Pheidippides’s BodyBlog

My marathon training continues to go pretty well, although my total weekly mileage is not quite where it should be.  My goal was to peak at 45 mpw or more, and I’ve been stuck at no more than 40 for the last five weeks.  The limiting factor is my right achilles tendon, which continues to be a bit tender.

Last week I ran about 38 miles, culminating in a 13 mile long run on Sunday — shorter than the 20 miler the weekend before.  I decided my legs could use a bit of recovery.  But that leaves me still needing to get a couple of 20+ mile  runs in before my December 7 marathon, less than six weeks away.

Last night I joined my running group in a very long interval workout.  The emphasis now is on marathon training, so we run longer, higher mileage interval sessions than during the spring and summer.  This one was the longest yet: 2 miles, 1 mile, 800 meters, and then repeat, for a total of 7 speed miles.  That’s a lot of mileage to try to go fast, so you have to slow down and pace yourself a bit.  This workout was a test of being able to push a challenging pace over a fairly long distance.

I was pleased with how it went.  I decided to start out the first interval at a pace that was under control, so I wouldn’t slow down as the workout went on.  Darkness is falling earlier now, so the temperature is pleasant at that time of day (5:45 p.m.), making running easier.

My times for the intervals, with recovery running/water breaks of 3:30 to 5 minutes in between, were:

2 miles:   13:45 (6:52 pace)

1 mile:     6:35  (6:35 pace)

800 m     3:18  (6:37 pace)

2 miles:   13:42 (6:51 pace)

1 mile:     6:30   (6:30 pace)

800 m:   3:05   (6:11 pace)

I paced it well enough that I had reserves to up the pace at the end.

Based on this workout, I’m confident I have the aerobic conditioning to meet my goal of 3:20 in the upcoming marathon.  What’s in question is my stamina, as well as my endurance.  I’m very confident I can maintain a 7:30 pace or so through about 18 miles, but beyond that I have no idea what will happen.  The 30K run I’m doing the weekend after this one will be a good tuneup and test of my stamina.

I skipped my group running workout yesterday and instead ran intervals on my own.  I’m glad I did, because the group’s workout schedule was to do 3 x 2 mile intervals, and I knw that if I rna that far that many times I wouldn’t be able to maintain the speed I’m working on. So, instead, on my own I ran 8 miles with intervals of .5, 1, .5, 1, and .5 miles. I hgave myself ample rest between each.

For the first 4 I was trying for a fast pace, at or faster than 5K pace.  I pretty much succeeded.  Times were

.5 — 3:04  (6:08 pace)

1 –  6:23

.5 — 3:15 (6:30 pace)

1 — 6:18

Pace range was 6:08 to 6:30, making that probably my fastest interval set yet.   3 mile total was not as high as some other interval workouts I’ve run, so that would partly account for the faster times.  Still, pretty good.

The last interval of .5 miles I was merely trying to run a bit faster than marathon goal pace.  I ended up running it in 3:35, whic is 7:10 pace.  Since marathon goal pace is 7:30 that was good.  It felt more than brisk but still well under control.

The weather here continues to be amazing.  It was in the 70s when I started running yesterday at about 5:45.  Today it’s supposed to get up to 85.  The warm temperatures make it very easy to want to get outside a lot.

Yesterday I ran 20 miles, the longest run yet of my marathon training and my longest run ever.  My pace was slower than usual — about 8:49 min/mile.  Total time running, including short water breaks at drinking fountains along the bike trail, was 2:56 and change.  I feel sore but don’t seem to have injured anything, so that’s good.

There are about 7 weeks to go before the training.  I plan to run a 30K (18.6 mile) race on November 9 and a 10K on Thanksgiving morning.  I still have to do a couple more long runs over the next 5 weeks, before I taper.  Maybe even more importantly, I have to do more tempo runs.  I tried one on Thursday, but I didn’t hold a fast enough pace and it ended up more like a marathon-pace run (7:30 min/mile).  Tuesday is another interval workout with my running group, so I’ll have an opportunity to test my speed then.

Right now my fitness training is focused almost entirely on running.  I haven’t gone to the gym to work out in perhaps two months, my longest hiatus in almost three years.  I also haven’t lost weight.  I’m going to give myself a break on other things until after the marathon, and then I’ll refocus on total body exercising and fitness.   In the meantime I am doing some pushups, but still nowhere near as much upper body exercise as before.

Total running mileage this last week: 40 miles, a bit under where I wanted to be because I only ran 4 days.

Ran in the Cowtown Half Marathon today.  The conditions were absolutely perfect — starting temperature at 7:30 a.m. was in the low 50s, clear, relatively flat course.  My goal was to beat 1:34, and I did. I started running with a 1:35 pace group (7:15 min/mile), and stayed with it until about 6.5 miles into the race, and then I felt strong enough to take off.  For the rest of the race I picked off runners ahead of me, and managed to pick the pace up to about 7 min/mile. Over the last 6 miles I probably passed about 20 runners, and I don’t think anybody passed me (but I’m not sure about that).

At 10 miles, with just a 5K to go, I tried to turn it up just a notch higher.  I was very happy that I was able to not only maintain a strong pace but get faster as the race worn on.  At the end, I was still running strongly, unlike the last half marathon, when I began slowing badly with two miles to go.

So, a big success, and a good indicator that I should be able to beat 3:20 in the marathon in December.

I registered today to run a half marathon on Sunday.  It’s been a year and a half since my last one, so it will be interesting to see what sort of progress I can make.  My time then was 1:38; I hope to finish in under 1:34 this time. 

Although most facets of my fitness program have tailed off, running is going well.  Last week I ran 40 miles, my highest mileage week ever.  Tuesday I had my best interval workout yet, running intervals of 2 x 1.25 miles and 2 x 1 mile, with each interval at a pace of about 6:30 min/mile.

My half marathon time should be a good gauge of my current overall fitness level.  In the meantime, I’m trying modestly to control my food intake and lose some weight.  I’ll report again when the half marathon is over.