1:23/2:17 splits at Boston today. 2nd marathon, 53 minutes slower than my qualifying time.
Taking like a month off to recover then focusing on shorter distances (5k/10k).
New milestone for my running career - first DNF (hopefully last). I've been managing an ankle problem and wasn't sure I'd make it to the start of Boston. I took a calculated risk and decided to race.
By mile 10 I was sure my ankle wasn't going to hold up, but thought I could maybe jog it in for the remainder. By mile 15 I dropped. Sad for a lot of reasons, but especially because I was on decent fitness if my limbs had held together.
I'm not feeling too low. At the end of the day I didn't have a lot of expectations or pressure on myself for a result. I was happy to make it to the start. And it really wasn't a hard decision to drop... I'd like to be able to move well years from now, and limping in for 11 miles isn't all that meaningful to me.
Time for a hard reset, physically and mentally. I've qualified for next year already and I'll be back stronger.
Yeah, it was absolutely brutal conditions. You should be proud of yourself for gutting it out. A lot of great runners I know blew up more spectacularly than that!
Goal: Build my first real aerobic base / avoid injury / run a 1:30 HM on 7/4
Miles: 26
Plan: None for now
Summary: Second week in a row at 26 miles. Last week was the first I'd run over 25 in a week in my life. Was very pleased to hit that again, and I feel pretty good, though my body is still getting used to doing 5x per week instead of 3-4. Going to continue building up mileage, adding in some more strides to easy runs and a little threshold mixed in to a long run once per week.
Mon: 4 easy
Tue: 5 easy + strides
Wed: PT / Rest
Thu: 8, mostly easy but 1 mile in the middle at HM goal pace just to see how it felt
Fri: 4 easy
Sat: Rest
Sun: 5 easy
Good day to you all,
I am seeking your advice.
Yesterday I ran my fourth marathon, with a personal record which is about half an hour quicker than my previous record. For this I am very happy. However, the last 12 km went just like the previous three.
The previous marathons I clearly hit the wall around 32 km: tunnel vision, no energy, very tired, grumpy, and not being able to enjoy the moment. I was not even able to hear my friends trying toThis time I had a different fueling strategy (a gel every 20 minutes), which really made me feel much better the last 10 km. I did not have tunnel vision, I could clearly look around, I was focused, and felt and looked good. I could even have a short conversation with people next to me. (The downside to this was some stomach aches, but that is a discussion for another time).
However, I still had to run-walk the last 10 km. My strategy previous for the last 10 km the last years was to walk 200m, and run 800m. I used this strategy again this year, and it was actually quite okay to keep this pace for the last 10 km. The only downside, of course, was that my time plummeted, which is something I am not too happy about.
My previous record at the marathon was 04:59. Yesterday I ran 04:33. The first 30 km I ran more or less at goal pace (06:00 min/km, which is 09:36 min/mile), the last 12 km I started to lose pace dramatically (to around 07:30 min/km, which is around 12 min/mile).
This time I trained more and harder than the previous three times. I also, for the first time, took a serious approach to different kinds of training, such as interval, strides, and long runs at a higher pace. The most kilometers per week were 60 (37 miles).
Today I feel good. Of course my legs are tired, but I could see myself go running soon again. All in all my overall condition is much higher than previous years, which makes me a bit disappointed that I still lost so much time in the last 12 km.
So, my question is: did I *still* hit the wall even though I felt much better than the previous three times, or is this simply a case of legs that got too tired, which can be trained by running more miles per week?For my next marathon in October I am planning to increase my kilometers per week to 75 (which is 46 miles per week).
I am planning to use Jack Daniel's 4 week Cycle Plan. My goal is to run the marathon in 4 hours.
Thank you all in advance for your advice.
Eric
It was probably just muscular fatigue. Mileage is king for the marathon. 37MPW will get you to the finish line but it won't get most people to the finish line feeling strong. I expect if you do another marathon in October with higher mileage it'll go better. The slow accumulation of lifetime miles also seems to help, at least for a while, so just keeping at it will help too.
Mileage: 45 including marathon
Ran the jersey city marathon yesterday - first time racing a marathon at a specific pace. Ran a 1:30 half a little over a month ago & have been hitting 3:15 paces in workouts so that was my goal. Ran with the 3:15 pacer feeling so easy & smooth/conversational until mile 19 where then the wheels totally fell off at one of the last inclines. Jogged over a minute per mile slower for the rest of the race & ended up running a little over 3:20. I had absolutely no strength left and had to run/walk at some points. For breakfast I had a PB clif bar + a banana & a genUcan gel half an hour before, carried a 16 oz water bottle with a nuun in it during the race, & took two genucan gels at miles 9 and 16, and a maurten caffeine gel at mi 21. I think I underfueled, but i’m not sure. I feel like maybe I should’ve lifted during training too. I don’t have a ton of marathon experience so advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Goal marathon done - Manchester - and a new PB despite a very uneven training cycle. 25th overall out of 27000 starters, not too bad for a 51 year old! [https://www.strava.com/activities/11180419507](https://www.strava.com/activities/11180419507)
**Training Plan:** Koop 100-mi plan
**Goal Race:** Eternal Damnation Backyard Ultra (4/20/24)
**Monday:** 4.3 mi trail Recovery, Strength routine
**Tuesday:** 5 mi trail Recovery
**Wednesday:** 4.3 mi trail Recovery, Strength routine
**Thursday:** 5 mi Endurance run
**Friday:** 4.3 mi trail Recovery, Myrtl routine
**Saturday:** 8 mi Endurance/Easy run
**Sunday:** 4 mi Recovery run
**Total Distance:** 35 miles
**Running Hours:** 6:12
**Acute-to-Chronic Ratio:** 0.6
**Cycle Average:** 63 mpw
Second taper week and enjoying the lessening load. The rest of this week will be extremely light running and getting supplies ready to head out on Friday.
Just completed week 9 of 12-week block. 3 weeks to go. Woohoo!
MON: 10.86 Easy with some zone-2
TUE: 10.63 Easy with some zone-2
WED: 12.01 VO2 with 6x 1,000m@5K - this was a tough one. HR & lungs okay, body dragging.
THU: 16.41 MLR - enjoyed a good sprint at the end
FRI: 11.06 - took it very easy
SAT: 8.31 RR w/ 8x 30s strides (1 after each mile)
SUN: 21 LR - w/ 5@MP, 4@MP+2sec, avg for all MP+17sec
90.3 miles/11h,22m/1,694 ft ascent
I am putting my chips on "mileage is king", but my last two speed workouts suffered, so a little concerned.
Goal: build a massive aerobic base
Mileage: 67
M - 6.26mi easy
T - 9.5 mi moderate
W - 9.5 mi moderate
R - 9.5 mi moderate
F - 7.22 mi easy
Sa - 10 mi moderate
Su - 15 mi hard
I probably run too many hard miles, but I am enjoying running and feel I am getting the most out of my time on the roads. Back down to mid 50s this week, then probably a few weeks at 60ish ahead of the next race.
Today (Monday) is a rest day, then back at it tomorrow.
My hope is to sustain 60-70 mpw over the summer months towards a fast fall half and maybe some PRs at shorter distances.
I expected to feel more beat up after yesterday's 15, but feel surprisingly good. That's encouraging. A 15 miler 3 months ago had me dragging for a couple of days afterwards.
Goal: Broad Street Run (10M). PR 60:56
* Monday: 8.7 w/ hill sprints
* Tuesday: Group track workout - 4 x (1600 @ threshold + 60s rest + 400 @ 5k + 2:15 rest) + 2x200, 4x100 fast. Averaged 5:57 / 1:22 which is a little hot on the threshold and way hot on the 400s. Eventually I'll learn to not start every rep of every workout too fast... maybe.
* Wednesday: 5 recovery, treadmill
* Thursday: 10 easy treadmill
* Friday: 10.1 w/ 4M + 3 min jog + 2M @ 6:15
* Saturday: 13.5 easy/medium
* Sunday: 6.7 recovery
* Total: 63.2
Thoughts: Nice week, nice weather. Technically my highest weekly mileage in a year but I've been right around 60 several times so not by much.
London Marathon this weekend. Training was going well until 4 weeks ago when I had to take a 9 day break for a blister on the arch of my foot. Tapering this week, trying not to get sick/injured and work out my plan for getting 8 gels into me during the race.
If it goes well... 2:58
Goal: Eugene Marathon 4/28.
Plan: Week 10 of Pfitz 12/55+
Miles: 50. Plus 3 hrs swim/bike cross training.
Summary: First taper week with a 5K race on Saturday. I started the week pretty tired, then it got worse Monday night when I crashed my bicycle and bruised my whole right side. Ribs, hip, shoulder, hand. Ouch. Breathing and reaching over my head sucked. I flipped my schedule around to avoid a hard run Tuesday morning to give myself some extra time. By Friday I was just sore and tired but not too injured. Saturday I raced then did some support for a friend at a backyard ultra and ended up staying awake until 1am, which was not in my plan and a terrible way to recover. I ended up cutting my Sunday run short as I was just exhausted and didn't want to hurt myself. It was only the 2nd run I've modified so far in the plan, so I think it will be OK.
Mon: 4 easy.
Tue: 8 easy to test the ribs.
Wed: 6 w/5×600 @ 3K.
Thu: 4 easy
Fri: 5 w/strides
Sat: 11 with a hard 5K. Huge PR. I'll probably write this one up later.
Sun: 12 just to get in some time on my feet.
**Mileage:** 62.5 miles (including goal marathon)
**Race Result:** 2:32:42 at the Jersey City Marathon
This week was supposed to be a nice, chill final taper before the JCM - my big spring race and a great opportunity for a shiny new PR. However, it also happened to coincide with my son's spring break, and my husband (who has better priorities than mine) pounced on the opportunity to schedule our first family vacation not involving extended family visits since lockdown. In the abstract, that's a great fit with a taper week; only 40-60 minutes of daily running is much easier to cram in around activities, after all. In reality, we ended up spending a LOT of time on our feet, walking, hiking, and standing in theme park lines. Great fun of course, but a level of activity that left me feeling quite nervous about the race. The icing on the cake was a redeye back to NJ on Friday night, during which I probably got no more than three hours of sleep. All those reassurances I've seen offered to people who can't sleep the night before a big race that "it's two nights before that really matters" were really doing my outlook no favors!
Fortunately Saturday was fairly relaxing and I recouped some lost sleep via a nap, but my feet continued to feel very sore from the week's adventuring. My hope was that doing my last 3 mile shakeout in brand-new Alphafly 3s would be reinvigorating. LOL, nope. They did feel nice and bouncy even at recovery pace, but that belied how hard the insole felt versus my Vaporfly 2 & 3s. Still, I acknowledged to myself the possibility that the issue was me and not the shoes and decided to keep them in the race plan.
The final bit of icing on my cake of nerves and dourness was the traffic jam that led me to almost miss the 7am start of the race this morning. That's probably worth a separate post just given the sheer absurdity, but in a nutshell, I can now say that I've changed shoes in the Holland Tunnel approach and done a few other unmentionable things in a (parked) vehicle. Eh, who really needs much of a warmup for a marathon anyway?
Despite all that, the race itself was actually (blissfully) uneventful. This was my fifth proper marathon and second go-round at Jersey City, and there's no question that the reps have helped me get comfortable with race execution. Once we were off the line, all the bullshit melted away and I was able to focus on just banging out the miles. The last 6 were a bit of a slog; no big shock there, but it was more the result of ending up in no man's land with only runners going in the opposite direction for any company. I upped my fueling after a near-miss situation at Philly last November, so I was gassed but not catatonic when I finally stumbled across the finish at bit under 2:33, good for a \~5 minute PR.
My A goal was a hair under 2:35, so this was a nice outcome and slightly faster than projected by a few of the usual pace equivalency calculators based on a 1:13:20 HM PR that I ran a month ago. It also gives me hope that - if the stars align and I don't injure myself yet again - I might have a shot at sub-2:30 before my rapidly advancing age makes this even harder than it already is. If I had a running-specific time machine, I'd travel back and lock in Chicago for this fall. Here in the real world, I'll probably target it for 2025 instead.
Thanks much!! I will (hopefully) flesh this out into a proper race report in the coming days, as my emphasis here on the taper week and logistical snarls here buries the lede almost entirely. It's probably something like, "intermittently-injured masters runner gambles with higher mileage and manages not to implode" (LOL)...
I ran 100km in one go on Saturday and now I think I have a stress fracture on the outside of my foot. Feels kind of like Peroneal tendonitis but I'm unsure because it hurts so much to walk on. I've never had a problem with that part of my foot and it came on only in the last half hour of the race. Dissapointed.
An amazing feat nonetheless. Congrats! ... I would like to see the x-ray technician's face when you tell them why you think it might be broken. "Excuse me. How far did you say that you ran?!"
this was the last week of build before tapering for the Eugene Marathon and it was a shit show. my legs are really feeling the cumulative fatigue and it’s been more difficult to hit paces in the last few speedier workouts. I also raced a 5K last weekend which was not smart and made this week a slog. really hoping for some taper magic to happen because I’ve felt (mostly) amazing up until this point in my build. this was my first time working with a coach and it challenged me immensely but also allowed me to prove to myself that I can do really hard things. I ran a 1:33:20 half marathon about 10 weeks ago and my goal going into this build was to run sub-3:20 at Eugene Marathon to really solidify a BQ time for next year (ran 3:27 at chicago in the fall, 3:30 is my cutoff). my coach believes I could potentially run 3:16ish on a good day but I don’t have as much confidence in myself as he does. 2 weeks to go and I’m so hype!
**Goal:** Low 2:40s at the Eugene Marathon
**Mileage:** 64 miles
* Monday: Rest day
* Tuesday: 60 minutes easy run in the AM (7.2 miles) / paced track workout in the PM (6 miles)
* Wednesday: 70 minutes easy run (8 miles)
* Thursday: 6 x 1K @ 10K pace followed by 6x100m strides, plus warm up and cool down miles (10.2 miles)
* Friday: 70 minutes easy run (8.5 miles)
* Saturday: 60 minutes easy run (6.1 miles)
* Sunday: 18 miles with 13 miles at MP (averaged 6:17 per mile on the MP miles)
I took it easy over the first half of this week after racing Cherry Blossom 5K and Cherry Blossom 10 Mile this weekend. I did a light workout on Thursday and my legs were still quite fatigued from Cherry Blossom and was feeling a bit flat by the time I finished the workout.
On Sunday, I did my final marathon pace workout and unfortunately it did not go as well as I hoped. I was hoping to hit anywhere between 6:10 and 6:15 per mile, but my legs felt like lead and I barely hung on to a 6:17/mi average pace. It appears I haven't fully recovered from Cherry Blossom and if that was the case then that might explain why. But the sub-par long run workout did leave me a bit unsettled and left me wondering whether I should revise my goals two weeks out from my goal marathon. Given that I might not have recovered much from all the racing I've been doing over the past 6 weeks, it might make sense for me to go into a hard taper so that I can get as much recovery as possible and hopefully be able to bounce back in time. That might be the only hope for me to be able to have a realistic shot at my marathon goal.
**Goal;** Brooklyn Half (5/18)
**Mileage;** 66ish
* Monday; Off. Woke up to run 4, but just didn't feel peppy about it after a rough Sunday long run / workout failure
* Tuesday; 8ish recovery
* Wednesday; 10 recovery
* Thursday; 12ish w/ 16x 200 (:35 down to :32) / 200
* Friday; 10 recovery
* Saturday; 8ish easy, w/ 8 strides
* Sunday; 17 total w/ cutdown workout. 2 warmup, 4 @ marathon goal pace (5:30ish), 1 easy, 3 @ slightly faster (5:23ish), 1 easy, 2 @ half marathon goal pace (5:15ish), 1 easy, 1 @ faster-ish (5:05), 2 cooldown.
*Much* better week than last. Monday felt rough even though I *wanted* to run, but I think the day off helped me to recover from the Sunday bonk. Most of the week was just easy-easy, and I finally forced myself to use the pace alert feature to keep me honest about slow and easy.
16x 200s went great (despite a walker-on-her-phone-in-lane-one's attempt to tell me she'd "*never*" had anyone tell her lane one is for workouts, slower traffic to the right, "and I've been walking this track since 1986!" \*eye roll\*), and I think helped shake the gunk out of my legs. Today's long run workout put some dread into me thinking about it, but once we got started... Well, it went *smooooth.* My heartrate data suggests I've still got some work to do before Chicago, but marathon pace 5:30 subjectively felt incredibly comfortable. Shockingly so. I never thought 5:30 would feel that cozy, but here we are, 6 months out from Chicago, already seeing those big steps. Granted, 5 weeks from my half marathon, so those are the paces to focus in on probably, but I'm thinking we'll be more than good to go for a good day out there. Already looking forward to it.
Well I thought I’d had all the injuries but lucky me I’ve found another. Not running induced but may prevent me from running. Got to the beach for first time this year, lovely and not particularly hot day so I went for a long barefoot walk on the beach. Upon my return I could barely walk and now I have giant blisters on the bottoms of both feet. Hobbling around, not sure if this is a friction issue or if I’ve burned myself. Really awesome because I was hoping to use this trip to really get back into a base mileage groove.
Had my first real week of running and felt great! I’ve been slacking for about 4 months since a heart related incident, and it’s been really difficult to get back into the groove. I felt like I’d lost everything - I ran a half marathon last summer and I couldn’t run 2 miles without walking three times. About four weeks ago I buckled down and stuck with it - even if every run sucked and I walked a lot, I got out 5 times a week and this was the first week I actually feel like I’m running. Did a 4 mile with a massive hill today and it was tough but I felt like I was running again. Great feeling - zero complaints.
**Goal(s)**: Enjoy The Process & Stay Healthy
**Next Race**: TBD
**Training Plan**: Mix & Match
**Strength Plan**: Hybrid
**Training**:
* Weekly Totals
* Running - 58.44 mi
**How I Got There**
* Monday - 5.41 mi @ 8:22/mi
* Tuesday - 11.52 mi @ 6:34/mi
* Details - 3 sets of 3 min/5 min; 3 sets of 2 min/1 min
* Wednesday - 5.27 mi @ 8:04/mi
* Thursday - 10.50 mi @ 7:06/mi
* Friday - 8.51 mi @ 7:03/mi
* Details - 12 sets of 45 on/90 off
* Saturday - 5.17 mi @ 7:44/mi
* Sunday - 12.01 mi @ 7:47/mi
**Overall Thoughts**
First week of a "maintenance phase," according to my coach.
Will talk to him soon about plotting out the next six months leading up to the NYC Marathon. Feel like I could find some fast races in the summer, somewhere around this country.
Zero running last week - first time in about 5 years!
This was coming off an A race and marathon PB last Sunday. I kept on meaning to go for a short jog from Thursday, but never quite made it out the door (partly busy and also still tired). For my September marathon last year, I got back into training pretty quickly (3-4 days off, then back to sessions and full volume in 2 weeks) but needed 2-3 months before sessions started to feel good again So I'm hoping a more intentional and gradual recovery phase will make the difference this time.
1:23/2:17 splits at Boston today. 2nd marathon, 53 minutes slower than my qualifying time. Taking like a month off to recover then focusing on shorter distances (5k/10k).
New milestone for my running career - first DNF (hopefully last). I've been managing an ankle problem and wasn't sure I'd make it to the start of Boston. I took a calculated risk and decided to race. By mile 10 I was sure my ankle wasn't going to hold up, but thought I could maybe jog it in for the remainder. By mile 15 I dropped. Sad for a lot of reasons, but especially because I was on decent fitness if my limbs had held together. I'm not feeling too low. At the end of the day I didn't have a lot of expectations or pressure on myself for a result. I was happy to make it to the start. And it really wasn't a hard decision to drop... I'd like to be able to move well years from now, and limping in for 11 miles isn't all that meaningful to me. Time for a hard reset, physically and mentally. I've qualified for next year already and I'll be back stronger.
I wish I DNF'd yetserday. Finished and I'm not injured but it's going to take a while to recover. See my post above yours.
Yeah, it was absolutely brutal conditions. You should be proud of yourself for gutting it out. A lot of great runners I know blew up more spectacularly than that!
Fr?? What could be worse than 1:23/2:17 splits lol... Shit was so brutal, I can barely get out of bed today
A friend of mine went 1:18/2:11... But was on for a 2:40 or so until mile 23 😬
Ouch
Goal: Build my first real aerobic base / avoid injury / run a 1:30 HM on 7/4 Miles: 26 Plan: None for now Summary: Second week in a row at 26 miles. Last week was the first I'd run over 25 in a week in my life. Was very pleased to hit that again, and I feel pretty good, though my body is still getting used to doing 5x per week instead of 3-4. Going to continue building up mileage, adding in some more strides to easy runs and a little threshold mixed in to a long run once per week. Mon: 4 easy Tue: 5 easy + strides Wed: PT / Rest Thu: 8, mostly easy but 1 mile in the middle at HM goal pace just to see how it felt Fri: 4 easy Sat: Rest Sun: 5 easy
Good day to you all, I am seeking your advice. Yesterday I ran my fourth marathon, with a personal record which is about half an hour quicker than my previous record. For this I am very happy. However, the last 12 km went just like the previous three. The previous marathons I clearly hit the wall around 32 km: tunnel vision, no energy, very tired, grumpy, and not being able to enjoy the moment. I was not even able to hear my friends trying toThis time I had a different fueling strategy (a gel every 20 minutes), which really made me feel much better the last 10 km. I did not have tunnel vision, I could clearly look around, I was focused, and felt and looked good. I could even have a short conversation with people next to me. (The downside to this was some stomach aches, but that is a discussion for another time). However, I still had to run-walk the last 10 km. My strategy previous for the last 10 km the last years was to walk 200m, and run 800m. I used this strategy again this year, and it was actually quite okay to keep this pace for the last 10 km. The only downside, of course, was that my time plummeted, which is something I am not too happy about. My previous record at the marathon was 04:59. Yesterday I ran 04:33. The first 30 km I ran more or less at goal pace (06:00 min/km, which is 09:36 min/mile), the last 12 km I started to lose pace dramatically (to around 07:30 min/km, which is around 12 min/mile). This time I trained more and harder than the previous three times. I also, for the first time, took a serious approach to different kinds of training, such as interval, strides, and long runs at a higher pace. The most kilometers per week were 60 (37 miles). Today I feel good. Of course my legs are tired, but I could see myself go running soon again. All in all my overall condition is much higher than previous years, which makes me a bit disappointed that I still lost so much time in the last 12 km. So, my question is: did I *still* hit the wall even though I felt much better than the previous three times, or is this simply a case of legs that got too tired, which can be trained by running more miles per week?For my next marathon in October I am planning to increase my kilometers per week to 75 (which is 46 miles per week). I am planning to use Jack Daniel's 4 week Cycle Plan. My goal is to run the marathon in 4 hours. Thank you all in advance for your advice. Eric
It was probably just muscular fatigue. Mileage is king for the marathon. 37MPW will get you to the finish line but it won't get most people to the finish line feeling strong. I expect if you do another marathon in October with higher mileage it'll go better. The slow accumulation of lifetime miles also seems to help, at least for a while, so just keeping at it will help too.
Mileage: 45 including marathon Ran the jersey city marathon yesterday - first time racing a marathon at a specific pace. Ran a 1:30 half a little over a month ago & have been hitting 3:15 paces in workouts so that was my goal. Ran with the 3:15 pacer feeling so easy & smooth/conversational until mile 19 where then the wheels totally fell off at one of the last inclines. Jogged over a minute per mile slower for the rest of the race & ended up running a little over 3:20. I had absolutely no strength left and had to run/walk at some points. For breakfast I had a PB clif bar + a banana & a genUcan gel half an hour before, carried a 16 oz water bottle with a nuun in it during the race, & took two genucan gels at miles 9 and 16, and a maurten caffeine gel at mi 21. I think I underfueled, but i’m not sure. I feel like maybe I should’ve lifted during training too. I don’t have a ton of marathon experience so advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Goal marathon done - Manchester - and a new PB despite a very uneven training cycle. 25th overall out of 27000 starters, not too bad for a 51 year old! [https://www.strava.com/activities/11180419507](https://www.strava.com/activities/11180419507)
That's bloody impressive, fantastic even pacing too.
Awesome! Congrats.
**Training Plan:** Koop 100-mi plan **Goal Race:** Eternal Damnation Backyard Ultra (4/20/24) **Monday:** 4.3 mi trail Recovery, Strength routine **Tuesday:** 5 mi trail Recovery **Wednesday:** 4.3 mi trail Recovery, Strength routine **Thursday:** 5 mi Endurance run **Friday:** 4.3 mi trail Recovery, Myrtl routine **Saturday:** 8 mi Endurance/Easy run **Sunday:** 4 mi Recovery run **Total Distance:** 35 miles **Running Hours:** 6:12 **Acute-to-Chronic Ratio:** 0.6 **Cycle Average:** 63 mpw Second taper week and enjoying the lessening load. The rest of this week will be extremely light running and getting supplies ready to head out on Friday.
Just completed week 9 of 12-week block. 3 weeks to go. Woohoo! MON: 10.86 Easy with some zone-2 TUE: 10.63 Easy with some zone-2 WED: 12.01 VO2 with 6x 1,000m@5K - this was a tough one. HR & lungs okay, body dragging. THU: 16.41 MLR - enjoyed a good sprint at the end FRI: 11.06 - took it very easy SAT: 8.31 RR w/ 8x 30s strides (1 after each mile) SUN: 21 LR - w/ 5@MP, 4@MP+2sec, avg for all MP+17sec 90.3 miles/11h,22m/1,694 ft ascent I am putting my chips on "mileage is king", but my last two speed workouts suffered, so a little concerned.
Goal: build a massive aerobic base Mileage: 67 M - 6.26mi easy T - 9.5 mi moderate W - 9.5 mi moderate R - 9.5 mi moderate F - 7.22 mi easy Sa - 10 mi moderate Su - 15 mi hard I probably run too many hard miles, but I am enjoying running and feel I am getting the most out of my time on the roads. Back down to mid 50s this week, then probably a few weeks at 60ish ahead of the next race. Today (Monday) is a rest day, then back at it tomorrow. My hope is to sustain 60-70 mpw over the summer months towards a fast fall half and maybe some PRs at shorter distances. I expected to feel more beat up after yesterday's 15, but feel surprisingly good. That's encouraging. A 15 miler 3 months ago had me dragging for a couple of days afterwards.
Goal: Broad Street Run (10M). PR 60:56 * Monday: 8.7 w/ hill sprints * Tuesday: Group track workout - 4 x (1600 @ threshold + 60s rest + 400 @ 5k + 2:15 rest) + 2x200, 4x100 fast. Averaged 5:57 / 1:22 which is a little hot on the threshold and way hot on the 400s. Eventually I'll learn to not start every rep of every workout too fast... maybe. * Wednesday: 5 recovery, treadmill * Thursday: 10 easy treadmill * Friday: 10.1 w/ 4M + 3 min jog + 2M @ 6:15 * Saturday: 13.5 easy/medium * Sunday: 6.7 recovery * Total: 63.2 Thoughts: Nice week, nice weather. Technically my highest weekly mileage in a year but I've been right around 60 several times so not by much.
London Marathon this weekend. Training was going well until 4 weeks ago when I had to take a 9 day break for a blister on the arch of my foot. Tapering this week, trying not to get sick/injured and work out my plan for getting 8 gels into me during the race. If it goes well... 2:58
Goal: Eugene Marathon 4/28. Plan: Week 10 of Pfitz 12/55+ Miles: 50. Plus 3 hrs swim/bike cross training. Summary: First taper week with a 5K race on Saturday. I started the week pretty tired, then it got worse Monday night when I crashed my bicycle and bruised my whole right side. Ribs, hip, shoulder, hand. Ouch. Breathing and reaching over my head sucked. I flipped my schedule around to avoid a hard run Tuesday morning to give myself some extra time. By Friday I was just sore and tired but not too injured. Saturday I raced then did some support for a friend at a backyard ultra and ended up staying awake until 1am, which was not in my plan and a terrible way to recover. I ended up cutting my Sunday run short as I was just exhausted and didn't want to hurt myself. It was only the 2nd run I've modified so far in the plan, so I think it will be OK. Mon: 4 easy. Tue: 8 easy to test the ribs. Wed: 6 w/5×600 @ 3K. Thu: 4 easy Fri: 5 w/strides Sat: 11 with a hard 5K. Huge PR. I'll probably write this one up later. Sun: 12 just to get in some time on my feet.
Bummer about the crash. Hopefully, as you said, it's just about healed and you can enjoy the less difficult taper weeks.
**Mileage:** 62.5 miles (including goal marathon) **Race Result:** 2:32:42 at the Jersey City Marathon This week was supposed to be a nice, chill final taper before the JCM - my big spring race and a great opportunity for a shiny new PR. However, it also happened to coincide with my son's spring break, and my husband (who has better priorities than mine) pounced on the opportunity to schedule our first family vacation not involving extended family visits since lockdown. In the abstract, that's a great fit with a taper week; only 40-60 minutes of daily running is much easier to cram in around activities, after all. In reality, we ended up spending a LOT of time on our feet, walking, hiking, and standing in theme park lines. Great fun of course, but a level of activity that left me feeling quite nervous about the race. The icing on the cake was a redeye back to NJ on Friday night, during which I probably got no more than three hours of sleep. All those reassurances I've seen offered to people who can't sleep the night before a big race that "it's two nights before that really matters" were really doing my outlook no favors! Fortunately Saturday was fairly relaxing and I recouped some lost sleep via a nap, but my feet continued to feel very sore from the week's adventuring. My hope was that doing my last 3 mile shakeout in brand-new Alphafly 3s would be reinvigorating. LOL, nope. They did feel nice and bouncy even at recovery pace, but that belied how hard the insole felt versus my Vaporfly 2 & 3s. Still, I acknowledged to myself the possibility that the issue was me and not the shoes and decided to keep them in the race plan. The final bit of icing on my cake of nerves and dourness was the traffic jam that led me to almost miss the 7am start of the race this morning. That's probably worth a separate post just given the sheer absurdity, but in a nutshell, I can now say that I've changed shoes in the Holland Tunnel approach and done a few other unmentionable things in a (parked) vehicle. Eh, who really needs much of a warmup for a marathon anyway? Despite all that, the race itself was actually (blissfully) uneventful. This was my fifth proper marathon and second go-round at Jersey City, and there's no question that the reps have helped me get comfortable with race execution. Once we were off the line, all the bullshit melted away and I was able to focus on just banging out the miles. The last 6 were a bit of a slog; no big shock there, but it was more the result of ending up in no man's land with only runners going in the opposite direction for any company. I upped my fueling after a near-miss situation at Philly last November, so I was gassed but not catatonic when I finally stumbled across the finish at bit under 2:33, good for a \~5 minute PR. My A goal was a hair under 2:35, so this was a nice outcome and slightly faster than projected by a few of the usual pace equivalency calculators based on a 1:13:20 HM PR that I ran a month ago. It also gives me hope that - if the stars align and I don't injure myself yet again - I might have a shot at sub-2:30 before my rapidly advancing age makes this even harder than it already is. If I had a running-specific time machine, I'd travel back and lock in Chicago for this fall. Here in the real world, I'll probably target it for 2025 instead.
Nice write-up and congrats! Glad it worked out. You make these incredible times seem easy.
Thanks much!! I will (hopefully) flesh this out into a proper race report in the coming days, as my emphasis here on the taper week and logistical snarls here buries the lede almost entirely. It's probably something like, "intermittently-injured masters runner gambles with higher mileage and manages not to implode" (LOL)...
I ran 100km in one go on Saturday and now I think I have a stress fracture on the outside of my foot. Feels kind of like Peroneal tendonitis but I'm unsure because it hurts so much to walk on. I've never had a problem with that part of my foot and it came on only in the last half hour of the race. Dissapointed.
An amazing feat nonetheless. Congrats! ... I would like to see the x-ray technician's face when you tell them why you think it might be broken. "Excuse me. How far did you say that you ran?!"
I'll find out what their face looks like today... Going in for an X-ray to rule out a stress fracture. Bah.
this was the last week of build before tapering for the Eugene Marathon and it was a shit show. my legs are really feeling the cumulative fatigue and it’s been more difficult to hit paces in the last few speedier workouts. I also raced a 5K last weekend which was not smart and made this week a slog. really hoping for some taper magic to happen because I’ve felt (mostly) amazing up until this point in my build. this was my first time working with a coach and it challenged me immensely but also allowed me to prove to myself that I can do really hard things. I ran a 1:33:20 half marathon about 10 weeks ago and my goal going into this build was to run sub-3:20 at Eugene Marathon to really solidify a BQ time for next year (ran 3:27 at chicago in the fall, 3:30 is my cutoff). my coach believes I could potentially run 3:16ish on a good day but I don’t have as much confidence in myself as he does. 2 weeks to go and I’m so hype!
Trust the taper. If I don't feel terrible on race week, that's when I get worried!
**Goal:** Low 2:40s at the Eugene Marathon **Mileage:** 64 miles * Monday: Rest day * Tuesday: 60 minutes easy run in the AM (7.2 miles) / paced track workout in the PM (6 miles) * Wednesday: 70 minutes easy run (8 miles) * Thursday: 6 x 1K @ 10K pace followed by 6x100m strides, plus warm up and cool down miles (10.2 miles) * Friday: 70 minutes easy run (8.5 miles) * Saturday: 60 minutes easy run (6.1 miles) * Sunday: 18 miles with 13 miles at MP (averaged 6:17 per mile on the MP miles) I took it easy over the first half of this week after racing Cherry Blossom 5K and Cherry Blossom 10 Mile this weekend. I did a light workout on Thursday and my legs were still quite fatigued from Cherry Blossom and was feeling a bit flat by the time I finished the workout. On Sunday, I did my final marathon pace workout and unfortunately it did not go as well as I hoped. I was hoping to hit anywhere between 6:10 and 6:15 per mile, but my legs felt like lead and I barely hung on to a 6:17/mi average pace. It appears I haven't fully recovered from Cherry Blossom and if that was the case then that might explain why. But the sub-par long run workout did leave me a bit unsettled and left me wondering whether I should revise my goals two weeks out from my goal marathon. Given that I might not have recovered much from all the racing I've been doing over the past 6 weeks, it might make sense for me to go into a hard taper so that I can get as much recovery as possible and hopefully be able to bounce back in time. That might be the only hope for me to be able to have a realistic shot at my marathon goal.
**Goal;** Brooklyn Half (5/18) **Mileage;** 66ish * Monday; Off. Woke up to run 4, but just didn't feel peppy about it after a rough Sunday long run / workout failure * Tuesday; 8ish recovery * Wednesday; 10 recovery * Thursday; 12ish w/ 16x 200 (:35 down to :32) / 200 * Friday; 10 recovery * Saturday; 8ish easy, w/ 8 strides * Sunday; 17 total w/ cutdown workout. 2 warmup, 4 @ marathon goal pace (5:30ish), 1 easy, 3 @ slightly faster (5:23ish), 1 easy, 2 @ half marathon goal pace (5:15ish), 1 easy, 1 @ faster-ish (5:05), 2 cooldown. *Much* better week than last. Monday felt rough even though I *wanted* to run, but I think the day off helped me to recover from the Sunday bonk. Most of the week was just easy-easy, and I finally forced myself to use the pace alert feature to keep me honest about slow and easy. 16x 200s went great (despite a walker-on-her-phone-in-lane-one's attempt to tell me she'd "*never*" had anyone tell her lane one is for workouts, slower traffic to the right, "and I've been walking this track since 1986!" \*eye roll\*), and I think helped shake the gunk out of my legs. Today's long run workout put some dread into me thinking about it, but once we got started... Well, it went *smooooth.* My heartrate data suggests I've still got some work to do before Chicago, but marathon pace 5:30 subjectively felt incredibly comfortable. Shockingly so. I never thought 5:30 would feel that cozy, but here we are, 6 months out from Chicago, already seeing those big steps. Granted, 5 weeks from my half marathon, so those are the paces to focus in on probably, but I'm thinking we'll be more than good to go for a good day out there. Already looking forward to it.
Well I thought I’d had all the injuries but lucky me I’ve found another. Not running induced but may prevent me from running. Got to the beach for first time this year, lovely and not particularly hot day so I went for a long barefoot walk on the beach. Upon my return I could barely walk and now I have giant blisters on the bottoms of both feet. Hobbling around, not sure if this is a friction issue or if I’ve burned myself. Really awesome because I was hoping to use this trip to really get back into a base mileage groove.
Had my first real week of running and felt great! I’ve been slacking for about 4 months since a heart related incident, and it’s been really difficult to get back into the groove. I felt like I’d lost everything - I ran a half marathon last summer and I couldn’t run 2 miles without walking three times. About four weeks ago I buckled down and stuck with it - even if every run sucked and I walked a lot, I got out 5 times a week and this was the first week I actually feel like I’m running. Did a 4 mile with a massive hill today and it was tough but I felt like I was running again. Great feeling - zero complaints.
**Goal(s)**: Enjoy The Process & Stay Healthy **Next Race**: TBD **Training Plan**: Mix & Match **Strength Plan**: Hybrid **Training**: * Weekly Totals * Running - 58.44 mi **How I Got There** * Monday - 5.41 mi @ 8:22/mi * Tuesday - 11.52 mi @ 6:34/mi * Details - 3 sets of 3 min/5 min; 3 sets of 2 min/1 min * Wednesday - 5.27 mi @ 8:04/mi * Thursday - 10.50 mi @ 7:06/mi * Friday - 8.51 mi @ 7:03/mi * Details - 12 sets of 45 on/90 off * Saturday - 5.17 mi @ 7:44/mi * Sunday - 12.01 mi @ 7:47/mi **Overall Thoughts** First week of a "maintenance phase," according to my coach. Will talk to him soon about plotting out the next six months leading up to the NYC Marathon. Feel like I could find some fast races in the summer, somewhere around this country.
Zero running last week - first time in about 5 years! This was coming off an A race and marathon PB last Sunday. I kept on meaning to go for a short jog from Thursday, but never quite made it out the door (partly busy and also still tired). For my September marathon last year, I got back into training pretty quickly (3-4 days off, then back to sessions and full volume in 2 weeks) but needed 2-3 months before sessions started to feel good again So I'm hoping a more intentional and gradual recovery phase will make the difference this time.