better.

After three easy days, I did the fartlek on Thursday afternoon.  I had worked a little late the previous night, and needed to go in to the office early that morning, so I decided to risk the weather and do an afternoon workout.  In the end I lucked out and it was relatively cool and overcast.  Heck I even got rained on a little bit.  I ran the whole thing around the main road loop of McAllister Park, which is 1.83 miles.  Although I cut the run a little short (it was originally supposed to be an hour total, not 50 minutes), I still got in a solid 5 loops in 50 minutes, which comes out to 5:28 per mile for the whole thing.  There isn't really any way to tell exactly how that pace breaks down, but I felt like I was pushing hard on the fast parts.  If nothing else, as I write this my calves are extremely sore, which is a sure sign I've done some faster running.  Also, public service announcement, 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off is deceptively hard.  Avoid if possible.  

So that's my week.  I'll wrap it up to somewhere around 120 miles with some easy running today and tomorrow, then do the whole song and dance again next week.  As of today, 44 days until the race!

Marathon Training, Once Again, Begins

Eight weeks from race day means six weeks of what I think of as “true” marathon training (the last two weeks is the taper).  Granted I’ve already done lots of training - some of it pretty marathon specific - but now is when everything else gets thrown out the window so I can focus solely on running 26.2 miles as fast as possible.

Wednesday was my first workout in this cycle.  It was on the shorter end of the spectrum (no 20 mile tempo runs yet), but it’s good to kick things off with something a little more manageable.  The workout was 3 by 3 miles fast with 1 mile recoveries at a quick pace, plus an extra fast mile at the end, which I usually make 1.1 miles so I can get a nice even half marathon.  So 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, then 1 mile hard.

When I start focusing on a particular marathon training cycle, I’m looking to dial in on a certain pace.  You can’t always know ahead of time what’s reasonable to shoot for in the race, but by repeatedly trying to sense how different paces feel, you can hopefully prevent an outright disaster.  So going into the workout I was trying to get a handle on how fast 5:30 felt, with an eye towards having 5:35 or so be my goal pace this fall.

But this time I ran 16:14, 16:05, and 15:59 for the 3 mile segments.  The recoveries were 6:06, 5:56, and 6:00, and the final fast mile was 5:09.  In the end I covered a half marathon in 1:12:05.  So what did I learn?  Well, I’m faster than I’ve ever been before - usually it’s a struggle to keep the repeats in the 16:35-16:45 range.  And averaging 5:30 pace for the whole workout makes me think that soon that pace will be achievable for a marathon - which would be 2:24, or three and a half minutes faster than my PR.

But whether that day will arrive by November 11th remains to be seen.  For now, the workouts will get longer, and harder, and with any luck I’ll continue feeling as good as I’ve felt thus far.  

Next on tap is a hilly 24 mile progressive long run on Sunday.  I don’t have a specific goal for this workout, other than to run the last ten miles at sub 6 minute pace and get the overall pace to low 6:00s as well.  Happy running everyone.

With Apologies to Mr. Tergat

Although the long deceased Mr. Prefontaine probably still holds a strong lead in running quotes remembered by the American populace, my favorite saying comes from the former world record holder Paul Tergat: “Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'."

I ran a 10k on Saturday. It was the fastest I’ve ever run for 10k on the roads. I ran 31:42, or 5:06 per mile. I'm pretty pleased with it. Back in the day, I was only the 5th best runner on my high school team - if I’m being honest with myself, it’s great that I’ve gone from a 10:15 high schooler two miler to running 10k road races that average faster than that - more than 3 times the distance, at a faster pace, in a row.

I don’t really know how much more improvement I have in store. Quite a bit still, for sure. I know that I am already working hard. Quite a bit harder than a lot of runners - not all, but most, probably. Many athletes have gotten to where I am currently without ever running ONE 120 mile week, let alone as many as I've done.

But I also know that if I ask myself, “can I give more”, the answer IS “yes.”

Yep, more than this

That doesn’t necessarily mean running more mileage than I am currently. At least not THAT much more. A lot of what I can do better is little stuff: resting more, stretching more, doing more speedwork It can be accomplished without adding more volume. But more than anything, it’s about a better mindset. I can focus more. I can give more. And for the next 8 weeks, until I line up at the start of the San Antonio Marathon, I'm going to.

Just Grinding Away

Some weeks of training are boring - nothing notable, nothing exciting. This was not one of those weeks! This was pure excitement. Let’s take a look back:

Sunday I ran a marathon in 2:40:38. Not in a race or anything, just up and down one of my old workout routes from college. Two miles down one street, two miles back. Two miles down another street, two miles back. Two miles down the first street again...You get the idea. Here’s a very rough map:

First annual Contour/La Jara Marathon

So that was fun. Or at least satisfying once it was done. I blew up a bit the last couple miles when dehydration really set in - the pace climbed up from 6:05 for the first 22 miles to 6:20-6:30 for the last four, but the total comes out to 6:07 per mile.

I did some easy running on Monday, some more easy running on Tuesday, and then - after an easy ten miler in the morning, I went to the track for some fast repeats on Wednesday night. The workouts was 2x(600, 400, 300, 200) with equal jogging recovery after each, plus an extra 400 jog between sets. I got a little optimistic on the first set (1:40, 64, 46, 30), which is to say I did all of the repeats way faster than I should’ve. Consequently , I blew up awesomely in the 2nd set (1:43, 65, 49, 30). They don’t look THAT much slower, but each one featured an all-out death-grimaced final sprint just to hit those times. And the recoveries turned into awkward, painful crawls. Truth be told, it was kind of fun.

Friday morning I went out for a long tempo at a relatively relaxed pace - the goal was 14 miles at 5:50/mile. My legs were tired from the track workout Wednesday, but the pace was pretty easy to hit, and I got through it with nothing more than some mild boredom and the annoyance that comes from running almost 30 miles on a 2 mile stretch of Contour Road in a single week. Final result: 14 miles at 5:46/mile.

I rounded out the week with some more easy running on Saturday, and hit my new highest mileage ever: 135. Woo.

I took it really easy yesterday - less than 14 miles in two runs - and today I did the SARR Labor Day 5 Mile Whine Run. I’ve done it the last two years, with times of 26:17 and 26:30, respectively. There were some solid local guys at the race today (something that wasn’t true in the past), but I was able to run away with the win by a pretty good margin, with a new course record of 25:38. The course is very hilly, including a first mile that is basically 100% uphill, so I’m really pleased with the time. It’s nice to be able to run the same course in multiple years and compare times. Last year did have some nasty winds that slowed times down a good amount, but this year featured much more usual Texas September weather, and regardless the wind wasn’t so bad that I would expect to run 52 seconds faster without being in MUCH better shape. Which is encouraging. 

 

During the first mile of the race

Right after the finish. Jeremy tired.

 Now back to training! Happy running everyone.