I am now only two weeks away from the Shamrock Marathon, and it is officially time to enter the tapering phase of my training. The past 12 weeks of training have gone incredibly well - probably even better than I could have ever hoped. I ran over 1200 miles, consistently hovering between 105 and 110 miles for the better part of the time. I dodged snow storms and arctic temperatures nearly every week, but managed to work around whatever Mother Nature threw at me.
Last weekend, I did my final long, marathon specific workout - 3 x 4 miles with a 1 mile recovery jog. Like many of my workouts this winter, I did not enter the workout with a specific pace in mind for the intervals. I have come to realize that I have surpassed by far, my own estimations of my capabilities as a runner. I have run some times in workouts this winter that I would scarcely have considered possible in the past, for instance, 3 x 2 mile in an average of 9:30. Going into that workout with the goal only being to run hard and consistent effort allowed me to run faster than I would have if I had started the workout with the goal being just to run 5:00 pace for example. I am a big believer that the body and the brain are capable of far more when you do not give yourself limitations. If you let it, your body will take you to the right pace.
For the workout last weekend, I mapped out a 4 mile loop with several small hills to make me work a little. I had a rough idea of the mile marks on the loop, but I wasn't too concerned about getting a split each mile. I was more concerned about running a hard, consistent effort each time. I finished the first interval and was taken aback by the time on the watch - 19:50. I was a little worried I had gone too fast on the first one and would ruin the rest of the workout. I turned out that the 19:50 had not been stretching my body a little too far, and I ran each of the next two in 19:45. It was an incredible workout and has left me with incredible confidence heading into the marathon.
From here on out to race day, I will be dropping my mileage considerably. This week should be in the 70-80 mile range and next week I will only be doing around 45 minutes of running a day getting ready for the race. All the hard work has already been done and there is not much I can accomplish in two weeks of training. Now, I just need to rest up and let my body absorb the pounding I have put it through for the past 12 weeks.
Training - Week of 2/24 - 3/2
Monday - OFF - This was the first day off I had taken since mid-January and it definitely came at the right time as I was coming off a very hard 20 mile run
Tuesday - 12 miles @ 6:10 pace w/ 0.5 miles of strides post run
Wednesday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 11 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 4 x mile, J 2:00 @ 4:42, 4:39, 4:39, 4:35, 2 x 800, J 2:00 @ 2:15, 2:08, 2 mile cooldown
Really a great workout! As I close out training, I will be starting to run some faster workouts just to sharpen up my legs.
Thursday - 13 miles @ 6:13 pace
Friday - 10 miles @ 5:55 pace
Saturday - 18 miles total - 2 mile warmup, 3 x 4 mile w/ 1 mile recovery @ 6:30 pace, 19:50, 19:45, 19:45, 2 mile cooldown
Sunday - 16 miles @ 6:00 pace
Total - 85 miles
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
3 Weeks to Go!
Last week was another solid week of training as I prepare for the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach. We had a slight break in the winter weather at the end of the week, and I made the most of it. Towards the end of this week, I was definitely noticing a little weariness building up in my legs, but I pushed through it knowing that once this week was over, my training load will start to lighten as I begin to taper and freshen up for race day. I did my last hard 20 mile run this weekend and have one more key workout to look forward to next weekend, 3 x 4 mile. From there out, it will be mostly easy running and several short workouts and tempo runs just to keep the legs loose. The bulk of my work is now behind me and I just have to relax and trust in the hard work that I have done the past 3 months.
Monday - 12 miles @ 6:20 pace
Tuesday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 12 miles - 3 mile warmup, 3-2-1 mile in 14:57-9:50-4:45, 3 mile cooldown
Wednesday - 15 miles @ 6:16 pace
Thursday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 10 miles @ 5:58 pace
Friday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 12 miles - 2 mile warmup, 8 mile tempo @ 5:11 pace, 2 mile cooldown
Saturday - 11 miles @ 6:16 pace
Sunday - 20 miles @ 5:38 pace - progressive run on a rolling, hilly loop - first 5 miles around 6:00 pace, from 5-10 miles @ 5:40 pace, from 10-15 miles @ 5:30 pace, from 15-20 miles @ 5:25 pace with last 3 miles @ 5:20 pace
Total - 105.5
The overall pace of my training runs was very good this week. From here out, I will try and keep things in the 6:30 range on non-workout days. My tempo run on Friday felt very comfortable, and I was surprised when I looked at the final time that I had averaged 5:11 as the effort felt more like 5:20-5:30 type effort. I am also incredibly pleased with my long run on Sunday. I have done faster long runs, but not on loops with the amount of hills that this one had. Given the terrain I was running on, I am very pleased that I was able to run near marathon pace the last three miles and close my last mile in 5:11.
Monday - 12 miles @ 6:20 pace
Tuesday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 12 miles - 3 mile warmup, 3-2-1 mile in 14:57-9:50-4:45, 3 mile cooldown
Wednesday - 15 miles @ 6:16 pace
Thursday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 10 miles @ 5:58 pace
Friday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 12 miles - 2 mile warmup, 8 mile tempo @ 5:11 pace, 2 mile cooldown
Saturday - 11 miles @ 6:16 pace
Sunday - 20 miles @ 5:38 pace - progressive run on a rolling, hilly loop - first 5 miles around 6:00 pace, from 5-10 miles @ 5:40 pace, from 10-15 miles @ 5:30 pace, from 15-20 miles @ 5:25 pace with last 3 miles @ 5:20 pace
Total - 105.5
The overall pace of my training runs was very good this week. From here out, I will try and keep things in the 6:30 range on non-workout days. My tempo run on Friday felt very comfortable, and I was surprised when I looked at the final time that I had averaged 5:11 as the effort felt more like 5:20-5:30 type effort. I am also incredibly pleased with my long run on Sunday. I have done faster long runs, but not on loops with the amount of hills that this one had. Given the terrain I was running on, I am very pleased that I was able to run near marathon pace the last three miles and close my last mile in 5:11.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
It's Grind Time
It is now just under a month to go until the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach! The race is so close I can almost feel the warm ocean breeze and smell the salty air. It could just be the brutal winter we've been having here in the Northeast or it may be the fact that I am confident I am in the best shape of my life, but I cannot wait to get to the starting line!
The next two weeks of training will be crucial as I wrap up the heaviest portion of my training. The last two weeks before the race I will be tapering and not doing any hard workouts. At this point, I have already done the bulk of the work that I needed to do in training. These next two weeks will just be about really grinding through two more weeks of high mileage and marathon specific workouts with an increased focus on rest, recovery, and health. I have one more long progression run to do this weekend, and one more key interval workout, 3 x 4 mile to do before I can really relax and enter my taper content that I am ready for a marathon.
As I enter the final month of training before the race, there are several minor tweaks I will be making to my weekly routine as I try to feel as fresh and sharp as possible. I will begin eliminating the double I had been doing on Monday after my long run. I will still be doubling the next two weeks on days before workouts because I find that my legs feel fresher for a hard workout after a morning run. During my taper I do not plan to do any doubles. I have always found that doubles help to boost my energy on the main run of the day while also serving to give me an additional 10-15 miles of running a week. I also plan to run much slower on days between workouts than I usually do. One thing I have done differently during this marathon buildup is not hold back on my daily training runs. Building up for Vermont last spring, I held myself back a lot on training runs, rarely running below 6:30 pace. This time around, I have upped the intensity of my training runs considerably, approaching 6:00 pace on most days. I am very pleased with the results, as I think running at a higher intensity day in and day out has made me considerably stronger than I was last spring. I did not worry too much about feeling tired the day of a workout after a hard run the previous day, because in the second half of a marathon, I will definitely be feeling tired. I think the general fatigue associated with training hard on a daily basis with very few true easy days has served me well as I get ready to race hard for 26.2 miles. Now, with not much more to be gained aerobically in a month, I will be dialing it down to make sure my legs are ready to race.
One other thing I have done this training cycle is do as little supplementary recovery such as ice bath, epsom salt bath, and anti-inflammatories. I read about a theory of Jerry Schumacher utilizes with his group where they avoid using these type of recovery tools right up until the very end of training. The thought is that not using these recovery aids during the hardest part of training will increase their effects when finally used during the taper. I also believe this is a good idea when marathon training, because as previously stated, I think doing the bulk of my training with slightly tired legs will pay off in the long run once I dial things back. When training this way, it is extremely important to be very aware of your body at all times, because you really are right on the limit of what your body can handle. Luckily, I have made it through the hardest part of my training relatively unscathed and feeling good. Time to nail down my final hard weeks of training and then relax!
Here is a breakdown of my training last week:
Monday - AM run - 4.5 miles @ 6:30 pace, PM run - 12 miles @ 6:10 pace
Tuesday - AM run - 4.5 miles untimed, PM run - 12.5 total - 3 mile warmup, 4 x mile with 1:00 jog - 4:55, 4:55, 4:53, 4:51, 4 x 800 with 2:00 jog - 2:19, 2:18, 2:17, 2:15, 2 mile cooldown
This was a very good workout. The mile repeats were meant to be at lactate threshold pace (for those of you wondering what the heck that means, the lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid is being produced by your body faster than you can metabolize it - lactic acid = heavy legs = bad), and I felt that even with the short rest, I was not crossing over my threshold.
Wednesday - PM run - 16 miles @ 6:25 pace
Thursday - AM run - 12 miles - moderate progressive run on the treadmill as what I hope was the last snowpocalypse of the season hit - started @ 6:30 pace and worked down to 5:45 pace - averaged 6:08 for entire run
Friday - 17 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 3 x 3 mile with 5:45-6:00 rest mile - 15:13, 15:12, 15:13, 3 mile cooldown
This was one of the better workouts I have ever done. Last spring when I was training for Vermont I did this workout several times and averaged between 15:30-15:45. The effort I was putting out today felt the same as my effort last spring. A great sign for sure!
Saturday - AM run - 11 miles @ 6:20 - it was snowing again...grrrrrrrr
Sunday - AM run - 20 miles @ 6:08 pace - 90 mins of easy running followed by 30 mins of 30 second strides @ 4:20-4:30 pace with 2:30 rest @ 6:00 pace
Total for week - 109.5 miles
The next two weeks of training will be crucial as I wrap up the heaviest portion of my training. The last two weeks before the race I will be tapering and not doing any hard workouts. At this point, I have already done the bulk of the work that I needed to do in training. These next two weeks will just be about really grinding through two more weeks of high mileage and marathon specific workouts with an increased focus on rest, recovery, and health. I have one more long progression run to do this weekend, and one more key interval workout, 3 x 4 mile to do before I can really relax and enter my taper content that I am ready for a marathon.
As I enter the final month of training before the race, there are several minor tweaks I will be making to my weekly routine as I try to feel as fresh and sharp as possible. I will begin eliminating the double I had been doing on Monday after my long run. I will still be doubling the next two weeks on days before workouts because I find that my legs feel fresher for a hard workout after a morning run. During my taper I do not plan to do any doubles. I have always found that doubles help to boost my energy on the main run of the day while also serving to give me an additional 10-15 miles of running a week. I also plan to run much slower on days between workouts than I usually do. One thing I have done differently during this marathon buildup is not hold back on my daily training runs. Building up for Vermont last spring, I held myself back a lot on training runs, rarely running below 6:30 pace. This time around, I have upped the intensity of my training runs considerably, approaching 6:00 pace on most days. I am very pleased with the results, as I think running at a higher intensity day in and day out has made me considerably stronger than I was last spring. I did not worry too much about feeling tired the day of a workout after a hard run the previous day, because in the second half of a marathon, I will definitely be feeling tired. I think the general fatigue associated with training hard on a daily basis with very few true easy days has served me well as I get ready to race hard for 26.2 miles. Now, with not much more to be gained aerobically in a month, I will be dialing it down to make sure my legs are ready to race.
One other thing I have done this training cycle is do as little supplementary recovery such as ice bath, epsom salt bath, and anti-inflammatories. I read about a theory of Jerry Schumacher utilizes with his group where they avoid using these type of recovery tools right up until the very end of training. The thought is that not using these recovery aids during the hardest part of training will increase their effects when finally used during the taper. I also believe this is a good idea when marathon training, because as previously stated, I think doing the bulk of my training with slightly tired legs will pay off in the long run once I dial things back. When training this way, it is extremely important to be very aware of your body at all times, because you really are right on the limit of what your body can handle. Luckily, I have made it through the hardest part of my training relatively unscathed and feeling good. Time to nail down my final hard weeks of training and then relax!
Here is a breakdown of my training last week:
Monday - AM run - 4.5 miles @ 6:30 pace, PM run - 12 miles @ 6:10 pace
Tuesday - AM run - 4.5 miles untimed, PM run - 12.5 total - 3 mile warmup, 4 x mile with 1:00 jog - 4:55, 4:55, 4:53, 4:51, 4 x 800 with 2:00 jog - 2:19, 2:18, 2:17, 2:15, 2 mile cooldown
This was a very good workout. The mile repeats were meant to be at lactate threshold pace (for those of you wondering what the heck that means, the lactate threshold is the point at which lactic acid is being produced by your body faster than you can metabolize it - lactic acid = heavy legs = bad), and I felt that even with the short rest, I was not crossing over my threshold.
Wednesday - PM run - 16 miles @ 6:25 pace
Thursday - AM run - 12 miles - moderate progressive run on the treadmill as what I hope was the last snowpocalypse of the season hit - started @ 6:30 pace and worked down to 5:45 pace - averaged 6:08 for entire run
Friday - 17 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 3 x 3 mile with 5:45-6:00 rest mile - 15:13, 15:12, 15:13, 3 mile cooldown
This was one of the better workouts I have ever done. Last spring when I was training for Vermont I did this workout several times and averaged between 15:30-15:45. The effort I was putting out today felt the same as my effort last spring. A great sign for sure!
Saturday - AM run - 11 miles @ 6:20 - it was snowing again...grrrrrrrr
Sunday - AM run - 20 miles @ 6:08 pace - 90 mins of easy running followed by 30 mins of 30 second strides @ 4:20-4:30 pace with 2:30 rest @ 6:00 pace
Total for week - 109.5 miles
Monday, February 10, 2014
The Train Rolls On
The 100 Mile Express continues to roll on, bound straight for Virginia Beach. Last week, I put another 105 miles of work into my legs as I get ready for the Shamrock Marathon now only 5 weeks away. I came into this week off of a very tough weekend the week prior. On Saturday I used the Frosty 5k in Lewisburg as a hard tempo run, breaking the tape in 14:56 before cranking out 10x300 meters at 3k pace which ended up being between 46-48 seconds. It was not quite a race effort, but it was the first time I had asked my body to work a little harder than normal tempo pace in a long time. I came away from the workout feeling very pleased with the fact that I could run 14:56 as a controlled effort and follow it up with some fairly quick intervals. Following this workout on Sunday, I set off on a 2:30 progression run. This would be the longest progression run that I had ever done, and it went very well. I gradually worked the pace down until I was hitting close to marathon pace the last 20 minutes of the run. The final tally for the day was 24.5 miles with the last 3.5 miles run at 5:20 pace. What wound up being a 37.5 mile weekend left me very tired entering this week, but with under a month of real training time left before the marathon, I had to keep the train rolling along.
I am not typically very conscious of the pace I run on a given training run, even an easy day. My philosophy has always been that the body will settle in at the fastest pace it is capable of on a given day, whether that is 6:00 or 7:00. For me, it has always been closer to 6:00, but last week, I was very careful to take my foot off the gas pedal a little more than normal on my easy days. As I enter the heaviest volume workouts of my training cycle such as 3 x 3 mile and 3 x 4 mile, it is of the utmost importance to be feeling as fresh as you possibly can in the middle of a 100+ mile week.
I did 3 key workouts last week. On Tuesday I did 5 x 2k with a 2:00 recovery jog between reps. The goal for this workout was to feel comfortable right around 5:00 pace. With only one full day of recovery after my hard 24.5 miler, there was no reason to push this workout extremely hard. I ended up averaging 6:11 for the reps, which put me just under 5:00 pace. This was a good workout for me, and I am confident I could have handled one or two more reps at the same pace, always a good sign when targeting threshold pace. On Friday, I cranked out a very good 6 mile tempo run in 30:40. I like to start my tempo runs at marathon pace, and gradually work the pace down to the very edge of my areobic threshold. I was pleased that I could comfortably close the last 2 miles of the tempo in under 10 minutes, and did not come away with my legs feeling too heavy and sore on Saturday, always a good thing when you are trying to avoid lactic acid production as you should in a tempo run. On Sunday, I did my favorite long run workout. As I have previously written, when training for a marathon, I feel it is imperative that your long run be more than just a basic 20 mile run. There needs to be variation in pace, as the long run is as close to marathon simulation as you can get. I began with an easy 10 miles at 6:30 pace on a rolling out and back road. From there, I went straight into a 10 mile fartlek alternating hard miles and moderate miles. I ran the hard miles in 5:13, 5:05, 4:50, 5:05, and 5:00 all on rolling hills. The moderate miles between were all comfortably done around 6:05 pace, and I felt more than ready to go at the end of my recovery each time. Overall, I hit the last 10 miles of my run in 56:00. I have done this workout several times in the past, and this was by far the best I have felt doing it.
At this point, I am now under a month to go until I begin to enter my taper the last two weeks leading up to the race. At this point, all I can really do is keep doing the work and stay healthy. The majority of the work for this race has already been done over the past nine weeks. All I can do now is fine tune things and complete a couple more big workouts.
Here is a full summary of my training last week:
Monday - 12 miles easy - 1:18:00 (6:30 pace)
Tuesday - 12.5 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 5 x 2k (6:14, 6:14, 6:13, 6:09, 6:05 on 2:00 recovery),
2 mile cooldown
Wednesday - AM run - 5 miles, PM run - 12 miles easy - 1:15:55 (6:19 pace)
Thursday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 11 miles moderate effort - 1:06:24 (6:02 pace), also did a
half mile of strides post run
Friday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 11 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 6 mile progressive tempo (5:17, 5:08, 5:09, 5:05, 5:03, 4:55), 2 mile cooldown
Saturday - 12 miles - 1:13:48 (6:09 pace)
Sunday - 20 miles - 10 easy (1:05:40), 10 mile fartlek (5:13, 5:05, 4:50, 5:05, 5:00 for hard miles, 56:00 total)
Week Total - 105 miles
I am not typically very conscious of the pace I run on a given training run, even an easy day. My philosophy has always been that the body will settle in at the fastest pace it is capable of on a given day, whether that is 6:00 or 7:00. For me, it has always been closer to 6:00, but last week, I was very careful to take my foot off the gas pedal a little more than normal on my easy days. As I enter the heaviest volume workouts of my training cycle such as 3 x 3 mile and 3 x 4 mile, it is of the utmost importance to be feeling as fresh as you possibly can in the middle of a 100+ mile week.
I did 3 key workouts last week. On Tuesday I did 5 x 2k with a 2:00 recovery jog between reps. The goal for this workout was to feel comfortable right around 5:00 pace. With only one full day of recovery after my hard 24.5 miler, there was no reason to push this workout extremely hard. I ended up averaging 6:11 for the reps, which put me just under 5:00 pace. This was a good workout for me, and I am confident I could have handled one or two more reps at the same pace, always a good sign when targeting threshold pace. On Friday, I cranked out a very good 6 mile tempo run in 30:40. I like to start my tempo runs at marathon pace, and gradually work the pace down to the very edge of my areobic threshold. I was pleased that I could comfortably close the last 2 miles of the tempo in under 10 minutes, and did not come away with my legs feeling too heavy and sore on Saturday, always a good thing when you are trying to avoid lactic acid production as you should in a tempo run. On Sunday, I did my favorite long run workout. As I have previously written, when training for a marathon, I feel it is imperative that your long run be more than just a basic 20 mile run. There needs to be variation in pace, as the long run is as close to marathon simulation as you can get. I began with an easy 10 miles at 6:30 pace on a rolling out and back road. From there, I went straight into a 10 mile fartlek alternating hard miles and moderate miles. I ran the hard miles in 5:13, 5:05, 4:50, 5:05, and 5:00 all on rolling hills. The moderate miles between were all comfortably done around 6:05 pace, and I felt more than ready to go at the end of my recovery each time. Overall, I hit the last 10 miles of my run in 56:00. I have done this workout several times in the past, and this was by far the best I have felt doing it.
At this point, I am now under a month to go until I begin to enter my taper the last two weeks leading up to the race. At this point, all I can really do is keep doing the work and stay healthy. The majority of the work for this race has already been done over the past nine weeks. All I can do now is fine tune things and complete a couple more big workouts.
Here is a full summary of my training last week:
Monday - 12 miles easy - 1:18:00 (6:30 pace)
Tuesday - 12.5 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 5 x 2k (6:14, 6:14, 6:13, 6:09, 6:05 on 2:00 recovery),
2 mile cooldown
Wednesday - AM run - 5 miles, PM run - 12 miles easy - 1:15:55 (6:19 pace)
Thursday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 11 miles moderate effort - 1:06:24 (6:02 pace), also did a
half mile of strides post run
Friday - AM run - 4.5 miles, PM run - 11 miles total - 3 mile warmup, 6 mile progressive tempo (5:17, 5:08, 5:09, 5:05, 5:03, 4:55), 2 mile cooldown
Saturday - 12 miles - 1:13:48 (6:09 pace)
Sunday - 20 miles - 10 easy (1:05:40), 10 mile fartlek (5:13, 5:05, 4:50, 5:05, 5:00 for hard miles, 56:00 total)
Week Total - 105 miles
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Crunch Time
My next marathon, the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on St. Patrick's Day weekend is fast approaching. With under 6 weeks to go until race day, I really only have a little over 3 weeks to really make any noticeable gains in fitness. In these three weeks I will really be hitting the bulk of my longest marathon specific workouts. My marathon specific training block started 8 weeks ago, and I could not be more pleased with how it has gone.
Despite the terrible weather we have had this winter, I have found a way to work around almost everything that Mother Nature has dumped on us. I have not seen a track uncovered since late December, but I have done what I needed to do to get my workouts in, be it on the roads or treadmill. Over the last 8 weeks, I have run over 800 miles, which includes an 85 mile week in which I took a day off. It hasn't been easy keeping my training volume that high with constant snowfall and polar vortexes hammering the Northeast, but hopefully winter will be relinquishing its grasp within a few weeks. It has definitely been a grind keeping my mileage up in the low 100's when the temperature dips into the 0's, but the work has gotten done, and now it is time to really bear down.
When it comes to marathon training, I like to take a very simple approach. There are three key workouts each week - Tuesday intervals, Friday tempo runs, and Sunday long runs. The Tuesday interval workouts touch on a variety of speeds throughout the training block. I like to alternate longer intervals at marathon pace with shorter intervals at half marathon/10k pace on my Tuesday workouts. This allows me to work on different energy systems. When training for a marathon, it is important to remember that you cannot simply do all your workouts at one pace. The body needs variety to really maximize fitness. At the end of a marathon, you are going to need those fast twitch muscles to pitch in, so don't neglect them in your workouts. As I get closer to race day, Tuesday workouts will creep a little closer to 5k pace as I sharpen up. The second workout of the week for me is usually a tempo run or tempo intervals. I will either do a 6-8 mile continuous tempo or 3 reps of 3 or 4 miles. I feel that 3 x 4 mile is one of the best indicators of marathon fitness, and I will be doing that workout coming up shortly. My last big workout of the week is always the Sunday long run, typically 20-24 miles. I always try and incorporate some marathon pace running into my long runs. My personal favorite is a long progression run taking the last 30 minutes of the run at marathon pace. There are several other variations on the long run I like to use, but I hardly ever just run 20 miles at an even pace. To truly get out of the long run what you need as a marathoner, there must be portions of the long run done at marathon pace. The long run really is as close as you can get to simulating the actual race. Woven through all of these workouts are basic training runs. I have made a concerted effort to keep the intensity of these training runs on the higher side. I think it is important not to let the intensity of your daily runs slide as you increase your mileage. If you follow a mileage progression correctly, there is no reason you should not be able to run the same average pace in the middle of a 100 mile week as you were during an 80 mile week. If the 100 mile week is slowing down your daily runs, then it is too much for you. I will typically run at 6:00 to 6:20 pace on my training days. The only day I am really conscious of pace is the day after a hard long run when my legs are really sore. The rest of my workouts, while intense, are for the most part done at my aerobic threshold, and do not leave me feeling very sore or tired.
If my approach to marathon training sounds simple, that's because it is. The marathon is a beast of a race, but it is for the most part, an entirely aerobic race. Unlike the 5k or 10k on the track, you are not pushing your body into the anaerobic state. When you get tired at the end of a marathon, it is not because your muscles are filling with lactic acid, it is simply because 26.2 miles is an extremely long distance to run. Essentially, a marathon is a tempo run from hell. As I train for one, I simply throw as much aerobic strengthening work at my body as I can possibly handle and hope it sticks. It truly is a fine line to navigate, but I feel as if I have gotten a good handle on exactly how much my body can handle. Running the type of marathon I am capable of requires me to get as close to that limit as possible in my training.
My workouts have gone incredibly well the past 8 weeks and I have not walked away from a workout thinking that I had asked too much of my body. My Tuesday workouts have consisted of 1k, 2k, 1 mile, and 2 mile repeats. I like to rotate through the various distances, very rarely doing the same distance two weeks in a row. This gives some variety and keeps the body from getting too comfortable at one pace. Some examples of workouts I have done so far are 8x1k, 5x2k, 8xmile, and 3x2 mile. These workouts have gone very similarly to the ones I was doing on Tuesday as I built up for Vermont last spring, but I have dropped the pace slightly while cutting down on the rest. I believe too many people get caught up in doing their intervals faster and faster when they should be focusing on cutting down the rest. Pushing your workouts closer to continuous is more beneficial in my opinion than running faster intervals but with more rest. There is one workout that I have done that has really stood out to me as an indicator of how far I have come as a runner, and that is the 3x2 mile workout I did 2 weeks ago. I averaged 9:30 for the workout while taking a quarter mile for recovery. To put that in perspective, when I graduated high school, my 2 mile PR was 9:36. I certainly have come a long way as a runner.
My tempo runs have also gone well. The main point of my Tuesday workouts is to improve my running economy and make tempo/marathon pace feel easier, and that has certainly been the case. I have tried to get away from the tempo intervals I did frequently in my last marathon buildup, and do more continuous progressive tempos. Doing 3 x 3 mile is great, but I think that a 6-8 mile tempo run is a better workout for marathon prep as you do not give your body recovery periods. I do these tempo runs starting at marathon pace, and gradually work down at the end towards half marathon or 10k pace depending on how good I am feeling. I think you should always push the limits of your tempo pace because a 6-8 mile tempo run at marathon pace feels a little too easy. It is, after all, the pace you are intending to run for 18-20 more miles. I will typically average anywhere between 5:05 and 5:10 for these runs, but I think the extra stimulus I get from running the last mile or two at 4:50-4:55 pace will really pay off in the marathon.
My long runs have always been my favorite. Everyone who has run with me knows how much I like to hammer my runs, and the long runs I have been doing give me the opportunity to do just that for over 2 hours. I have incorporated several long run workouts into my training from the blog of Ryan Vail, the top American at the NYC marathon this fall. Some examples are the 4-10-4 workout where the 4 mile segments are done at marathon pace with a 10 mile run at steady state pace done in between. I did this workout three weeks ago now and averaged 5:12 pace for my 4's and 6:00 pace for the 10 in between. I did a variation on this workout where the middle 10 was taken at tempo pace and averaged 5:10. My favorite marathon workout will always be the long progression run. Last Sunday, I nailed a 24.5 mile progression run, hitting the last 3.5 miles on rolling hills at 5:20 pace with the last half mile all out at 5:00 pace. It was a great indicator of my level of fitness, and left me very sore, but extremely pumped about the kind of shape I am in.
A lot can happen in 5 weeks of training, but from where I stand now, I feel I am on the right track to run a fast marathon in Virginia Beach. I have my sights set on 2:18 and an Olympic Trials qualifier. If everything comes together on that day, it will be well within my reach. I will try to do a better job of keeping updates on my training coming more frequently as I really get into the final stages.
Despite the terrible weather we have had this winter, I have found a way to work around almost everything that Mother Nature has dumped on us. I have not seen a track uncovered since late December, but I have done what I needed to do to get my workouts in, be it on the roads or treadmill. Over the last 8 weeks, I have run over 800 miles, which includes an 85 mile week in which I took a day off. It hasn't been easy keeping my training volume that high with constant snowfall and polar vortexes hammering the Northeast, but hopefully winter will be relinquishing its grasp within a few weeks. It has definitely been a grind keeping my mileage up in the low 100's when the temperature dips into the 0's, but the work has gotten done, and now it is time to really bear down.
When it comes to marathon training, I like to take a very simple approach. There are three key workouts each week - Tuesday intervals, Friday tempo runs, and Sunday long runs. The Tuesday interval workouts touch on a variety of speeds throughout the training block. I like to alternate longer intervals at marathon pace with shorter intervals at half marathon/10k pace on my Tuesday workouts. This allows me to work on different energy systems. When training for a marathon, it is important to remember that you cannot simply do all your workouts at one pace. The body needs variety to really maximize fitness. At the end of a marathon, you are going to need those fast twitch muscles to pitch in, so don't neglect them in your workouts. As I get closer to race day, Tuesday workouts will creep a little closer to 5k pace as I sharpen up. The second workout of the week for me is usually a tempo run or tempo intervals. I will either do a 6-8 mile continuous tempo or 3 reps of 3 or 4 miles. I feel that 3 x 4 mile is one of the best indicators of marathon fitness, and I will be doing that workout coming up shortly. My last big workout of the week is always the Sunday long run, typically 20-24 miles. I always try and incorporate some marathon pace running into my long runs. My personal favorite is a long progression run taking the last 30 minutes of the run at marathon pace. There are several other variations on the long run I like to use, but I hardly ever just run 20 miles at an even pace. To truly get out of the long run what you need as a marathoner, there must be portions of the long run done at marathon pace. The long run really is as close as you can get to simulating the actual race. Woven through all of these workouts are basic training runs. I have made a concerted effort to keep the intensity of these training runs on the higher side. I think it is important not to let the intensity of your daily runs slide as you increase your mileage. If you follow a mileage progression correctly, there is no reason you should not be able to run the same average pace in the middle of a 100 mile week as you were during an 80 mile week. If the 100 mile week is slowing down your daily runs, then it is too much for you. I will typically run at 6:00 to 6:20 pace on my training days. The only day I am really conscious of pace is the day after a hard long run when my legs are really sore. The rest of my workouts, while intense, are for the most part done at my aerobic threshold, and do not leave me feeling very sore or tired.
If my approach to marathon training sounds simple, that's because it is. The marathon is a beast of a race, but it is for the most part, an entirely aerobic race. Unlike the 5k or 10k on the track, you are not pushing your body into the anaerobic state. When you get tired at the end of a marathon, it is not because your muscles are filling with lactic acid, it is simply because 26.2 miles is an extremely long distance to run. Essentially, a marathon is a tempo run from hell. As I train for one, I simply throw as much aerobic strengthening work at my body as I can possibly handle and hope it sticks. It truly is a fine line to navigate, but I feel as if I have gotten a good handle on exactly how much my body can handle. Running the type of marathon I am capable of requires me to get as close to that limit as possible in my training.
My workouts have gone incredibly well the past 8 weeks and I have not walked away from a workout thinking that I had asked too much of my body. My Tuesday workouts have consisted of 1k, 2k, 1 mile, and 2 mile repeats. I like to rotate through the various distances, very rarely doing the same distance two weeks in a row. This gives some variety and keeps the body from getting too comfortable at one pace. Some examples of workouts I have done so far are 8x1k, 5x2k, 8xmile, and 3x2 mile. These workouts have gone very similarly to the ones I was doing on Tuesday as I built up for Vermont last spring, but I have dropped the pace slightly while cutting down on the rest. I believe too many people get caught up in doing their intervals faster and faster when they should be focusing on cutting down the rest. Pushing your workouts closer to continuous is more beneficial in my opinion than running faster intervals but with more rest. There is one workout that I have done that has really stood out to me as an indicator of how far I have come as a runner, and that is the 3x2 mile workout I did 2 weeks ago. I averaged 9:30 for the workout while taking a quarter mile for recovery. To put that in perspective, when I graduated high school, my 2 mile PR was 9:36. I certainly have come a long way as a runner.
My tempo runs have also gone well. The main point of my Tuesday workouts is to improve my running economy and make tempo/marathon pace feel easier, and that has certainly been the case. I have tried to get away from the tempo intervals I did frequently in my last marathon buildup, and do more continuous progressive tempos. Doing 3 x 3 mile is great, but I think that a 6-8 mile tempo run is a better workout for marathon prep as you do not give your body recovery periods. I do these tempo runs starting at marathon pace, and gradually work down at the end towards half marathon or 10k pace depending on how good I am feeling. I think you should always push the limits of your tempo pace because a 6-8 mile tempo run at marathon pace feels a little too easy. It is, after all, the pace you are intending to run for 18-20 more miles. I will typically average anywhere between 5:05 and 5:10 for these runs, but I think the extra stimulus I get from running the last mile or two at 4:50-4:55 pace will really pay off in the marathon.
My long runs have always been my favorite. Everyone who has run with me knows how much I like to hammer my runs, and the long runs I have been doing give me the opportunity to do just that for over 2 hours. I have incorporated several long run workouts into my training from the blog of Ryan Vail, the top American at the NYC marathon this fall. Some examples are the 4-10-4 workout where the 4 mile segments are done at marathon pace with a 10 mile run at steady state pace done in between. I did this workout three weeks ago now and averaged 5:12 pace for my 4's and 6:00 pace for the 10 in between. I did a variation on this workout where the middle 10 was taken at tempo pace and averaged 5:10. My favorite marathon workout will always be the long progression run. Last Sunday, I nailed a 24.5 mile progression run, hitting the last 3.5 miles on rolling hills at 5:20 pace with the last half mile all out at 5:00 pace. It was a great indicator of my level of fitness, and left me very sore, but extremely pumped about the kind of shape I am in.
A lot can happen in 5 weeks of training, but from where I stand now, I feel I am on the right track to run a fast marathon in Virginia Beach. I have my sights set on 2:18 and an Olympic Trials qualifier. If everything comes together on that day, it will be well within my reach. I will try to do a better job of keeping updates on my training coming more frequently as I really get into the final stages.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Midatlantic Runner of the Year
I am extremely proud to announce that this weekend I will be honored as the 2013 USATF Midatlantic Male Distance Runner of the Year. I think it is fitting to reflect on the year that was 2013 for me running and racingwise and how I earned this honor. Without a doubt, 2013 was one of, if not, the most successful years in my running career. I logged more miles and more 100+ mile weeks in a year than ever before - 3,629 miles in total (coming up just short of averaging 10 per day for an entire year) and experienced the success I always knew I could at the longer distances. I am very grateful to the USATF Midatlantic for selecting me amongst many other talented runners in our region as well as for their continued support of my running pursuits.
There are certainly many people I need to thank for helping me to achieve this award. First would be my future wife, Madeline for putting up with my running obsession. My parents have also been incredibly supportive of my running and still scarecly miss a race. Between my parents and fiancee, I never lack for support at a big race, and you cannot underestimate the value of that. Having your loved ones behind you and supporting you really makes the training feel easier. I would also like to give a big thank you to Henry Klugh from the Keystone Track Club for keeping me in shoes. You would be surprised at how quickly a pair of shoes gets worn out when running over 15 miles a day. Lastly, I would like to thank Robin Jefferis at USATF Midatlantic for really helping me navigate the world of road racing and encouraging me to enter challenging races.
It was certainly a banner year for me, but it almost never got off the ground. Following my first attempt at the marathon in the fall of 2012 at the Philadelphia Marathon, I really struggled to get myself training hard again. At the time, I knew what potential I had as a marathoner, having run the first 20 miles of that race at 2:18 pace. Unfortunately, I had not really trained properly or understood the marathon distance my first time around racing one, and I cratered hard the last 6 miles of the race, and finished in a very pedestrian 2:31. I came away from that race knowing two things, first that I had totally underestimated my potential as a marathoner. I had gone into the race with no expectations and ran at Olympic Trials qualifying pace for 20 miles. Secondly, I realized, that I still had an immense amount of work to do before those last 6 miles felt as good as the first 20.
As I entered my first winter as a post collegiate runner, I quickly realized just how much of a grind it is training in the winter while working a grown up job. The weekends are the only time for a period of over 4 months that you are able to run in daylight. I have never been one to lack motivation when it comes to running, but for the first time in my life, I found myself not really wanting to run all that much. I will be honest with everyone reading this - it absolutely sucks running in the pitch black on a 25 degree windy night. At this time, I also realized something else about myself. I do love to run, but I hate doing anything in life at less than a 100% effort. If I wasn't motivated to run at a high level, I did not feel like simply going through the motions to put in a five or 6 miler. Empty days piled up on the calender during the month of January. I was still doing around 60 miles a week with some workouts, but not really training for anything.
At the end of January, I entered an indoor 5k on a whim. I had no real expectations of myself in the race as I had not really been training well. I ended up running 15:09 and feeling very comfortable doing so. I could not believe that I could run that fast off of very little training. Seeing what I could do with very sporadic training was the spark I needed to recommit to my training.
After that race, I did something that was probably very stupid at the time, but ended up working out in the end. I woke up the Monday after that race and decided I was going to run 100 mile weeks. With no real buildup to that amount of mileage, it was a risky move, but it worked out. The miles piled up quickly and I got in the best shape of my life. Sometimes in life, you just need to tell yourself you are going to do something and then do it no matter what. As I reeled off these hundred mile weeks, I found I saw in myself that ability, the shear force of will to get done what you need to get done.
As I really trained properly for my first marathon, I was doing types of workouts that I had never done before. My college team never did many tempo runs, but as the marathon is the "tempo run from hell," I found myself doing longer tempo runs than ever before. I did 3x3 mile, 3x4 mile, 6 mile tempo runs, progressive long runs with the last 5 miles at marathon pace. More importantly, I also worked on my speed. I think many people who train hard for marathons neglect their speed, thinking only of the long aerobic workouts which are certainly important. There is no getting around the fact, however, that to run 26.2 miles at 5:15 pace, you need some basic leg speed. To work on my speed, I was doing 1k repeats at 10k pace, and eventually worked up to mile repeats at 5k pace, which for me was 4:35-4:40. I followed all of these workouts with 200's and 300's all out to really hone my fast twitch muscles.
The training translated incredibly well to racing in the spring. I broke 15:00 for 5k on the roads, running 14:54 and placed in the top 10 at the nations largest 10 mile race, the Broad Street Run, in a time of 50:28. All these races were run with heavy mileage still weighing on my legs as I prepared for the Vermont City Marathon in May.
Going into Vermont, I knew I was ready to run under 2:20. I was well tapered, and everything felt good. Unfortunately, the second coming of the Great Flood coincided with the race, and we were forced to run in torrential downpours, gusting winds, and 40 degree temperatures. I felt very good through the first half of the race in 1:09:30, but could not keep the pace up over the last 10k of the race, finishing 3rd in 2:22:28. I was definitely disappointed with the final time, but not the effort. I know that effort was worth a sub 2:20 on a good day. This race was definitely the highlight of my year, as it was so gratifying to have a breakthrough marathon after months of training. I got my first taste of what it really feels like to be taken care of at a race, as the race directors looked after us all weekend. I would highly recommend this race to anyone.
Following Vermont, I made the worst decision of the year. I decided to accept an entry into the USA Half Marathon Championships only 3 weeks after the marathon. At the time, I was riding an incredible high, thinking I could keep racing at a high level, but the marathon just completely sapped my body of everything it had. Months and months of high mileage just left me worn out, but I pressed on. As I have already written, I did set a new half marathon PR at the race, but the effort triggered a full breakdown of my body. It was something I had never experienced as a runner, only heard about. There really is no way to describe the feeling other than a lingering, never ending fatigue. It hurt even to walk anywhere, and I was forced to train sporadically all summer. I barely cracked 200 miles a month for July and August. Things improved in September and I was finally able to approach the type of training I had done in the spring.
I approached my fall training rather conservatively given the state of my body after overracing at the end of the spring. I slowly brought the mileage up this time, and hovered between 80 and 90 miles a week through October and November. I raced the Philadelphia Half Marathon with only a good 7 weeks of training under my belt and the result was not pretty. I struggled to run 1:09, but in the end, the race turned out to be just a good boost for my fitness. As fall turned to winter, I capped my 2013 racing season with several good performances that left me feeling very optimistic about the things to come in 2014. The highlight of the fall was running 31:01 for 10k on a very rolling road course, a time that indicated to me that I was in better shape than my 10k track PR of 30:48. My training has gone extremely well of late, and as the first month of the new year wraps up, I will give a little update on that very soon.
Below is a recap of my top races for 2013:
5k - 14:54 at the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k
10k - 31:01 at the Chambersburg Christmas Dash for Cash
10 mi - 50:28 at the Broad Street Run
13.1 mi - 1:08:04 at the USA Half Marathon Championships
26.2 mi - 2:22:28 at the Vermont City Marathon
I am hoping to chip away at those times this year, and even make a return to the track to run some fast times!
There are certainly many people I need to thank for helping me to achieve this award. First would be my future wife, Madeline for putting up with my running obsession. My parents have also been incredibly supportive of my running and still scarecly miss a race. Between my parents and fiancee, I never lack for support at a big race, and you cannot underestimate the value of that. Having your loved ones behind you and supporting you really makes the training feel easier. I would also like to give a big thank you to Henry Klugh from the Keystone Track Club for keeping me in shoes. You would be surprised at how quickly a pair of shoes gets worn out when running over 15 miles a day. Lastly, I would like to thank Robin Jefferis at USATF Midatlantic for really helping me navigate the world of road racing and encouraging me to enter challenging races.
It was certainly a banner year for me, but it almost never got off the ground. Following my first attempt at the marathon in the fall of 2012 at the Philadelphia Marathon, I really struggled to get myself training hard again. At the time, I knew what potential I had as a marathoner, having run the first 20 miles of that race at 2:18 pace. Unfortunately, I had not really trained properly or understood the marathon distance my first time around racing one, and I cratered hard the last 6 miles of the race, and finished in a very pedestrian 2:31. I came away from that race knowing two things, first that I had totally underestimated my potential as a marathoner. I had gone into the race with no expectations and ran at Olympic Trials qualifying pace for 20 miles. Secondly, I realized, that I still had an immense amount of work to do before those last 6 miles felt as good as the first 20.
As I entered my first winter as a post collegiate runner, I quickly realized just how much of a grind it is training in the winter while working a grown up job. The weekends are the only time for a period of over 4 months that you are able to run in daylight. I have never been one to lack motivation when it comes to running, but for the first time in my life, I found myself not really wanting to run all that much. I will be honest with everyone reading this - it absolutely sucks running in the pitch black on a 25 degree windy night. At this time, I also realized something else about myself. I do love to run, but I hate doing anything in life at less than a 100% effort. If I wasn't motivated to run at a high level, I did not feel like simply going through the motions to put in a five or 6 miler. Empty days piled up on the calender during the month of January. I was still doing around 60 miles a week with some workouts, but not really training for anything.
At the end of January, I entered an indoor 5k on a whim. I had no real expectations of myself in the race as I had not really been training well. I ended up running 15:09 and feeling very comfortable doing so. I could not believe that I could run that fast off of very little training. Seeing what I could do with very sporadic training was the spark I needed to recommit to my training.
After that race, I did something that was probably very stupid at the time, but ended up working out in the end. I woke up the Monday after that race and decided I was going to run 100 mile weeks. With no real buildup to that amount of mileage, it was a risky move, but it worked out. The miles piled up quickly and I got in the best shape of my life. Sometimes in life, you just need to tell yourself you are going to do something and then do it no matter what. As I reeled off these hundred mile weeks, I found I saw in myself that ability, the shear force of will to get done what you need to get done.
As I really trained properly for my first marathon, I was doing types of workouts that I had never done before. My college team never did many tempo runs, but as the marathon is the "tempo run from hell," I found myself doing longer tempo runs than ever before. I did 3x3 mile, 3x4 mile, 6 mile tempo runs, progressive long runs with the last 5 miles at marathon pace. More importantly, I also worked on my speed. I think many people who train hard for marathons neglect their speed, thinking only of the long aerobic workouts which are certainly important. There is no getting around the fact, however, that to run 26.2 miles at 5:15 pace, you need some basic leg speed. To work on my speed, I was doing 1k repeats at 10k pace, and eventually worked up to mile repeats at 5k pace, which for me was 4:35-4:40. I followed all of these workouts with 200's and 300's all out to really hone my fast twitch muscles.
The training translated incredibly well to racing in the spring. I broke 15:00 for 5k on the roads, running 14:54 and placed in the top 10 at the nations largest 10 mile race, the Broad Street Run, in a time of 50:28. All these races were run with heavy mileage still weighing on my legs as I prepared for the Vermont City Marathon in May.
Going into Vermont, I knew I was ready to run under 2:20. I was well tapered, and everything felt good. Unfortunately, the second coming of the Great Flood coincided with the race, and we were forced to run in torrential downpours, gusting winds, and 40 degree temperatures. I felt very good through the first half of the race in 1:09:30, but could not keep the pace up over the last 10k of the race, finishing 3rd in 2:22:28. I was definitely disappointed with the final time, but not the effort. I know that effort was worth a sub 2:20 on a good day. This race was definitely the highlight of my year, as it was so gratifying to have a breakthrough marathon after months of training. I got my first taste of what it really feels like to be taken care of at a race, as the race directors looked after us all weekend. I would highly recommend this race to anyone.
Following Vermont, I made the worst decision of the year. I decided to accept an entry into the USA Half Marathon Championships only 3 weeks after the marathon. At the time, I was riding an incredible high, thinking I could keep racing at a high level, but the marathon just completely sapped my body of everything it had. Months and months of high mileage just left me worn out, but I pressed on. As I have already written, I did set a new half marathon PR at the race, but the effort triggered a full breakdown of my body. It was something I had never experienced as a runner, only heard about. There really is no way to describe the feeling other than a lingering, never ending fatigue. It hurt even to walk anywhere, and I was forced to train sporadically all summer. I barely cracked 200 miles a month for July and August. Things improved in September and I was finally able to approach the type of training I had done in the spring.
I approached my fall training rather conservatively given the state of my body after overracing at the end of the spring. I slowly brought the mileage up this time, and hovered between 80 and 90 miles a week through October and November. I raced the Philadelphia Half Marathon with only a good 7 weeks of training under my belt and the result was not pretty. I struggled to run 1:09, but in the end, the race turned out to be just a good boost for my fitness. As fall turned to winter, I capped my 2013 racing season with several good performances that left me feeling very optimistic about the things to come in 2014. The highlight of the fall was running 31:01 for 10k on a very rolling road course, a time that indicated to me that I was in better shape than my 10k track PR of 30:48. My training has gone extremely well of late, and as the first month of the new year wraps up, I will give a little update on that very soon.
Below is a recap of my top races for 2013:
5k - 14:54 at the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k
10k - 31:01 at the Chambersburg Christmas Dash for Cash
10 mi - 50:28 at the Broad Street Run
13.1 mi - 1:08:04 at the USA Half Marathon Championships
26.2 mi - 2:22:28 at the Vermont City Marathon
I am hoping to chip away at those times this year, and even make a return to the track to run some fast times!
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Fall Racing Recap
Despite what the falling mercury, snow covered tracks, and treacherous icy roads, there are still a few days left of fall. As my favorite season winds down and turns into my least favorite season, here is a recap of what I was up to this fall.
My fall racing season did not live up to the new high standards I set for myself last spring. There were many factors that led to this, but the primary was the fact that I pushed my body beyond its limits in the spring, and I spent most of the summer getting my legs back under me. In the excitement that came with reaching a new level of running this spring, I got caught up in wanting more and more. It was not the best approach, but I learned a lot from it. There is a need to take risks and put yourself out there in big races, but too many, too close together will make for a rough couple of months. When you are running well, you often begin to feel indestructible. As the results poured in this spring and I reached levels which I previously felt were out of my reach I just got too aggressive.
I realized I had really torched my body after racing the USA Half in June. I was able to PR in the race and ran 1:08:04, but my hamstrings were shot. They would have made functional guitar strings they were so tight, knotted, and strained. For the next month or so, it seemed a monumental task even to roll my chair into my desk at work. I knew things were really bad when I could barely break 16:00 for a low-key 5k in the Harrisburg area. Despite all the warning signs, I pushed ahead on my training, thinking I could still get myself in shape to run 2:18 at the Philadelphia Marathon in November. There was never a cataclysmic injury that forced me to take several weeks off - only a nagging weariness that forced me to have several 5-10 day stretches with no running.
Hindsight being 20/20, I should have taken at least 3 weeks off completely from running after the half marathon, but that is not how I am wired. I could have even run very easy during my recovery phase. Again, that's just not how I am wired.
Part of what makes me a good runner, my grit and stubbornness, is also my downfall. I want the best out of myself on a day to day basis, and sometimes the need to recover gets lost in my desire to turn every run and workout into a personal competition hurts me, as it did this fall.
I finally got back to feeling good in September. By this time, however, I had less than 8 weeks to get ready for my target fall race, the Philadelphia Half Marathon. My workouts all fall were not spectacular. Having learned my lesson all summer, I did not want to rush things in workouts trying to get ready for a race that likely would not be spectacular with even the best workouts. My mileage hovered in the mid-80's and low 90's and I kept my workouts to threshold intervals with very short rest.
As I prepared for the half marathon, I sprinkled in a few shorter races, with good results that led me to believe I was getting into good shape. I raced the York White Rose 5 Miler with very little real training under my belt and ran 25:58 (to put my improvement since college in perspective, my 8k PR in college was only 26:30). This race was on a tough course, and I definitely had to work for the final time, but it served as a hard effort to jump start my training.
As I continued building up for Philly, I put in a hard effort two weeks out of the race. The Keystone Track Club puts on a 5k cross country race each year. I went into the race with the goal to just run as hard as I could with no real idea of my fitness. I came through the mile in 4:52 and never looked back, finishing in 15:19 on a tough grass course. I believe I could have run at least 10 seconds faster with some competition up front to race with. I've always felt cross country courses are at least 30 seconds slower for 5k when compared to a track, leading me to believe I was in at least 14:50 shape. Not bad for 6 weeks of training and no speed work!
I did not really make an effort to taper or peak too much for the half marathon given my delayed start to training. My race plan was to go out with the chase pack off the back of the Africans and hang on as long as I could. As long as I could turned out to be 5 miles. I came through 5 miles in 25:20 and feeling like crap. Luckily for me, the toughest hills in the race still laid ahead of me! I knew it was going to be a rough finish, and it did not disappoint as I struggled home in 1:09:22.
At the end of the day, although it was a terrible race, all it was was a hard effort to keep me moving on the right track to regaining my spring form. I took a few easy days after the half marathon as a precaution, but the race did not really take too much out of me. I got back to racing pretty quickly, running a good Turkey Trot in Palmyra. I was surprised to find myself running stride for stride with a professional runner, Darren Brown at a small town turkey trot. He kicked away from me with his sub 4:00 speed the last mile, but I ended up running 15:05 coming off a very slow first mile on a cold windy day.
The real highlight of my fall season finally came the first weekend of December at the Christmas Dash for Cash 10k in Chambersburg. Here, I really gutted out an excellent race on a rolling course. I finished in 31:01, very close to my track PR. It was in this race where I finally felt like my old self in a race. When I am on my game, I am able to relax for much of the middle portions of the race, covering moves of the runners around me, feeling in control of the effort. I ran tough here, but ultimately came up a little short of another very good runner with just a little bit more finishing speed than me.
This last race of the fall really left a great taste in my mouth and was just the spark I needed to get ready to put in a good block of training for a spring marathon. Despite all of the setbacks of the summer and early fall, I was able to get myself back to a high level. I learned you can't fake a half marathon, and have more respect for the distance. You won't see me going into a half marathon unprepared ever again.
As always, thank you to the Keystone Track Club, my fiancee, and my family for supporting this crazy addiction of mine. It was a good season of racing that left me hungry and wanting much more this winter and spring. Hopefully, 2014 will bring a real break through in the marathon for me.
My fall racing season did not live up to the new high standards I set for myself last spring. There were many factors that led to this, but the primary was the fact that I pushed my body beyond its limits in the spring, and I spent most of the summer getting my legs back under me. In the excitement that came with reaching a new level of running this spring, I got caught up in wanting more and more. It was not the best approach, but I learned a lot from it. There is a need to take risks and put yourself out there in big races, but too many, too close together will make for a rough couple of months. When you are running well, you often begin to feel indestructible. As the results poured in this spring and I reached levels which I previously felt were out of my reach I just got too aggressive.
I realized I had really torched my body after racing the USA Half in June. I was able to PR in the race and ran 1:08:04, but my hamstrings were shot. They would have made functional guitar strings they were so tight, knotted, and strained. For the next month or so, it seemed a monumental task even to roll my chair into my desk at work. I knew things were really bad when I could barely break 16:00 for a low-key 5k in the Harrisburg area. Despite all the warning signs, I pushed ahead on my training, thinking I could still get myself in shape to run 2:18 at the Philadelphia Marathon in November. There was never a cataclysmic injury that forced me to take several weeks off - only a nagging weariness that forced me to have several 5-10 day stretches with no running.
Hindsight being 20/20, I should have taken at least 3 weeks off completely from running after the half marathon, but that is not how I am wired. I could have even run very easy during my recovery phase. Again, that's just not how I am wired.
Part of what makes me a good runner, my grit and stubbornness, is also my downfall. I want the best out of myself on a day to day basis, and sometimes the need to recover gets lost in my desire to turn every run and workout into a personal competition hurts me, as it did this fall.
I finally got back to feeling good in September. By this time, however, I had less than 8 weeks to get ready for my target fall race, the Philadelphia Half Marathon. My workouts all fall were not spectacular. Having learned my lesson all summer, I did not want to rush things in workouts trying to get ready for a race that likely would not be spectacular with even the best workouts. My mileage hovered in the mid-80's and low 90's and I kept my workouts to threshold intervals with very short rest.
As I prepared for the half marathon, I sprinkled in a few shorter races, with good results that led me to believe I was getting into good shape. I raced the York White Rose 5 Miler with very little real training under my belt and ran 25:58 (to put my improvement since college in perspective, my 8k PR in college was only 26:30). This race was on a tough course, and I definitely had to work for the final time, but it served as a hard effort to jump start my training.
As I continued building up for Philly, I put in a hard effort two weeks out of the race. The Keystone Track Club puts on a 5k cross country race each year. I went into the race with the goal to just run as hard as I could with no real idea of my fitness. I came through the mile in 4:52 and never looked back, finishing in 15:19 on a tough grass course. I believe I could have run at least 10 seconds faster with some competition up front to race with. I've always felt cross country courses are at least 30 seconds slower for 5k when compared to a track, leading me to believe I was in at least 14:50 shape. Not bad for 6 weeks of training and no speed work!
I did not really make an effort to taper or peak too much for the half marathon given my delayed start to training. My race plan was to go out with the chase pack off the back of the Africans and hang on as long as I could. As long as I could turned out to be 5 miles. I came through 5 miles in 25:20 and feeling like crap. Luckily for me, the toughest hills in the race still laid ahead of me! I knew it was going to be a rough finish, and it did not disappoint as I struggled home in 1:09:22.
At the end of the day, although it was a terrible race, all it was was a hard effort to keep me moving on the right track to regaining my spring form. I took a few easy days after the half marathon as a precaution, but the race did not really take too much out of me. I got back to racing pretty quickly, running a good Turkey Trot in Palmyra. I was surprised to find myself running stride for stride with a professional runner, Darren Brown at a small town turkey trot. He kicked away from me with his sub 4:00 speed the last mile, but I ended up running 15:05 coming off a very slow first mile on a cold windy day.
The real highlight of my fall season finally came the first weekend of December at the Christmas Dash for Cash 10k in Chambersburg. Here, I really gutted out an excellent race on a rolling course. I finished in 31:01, very close to my track PR. It was in this race where I finally felt like my old self in a race. When I am on my game, I am able to relax for much of the middle portions of the race, covering moves of the runners around me, feeling in control of the effort. I ran tough here, but ultimately came up a little short of another very good runner with just a little bit more finishing speed than me.
This last race of the fall really left a great taste in my mouth and was just the spark I needed to get ready to put in a good block of training for a spring marathon. Despite all of the setbacks of the summer and early fall, I was able to get myself back to a high level. I learned you can't fake a half marathon, and have more respect for the distance. You won't see me going into a half marathon unprepared ever again.
As always, thank you to the Keystone Track Club, my fiancee, and my family for supporting this crazy addiction of mine. It was a good season of racing that left me hungry and wanting much more this winter and spring. Hopefully, 2014 will bring a real break through in the marathon for me.
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