Monday, September 12, 2011

long way out

Trying to coordinate my training plan with the plan the W brothers are using. We’re all doing at least 2 speed/quality workouts per week and some type of long run on the weekend. We’re 12 weeks out from Rocket City. Last week we were able to do one speed workout together and an easy run. I attempted to do their workout on Sunday’s long run.

My plan called for 16-18 easy miles. The W brothers were going 16 miles with the last 30 minutes at a moderate/hard pace. We tried a new route, which seemed to drop continually for the first 7-8 miles. Only a couple of small rises before mile 9 and only a few more on the rest of the run. The fast guys hung back with us until about mile 8 before they picked up the pace and took off. It was nice to have a different route. I ended up just chasing in the last 5 miles and never really got to close to catching them. Overall pace for the run was about a minute slower than planned marathon pace. Still to early in my cycle to start doing fast finish long runs.

Guys were talking about some new tapering plan in a book by Inigo Mujika. I couldn't find much about it on the web. I’ll wait and get the cliff notes version after these guys are done reading the book. Seems like the volume is cut more than in traditional tapers, but the intensity level remains high. Pretty much what McMillan does in his taper. It did emphasize the importance of recovery. That’s one point that I’m really trying to make happen this cycle.

This mornings recovery run was at a 9:33 average pace. That’s about the ultra shuffle pace I use in a 50k. I start out super slow, close to a 10:00 mile and gradually speed up. This morning I never speed up. None of the guys I run with can run this slow. This is the same kind of pace I used in the last marathon cycle, except on the golf course. I’m not getting on the golf course this year, I can’t seem to run out there without tripping in a hole.

This is the 3rd week of miles in the mid 60's. Next week I'll increase my daily runs to 9 miles. I'm targetting 70-75 miles per week for the next 3 weeks. The increased miles and the streak haven't been an issue. Endurance is coming around, but the ability to hold speed it isn't there yet.

Found a cool link that summarizes a couple of the more popular marathon training prorams.

2 comments:

Jeff Edmonds said...

Glad you are still writing about running. I like to check in every now and then on the Old Man. Sounds like you are starting to get fit. Enjoy the process, don't get greedy. I think you are due for a good season.

Old Man said...

thanks, Jeff. So easy to get greedy when everything starts to click. Thats typcially what leads to injury though.