10 Weeks To Go

With ten weeks until the Chicago Marathon my excitement level is building. I have recovered from the Midwest's 95 degree plus heat wave that lasted for the last 3 weeks, my tight calves are loosening up, and I am ready to settle into my training. I realize now that my training needs to be consistent, but not rigid. When 100 degree temp days hit I need to split my training up into 2 runs, or an early morning run with an afternoon trip to the gym. Mountain biking once a week seems to be helping me keep my hips loose, my head clear, and adds a nice break from the 8-9 runs that I do per week. This week I am staying down in the low 50s mileage wise and adding a little bit more marathon pace to the workouts. I also have decided to lower my peak mileage for this training cycle to 65 mpw. I feel that I could peak at 70, and have been steadily building towards this volume for the past 2 years but with my family obligations, and my 1 day of cross training, I run out of time. I know that higher mileage works wonders for my body, and I am hoping that 50-65 miles a week will do the trick for this training cycle. I guess I will have to work smarter if I am going to lose that extra 10k per week. Not much more to say. Looking forward to this week.

Base.. How Low Can You Go?

My mind was filled with doubt this morning when my alarm clock went off at 4:15. Why am I doing this to myself? What do I have to prove? The battle between the hardcore me and the just an average guy me rages on. I really did not want to get up this morning and run 12 miles. Who does this? Gone are the easy 4 mile runs, the normal looking feet, and the normal looking life. My life has been taken over by marathon training. I still can not imagine how the elites run upwards of 120 miles per week. I struggle to find the time to run 70. Random, blah blah blahs from a tired old man. 11 weeks to go.

60 miles @ 90 degrees

The suffer fest has ended for a day or so. Those were the hardest 60 miles I have ever run. I enjoyed none of them. I hope I can log a couple of normal weeks worth of mileage and get back into the swing of things. If this training cycle is all about suffering so be it... but seriously... eeeeeek

Mileage

So its 95 degrees..Week 2 Note: I have no idea how anyone runs 110 mile weeks. 60-70 mile weeks seem to take up most of my time. Sun Easy Recovery day - Ran an easy 5 in the morning and 3.5 in the afternoon just to stretch out the old legs. Mon Easy Recovery day - 5.5 in the bloody heat. 20 miles in on Tuesday 4 miles at MP.. The heat makes even the easy workout stress days, so I will have to see how I feel in the morning. I might just be putting in mileage tomorrow.. gels @ every 5miles today I drank 20oz over the course of 5 miles so.. I might have to factor in drinking more. I might do the loop that I have been doing from our vacation house so I can fuel myself and keep my hydration levels topped off. We will see how the rest of this day goes. I have to remember to take a nap tomorrow. #longdays So, seriously this sucks. 20 miles broken up into 15 and 5 mile runs. 90 degree plus heat keeps me from doing anything but getting the mileage in. A couple of strides thrown in but the best I can do on a LSD day is just get in the miles. I bonked a little bit around 10.5 miles into the day.. I took a little break ate some gels and got back to it. I think training to take gels at 5 mile increments is fine. I will continue to test this on my sat long runs.. With this heat it is difficult to even try to hit a decent pace. Doesn't matter I guess Im just building up some strength these first couple of weeks. The heat has to break someday.. Right? 5 miles easy 90 degrees.. Boring and easy Wednesday. I hate the heat.

Heat Wave

Its hard finding the time to run 60 - 70 miles per week during a normal week. Mix in 95 plus temps and the entire extended family and the cocktail gets complicated. Off to run at 2pm. Not fun, but have to put in the miles.

Week 2 Chicago

Finished up my 13 miler yesterday feeling pretty good. MP plus 10% pace made the pace comfortable. My main goal for my long runs this cycle is to figure out how much I need to eat while I run. I took 2 gels at 5.2 miles and 2 at 10 miles. I drank about 5 oz of water @ mile 5.2 8 and 10. My plan is to see if I can continue to eat those nasty gels every 5 miles. My energy levels were good, and I was not hungry when I got home. This is a good thing. We will see how things go when we get out into the 20 mile range. This week we hit 15 miles for our long run, have a double tempo / medium distance mp run of 20 miles for the day and a bunch of fun easy recovery workouts for a total of 60 miles. I am on vacation so I need to scope out so new places to run this afternoon.

What a week so far

Coming off a week off and blasting right into my marathon training has been difficult. My quads got trashed on my first day of the week and have not quite fully recovered yet. I ran a strong 10 miles today, and took a good nap afterwards. Waking at 4:30 to run is hard to do. I do like the cooler weather, and am 90 percent sure that racing in October will be at least 60 degrees or cooler. If not we have a problem. Going to do a little mountain biking tomorrow night as a recovery effort and then taking Friday off completely before my long run on Saturday morning. Next week will be a ton of fun in a new environment. My long runs are getting longer, and my mileage is starting to creep back up into the 60s.

Adopting Elite Plans To An Average Runner

I am the type of guy who has a problem with being average. I am not elite at anything. This realization came early on in college when my above average High School 800 meter / mile times were enough to get me on the college track team as a walk on, but not enough to even get the middle distance coach to remember my name. I gave up on being obsessed with running shortly there after. I still to this day have a hard time just being good at things. Being above average is even more of a curse. Above average translates to having some talent, but not enough to do anything with it. After a long bunch of years away from running, I am back at it with my long term goal of being a halfway decent age grouper /masters runner by 40. I am 38 years old and might not be able to run sub 1:55 800s, or 35 minute 10ks anymore, but what I can do is bring an obsessive goal related hunger and drive to the table that is insatiable. I feel that in this past Fall and Winter I built a strong enough base to work from. I am ready to work hard. I am confident that as I go deeper into my training for the Chicago Marathon, I will be able to stay healthy and achieve my goals. The question that I can't wait to answer is What can you do with the mind of an Elite and the body of an above average 38 year old?

WEEK ONE CHICAGO MARATHON

I have adopted Coach Mark Hadley's Ideas into my marathon plan www.elitemarathoning.com I will write up a post later on about this but for now I am going to follow a 9 day micro cycle that spaces out the Stress days (S) and Recovery days (R) S-R-R-S-R-R-S-R-R I have also incorporated the heart monitor into my training to make sure i rest on rest days. Rest / Recovery days will be treated as such. I will not over train. I will not over train. So with that said.. Lets see how things go. Sun am 10 miles 430am 70 degrees. Beautiful. Out and back to Walker Sign. 8:20 pace average. Nothing faster than 8 mpm, on some hills. Mile cool down. Legs up 15 minutes. Drank maybe 4 oz of water at 6 miles. Felt pretty good. Nothing too crazy. Just getting in some mileage. The hills are here on purpose for the next few weeks to help build up my strength. Sun pm 1.5 Mile warm up 2x1.5 Miles @ MP w/ .5 mile Jog between easy 1x1mile Couldn't muster the extra half.. 85 degrees.. and need to start factoring in the heat into the pace. 1.5 Mile CD Total = 20 miles Sun morning was good. Afternoon run was difficult. Tired, and hot. Almost nailed the workout. Definitely difficult doing an MP wo on top of a medium run. This will be key to building my strength and hopefully be able to battle late race fatigue. Great day.. We will see how I recover. Mon pm 5 miles on a treadmill recovery pace.. My legs are sore.. My resting HR was high this morning. Feeling good about having 2 easy days in a row. Tues - 4.5 - morning HR was @ 48 which I think is close to what my resting HR should be. Going to continue to take these readings everyday to monitor my recovery and see what my body has to say. Wednesday 10 miles @ 7:55 ish pace just shy of 1:20 Heart Rate: Thursday AM REST Thursday PM Mountain Bike Ride Monitor HR Friday = REST or SWIM Saturday - 13 Miles w/ Hills MP + 10%, 8x 100m strides at end. = 13 Sunday - Rest 52.5 Miles Total

Chicago Bound

91 Days until the Chicago Marathon. I have taken the last 7 days off to rest my bones in preparation for the task ahead. The next 13 weeks are going to be pretty rough but I am ready for the challenge. Its time to start eating better, drinking more water, going to sleep a little bit earlier, and removing any other stress that will get in the way of my goal. Let the games begin.

Summer, DNF, Moving On

So...I walked off the course at the 5k mark. I have never done this before, but oddly enough I feel fine with the decision that I made. I have been working my ass off for months without a real break, and ironically enough my break was going to start today, but came about 19 minutes earlier than planned. Sometimes your body and mind do not play well together. I need a week to heal, get my mind and body back in the game and restart the bus. I have decided that racing in the summer is no good for me. Training can be done at night or early in the morning, but racing always seems to be in above 80 degree temperatures, something I have never been able to handle. So, moving on, I am going to plan my racing for 2013 in the early spring and fall. April May October November.. I can plan 2 separate peaks, enjoy cross training in the summer,and enjoy myself while racing. Pulled out the swim goggles, and might jump in the pool for some easy swimming tonight. My bicycle is calling me too, but these 100 degree days keeps me inside. I am enjoying my week off, eating whatever I want to, drinking beer for breakfast, and relaxing before the marathon mileage hammer starts to fall. I love base training. I am glad to have run a pretty decent 10k this year, and will continue to test my fitness with the distance throughout my marathon build up. For now, I rest and enjoy a week without running.