WEEKLY SUMMARY (August 19-25): 70 miles (78% at E, 18% at M, and 4% at T paces)
Sunday: 1.2 mile warm-up, Leesburg 20k in 1:23:06 (6:41/mi.), 1.5 mile cool-down (15 miles total)
Monday: 6.7 miles at 8:03/mi.
Tuesday: 9.2 miles at 7:41/mi.
Wednesday: 10.1 miles at 7:37/mi.
Thursday AM: 2 miles easy, 3 miles T at 6:22/mi., 2 miles easy (7 miles total)
Thursday PM: 3.4 mile family jog pushing a stroller at 9:29/mi.
Friday: 10.6 miles at 7:37/mi.
Saturday: 8 miles at 7:55/mi.
I was nowhere near as tired after my marathon pace 20k on Sunday (see below) as I was after the long tempo workout last week. That seems to provide some confirmation that I didn't run too hard and that I have some chance of running a full marathon somewhere around that pace. But I still took three easy days afterwards and shortened the secondary workout of the week, on Thursday, to an ordinary 3 mile tempo run. It was my first trip to the park on a non-rainy day since returning from Greece, but the National Park Service was not about to let me get away with it. They had set up crop sprinklers all along the 3 mile loop, drawing filthy water from the Potomac River to water grass, trees, and other plants on both sides of the road, presumably because of the drought that has hit the region, like much of the country, this summer. This essentially involved watering the road itself and anyone driving, biking, or running on it. Normally the park is full of walkers, bikers, and runners at all hours, but I was almost the only person to brave the powerful sprinklers on Thursday morning. So I was doused with a stream of stinky water moving at high velocity roughly every 50 meters or so. This comical situation helped dissuade me from attempting the longer (but not long) tempo workout that Daniels had scheduled for the day, which I wasn't up to in any case. The percentage of easy miles I ran this week was already dangerously low, I now realize, and that would only have made it worse. My legs and lower back are unusually tight now, and those percentages explain why. At least I got back up to 70 miles this week. Next week is my best chance to increase volume any further, if I can manage it, since the primary quality day on the schedule is a steady long run, which I'll keep easy.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
LEESBURG 20K (race report):
Last year I had probably my worst race of the year at the Leesburg 10k. It was warm and especially humid, as one would expect in August, and I wasn't prepared for the rolling hills on the 10k course that year. This year I did the 20k (12.4 miles) as a marathon-pace training run instead of running it all-out. We lucked out with the weather: mid-60's at 7:30am with only moderate humidity and cloud cover but no rain. My goals were 1) to average around 6:43/mi., because that's Daniels's marathon pace for the "VDOT" I've been training at (55), and 2) never to push too hard, so that it's conceivable that in 9 weeks I might actually hold something like that pace for a full marathon. Those two goals potentially conflict. After the first couple miles, I felt like I had to push too hard to stay under 6:50/mi., so I backed off a bit to the low- or mid-6:50's for the next few miles, thinking that I just wasn't in shape to run Daniels's prescribed pace. But after the turn-around, it became clear that we had been running slightly uphill for most of the first half of the race, even though it somehow didn't look like it. That explained why I was having trouble with the pace. After the turn-around, though, it not only looked like we were running slightly downhill, but also the running became both easier and faster. There were modest rolling hills throughout, so the pace wasn't very even. But in the second half I probably ran around 20 seconds per mile faster than in the first, without ever pushing too hard. I finished in 1:23:06, which is 6:41/mi. and 2:55 marathon pace. So I hit the goal pace and didn't push too hard. But it's very difficult to tell whether that'll be a feasible marathon pace for me in 9 weeks. I guess that wasn't the point of the run, which was instead to start getting used to that pace on the assumption that it'll be around my marathon pace. My workouts are supposed to be the fitness gauge that tells me what kind of marathon pace I'm up to, and racing a half marathon all-out in 4 weeks should also be a useful (though by no means flawless) gauge. I should be able to race a half at around 6:20 pace, or maybe a bit slower without a taper, in order to have any hope of running a 2:55 marathon, though of course my ability to hang on in the later miles can't be tested in that way. That's why Daniels schedules long runs in which there is tempo-pace running both toward the beginning and near the end. Anyway, things seem on track, and I enjoyed running moderately fast for an extended stretch. It's not by any means easy for me to run that fast even for a little while, which makes it difficult to imagine running a full marathon at that pace. But once I get into a grove, it feels like I can sustain the pace indefinitely, or at least until a wall looms that I haven't reached at that pace yet. Daniels is a wizard to emphasize training about 20 seconds faster at tempo pace, since that makes this (marathon) pace feel just manageable for longer distances by comparison. Again the question: but for how long? That only the marathon race itself can answer.
Last year I had probably my worst race of the year at the Leesburg 10k. It was warm and especially humid, as one would expect in August, and I wasn't prepared for the rolling hills on the 10k course that year. This year I did the 20k (12.4 miles) as a marathon-pace training run instead of running it all-out. We lucked out with the weather: mid-60's at 7:30am with only moderate humidity and cloud cover but no rain. My goals were 1) to average around 6:43/mi., because that's Daniels's marathon pace for the "VDOT" I've been training at (55), and 2) never to push too hard, so that it's conceivable that in 9 weeks I might actually hold something like that pace for a full marathon. Those two goals potentially conflict. After the first couple miles, I felt like I had to push too hard to stay under 6:50/mi., so I backed off a bit to the low- or mid-6:50's for the next few miles, thinking that I just wasn't in shape to run Daniels's prescribed pace. But after the turn-around, it became clear that we had been running slightly uphill for most of the first half of the race, even though it somehow didn't look like it. That explained why I was having trouble with the pace. After the turn-around, though, it not only looked like we were running slightly downhill, but also the running became both easier and faster. There were modest rolling hills throughout, so the pace wasn't very even. But in the second half I probably ran around 20 seconds per mile faster than in the first, without ever pushing too hard. I finished in 1:23:06, which is 6:41/mi. and 2:55 marathon pace. So I hit the goal pace and didn't push too hard. But it's very difficult to tell whether that'll be a feasible marathon pace for me in 9 weeks. I guess that wasn't the point of the run, which was instead to start getting used to that pace on the assumption that it'll be around my marathon pace. My workouts are supposed to be the fitness gauge that tells me what kind of marathon pace I'm up to, and racing a half marathon all-out in 4 weeks should also be a useful (though by no means flawless) gauge. I should be able to race a half at around 6:20 pace, or maybe a bit slower without a taper, in order to have any hope of running a 2:55 marathon, though of course my ability to hang on in the later miles can't be tested in that way. That's why Daniels schedules long runs in which there is tempo-pace running both toward the beginning and near the end. Anyway, things seem on track, and I enjoyed running moderately fast for an extended stretch. It's not by any means easy for me to run that fast even for a little while, which makes it difficult to imagine running a full marathon at that pace. But once I get into a grove, it feels like I can sustain the pace indefinitely, or at least until a wall looms that I haven't reached at that pace yet. Daniels is a wizard to emphasize training about 20 seconds faster at tempo pace, since that makes this (marathon) pace feel just manageable for longer distances by comparison. Again the question: but for how long? That only the marathon race itself can answer.
WEEKLY SUMMARY (August 12-18): 53.3 miles (89% at easy and 11% at tempo paces)
Sunday: off
Monday: 10.2 miles at 7:30/mi.
Tuesday: 2E, 4x1T (1 min.) at 6:19/mi., 8E, 2x1T (1 min.) at 6:30/mi., 2E (18 miles total)
Wednesday: 5 miles at 8:05/mi.
Thursday: 10 miles at 7:40/mi.
Friday: 10.1 miles at 7:37/mi.
Saturday: off
This week was all about my first killer, long tempo workout on Tuesday and then recovering for my first marathon pace run on Sunday the 19th. I took Sunday the 12th off because I was planning on doing the big workout on Monday and had some minor calf pain. But my son had a bad night, so I postponed the workout a day and enjoyed Monday's great weather on a mid-day easy run. Tuesday morning brought weather that was nearly identical to when I did my workout in the park last week: storming as I drove to the park, and I ran immediately after the rain stopped when it was super humid. This time I survived the humidity, though. In fact, I almost got through Daniels' entire workout. The only modification I made was in the second tempo leg, which he scheduled as 15-20 minutes at the same tempo pace run earlier. By then I had already run 14 miles, including 4 solid mile repeats right at tempo pace, and I couldn't quite get down to 6:20 again, though I wasn't far off. I was pretty sure that I'd die before getting to 15 minutes, so I took a 1-minute break after one mile and was able to hold on for another mile, which put me a little short of 15 minutes total. It was perhaps the hardest workout I've ever done, and I was pleased with how it went, especially after cutting both of my key workouts short last week. It really wiped me out, though. The next day I had to take a walk break midway through my slow 5-miler. Doing the big workout on Tuesday meant that I had to cancel the second, shorter tempo run on Daniels's schedule this week in order to recover for the marathon-pace run on Sunday, which didn't bother me at all. Coincidentally, around then I was reading an article in Running Times about Renato Canova's training methods, which sometimes involve emphasizing big workouts that require the better part of a week to recover from. For me, Tuesday's workout was worth taking some extra time to recover, and I took another day off on Saturday because I didn't feel recovered enough yet to embark on an equally important marathon-pace run. In the future, I hope to keep my mileage higher while recovering from these big workouts, but I don't expect to take fewer easy days between them - just fewer days entirely off, if my body can handle it. The next big workout like this one isn't for a couple weeks, though. Next week is the marathon-pace run and then a shorter tempo workout, and the following week has a steady 20-miler (take two) and another shorter tempo workout. Next week is also my last before Fall classes start up again....
Sunday: off
Monday: 10.2 miles at 7:30/mi.
Tuesday: 2E, 4x1T (1 min.) at 6:19/mi., 8E, 2x1T (1 min.) at 6:30/mi., 2E (18 miles total)
Wednesday: 5 miles at 8:05/mi.
Thursday: 10 miles at 7:40/mi.
Friday: 10.1 miles at 7:37/mi.
Saturday: off
This week was all about my first killer, long tempo workout on Tuesday and then recovering for my first marathon pace run on Sunday the 19th. I took Sunday the 12th off because I was planning on doing the big workout on Monday and had some minor calf pain. But my son had a bad night, so I postponed the workout a day and enjoyed Monday's great weather on a mid-day easy run. Tuesday morning brought weather that was nearly identical to when I did my workout in the park last week: storming as I drove to the park, and I ran immediately after the rain stopped when it was super humid. This time I survived the humidity, though. In fact, I almost got through Daniels' entire workout. The only modification I made was in the second tempo leg, which he scheduled as 15-20 minutes at the same tempo pace run earlier. By then I had already run 14 miles, including 4 solid mile repeats right at tempo pace, and I couldn't quite get down to 6:20 again, though I wasn't far off. I was pretty sure that I'd die before getting to 15 minutes, so I took a 1-minute break after one mile and was able to hold on for another mile, which put me a little short of 15 minutes total. It was perhaps the hardest workout I've ever done, and I was pleased with how it went, especially after cutting both of my key workouts short last week. It really wiped me out, though. The next day I had to take a walk break midway through my slow 5-miler. Doing the big workout on Tuesday meant that I had to cancel the second, shorter tempo run on Daniels's schedule this week in order to recover for the marathon-pace run on Sunday, which didn't bother me at all. Coincidentally, around then I was reading an article in Running Times about Renato Canova's training methods, which sometimes involve emphasizing big workouts that require the better part of a week to recover from. For me, Tuesday's workout was worth taking some extra time to recover, and I took another day off on Saturday because I didn't feel recovered enough yet to embark on an equally important marathon-pace run. In the future, I hope to keep my mileage higher while recovering from these big workouts, but I don't expect to take fewer easy days between them - just fewer days entirely off, if my body can handle it. The next big workout like this one isn't for a couple weeks, though. Next week is the marathon-pace run and then a shorter tempo workout, and the following week has a steady 20-miler (take two) and another shorter tempo workout. Next week is also my last before Fall classes start up again....
Saturday, August 11, 2012
WEEKLY SUMMARY (August 5-11): 70 miles (94% at easy/long, and 6% at tempo paces)
Sunday: 9 miles at 7:39/mi.
Monday: 8.5 miles at 7:37/mi.
Tuesday: 15.5 miles at 7:41/mi.
Wednesday: 9 miles at 7:41/mi.
Thursday: 9 miles at 7:38/mi.
Friday: 2 miles easy, 2 x 2 miles at 6:20/mi. (2 min. rest), 2 miles easy (8 miles total)
Saturday: 5.5 miles at 7:48/mi. (AM), and 5.5 miles at 7:37/mi. (PM) (11 miles total)
This week didn't go so well running-wise. We arrived back in the US last Friday evening and moved on Saturday, so we spent the first half of this week unpacking boxes and trying to get organized. I put off the 20-miler on Daniels's schedule until Tuesday and just hoped to get through it without any kind of fast pace or negative split, but I couldn't even manage that. I don't know if it was the humidity that got to me, or if I was just too tired from traveling and moving, or both. But my mind definitely wasn't in it. Around the 12 mile point the lower hamstrings behind my right knee started hurting. I stopped briefly to walk it off and refuel, but it was still there when I started up again. I was dragging pretty badly anyway, so after a few more miles I decided to cut the run short. After icing my leg that night it didn't give me any more trouble, but the humidity continued to bother me all week. By Friday I was more rested and settled into our new place, so clearly the humidity is mainly what caused me to cut that day's workout short as well. Daniels's schedule says to do 4 x 2 miles at tempo pace with 2 minutes rest between intervals, but I was hoping to get through only 3 x 2 miles, since 2 x 2 miles is the most I've done so far and doubling that seems like a big leap. It was storming in the morning when I drove to the park where I plan to do most of the tempos from here on out. I ran immediately after the rain stopped when the humidity is especially high, though it wasn't hot. Despite that, I felt strong and comfortable on the first interval. Normally I drink only water on runs and supplement that with gels when needed, but during the two minute rest after this first interval I drank some gatorade. Gatorade often bothers my stomach, but it's available during the MCM, so I thought I'd use it during some training runs to see whether I could get used to it. The second interval was predictably harder but I held the pace. After finishing that interval I drank some water, which immediately made my stomach hurt. I started a third interval but stopped pretty much right away because of stomach discomfort. The humidity was probably the main problem, I think, and the gatorade may have made things worse. Next time I'll stick with water (and gels, when necessary). I guess I should be happy with running 2 x 2 miles right at my tempo pace in high humidity, since that is harder than doing the same workout in low humidity, as I did two weeks ago, and adjusting to the humidity has become an important task for me now. But I also need to start running further at tempo pace. The killer tempo workouts on Daniels's schedule begin next week, and frankly I expect that to be harder than running a 20k at marathon pace next weekend, which should be hard enough. As for volume, cutting both key workouts short this week meant that I wasn't able to increase my mileage into the mid-70's, and in fact I had to run a double today in order just to get to 70 while allowing my body to recover from yesterday. (Two shorter runs are easier, though less convenient, than a single longer one). But mileage isn't my main concern right now. I'll continue trying to ascend towards 80 miles per week, but running solid tempo workouts despite the humidity, and recovering from those before the next one, is now becoming my main concern.
Sunday: 9 miles at 7:39/mi.
Monday: 8.5 miles at 7:37/mi.
Tuesday: 15.5 miles at 7:41/mi.
Wednesday: 9 miles at 7:41/mi.
Thursday: 9 miles at 7:38/mi.
Friday: 2 miles easy, 2 x 2 miles at 6:20/mi. (2 min. rest), 2 miles easy (8 miles total)
Saturday: 5.5 miles at 7:48/mi. (AM), and 5.5 miles at 7:37/mi. (PM) (11 miles total)
This week didn't go so well running-wise. We arrived back in the US last Friday evening and moved on Saturday, so we spent the first half of this week unpacking boxes and trying to get organized. I put off the 20-miler on Daniels's schedule until Tuesday and just hoped to get through it without any kind of fast pace or negative split, but I couldn't even manage that. I don't know if it was the humidity that got to me, or if I was just too tired from traveling and moving, or both. But my mind definitely wasn't in it. Around the 12 mile point the lower hamstrings behind my right knee started hurting. I stopped briefly to walk it off and refuel, but it was still there when I started up again. I was dragging pretty badly anyway, so after a few more miles I decided to cut the run short. After icing my leg that night it didn't give me any more trouble, but the humidity continued to bother me all week. By Friday I was more rested and settled into our new place, so clearly the humidity is mainly what caused me to cut that day's workout short as well. Daniels's schedule says to do 4 x 2 miles at tempo pace with 2 minutes rest between intervals, but I was hoping to get through only 3 x 2 miles, since 2 x 2 miles is the most I've done so far and doubling that seems like a big leap. It was storming in the morning when I drove to the park where I plan to do most of the tempos from here on out. I ran immediately after the rain stopped when the humidity is especially high, though it wasn't hot. Despite that, I felt strong and comfortable on the first interval. Normally I drink only water on runs and supplement that with gels when needed, but during the two minute rest after this first interval I drank some gatorade. Gatorade often bothers my stomach, but it's available during the MCM, so I thought I'd use it during some training runs to see whether I could get used to it. The second interval was predictably harder but I held the pace. After finishing that interval I drank some water, which immediately made my stomach hurt. I started a third interval but stopped pretty much right away because of stomach discomfort. The humidity was probably the main problem, I think, and the gatorade may have made things worse. Next time I'll stick with water (and gels, when necessary). I guess I should be happy with running 2 x 2 miles right at my tempo pace in high humidity, since that is harder than doing the same workout in low humidity, as I did two weeks ago, and adjusting to the humidity has become an important task for me now. But I also need to start running further at tempo pace. The killer tempo workouts on Daniels's schedule begin next week, and frankly I expect that to be harder than running a 20k at marathon pace next weekend, which should be hard enough. As for volume, cutting both key workouts short this week meant that I wasn't able to increase my mileage into the mid-70's, and in fact I had to run a double today in order just to get to 70 while allowing my body to recover from yesterday. (Two shorter runs are easier, though less convenient, than a single longer one). But mileage isn't my main concern right now. I'll continue trying to ascend towards 80 miles per week, but running solid tempo workouts despite the humidity, and recovering from those before the next one, is now becoming my main concern.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
WEEKLY SUMMARY (July 29-August 4): 45 miles (86% at E, 11% at T, and 3% at 5k paces)
Sunday: off
Monday: 8 miles at 7:39/mi.
Tuesday: 3 miles easy, 2 x .75 mile at 5:47/mi. pace (.5 mile jog), 3.5 miles easy (9 miles total)
Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:48/mi.
Thursday: 3 miles easy, 5 x 1 mile at 6:25/mi. avg. (1 min. rest), 2 miles easy (10 miles total)
Friday: 6 miles at 7:38/mi.
Saturday: 6 miles 7:37/mi.
This was a planned low mileage recovery week in which I still did two (or one and a half) workouts at the usual intensity. I took Sunday off to kick the bug that plagued me the previous week, since I didn't need the miles this week, and it worked. For Tuesday's workout, I planned to do four intervals instead of just two. But I felt super strong, and it was clear that my speed was there now that I was back on flat terrain. So I decided on the spot to cut the workout short, since I didn't need a hard VO2 max workout during a recovery week anyway; and my schedule forced me to take only one easy day before the next workout, which was more important. Daniels says to do six 1-mile repeats at tempo pace for the workout I did on Thursday. As usual, I was pleased to get almost all the way through his scheduled workout. I didn't feel as strong as I did either on Tuesday or for the 2 x 2 mile tempo workout last week, but it went well enough. From the beginning it felt like I needed to run just a bit slower than my usual tempo pace of 6:20, but I was steady at that pace and remained so through the burning and heavy legs. I could have pushed through a sixth interval at close to 6:30 pace but saw no need to do so. The hard pushing will start soon enough. On Friday we flew back to the US shortly after my morning run, and I deliberately ran the same distance and pace back in DC on Saturday morning at roughly the same local time (6am) for the purpose of comparison. It was far from a scientific comparison, of course, since I spent most of the time between those two runs traveling and was not in anything like the same condition before my run on Saturday morning as I had been on Friday morning. Still, the experiment illustrated the effect of running in high humidity. The temperatures just after dawn in Athens and DC are similar at this time of year, but the late summer humidity in DC tends to be three or four times as high as it is in arid, almost desert-like Greece. Six miles is shorter than my usual easy run, so I wasn't very tired after either run. But I was much, much sweatier after running in DC on Saturday than I was after my run on Friday in Athens. I speculate that it is both because I sweat more in DC and because the sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly off my skin, which means that all the sweat does not actually help cool my body very much. This is just uncomfortable on a shorter run, but on a longer one it means that it is much more difficult in a humid climate both to avoid overheating and to replace the liquid and electrolytes lost through sweat. I often ran in temperatures this past month that were at least as hot as or hotter than those I would have experienced in DC (during what was apparently the hottest month on record), and certainly the terrain I ran on for much of the time was significantly hillier than one can find in DC. But heat and hills are much easier without this humidity. I have two weeks to acclimatize to it before my first marathon-pace tune-up race, which I'm starting to get excited about.
Sunday: off
Monday: 8 miles at 7:39/mi.
Tuesday: 3 miles easy, 2 x .75 mile at 5:47/mi. pace (.5 mile jog), 3.5 miles easy (9 miles total)
Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:48/mi.
Thursday: 3 miles easy, 5 x 1 mile at 6:25/mi. avg. (1 min. rest), 2 miles easy (10 miles total)
Friday: 6 miles at 7:38/mi.
Saturday: 6 miles 7:37/mi.
This was a planned low mileage recovery week in which I still did two (or one and a half) workouts at the usual intensity. I took Sunday off to kick the bug that plagued me the previous week, since I didn't need the miles this week, and it worked. For Tuesday's workout, I planned to do four intervals instead of just two. But I felt super strong, and it was clear that my speed was there now that I was back on flat terrain. So I decided on the spot to cut the workout short, since I didn't need a hard VO2 max workout during a recovery week anyway; and my schedule forced me to take only one easy day before the next workout, which was more important. Daniels says to do six 1-mile repeats at tempo pace for the workout I did on Thursday. As usual, I was pleased to get almost all the way through his scheduled workout. I didn't feel as strong as I did either on Tuesday or for the 2 x 2 mile tempo workout last week, but it went well enough. From the beginning it felt like I needed to run just a bit slower than my usual tempo pace of 6:20, but I was steady at that pace and remained so through the burning and heavy legs. I could have pushed through a sixth interval at close to 6:30 pace but saw no need to do so. The hard pushing will start soon enough. On Friday we flew back to the US shortly after my morning run, and I deliberately ran the same distance and pace back in DC on Saturday morning at roughly the same local time (6am) for the purpose of comparison. It was far from a scientific comparison, of course, since I spent most of the time between those two runs traveling and was not in anything like the same condition before my run on Saturday morning as I had been on Friday morning. Still, the experiment illustrated the effect of running in high humidity. The temperatures just after dawn in Athens and DC are similar at this time of year, but the late summer humidity in DC tends to be three or four times as high as it is in arid, almost desert-like Greece. Six miles is shorter than my usual easy run, so I wasn't very tired after either run. But I was much, much sweatier after running in DC on Saturday than I was after my run on Friday in Athens. I speculate that it is both because I sweat more in DC and because the sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly off my skin, which means that all the sweat does not actually help cool my body very much. This is just uncomfortable on a shorter run, but on a longer one it means that it is much more difficult in a humid climate both to avoid overheating and to replace the liquid and electrolytes lost through sweat. I often ran in temperatures this past month that were at least as hot as or hotter than those I would have experienced in DC (during what was apparently the hottest month on record), and certainly the terrain I ran on for much of the time was significantly hillier than one can find in DC. But heat and hills are much easier without this humidity. I have two weeks to acclimatize to it before my first marathon-pace tune-up race, which I'm starting to get excited about.
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