Tuesday Training

I have not really talked about this lately, because I feel like it's not as big of a deal, but I signed up for another marathon. It's in August. So, I am already a few weeks into my marathon training for the race. I have to admit, like everyone (I guess) I would like to qualify for Boston. But I am not sure if I have it in me. I am not doubting my ability to get faster, but I have recently been distracted by trail racing, which I love, and am contemplating signing up for a 30k in June and a 50k in August.

Am I crazy? Maybe. Can I do it all? I don't know. Can I try? Yes.

I am not going to bore you every week with my training details, but this week (and probably every few if I remember) I am going to! You know I hate it when people say, "I blog for myself" but in this case, I do want to get my training miles, fuel woes, and notes down on paper so I can look back later and see what I did wrong, needed to change or where I went right! And if it helps someone else, that is great too. So it's for me, and for you, if you want it. If you get bored reading post after post about mileage and taper and Gu, you may want to skip this one.

The Marathon: Santa Rosa Marathon

The Training "Plan" (loosely followed so far!): Hal Higdon's Advanced Plan. I wanted to run at least two 20 mile runs before the race. This advanced plan actually calls for 3. This plan also suggests alternating (on Thursday) hill, speed and tempo runs. Some of the other plans did not have any speed work, but I NEED to get faster in order to get the (new and "improved") 3:35 BQ time required for my age group. And I would LIKE to get more like a 3:30.

WEEK ONE: Goal: 27.5 miles / Actual: 27.5 miles / Long Run: 10 miles

Week one went exactly as planned. I did two easy runs, a hill run, a pace run and a long run. The plan calls for 6 days of running per week, which I find a bit excessive, so I put two of them together and still got the mileage with 5 runs instead. I was surprised by how hard the pace run was. I ran it at an average of 7:55/mi, with my fastest mile at 7:10/mi.

WEEK TWO: Goal: 31 miles / Actual 31 miles / Long Run: 7 miles**

Week two was the weekend of The Relay, so I ran 16 miles total on Sunday, but it was run in 4 separate legs (7 mi, 2 mi, 6.2 mi, 1.2 mi), so I guess my actual long run was only 7 miles. I also skipped the tempo run on Thursday but ran my 1st leg (7 miles) of the Relay near tempo pace (7:43 according to the McMillan Pace Calculator).

WEEK THREE: Goal: 31 miles / Actual: 32 miles / Long Run: 13 miles

As you can see, I lowered week three to 5 days a week as well, and added a bit of extra mileage in the form of a trail race. I love adding races to my training plan as long runs, as they are so fun! However, I maybe should have dialed it back a little and spread it out over 6 days, since I was pretty sore from the Relay. This week’s Thursday run was 4x800 intervals, which I ran at an average of 7:52. The fastest 800 was 6:36. In order to get a 3:30 marathon according to Bart Yasso, I should be running my 800s at about 7 minutes. I wouldn’t mind being faster than that though.

WEEK FOUR: Goal: 33 miles / Actual 28 miles / Long Run: 19 miles

This also includes 4 mi walk on Mon and 5 mile hike on Fri.

Week 4 was hard because I was still a bit fatigued from the Relay/Half, and then I went to my parents house and my 6 mile run became a 1 mile run because of snakes and poison oak. I also knew that I was going to be running a pretty long run on Sunday and did not want to be as tired on Sunday as I was last Saturday. So I took it easy this week. I am glad that I did because Sunday’s run was pretty hot and VERY hilly and I went through a lot of water and a lot of wear and tear on the ol’ quads. And thank goodness, because I feel great now because of it! I also "skipped" Thursday's hill run because the run on Sunday had about a 7000 ft climb. I think that warrants a skip! Wednesday I moved heavy boxes and gardened and washed cars. I am calling that cross training.

So, a few questions for you guys: Have you ever run an Ultra race? Do you think I can fit in a 30k, an ultra and a marathon in a two month period? I am planning on running a flat half marathon at the start of June just so I can analyze my road racing fitness level a bit, but other than that, much of my running/training will be on trails. Have any of you run the Santa Rosa Marathon? Do any of you hate training recaps? Go ahead and say it; I won’t be mad.