Daily details:
We: 6
Th: 8
Fr: 12 x 400m averaging 87.7 (5:52/mi. pace) with 90 second recoveries
Sa: 9
Su: 9 plus strides
Mo: 7
Tu: 20 with 15 averaging 6:41/mi.
Week total: 67
This week ended with my peak workout of this training cycle: 15 miles at goal marathon race pace. I felt good and ended up running 2:55 marathon pace, which is a bit faster than expected. It didn't feel hard until the last 2-3 miles, and even then I had no serious difficulty hanging on. But hanging on for 2-3 tough miles is altogether different from maintaining a hard pace for the entire second half of a marathon. My coach thinks that I will be able to hold this pace for a full marathon after a few more sharpening workouts and tapering. Maybe he's right, but in any case I'll probably go out slower for the first half and try to run a negative split if I still feel good by 30k or so. Certainly it is encouraging to have run a workout like this while my mileage and intensity are still at their height for this training cycle. It's now less than 4 weeks until Pisa, and most of the hard training is behind me. My weekly mileage will gradually drop from here, and my remaining hard workouts will be of the shorter, faster variety before I enter full rest mode in the days leading up to the race. There's still more work to be done, but I'm starting to think about the race itself and to steel myself for the mental challenge of maximizing the physical capacities at my disposal on race day. In the meantime, I'm also about to reach the top of another hill: my 40th birthday is in a few days. I don't plan on descending down the other side of that particular hill anytime soon but fully expect instead to continue improving at least at distance running for years to come (which is made easier by the fact that I really started running only in my mid-30s, aside from some rare, light jogging before that and, a lifetime earlier, one half-hearted season of cross-country in high school). Running serves me in many ways as a prism through which I can look at things in a more healthy, productive light than I might otherwise be inclined to do. Seen through that prism, turning 40 is an opportunity to be more competitive as a masters-level runner. Don't get me wrong: in races I compete with everyone indiscriminately, and I always want to improve absolutely, not just relative to other people in whatever category. But still, it is more gratifying and encouraging to have a realistic chance of competing for the top spots in some category or other. I look forward to measuring myself against other masters runners in the Washington area when I return to the US and recover from Pisa.
We: 6
Th: 8
Fr: 12 x 400m averaging 87.7 (5:52/mi. pace) with 90 second recoveries
Sa: 9
Su: 9 plus strides
Mo: 7
Tu: 20 with 15 averaging 6:41/mi.
Week total: 67
This week ended with my peak workout of this training cycle: 15 miles at goal marathon race pace. I felt good and ended up running 2:55 marathon pace, which is a bit faster than expected. It didn't feel hard until the last 2-3 miles, and even then I had no serious difficulty hanging on. But hanging on for 2-3 tough miles is altogether different from maintaining a hard pace for the entire second half of a marathon. My coach thinks that I will be able to hold this pace for a full marathon after a few more sharpening workouts and tapering. Maybe he's right, but in any case I'll probably go out slower for the first half and try to run a negative split if I still feel good by 30k or so. Certainly it is encouraging to have run a workout like this while my mileage and intensity are still at their height for this training cycle. It's now less than 4 weeks until Pisa, and most of the hard training is behind me. My weekly mileage will gradually drop from here, and my remaining hard workouts will be of the shorter, faster variety before I enter full rest mode in the days leading up to the race. There's still more work to be done, but I'm starting to think about the race itself and to steel myself for the mental challenge of maximizing the physical capacities at my disposal on race day. In the meantime, I'm also about to reach the top of another hill: my 40th birthday is in a few days. I don't plan on descending down the other side of that particular hill anytime soon but fully expect instead to continue improving at least at distance running for years to come (which is made easier by the fact that I really started running only in my mid-30s, aside from some rare, light jogging before that and, a lifetime earlier, one half-hearted season of cross-country in high school). Running serves me in many ways as a prism through which I can look at things in a more healthy, productive light than I might otherwise be inclined to do. Seen through that prism, turning 40 is an opportunity to be more competitive as a masters-level runner. Don't get me wrong: in races I compete with everyone indiscriminately, and I always want to improve absolutely, not just relative to other people in whatever category. But still, it is more gratifying and encouraging to have a realistic chance of competing for the top spots in some category or other. I look forward to measuring myself against other masters runners in the Washington area when I return to the US and recover from Pisa.
No comments:
Post a Comment