February 19, 2009

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


14 comments:

  1. you focus on a race 6 to 8 months before? impressive!
    well, I do two full marathons a year, which kind of gives me a 6-month focus as well and I also take these races seriously, however, that's nothing compared to your standard ;-) I still have to learn a lot...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Each to his own,but I used try to find a 10Km race two weeks before a Marathon. A final hit out before tapering. I always felt that if I could race at say 36 minutes, running 10Kms at 40 minutes in a Marathon would not be too hard.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, if your goal pace is 40 mins. per 10k (2:48), you should be able to run a 36 min. 10k. Is it really necessary to prove it? I guess if it gives you a psychological boost and if your legs recover completely, it is fine to do that. But I think that as general advice for the average runner, it is not a good idea. The amount of recovery necessitated will make the tapering phase TOO easy for most people. Also, the accepted wisdom these days is a three-week taper. Throwing a race into the middle of a taper just seems weird to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always got that psychological boost by running close to 36 a couple of weeks before.
    3 Weeks to me seems a long taper.
    I think if you are around the 2-50 mark or better (and probably fairly young) a hit out two weeks before does no harm. But saying that I would probably would not do it now.

    ReplyDelete