Tapering

Thurs: 7.3k very easy in 47 mins.

Fri: Rest

Sat: 10k easy in 57:22

Sun: 15k in 1:19:45

5k splits: 27:57, 24:22, 27:26

Middle 5k was 4k at 5:00 and then 1k in 4:22.

Legs kind of stiff. Did not feel real good, but felt better at the faster pace.

Just planned to cruise the 1st and 3rd easily at about 6:00 pace, but was going 5:30, so I guess that is a good sign.

Week: 45.9 k   4:39 (4:19 run, 0:20 bike)

Tomorrow will be short and easy. Tuesday rest as I travel to LA.

More MP...Easy

Mon: Rest. Hour of massage from the kinesio guy.

Tues: X-trng (wts, abs, bike 20 mins.)

7k easy including  6 100m striders, because Pfitzinger recommends them in your tapering phase. However, he also recommends running an 8-10k race (for people training 55 to 70 miles per week) two weeks before your marathon, which I completely disagree with. I don't think you should distract your focus from your goal race with a race two weeks before. Of course, I'm a person who starts focusing on a race 6 to 8 months ahead, but even so, two weeks is not a good idea. Plus it's too hard an effort. Maybe ok if you're 20 years old.

Anyway, striders seem like not a bad idea.

Wed: Track workout

2000/1000/2000/1000 in 8:29, 4:07, 8:32, 4:12. (200m interval jog and walk, 3 mins.)

Right at MP and they felt easy, as they should, even with no time at all to warm up.

Here's a great quote that my friend Anthony Zeller uses as his signature line (don't know where it's originally from):

The truth is, you can always run faster. Sometimes the truth hurts.

6.6k  34 mins.

Time: 7:30

Weather: cold but no wind

Shoes: 295g

Tapering...I guess

Fri: Off (no time for X-trng). Acupuncture treatment for hamstrings (they don't hurt, just to relieve tiredness/tightness).

Sat:

2.3k warmup

Planned 7k alternating MP and faster than MP (4:00?). In fact, ran:

4:24, 4:09, 4:23, 4:18, 4:22, 4:09, 4:12.

Well, it was 6:30 at night and I was still feeling a bit sluggish from a late, big lunch, so it was a good workout even though I didn't hit the desired times. I did manage to push the last two k, which was good.

10.8 k   56 minutes

Time: 6:30pm

Weather: 12°, windy

Wt: 61.1

Shoes: 290g

Sun:

18k easy at a bit under 6:00/k. 5ks and 3k were: 29:19, 28:48, 28:27, 17:16

Legs were a bit tired, felt only so-so.

So I guess only 7k hard and only 18k long qualifies as tapering, although I feel kind of tired. The next two weeks I really do have to rest my legs.

18k   1:44

Time: 3:30

Weather: 14°, partly cloudy

Wt: 61.3

Shoes: 430g

Week: 57.7k  5:31 (5:11 run, 0:30 x-trng)

More MP Runs

Mon: Off

Tues: X-trng (wts, abs, arc 10 mins., bike 20 mins.)

Wed:

11:00am — 6k in 35:10. A holiday and had nothing to do in the morning, so decided to "warm up" for the evening run and test drive my new 2XU tights, which felt good.

7:30pm — Regular track workout. 

1200/1200/1000/1000/800/800 in 5:06, 5:04, 3:53, 3:55, 3:16, 3:12. Intervals were 200m jog, about 2:30.

1200s and 800s were at MP, 1000s were faster. MP runs were very easy, 1000s felt ok, although going faster would have been hard.

15.4k (total) in 1:27

Time: 7:30

Weather: Abt. 5°

Shoes: 295g

Thurs: 

2.5k warmup in 14:39

10k MP in 21:17, 21:28. Felt ok, legs slightly tired. Had to work a bit the last 5k.

I guess it is ok to do a 10k MP run while tapering. It was only 10, not 15! I kind of planned 12, but then decided 10 was enough. Tomorrow I will have an acupuncture treatment to relieve soreness in the legs.

13.5k  1:04

Time: 4:00

Weather: 13°

Wt: 61.1

Shoes: 310g

A windy 30K

Sun:

Did my 30k around the Palace (6 x 5k). The first 15k was fun — we had a group of 14 running together at about 5:15/k pace — 27:09/27:00/26:50 (each loop is 26m short of 5k). 

It was VERY windy, however. Along the front side of the Palace it was tough going, and for some reason it seemed to be mostly against you all the way up the back side until the straight stretch by the British Embassy. But at that pace, not a real problem.

   Then after a short break for water and a carbo shotz, picked up the pace with Brett. Wanted to run 4:15/k, but the wind made that very difficult. Was happy to do the first 5k in 22:11. Then Brett left to run home, and I soldiered on. Expected to slow, but surprisingly held the pace: 22:12, 22:12 (those were full 5Ks). Pretty happy about that, even though it was not MP. Was working pretty hard.  Legs felt a bit tired, and more so the second 15k. Was beat at the end, but could have gone further. Hamstrings were kind of sore...they didn't get real bad, but I don't think the kinesio taping had any effect. (I do, however, think it helped my knee when that was sore.)

So that's it for real hard workouts. Now three weeks of gradual tapering. Which I am looking forward to.

30K   2:27:37

Time: 12:00

Weather: 10°?, sunny but a strong, cold wind

Wt: ?

Shoes: 310g (Brooks Ghost)

Week: 86.2k  7:45 + 1:00 x-trng

Legs recovered...or not?

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will do 30k — 15k at 5:30/k pace and 15k at marathon pace (4:15/k). I think that will be a nice workout as my last long run before the marathon (in 3 weeks). So because in last week's MP run my hamstrings got tired and a bit sore, today I went to a kinesio taping place and got my hamstrings taped. He also does massage, so I had a 30-minute massage.  Now I did MP runs on Wednesday and Thursday, but not long ones, and rested on Friday. So today, walking around, my legs felt fine. Felt like I could go out and do a hard run. But when he was massaging me, he hit various sore spots — hips, upper hamstrings, and others. Which means, I believe, that those spots, well, my legs in general, are in fact tired and stressed and generally not recovered from previous runs.

Which in turn means, I think, that your legs are probably more stressed than you think they are, and probably need more recovery between hard workouts than you think they do.

When we're training fairly hard, we're walking a thin line between peak fitness and injury/breakdown. So, often we're closer to going over that line than we think. So...be careful. Give yourself recovery days and recovery weeks, even if you don't think you need them (get a massage to help you realize you do need them).

Fri: X-trng (wts, abs, arc trainer 10 mins, bike 20 mins)

Sat: 10k easy in 56:36 (30:07, 26:29)

Marathon Pace runs

Tues: X-trng (wts, abs, bike 15')

Wed: MP intervals

After 2.4k in 15:00 and 2k in 10:00,

1000m x 6 in 4:14, 4:15, 3:53, 3:54, 4:13, 4:14 (200m jog in between, total time of run and rest 6:30)

MP was very comfortable, the two faster ones in the middle were not hard, either.

12.2k   67 mins.

Time: 7:30pm

Weather: 6°?

Shoes: 280g

Thurs: 10k MP

After 3k warmup in 17:30 and some stretching,

10k MP in 42:23 (21:15, 21:08)

Felt good, had to work a bit, but no problem with the pace.

14k   66 mins.

Time: 3:30

Weather: 9°, sunny

Wt: 60.5

Shoes: 250g

Progressive Run

Sun: Rest (out all day, legs tired and sore anyway)

Week: 44.9k    3:59 (3:39 run, 0:20 bike)   Planned easy week

Mon:

20k progressive run

Scheduled as an easy run (6:00 pace), but decided to do a progressive run: first 5k at 6:00 pace, then 5:30, then 5:00, then faster or the same or slower, depending on how I felt. It turned out to be:

29:57, 27:36, 25:06, 24:52. So just about exact pacing. The last one my hamstrings were tightening so did not feel like going faster, but holding the pace was ok. Was actually a bit behind after 4k and ran the last k in 4:40.

Legs still a bit tired from Saturday. Felt comfortable all the way, nice workout.

20k   1:47:33

Time: 3:00

Weather: 10°, sunny, moderate wind against coming back

Wt: 60.7

Shoes: 430g

22K MP...attempt

Fri: Kinesiology lecture, then meetings

Sat:

22k MP run (aiming for 21:15/5k)

21:33, 21:24, 22:26 (including 30 secs stop to drink gel and water), 22:00, 8:53   1:36:18  Aver k: 4:22.6  Half: 1:31:49 

Slowed down after 10k, the main reason being my hamstrings get tight and a bit sore and my stride shortens. I kept pushing, but could not run the pace.

Found out I can stop to drink and start up again ok, but could never make up that lost time.

Excuses: it was cold, and rather windy (which was annoying the last 12k) and I was running alone. But in general, I just didn't feel that great. Legs were really tired at the end, too.

Still, it was a good workout, and my quads and knees were ok.

After tapering and in race conditions, I WILL be able to run the proper pace!!

25.3k   1:59:40 

Time: 1:00

Weather: 8°, windy

Wt: 60.5  (drank water before bedtime, instead of eating as usual)

Shoes: 320g (Brooks Ghost....marathon shoes)