Spring Race Training: Week 11

Posted on April 5, 2009 by threlkeld

09spr-training-11

The mileage drop in Week 10 helped me quite a bit this week. I felt great all week despite the problem of March winds, which asserted themselves on Tuesday morning and again, overstaying their welcome, today for my Sunday race.

With the exception of one slower treadmill session, all of my recovery runs were on the quicker side. I may be getting fitter and faster, or it may just have been a spell of temporary freshness from the relatively low-demand days of the previous week.

In any case, all of the hard workouts went exceptionally well. Tuesday’s midlength easy+tempo effort was a surprise. With bad wind, I figured I’d be lucky to get below 7:00 pace on the last four miles. But I was able to run pretty close to goal pace for two of the four miles, then had to slow down for the other two headwindy ones. Still, eight seconds off pace per was fine with me.

Considering how difficult these longish easy+tempo runs have been for me so far, I felt as if I’ve made a real leap in endurance. That will be put to test next Sunday, when I run a 22 miler with the last three at 6:50 pace.

Thursday’s track session featured delightful weather: 50 degrees and a wind of merely 4mph. The goal was 4 x 1000m in 4:05 each (6:34 pace) Splits were a little uneven, but they averaged out to 4:06: 4:10, 4:03, 4:06, 4:06.

On Thursday afternoon I finally got in to see our orthopedist/sports med guy. After an unnecessary x-ray (performed without even having looked at my foot; no wonder our health care costs are so high) he diagnosed a cyst or “thickening of the sheath” of a ligament. One painful cortisone shot later, I was on my way. The foot feels great now.

On Friday I ran a 10 mile recovery run in a steady downpour and was soaked by mile two. But it was actually enjoyable, with temperatures around 50 — once I accepted that I was going to be wet (and very badly chafed, as I soon discovered), it was sort of fun running straight through six inch deep puddles. I felt great and ended up running 9:07 pace for that one. I did seven strides too, but they were a joke in those conditions.

Once again, I loaded up on carbohydrates on Friday and Saturday to prepare for today’s big sandwich run/race out on Long Island. That went very well — historically well, even!

Week 12 is another 100 mile effort, with a plain vanilla 15 miler on Tuesday and a monster track session on Friday (or maybe Thursday, depending on weather): 16 x 400 in 1:37 with 45-50 second rests. Eep!

And yet…and yet…I find myself looking forward to it. I want to see what’s possible. Or, rather, see if what I think is possible is actually doable. I’ve also got that 22 miler on Sunday, but (and maybe this is a mistake) I’m almost treating it as an afterthought to that beeyotch of a track workout.

What remains to be done between now and May 30th is a great mystery. I’m eagerly awaiting the final eight week schedule from Coach Kevin. If it weren’t my birthday, I’d say I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve.

Filed under: coaching, injury, recovery, training | 3 Comments »

Sandwich runs

Posted on March 21, 2009 by threlkeld

Tomorrow I have what I’ve started calling a “sandwich run.” This is a workout that consists of a respectable number of miles to start with (at aerobic pace), followed by a race, then finished off with another chunk of miles immediately post-race.

In these runs, you’re not meant to race all out. Instead, the aim is to get in some aerobic miles so you go in tired. Next, you run the race at some predetermined goal pace that is slower than you could actually race it (for example, marathon pace, marathon+10%, etc.). And finally, you force yourself to run some more miles at a respectable pace once the race is finished and everyone else is off enjoying their bagels and hot chocolate.

I was first introduced to this concept back in November, where I saw that my coach had scheduled two miles on either side of a 10K race. I was told to really run these miles, not jog them. In fact, if I could manage it, it would be even better to work up to my intended racing speed at the end of the pre-race segment.

At the time, I thought this was a nutty idea. But that day I learned the value of running a mile or so hard before a short race; for the first time, I felt truly warmed up before a 10K, and I ran fast (considering the conditions) that day.

I’ve since had one other sandwich run: a planned 18 miler with 4.5 each on either side of the Ted Corbitt 15K in Central Park. It was very wet and cold that day, so I cut the two “bread” runs short (3.5 and 4.0), but nevertheless raced the whole 9.3 miles of “meat” in the middle.

That run was over three months ago. Tomorrow is the biggest sandwich run yet: the Colon Cancer Challenge 15K, with two full loops of the park (6.2 miles) tacked on either side, bringing the total distance to around 22 miles. I’m planning to do the first segment on the low end of the aerobic range, or around 72% max heart rate. Then I’m aiming for an average pace of 7:15 for the race. For the final miles, I’m taking the attitude that I’ll do what I can do, although I hope to again maintain an effort that is at least in the low 70s% mhr (recognizing that cardiac creep may push it higher anyway).

I find these workouts both intriguing and satisfying. In the satisfaction department, it takes the pressure off of racing. I know I can’t race all out, and so I don’t have to feel bad when I don’t. It’s also amusing when I’m running the course after the race and an astute volunteer says, “Hey, you’re on your third loop!” or something else that indicates they’re onto me (or they think I’m mentally challenged).

These runs are also a great exercise mentally, as the last thing you want to do after crossing the finish line is to go run six more miles. But that’s kind of how I feel every time I reach mile 20 of a marathon: I’m done. I don’t want to run fast anymore. But I have to. So I do. But, boy, does it take a mental effort to race those last six miles. The intrigue lies in whether a regular dose of sandwich runs helps with that particular aspect of marathon racing, which I have always suspected is as much mental as it is physiological in nature.

Filed under: central park, coaching, physiology, racing, training | 4 Comments »

Spring Race Training: Week 1

Posted on January 27, 2009 by threlkeld

09spr-training-011

At last, actual training for my late May race in Newport, OR has commenced. I’ll be training for 19 weeks (including taper weeks), although I’ve only got a schedule for the next three months at the moment, but that’s more than enough to handle for now.

Here are the differences between “training” and “basebuilding,” at least as far as what Kevin has provided:

  • I’m still on a three week cycle, with two high mileage/high intensity weeks followed by one lower mileage/high intensity week; but now there are no days off.
  • Instead of doing faster running by effort, I now have assigned paces that I need to hit. I prefer this, as it’s a truer measuring stick of progress.
  • Recovery weeks are now in the 70-80 mile range rather than the 60 mile weeks during basebuilding.
  • I’m running doubles 2-4 days per week now.
  • The Sunday long runs are getting longer, and three longer races (15-21M) feature Mpace running for a significant chunk of the total distance.
  • I’ve got a speed session every week with lots of variance in the workouts from week to week: from 200m to 2K repeats. And I’m still doing tempo efforts tacked on to longer general aerobic runs every week.
  • I’ve got strides every week on one recovery run, but only eight.

The first week of training was, frankly, outstanding. My training diary notes that Tuesday’s tempo run and Friday’s 2 x 1 mile intervals felt way too easy. I have trouble accepting what seems like a jump in fitness at face value, tending more toward blaming the notoriously inaccurate technology I rely on when running inside (uncalibrated treadmill plus sort of calibrated footpod).

I took things outside on Sunday, though, for a half marathon in Central Park. And I was delighted to discover that I could run fast under rotten conditions and less than ideal logistics. So now I’m thinking that I am fitter and faster after all.

Week 2 includes a nice, long tempo session on Wednesday followed by 5 x 1K repeats on Friday and a 20 miler on Sunday. I’m looking forward to it.

Filed under: basebuilding, central park, coaching, racing, recovery, training | 13 Comments »

Whooee, it’s cold!

Posted on January 17, 2009 by threlkeld

But I don’t care. I got to run outside for the first time in a week and I hope to do it again tomorrow. Seven degrees with the windchill? No problem! I’ve got thermal running pants and all manner of layering from Patagonia, Craft, Smartwool and UnderArmour, plus Little Hotties for my hands. I am a moving billboard of adverts for foul weather clothiers.

I did 11 miles on a slightly altered version of my six mile loop that winds through Scarsdale and White Plains. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I’ll do 20 there again. We’re slated to get some days above freezing next week. Let’s hope that between that and some sun the layer(s) of ice that cover my usual running path will go away.

I got my training schedule for the next 12 weeks and it’s impressive. To cope with it, I think of it in the abstract, as though someone else will be following it, although that’s going to have to stop starting on Monday. As I’d anticipated, I’ll be back up to 100 mile weeks, and doing longer intervals, plus lots more longer running at or near marathon pace. I registered for the series of races in Connecticut and Central Park that will, with little exception, serve as Mpace training runs. I’ll race a couple of them, though.

Overall, my trepidation is outweighed by my excitement and eagerness to get rolling. I just hope my body plays nice with my brain.

Filed under: basebuilding, clothes and gear, coaching, training, westchester | 6 Comments »

Winter Basebuilding: Week 3

Posted on December 9, 2008 by threlkeld

09spr-base-03The rosy fingers of dawn gently caress the Westchester valley stretched out before me, as I reflect on the last week of running and prepare myself for the prospect of a 10 miler with 20 minutes at 10K effort this morning.

Sure, it’s a hackneyed, run on sentence. That’s why this blog’s content is absolutely free.

Yesterday I posted about being soundly convinced that hiring a coach was the right move. This last week was a gratifying and, yes, enjoyable running week.

I’m getting up there in mileage, yet I feel great most days (a little tired on recovery days, but not too). I’d never have believed that I could go out and run 10 miles every morning as a matter of course, but it’s become the new normal. And a lot less exhausting than  doing doubles every day.

Tuesday’s faster run was marred by headwinds, but at this point the emphasis is on effort rather than on specific paces, so it didn’t really matter. Of course, I’m obsessed with paces anyway, so I can’t help but pay attention to them. I’m assured by Kevin that I will be able to focus on paces “exquisitely” soon enough.

I confess that I am a “stride slacker.” I did no strides during summer training. Doing them again feels unfamiliar. I realize just how ungainly I feel running very fast (I’m managing 5:40 – 6:10 on most strides). I’m sure that will get better over time. I hope it will.

Friday’s interval session was a blast, actually. I did it on a local track and enjoyed running fast (stop and go) for half an hour. True, it’s easy to run fast for a minute at a time. I’m sure I’ll be back to my historical hatred of intervals once that turns into 3:00 at a time.

Last, but not least, there was Sunday’s long run — the run that said, “Yes, you’re on the right track.”

Basebuilding Week 4 is a recovery week, in which the mileage goes down, but not the intensity. I needed the day off yesterday, as my legs felt the effort of Week 3. In a few minutes, I’ll head out for the first of the usual three hard runs this week. I’m looking forward to Sunday’s run, a sixteen miler with the last hour at marathon effort. A week after that, I get to race a 15K as a training run.

Filed under: basebuilding, coaching, training | 6 Comments »

Uh, okay. This is working.

Posted on December 7, 2008 by threlkeld

Today marked the end of my third week of coach-assisted basebuilding. I’m officially convinced that working with a coach was the right thing to do.

I’ll post my usual recap of the week’s training tomorrow morning, but I wanted to post about a few things specifically.

I’ll start by saying that I was initially a little worried when I saw the plan Kevin gave me. I knew I could handle the workload, but it seemed a bit intense for just the basebuilding phase. Specifically, it looked more like marathon training, not basebuilding. I no longer feel that way after having spent three weeks easily being able to handle the buildup in mileage and doing three hard runs a week.

Dang. This really works. Witness:

  • My resting heart rate has dropped from 48-50 to 46. You can’t argue with that.
  • My recovery runs are getting faster with no change in effort.
  • I am hitting my paces for all faster sessions. Don’t get me wrong — they are not easy. But they are doable.
  • The dreaded 3:00AM DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) has been minimal.
  • I feel recovered and ready for each hard session.

But today’s run is the one that sold me. It was the last run of an 80 mile week and one that I’d been, well, not dreading, but ruminating about during the latter part of the week: 18 miles “steady” pace, which translates into an 8:15 pace (or about 90% marathon effort). That is a long way to run at that effort.

To prepare, I did a two day mini carbohydrate load (not a ton, but basically making sure I had enough stored away) and made sure I was well hydrated. I also took care to get adequate sleep.

I did a leisurely warmup for the first three miles (9:17, 8:53, 8:27). Then I got down to work. For the next six miles I average 8:11. Then I backed off for two miles (hills and headwind), running around 8:25 each — I also took in some carbohydrates at mile 10, which gave me a lift shortly thereafter. Then I ran the next seven miles at an average 8:07 pace, finishing up with an extra half mile for which I motored along at 7:48.

I felt great during the entire run, despite brisk, shifting winds and a face full of snow in the last two miles, and had no problem picking up the pace. Despite the slow early miles, my average pace for the run was 8:17. Pretty much right on the nose.

Side note: In addition to having a great run, I also was a good Samaritan today. As I was pausing at my car at mile 10 I witnessed a woman take the paint off the side of a Volvo with her Mercedes SUV during a botched parking attempt. She proceeded to park in another space about 30 feet away. I waited to see if she would post anything to the windshield of the car she’d just done significant damage to. Not surprisingly (but no less appallingly), she didn’t, although I did notice her take the time to see what the damage was to her own car (minimal). So I posted her  make, model and license plate number to the damaged car myself. I’ve had damage done to my car by people like this and it really pisses me off.

Filed under: basebuilding, coaching, drinking, eating, everyday life, training | 9 Comments »

Winter Basebuilding: Week 1

Posted on November 23, 2008 by threlkeld

09spr-base-01

A few days ago I posted about having hired Kevin Beck as my coach. His first order of business was to come up with a plan to help me rebuild my base. This past week marked my initial foray into this new venture.

I plan and track every day of running in Excel. This enables me to not only see what I’m doing at a glance, but I can do other nifty things, like calculate number of sessions, total mileage, miles at recovery pace, etc. I also keep diary-like notes below each week so I can easily see what was going on over the course of a season.

I’ll just post each week’s sessions (sans the diary entries) here. If anyone would like a copy of this Excel workbook, just let me know and I’d be happy to email it (virus free!) to you. It’s offered “as is,” meaning you’re on your own to figure out how to fill it in or make other changes to it (or fix it if you gum up the formulas). If I wanted to work in software support, I’d move to Bangalore.

Some comments about this week:

As compared to my last basebuilding round in the summer, there are marked differences. Most notably, no doubles! Note also that the recovery runs on a few days are very short. That will change as my mileage builds back up from 60 to 85 over the coming month. The inclusion of longer recovery runs runs counter to advice I’ve read in various places (including Pfitzinger), the “common wisdom” being that you shouldn’t do recovery runs that last more than an hour. Such rules were made to be broken, or at least questioned, it seems.

Also note that, unlike traditional, old school basebuilding approaches (think Lydiard), it’s not all “easy” (or, here, “recovery”) running, meaning below 70% maximum heart rate. I have some real workouts in here, and it’s only week 1. On the blue days, I’m running most of the miles around the quicker bits (ex: 8K effort segments) at a reasonably hard effort, meaning “easy” pace (between 75-82% mhr). These are challenging workouts, as evidenced by my need for a half our nap after Thursday’s effort.

I also am doing strides on one of the recovery days, something I never did in the past.

Despite all the fast running, I felt very fresh and ready for yesterday’s race. I also feel fine after a 16 miler this morning. True, I’m coming off of many weeks of recovery, and the mileage was low this week. But I’m pleased with how I feel and my ability to run faster paces without late-week exhaustion resulting.

Just to fill in all the blanks, here’s a rundown of what I did during my five weeks of post-marathon recovery:

Oct 13-19: 5 miles recovery pace
Oct 20-26: 39 miles, 75% recovery / 25% easy
Oct 27-Nov 2: 42 miles, 50% recovery / 50% easy
Nov 3-9: 48 miles, 40% recovery / 60% easy
Nov 10-16: 35 miles, 40% recovery / 60% easy, and a bonus cold!

Coming up in Basebuilding Week 2: Ten more miles, longer recovery runs, and still more running at 8K and 10K effort. Plus some delicious lamb on Thanksgiving.

Filed under: basebuilding, coaching, recovery, Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Getting professional help

Posted on November 19, 2008 by threlkeld

I hired a coach about two weeks ago: Kevin Beck. He was one name on a short list of other possibilities, all of whom I ultimately rejected for various reasons. More on that in a moment.

Why did I hire a coach?

But first a note about why I decided to work with a coach. Over the last couple of years that I’ve been training for and racing marathons, my finishing times have steadily (and dramatically) improved. But something went very wrong for the last race, in terms of the training and my experience of the race itself. I never felt adequately rested during training, nor did I feel that my “quality” workouts were going well. For months I had a nagging suspicion that I wasn’t as fit as I wanted to be, something that was confirmed on race day when I succumbed to fatigue in the last eight miles of the race.

A few years ago, a friend of mine went to see a strange Russian man whose business was helping people to stop smoking once and for all. The “treatment” consisted of going into a room with five or six other clients, handing the Russian a crisp, new $100 dollar bill, closing your eyes, and hearing the Russian say to you, “When I snap my fingers, you will have lost all desire to ever smoke again.” Sounds hokey (and a little shady), but it worked for her.

The reason I share this story isn’t because I think there was anything magical the Russian did. The effectiveness of the treatment had everything to do with the power of suggestion. Going to see some weird Russian to stop smoking, deciding to go to a therapist for help, hiring a coach — they all share the element of a catalytic action, and the raised expectations that come from having taken it. In some ways, I feel that’s just as important as the guidance you get. And, in the end, you’re the one doing all the work. Sometimes the thing you need most is for someone to say “go.”

Why did I hire Kevin?

I don’t know how you people shop for goods and services, but here’s what I tend to do: I decide I want to buy something. Then I look at what’s usually a pretty small universe of candidates. At some point fairly early in the shopping process, some thing (or combination of things) tips my interest in the direction of one candidate. At that point, although I’ll continue to do some research on the others, that activity drops off a cliff and I’m basically looking for reasons not to go with my favored choice.

I had a few leads on other coaches, some of them quite well-known, but I rejected them all for various reasons, including:

  • A young woman posted to LetsRun.com about her experience of approaching one of the coaches on my list and offering to pay him upwards of $500 a month for his services. His response was to suggest she work with one of his runners instead. Her response? I want an actual coach, not another runner helping me.
  • One of the coaches I was considering wrote a recent article that was so poorly written that I actually complained to the editor in chief. If I’m going to work with someone remotely, he or she needs to be a skilled and conscientious communicator.
  • I checked out the “remote coaching” site for another well-known person, but (and this will sound odd), it just looked too slick. My impression was “coaching mill.” I just got the sense that I’d get a training plan that might be slightly more individualized than what I’d get out of book, but not much more.

While I was busy rejecting the other candidates for these and other reasons, I had other forces tipping me toward Kevin. They included:

  • The fact that another writer/blogger whom I respect, Matt Fitzgerald, had also decided to start working with him. Realizing that a guy who writes books about training is working with a coach was sort of equivalent to the time I read about the fact that Adam Clayton (U2’s bassist) still takes bass lessons.
  • Kevin coaches through Pete Pfitzinger’s online DistanceCoach site. Pfitz’s book with Scott Douglas, Advanced Marathoning, is (in my humble opinion) one of the best training books ever written. Using it resulted in my best marathon experience (and biggest PR) thus far. So Pete, and anyone associated with him, can do no wrong.*
  • I have enjoyed Kevin’s writings over the years, most notably in Running Times. Here’s a particularly good article, but a Google or Running Times search will yield other goodies too. I also loved this page on his site for the clues it yields on his approach to running (and, presumably, coaching), specifically this snippet (emphasis is mine):

There will always be those who do not adopt mad training regimens simply because they do not want to. There are no demons flitting about compelling them to do more, ever more, and to make running a top priority in the face of swirling relationships, occupational and scholastic concerns, and what have you. These are legitimate issues often at odds with consistent training. And I do not believe that a runner can be taught to hunger the way some of us do. It may be as innate as the color of our eyes. It is not something upon which judgment need be placed or for which merit points ought to be allotted. There are runners and there are competitive runners, and there are racers.

Don’t get me wrong. I love running for its whole spectrum of benefits and the range of experiences I’ve had, many of them outside the competitive milieu. But I have one basic reason for doing what I do. The rest is gravy, basting the raw, tough, but often tender and delicious meat of competing against the rag-tag army of my alleged constraints — going into some awful yet welcoming zone, headed straight into downtown Hell to rip it up yet another time.

Once I’d gotten to the point where I was ready to look for reasons not to hire Kevin, I submitted him to a grueling litany of emailed questions. He answered them all in great detail (and with humor and humility, which was a bonus). Besides, he’s a writer. So he likes to write and writes well. As a writer myself, I’ll always be biased toward a writer in any area where I have a choice. The pre-PayPal phone call sealed the deal.

What did I get?

My next marathon is roughly seven months away, so I wasn’t ready to leap into a 31-week training program. Instead, I asked for a plan to rebuild my mileage over the next couple of months to lay the groundwork for the eventual training plan I’ll get. And I’m glad I did. The plan is radically different from what I designed for myself last time around: it’s high mileage, but with almost no doubles. It features lots of longer runs, pretty much every day, and a ton of shorter, faster work incorporated into at least three runs per week. Matt F. has a good summary (although, obviously, his plan has been customized in ways that are quite different from my own).

Three days in and so far, so good. I’m handling the challenging runs (despite running with the tail end of a cold) and feeling better than I did when I was grinding out doubles every day. On the other hand, I’m coming off five weeks of recovery, so come back in about a month…

*Incidentally, Kevin’s also written a book, Run Strong, which I have not yet read, but I will soon.

Filed under: basebuilding, coaching, how to get faster, reading, resources, training, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

« Previous Page