Posts Tagged ‘marathon training’

It’s official: I’m pooped and so ready to dial back.  I was asked a couple posts back about my taper plans so I linked to a graphic of my penciled-in schedule, it has since changed considerably.  Mostly because after last Saturday’s MP run and then Sunday’s 20, the next few days had my calf complaining to me, so I had to baby it which meant lowering the mileage at the beginning of the week and going slower throughout.  I did get a pretty good tempo run done but that was it as far as quality.  The schedule went like this:

Mon: 7 recovery (8:56)
Tues: 9 pouring rain, windy and hurting calf (8:58)
Wed:  13 slow again because of the calf (9:01)
Thurs: Off (enough of the calf, heal already)
Fri: 8 w/4tempo (calf was good, tempo was a bit slower than HP though @ 7:21s)
Sat: 6 recovery (8:51)
Sun: 17 (9:05s, slowest LR this cycle)

Today’s 17 was quite a tough one, it’s warm now so I ended up taking my shirt off on the way back, but the bottom line was I felt tired in legs, body and mind.  I had planned to do 4MP but I knew that was not going to happen. I did 1, lol, but it was 70 degrees by that time and my big toes were really unhappy (they’re both bruised now and I had to stick a needle under the nails to drain them before the run…nice, huh?) so I wasn’t sad about cutting the MP miles, more like I’m happy to know I’ve reached the topping point and that I will most assuredly benefit from two weeks of tapering.

As for my big toes, it’s insanely irritating to have this nail bruising/blistering happening now, but I guess in one way it’s good, hopefully the blisters will harden the toes up within the next couple weeks.  I attribute it to all my LRs being done in the trails, more footwork and ups and downs than any other cycle, so again, it was for the good, I just wish it didn’t hurt.

Hey to Steph (or was it Linds? they’re identical twins), it was cool to see you out there today, you looked good!  Funny about the orange Philly Distance Run shirt, I must have seen 50 people wearing one this morning.

Interactions this week
Ignore this if you read my Facebook updates, but I had a couple entertaining bouts of human contact this week.  On Monday’s recovery, there were 4 college rowers in the river who burst into an acapella rendition of Sheena Easton’s “Morning Train” then waved at me and wished me a good run.

Not two minutes later, I heard a double boom from what I call “Dead Man’s Curve”, a curve in the road near the bike path, but hidden by a fence, and every time it rains, I seem to see the tail end of a wreck.  So this was a double wreck caused by a line of cars sitting behind a wreck that had already happened. Triple wreck!  Hoping everyone was ok.

Then the next day, it was pouring rain and windy and I was feeling pretty crappy but as I neared home, a man under an umbrella yelled out “Dedication!” to me.  What an unexpected present that was.  Suddenly, everything was made right.

I want to spread that word to you all, too, because every single one of you who read this blog sweat, work hard and go the extra mile in some form or another and it’s too easy to take ourselves for granted.  It makes no difference how fast you are, if you win awards or not, be proud of yourselves for having dedication to do something that most people never dare to do…get up off their asses.

And with that, I’m going to sit on mine for the next two weeks.  In my mind, anyway.

Last week’s race was a very good thing.  Yeah, I didn’t PR but I knew I wasn’t going to and I thought I was going to end up in the 1:36s so I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  But most importantly, I appreciated the clarity it gave me for choosing my goal pace for Boston.

It was a bit of an ego bruise this cycle; everything was a little tougher, a little slower, my head and heart weren’t as committed, but with the outcome of Sunday’s Half, I was given solid numbers to target, which was like letting out a big, comfortable sigh.  It was the not knowing exactly what I’d lost that was making me tense.  Having this race result gave me “permission” to target something slower.  Weird but it’s how I look at it.

So with the revised goal pace, I had a really solid MP run on Saturday, 12 w/10mi at 7:45s.   My HR was a steady line which told me I would be good to go at that pace and effort-wise, I felt phenomenal, as if it was simply a peppy long run.  In fact my cooldown mile only slowed by about 5 seconds, I felt that good.

Today was my last 20 and I cannot tell you how glad I am to be done with them.  The idea that I may never do one again tickles me pink.  I honestly don’t remember in the last two marathon cycles being as uncomfortable on my 20s as I was this time.

Maybe it’s because all but one were prefaced with a quality run on Saturday and I made a point to do them all in the trails so I’d get more elevation and fancy footing and it doesn’t help that half of my big toenail is now purple from the 20 two weeks ago and still hurting, so…how about a little whine with that cheese?  Hee

The wrap-up
This week was my peak week with 72.2 miles, just shy of what my average mileage was last cycle.  As for long runs, I ended up with two 18s and four 20s, but nothing longer.  Last cycle I did  two 18s, a 20,  two 22s and a 24, so I’m slightly concerned about “time on my feet” but obviously not enough to have run farther.  Lol, I know I slacked some, no secret there, but truth be told, I think I’ll be fine.  I’m feeling as if I’m just beginning to hit my stride again!  This is a very good thing.

Did my first proper (non-Billat) interval session in 6 weeks and am happy to say, saw a clear sign of progress, something I took for granted last year till it starting backing up on me like a gas station toilet.

Today’s session was 10.20mi total: 2.75mi to my interval spot, 5 x 1000 w/2min recoveries, then 3.25mi home.  The intervals averaged 4:07 (6:37 pace) and when I compare that to my last set of intervals 6 weeks ago (6×800 w/2min rec’s. averaging 6:54), that’s a solid improvement and getting closer to last Fall’s times.  Looks like the Billats were not spinning my wheels one bit.

Another happy thing about this workout was it’s only the 2nd time I’ve ever hit my max recorded HR of 193, which I was beginning to think I’d dreamt up.  The first and only other time it’s ever hit it was in 2007 at my first 5K and that’s what I’ve been basing my HR around (calling it 198 since it’s unlikely you ever hit 100%).

The interesting thing is that I once hit 192 a year ago, also doing 1000m intervals, so perhaps that particular distance draws it out of me better than any other.  It was 65 degrees today, so that probably helped sneak it up there, too.  All I know is, however it got up there it’s a relief since for quite a while now, my max HR has felt capped, that my tempos were reaching the same max as my speed sessions (too high for a tempo, too low for speed).

And for the record, I averaged 184 on those intervals.  Don’t want you to think my heart was about to explode or anything.

Weight
Yay! I finally hit my usual “normal” weight of 117.5 this week (4 lbs lost).  I haven’t been sacrificing much, just stopped buying cookies and candy and have been eating salad for most dinners – which I love.  I stick in a handful of walnuts and dried cranberries along with tons of veggies, so it’s not a sacrificial meal.  I’m still eating my nightly ice cream topped with sweet cereal for added yummy crunchiness.

Breakfast is usually a 5-grain hot cereal with tons of cinnamon and some sweet-n-low (nobody’s perfect), lunch is a turkey sandwich and I’ve been addicted to Bobbi’s Hummus (thanks Jenn!) so I eat that daily as a snack with crackers.  One main thing is I stopped buying huge bread.  Seriously, I was getting very large sliced bread which means more peanut butter or whatever you slather on there.

I was 119lbs. when I ran Philly but my best races last season were at 115.5, so it looks like I’ll be right there again for Boston.  As mentioned before, I hate to say this stuff with so many people having body issues, but it’s physics, so there’s no sense pretending it doesn’t make a difference.  And for those tsk-tsking readers (you know who you are) remember, I’m 5’4″…so 115 is not a radical body weight by any means but it will, unquestionably, be an important component to racing well.

The Wheelchair Lady
If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve already read about that lady on Tuesday.  As I was finishing up a 12-miler, a stones throw from my front door, a woman passed me in an electric wheelchair and called out, “run an extra mile for me!”.  If it wasn’t a couple days after the race with me feeling achy still, I would have, but I didn’t, I just wanted to stop.  And I got called out for it a tad.

Of course, I felt like shit for not doing it but I’m honest about my foibles and that was one.  So yesterday I ran 2 miles extra for her, did an 11 instead of the 9 I had planned.  Made me feel somewhat better but hey, I think we all know I’m a solid bitch at heart.  I got no problems with that, since I have enough sweetness to equal out.  hee hee

Boston Goal
Been thinking about this a bit and am hereby declaring it…3:25, nothing faster.  My race last Sunday calculates out to a 3:20:26 marathon but it was on a totally flat course, so I figure 5 minutes of leeway should do me alright.  If not, and I end up slowing down more, that’s cool too, I really don’t give a crap.

I’m looking forward to trying out my new marathon pace this Saturday since it’s slower than any of my goal MP workouts thus far.  I hope to see a very pretty number on the HR monitor.  That’ll tell me if I shouldn’t dumb it down further, which would suck since I walked such a large amount of Philly for a 3:33, but hey, it’ll be what it’ll be…the Heart knows.

It’s Sunday night and I’m content. I had a couple of fine runs today and yesterday.  Mileage total for the week: 69.  All is right with the world.

Saturday
12 miles, 8:27 avg.  Soaking and gusty like hell, as most of you guys experienced, there was no waiting for a dry or calm moment, so I put on my rain jacket and braved the elements. I wanted to wear a hat (I love a billed cap in the rain to keep my eyes comfortable) but it was so windy, I knew I’d be chasing after it, so left it behind.  Instead, I brought my sunglasses with the clear frames snapped in but they just got hard to see out of, so finally, I ended up au naturel, eyes-wise.

It was oddly fun in that battling Mother Nature way except on Falls Bridge where I had a couple scary moments of thinking I’d be blown into traffic or over the rail, the wind was that crazy, but in the end, I live to write this fabulous post.

Sunday
Half road, half trail, 20 avg. 8:36/mi.  My third 20 of the cycle (I’ll have 4 total now…so much for 19s) and for some reason, I didn’t think much about it at all beforehand. I think this is due to the weather – today was a perfect overcast 52 degrees, I only had to wait till after the rain stopped at around 2pm.

It was beautiful out, I love a dark day. There was one point coming back, around mile 17 though, that I got discouraged. My feet were hurting and this is a common problem in both my marathons so far, so I was “oh shit, not so soon!”.  But then I realized the clicking noise that had been following me for some time was a big rock stuck in the tread of my shoe, so once I got that out, my foot was way better. Even so, I think tired feet will always be a problem with me when running distance. I guess we all have a weak area and that’s mine.

Fueling-wise, I carried my 20 oz. handheld and had 2 gels, one at 1:30 and one about 35 minutes later.  I think it helped that I did that.  I won’t scrimp on gels again.

Race Correction
Annoying to be sure, that 5-miler a couple weeks ago where I supposedly won 1st has been downgraded (I only know this because I saw the results in Athlinks). First off, the #1 woman won Masters, so she shows as #1 in the AG, then some other woman is now #2 by 1 second over me…1 second! So that makes me #2 or #3, but owning the First Place medal. I hate that shit – rather be awarded what I deserve even if it’s less. Oh well. Just wanted to put it out there for full disclosure’s sake.

This Week
I’m due a cutback and the timing is perfect because I’m doing the Shamrock Half Marathon this weekend down in Virginia, so this way I get a bit of a taper.  It’ll be a blast because it’s a team effort with Kat, Audra and Loren, the latter two I’ll be hitching a ride with.  It’s not a relay or anything, just an open team but it’ll be way fun.

I’m pretty unsure about what goal to shoot for.  As mentioned a zillion times, I’ve been running slower this cycle but suddenly with the weather change and also, I’m a couple lbs lighter finally (eat salad every night and buy sliced bread that is not as large as your head) I seem to be running a tad faster.  Still, I’m thinking something in the 1:35 area will be likely.

I haven’t mentioned my Boston goal lately but I’m figuring 3:22-3:25 is where it’ll play out.  I’d be cool with that.  The main thing is, I just don’t want to hurt.  I remember being a brave girl at one time or another, but now that I’ve had things go south a few times, I think about it quite a bit on my long runs.   I’m always disappointed that miles 17 and on don’t feel as easy as I’d like and every time, I do the math to confirm how many miles I’ll have left to deal with at the race.  It’s like when you bite the inside of your cheek and stupidly keep biting it to remind yourself it’s there.  An exercise in futility.

What are the choices?  Either set the bar so low the chances of pain are minimal or inch it up a tad because your training warrants it.  I’m inching, but I’m not overextending, at least I think/hope so.  Who knows?  One thing’s for sure, I’m genuinely happy right now, happy with my running and so excited to see (and finally meet!) all my friends in April.  Yes, I dread the race, but much less than before.  It’s now a low-level hum laced with that eternal question “what is this gonna feel like?”  In 5 weeks, we shall see.

I’m liking this week so far.  It started a little rough but that was due to a pretty strong weekend of running.

Monday was a 7mi recovery @9:10

Tuesday was my Billat 30-30s, averaged 8:23 for the run.  The warmup miles were quite slow because I was still in creaky mode, but the fast bit went without incident, or rather, a tiny incident.  My inner quad got a little ping about 1/2 through the fast bits, not enough to make me stop but enough that I felt it on…

Wednesday’s run, which I’d planned for 9, but cut down to 6 @ 8:58, figuring better to be safe with the tweak and besides, there’s no loss cutting 3mi from a recovery, yet I’d have been sad to compromise a “real” run.

Thursday, (a.k.a. this morning) I was in a bad mood when I woke up, which is funny since I realized from a post I made last week on Facebook that last Thursday sucked upon waking, too.  But thanks to the beauty of running, like last week, I snapped out of it once I hit the road.  My schedule called for a 13-miler with tempo but because I didn’t want to tempt the inner quad, I figured I’d do regular GA pace and hit the ramp a few times by the museum as a quasi hill run.

I ended up only doing the ramp once and went on the other side of the museum/river for the first few miles, just for a fun change.  As the first couple miles went down, I noticed my energy level was increasing.  First mile was 8:52 but with each passing mile, I progressively got faster till my last 2 were 7:35s, bringing the whole run to avg 8:05.  My legs felt great, my mind felt great, it was just…great!

Tomorrow is a day off and then Saturday, some MP miles and Sunday, a 20.  We’ll see, since Saturday says “heavy rains/wind” – if so, I’ll just run easy.  I’m  in that nebulous place between full effort and slacker mode.  I know I’m putting in some good runs but I’m also not pushing as much as I could which, depending on the day, has me either “eh, who cares? it’s enough” or “oh shit, I’m going to suck horribly in Boston”.  Generally the former wins, the latter seems to be limited to Thursday waking up.

Newsletter

Sent #3 out and must apologize for a lack of editing on the Swedish stair piece, I don’t generally write “experiment” two times in one sentence.  And also, I’m not so sure that is a guy in the Jazzercise video, so my apologies to the woman with the horrible haircut.

I’ve been lax on my blog duties this week: one post, no newsletter, no video. Thanks to the Financial Marathon, I’ve been knee-deep in web domains and keyword research, ultimately ending up with 17 new domains!  That’s a lot of new websites to build.  I love researching with a passion and when I’m in the midst of it, it’s all I want to focus on.

So I bought the domains, did the graphics in one fell swoop, then started figuring out ways to automate a lot of the work as much as I can. Thanks to iMacros and Excel, my system’s just about down, so then it’ll be a matter of rinse and repeat and then I buy another handful of domains.  That’s where I’m going to focus my Spring work concentration.

I know I said a few weeks ago that I’d like to ultimately monetize this blog through writing ebooks and eventually attract paid advertisers but I’ve since changed my mind. What’s the phrase? “Don’t shit where you eat.”

Not that I eat here, but this blog is my baby and I write it because I enjoy it, so to mix money stuff into it just feels wrong. Plus, I really love being an anonymous web builder, just doing my thing out on the interwebs with no one knowing my business. It’s the lurker in me, I guess.

Runs!

I’ve had a solid week of good running and enjoying myself out on the roads.  The weather suddenly broke, as I’m sure most of you are experiencing.  Woohoo!!  Shorts and shortsleeves…heaven.  Picking up where I left off last:

Wednesday was a 9-miler at 8:25/mi.

Thursday I had a 14-miler in which I wanted to do some tempo miles but I got out there and something was going on with my back.  It was very windy which didn’t help, I think I was hunching over or something, so I bagged the quality and had to stop and stretch a few times, which I never do.  So that was 14mi@8:44.

Friday was a lovely day off.

Yesterday was an 11-miler with 5 tempo.  It was pretty windy again but I did ok, with 5@7:19, 7:53/mi for the whole run.   The tempo portion started out not so great, I looked down and saw 7:25 which was just about my targeted MP last cycle, but I wasn’t surprised since my paces haven’t been so hot in general.  Over the bridge I slowed down even more, but when I got to mile 4, I said fuck this, and sped up.  My HR was higher than it should have been for tempo pace, but I didn’t care.  I just wanted to know I could run faster.  So the last couple miles were 7:05s.  I needed that.

Today was a strangely good run, a 17-miler @8:31 that started out tired, likely thanks to yesterday’s tempo, but it was beautiful out so I took it to the trails.   The trail starts 5.5mi from my house and for that whole portion I was pretty draggy, but when I got into the trail, it was like a switch turned on.

There was snow, mud and puddles but the air was cool and crisp which felt amazing against my bare legs and arms.  Just doing all the fancy footwork energized me.  It became a game of wending my way around the few walkers to find the least puddly bits and not slip on the snowy patches.

I took a gel at 1:25 into the run (trying to be more consistent with that) and as I came back out onto the street, I held the energy up enough to play speed games against some unsuspecting runners, running the last 5 miles in 7:58s.

Weekly Wrap-up

All in all, it was a great week.  The decision I mentioned last post about speeding up a bit in general made my weekly average 8:28/mi, when it’s been around 8:40ish previously.  I had some ankle tightness the last couple days but right now it feels fine.  Mileage total was 68 miles, so nothing huge but hopefully, juuuust right.  I’m thinking with the warmer temps this week, I might find it easier to get close to my old paces again.

I won’t push, but I’ll certainly take note since this is basically my second year as a “serious” runner.  I consider Winter and Spring 2009 to be my running puberty as the new paces emerged, so now that I have something to compare to, I guess I can call this my running adolescence.

Now if I can find an old hygiene class textbook, I’ll be set.