BAM! peak week has began. This training cycle I'm topping out at 94 miles. Why 94? Why the hell not? I mean, I don't really have a training plan, and haven't had one since like the third week of marathon training. Coupled with not logging my miles, this means two things: (1) I can kiss my BQ dreams good bye for this training cycle, at least; (2) I'll put down a ridiculous base of miles without really knowing it. My strategy is different this summer than two summers ago though.That time I ran doubles 6 or 7 days a week and ended up laid up with a stress fracture (albeit not a bad one) a month and a half in. This time I'm only going 6 days a week tops and am keeping a pretty standard mileage structure (off day Monday, mid- distance Tuesday through Thursday, short Friday and Sunday, and long Saturday).
Although maybe BQing isn't out of the picture totally. Last night after lab ended I went for a 7 miler and ended up knocking down the last 4 miles at around 6:20 pace without much differentiation in effort. 6:20's would put me at a 2:400 high marathon (I don't have a calculator on me) which would give me lots of time to hit the wall and (hopefully?) recover. But lets keep things in perspective- 4 miles is a far cry from 26 so its most likely not happening, but I'm just saying the speed is there somewhere.
This Saturday I'll be running. Typical. I work in Minneapolis Saturday, so I usually run home- take the long way and you can easily make it double digits rather than the normal weekday 7. This Saturday im going to try something different though. Instead of running, I'm going to walk to the train station. I'm going to walk to the train station and buy a ticket to Fridley, and then run home. Its only 14 miles (I think).
Sunday is Grand Ole Day as well. I was thinking of signing up for the 8k, which starts literally blocks from my house. Then I looked at the price- $20. Nope, not signing up for that. I have a policy that I won't pay more than $10 for a race less than 10k. I still might run it though, I'm getting pretty good at running races and not paying for them.
Also, Frank Shorter is speaking at the Grandma's Marathon expo. So pumped.
Showing posts with label Marathon training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marathon training. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
You are not the father!
No, I don't have a kid you don't know about. I was watching the Maury Show this afternoon. Before you get worried about me, let me explain. I ran today on the treadmill. Since the demographic of people in the St. Thomas cardio room is mostly young ladies, so the TVs were set up to talk shows and stuff. The TV right in front of me was tuned to the Maury Show, and since I went 50 minutes today, so I saw the whole thing, and that includes the "Am I the father?" segment or whatever, which was hilarious. But yeah, I felt like I let myself down running on the treadmill. I haven't ran inside all winter, but finally broke down. It wasn't even that cold, only -17 degree windchill (not even exaggerating, I ran in -27 degree windchill earlier this year, it sounds worse than it actually is.) The main reason I gave in is because of Grandmas training. This year I'm trying to hit a specific time (Boston, so 3:10:59 or less) so my workouts are usually run at a set pace that goes down by a couple seconds every week. This week its 8:17, save for tomorrow, which is a tempo run at 6:50's.
Yesterday I ran outside, and I actually averaged close to 8:15's, although I really couldn't tell you how. I pieced together a few routes, and ran through two college campuses and passed as many businesses as I could because they have the best chance of having a somewhat clear sidewalk. Somehow, I strung together two 7:00 miles and the rest were mid 8's. It sucked though, the hardest 7 mile run I've done in a while. So today I decided on the treadmill. First time in the new athletic center and I was pretty impressed. Finally something that looks like its worth the tuition I pay to go to this godforsaken school. Lets run down the pros and cons of the run:
Pros:
Yesterday I ran outside, and I actually averaged close to 8:15's, although I really couldn't tell you how. I pieced together a few routes, and ran through two college campuses and passed as many businesses as I could because they have the best chance of having a somewhat clear sidewalk. Somehow, I strung together two 7:00 miles and the rest were mid 8's. It sucked though, the hardest 7 mile run I've done in a while. So today I decided on the treadmill. First time in the new athletic center and I was pretty impressed. Finally something that looks like its worth the tuition I pay to go to this godforsaken school. Lets run down the pros and cons of the run:
Pros:
- Wore flats for the first time in 4 months
- Didn't have to wear multiple layers or deal with wind
- met some really good looking ladies
- No hills or ice
- Putting my shirt over the treadmill display made it much easier psychologically
- Ran straight 8:17's every mile
- It feels awesome knowing that you ran longer than most people in the room
- Ran straight 8:17's every mile
- I finished my run knowing I had not gone anywhere
- Somebody stole my shirt
- meatheads
- no hills, nothing really distinctive
- It was freakin 70 degrees the whole time!
- I was sweating profusely
Monday, January 31, 2011
That probably would have hurt if it wasnt so awesome
Or, "Que sera sera"
And we're back to running. Today's run was a fun one, with the goal more endurance than distance or time. Who am I kidding? there was no real goal. Its the day before marathon training starts and I just wanted to get some acidosis going on. It was snowing fairly hard when I got out of class and laced up the shoes, and there was quite a bit on the ground. It looked pretty, but it wasn't pretty to run in. It was pretty much a "pick your poison run," meaning that whichever route I picked to run wouldn't be 100% runable. I picked my normal 8 mile route down by the U of M, but only ran 5 of it. Its usually pretty well plowed, but not today. I couldn't even finish my warm up mile and a half warm up. I wiped out five times during my warm up, and ended up walking a little under half of it. Surprisingly, I didn't break anything. I fell a total of 6 times during that five miler. It was a good time though, I was fine during my run, save for being ridiculously hot and sweaty for it being 8 degrees outside.
I also got my Garmin watch today. I really wanted one, but honestly, I let my ambition get the best of me and ordered it last weekend. Granted, I wanted it for pace training for Grandmas, but I'm in a big fiscal crisis right now, it being the beginning of the semester and all, and I let my impulses get the best of me a little bit. That notwithstanding, I got a Garmin 305 off Amazon for $120 with free shipping, which is pretty cheap compared to what I could find. Anyways, I charged it up during my International Law and Orgs class and ran with it today. I'll review it later because today I used it in glorified watch mode. My heart rate (while I was running) was well over 180, so that tells you how tough the run was. The problem was I wasn't running all the time, which screwed everything up. However, I did somehow manage to click off miles 3 and 4 at 7:35 and 7:40, respectively. Just don't ask me to do it again.
Que Sera Sera means "whatever will be, will be" in Latin. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to start my Grandma's training on the treadmill. That is, if I can fit it in. Otherwise, we'll see how it goes.
And we're back to running. Today's run was a fun one, with the goal more endurance than distance or time. Who am I kidding? there was no real goal. Its the day before marathon training starts and I just wanted to get some acidosis going on. It was snowing fairly hard when I got out of class and laced up the shoes, and there was quite a bit on the ground. It looked pretty, but it wasn't pretty to run in. It was pretty much a "pick your poison run," meaning that whichever route I picked to run wouldn't be 100% runable. I picked my normal 8 mile route down by the U of M, but only ran 5 of it. Its usually pretty well plowed, but not today. I couldn't even finish my warm up mile and a half warm up. I wiped out five times during my warm up, and ended up walking a little under half of it. Surprisingly, I didn't break anything. I fell a total of 6 times during that five miler. It was a good time though, I was fine during my run, save for being ridiculously hot and sweaty for it being 8 degrees outside.
I also got my Garmin watch today. I really wanted one, but honestly, I let my ambition get the best of me and ordered it last weekend. Granted, I wanted it for pace training for Grandmas, but I'm in a big fiscal crisis right now, it being the beginning of the semester and all, and I let my impulses get the best of me a little bit. That notwithstanding, I got a Garmin 305 off Amazon for $120 with free shipping, which is pretty cheap compared to what I could find. Anyways, I charged it up during my International Law and Orgs class and ran with it today. I'll review it later because today I used it in glorified watch mode. My heart rate (while I was running) was well over 180, so that tells you how tough the run was. The problem was I wasn't running all the time, which screwed everything up. However, I did somehow manage to click off miles 3 and 4 at 7:35 and 7:40, respectively. Just don't ask me to do it again.
Que Sera Sera means "whatever will be, will be" in Latin. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to start my Grandma's training on the treadmill. That is, if I can fit it in. Otherwise, we'll see how it goes.
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