Forums >Racing>2020 Marathon Training and relevant COVID 19 discussion echo chamber
Mmmm Bop
Congrats Marky! 👍
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Great week this week for results: Mark, Gidey and Cheptegei all ran PRs! I'm very happy for you Mark on the big PR. I hope you'll take another crack at the marathon on a flatter faster course. That one had a lot of hills and from your pictures looks like some dirt/gravel paths which will only slow you down. You've got sub 2:30 potential!
3 weeks to go now until Northern Ohio. This week was all easy mileage to recover from the time trial, although today's long run was a harder effort. I did not have any liquids during it which was probably a mistake as it was a bit on the warm side for the second half. Last big long run this cycle.
Northern Ohio and Harrisburg modified their courses from 1 loop to 2 loops to make them more Covid restrictions-compliant. Both courses follow parts of the originals, just truncated, so it should not make too much difference. Registration closed for Harrisburg but is still open for Northern Ohio.
2:52:16 (2018)
Mother of Cats
Taper time, JT Reeves. Looking forward to seeing what you can do (and very sorry I won't get to meet you at Northern Ohio).
Marky_Mark - congrats again! a 14 minute PR is fantastic.
My week:
64 miles, 1000 yards of swimming, and 3 hours of pool-runningM: 70 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.T: 12 miles, including a track workout in 2x1600, 2x800, 2x400 in 6;34, 6:24, 3:07, 3:05, 90, and 89. Recoveries were about the same duration as the interval, except for 3:30 after the second 800. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards swimming.W: 12 miles very easy (9:30), plus drills and 6 hill sprints, followed by streaming yoga.Th: Upper body weights/core and 65 minutes pool-running.F: 12 miles, including a tempo workout on the roads of 2x2 miles at 10 mile race effort with 4 minutes jogging recovery (13:18 as 6:38/6:40 and then 13:17 as 6:38/6:39), then full recovery before 6x30 seconds hard, 60 seconds easy. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards swimming Sa: 12 miles very easy (9:09) plus drills and 6 steep hill sprints, followed by streaming yoga.Su: 15 miles progressive, split as first 5 averaging 9:14, next 5 averaging 7:49, next 5 averaging 6:58, plus mile cooldown. Followed with streaming yoga, leg strengthwork, and 45 minutes pool-running.
Happy with how things are improving. I've shifted from OMG HOW DID I GET THIS OUT OF SHAPE to my normal beginning of training cycle out of shape. Which is cool. If only I could always knock 810 seconds per mile off my paces with a week of training.
This was the last week of a semi-planned 4 week mini cycle - basically building up strength and fitness before taking a break this week while I get PRP injections in my right ankle to repair those ligaments as much as we can. I'll do a track workout on Tuesday morning; get injected on Tuesday afternoon, and then take a few days down before building back up.
Everyone's gotta running blog; I'm the only one with a POOL-RUNNING blog.
And...if you want a running Instagram where all the pictures are of cats, I've got you covered.
Hey all - RR is up over in the sub-1:30 thread.
JTReeves - there were definitely hills but only around 2km was on trail - and that was a pretty hard-packed lime trail.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Well done Mark! hope you're happy with your result. I know all about fading running into head winds, infact I consider myself a expert. Sure you'll be glad to move on from the never ending marathon training. Congrats
Been out of town the last couple of weekends, so getting caught back up.
DW: Nice week. Really good to see your fitness improving so quickly. That's got to feel great especially since you should get a chance to race at some point in the near future!
JT: Really good long run and I missed the comment last week, but a belated congrats on an impressive 10 mile TT. That result bodes well for Northern Ohio.
Mark: Congrats on the PR! 16 minutes is huge considering you went sub 3 on the first.
Last week (9/28-10/4)
54.7 miles
M: 12 miles with a 5 mile tempo (6:34, 6:39, 6:37, 6:52, 6:34)
T: 5.1 miles easy AM (9:13) and 4 miles easy PM (9:16)
W: 15.5 mile MLR (8:17)
T: 13 miles easy (8:53)
F: 5.1 miles easy (8:51)
This week (10/5-10/11)
57.1 miles
M: 10 miles easy (8:38)
T: 8.8 miles with 6x800 at 5k pace (2:54, 3:01, 3:03, 3:02, 3:03, ,3:03)
W: 11 miles easy (9:09)
T: 5.1 miles easy (9:15)
F: 5.1 miles easy (9:06)
S: 3.1 miles easy (8:53)
S: Towpath Half Marathon in 1:27:15 (6:40)
The last two weeks have been good although lower volume than I would have liked. Tuesday I ran my first interval workout on the track in 7 months and it showed. The first portion of my 800s were a lot closer to mile effort. I have to work on even pacing and not overrunning the intervals when I am feeling good. I reigned myself in for the last couple, which is pretty easy to do when the start is too hard...
I ran the Towpath Half Marathon yesterday in 1:27:15 which is a big PR for me (previous was 1:36 from February 2020). I was really happy with the result and that I ran almost an even split (my back of the envelope calcs show an 8 second positive split). It felt great to be able to race again, especially as my fitness has improved drastically from where I was at the start of the year, before things shutdown.
According to the VDOT calculator the HM time is equivalent to a 3:02:10 full. So hopefully I can gain another 2:11 in marathon fitness over the next two months.
jhudak: Congrats on the HM PR! I wanted to comment on that earlier but also didn't want to steal your thunder saying something about it here before you got a chance. Really nice pacing with a good surge at the end. You seem to be more of an endurance type so I wouldn't be surprised if your marathon will be even better than your half time predicts.
DW: Nice week; it's always pleasant when the fitness comes back quickly. I hope all goes well with the PRP treatment.
JT: Thanks. Recently I've put a decent amount of thought into which distances I have the most potential in. Previously (up until the middle of this year) my shorter races have been much better than longer distances. At that time I wasn't running nearly enough mileage so this marathon is considerably better than previous and give me an idea of what suits me best. Hoping you are correct that I'm more suited for endurance races.
Jhudak - Congrats on a 9min half PR, that is a terrific improvement in the space of 8 months! I like that your easy runs are on the slow side as that will make it much easier for you to increase mileage...which will ultimately result in a better marathon time. 👍
Congrats again Mark! That is an awesome time for a marathon and you'll likely be much faster the more you run them as well if you choose!
JT: looking like you are the best shape in quite some time so looking forward to your race! Taper time indeed
Congrats on the PR jhudak55!!
DW: Solid looking week. Glad you are feeling like you are coming back to "normal"
My week: Honestly probably a bit too much quality coming off the 10K effort the previous Sunday, but really happy with the mile repeats there on Thursday. Also had a solid long run were I picked it up with some solid threshold type effort to finish it out on Saturday. Had a bit of a niggle show up at the end of the LR with the faster stuff with some mild discomfort behind my knee and lower hamstring. Don't think it was anything major, but something to keep an eye on. Was able to run some strides today without much issue so will see how the workout plays out tomorrow.
1mile: 4:46 (12/20) | 5K: 15:57 (3/21) | 10K: 33:40 (4/20) | 15K 51:43 (4/21) | HM: 1:15:03 (12/20) | FM: 2:40:30 (1/20)
I’ll have to admit that I had a bit of a chuckle when I read about this poor girl downloading the Virtual London Marathon app, and because of limited GPS signal ended up running nearly 50 miles! At least she had Paula and Steve Cram congratulating her after each mile!
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/due-gps-failure-runner-ended-121600471.html
Another small group local to me waited a few days before the “race” to decide their virtual Marathon route....and they made the smart decision of getting on a train West and then run back home. Yep, it was quite a strong Westerly wind that day.
Problem Child
50 mile marathon? Impressive.
I saw New York has a virtural run and if you were able to sign up for the $175 virtual run you earn a guaranteed entry to the race in the next three years. Sounds like you don't get much of a choice when you'll run it though. Imagine if Boston did that for charity runners in 2020.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Mikkey: Thanks! I realized how important it was to keep my easy mileage really easy when I upped my mileage a few months ago. There was no way for me to have decent workouts and run too quickly on my easy days.
70.8 miles
M: 3.1 miles easy (9:50)
T: AM - 6 miles easy (8:47) and PM - 4 miles easy (9:15)
W: 12.1 miles easy (8:43)
T: 15.1 mile MLR (8:50)
F: 6 miles easy (9:05)
S: 7.5 miles easy (9:06)
S: 17 mile long run (7:45)
Good week for me. Pretty much all easy recovering from the half last Sunday. Legs felt back to normal by Wednesday. Todays long run was in near perfect weather, and everything felt really easy, felt like a more aerobic effort for the last 4-5 miles. .
Funny that. I found that I could have decent workouts and fast easy days, but I raced way below my workouts. Then I eased up on the workouts slightly and really slowed the easy days down to a crawl, and my racing got much much better.
Nice week Jhudak. And yes, today was lovely.
+++
My week: 24 miles and 3 hours of pool-runningM: 70 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.T: 8 miles, including a hill workout of 90 seconds up a 5% incline, with 3:00 jog back down. Followed with leg strengthwork and streaming yoga. PRP injections in the afternoon.W: Off.Th: Off.F: Upper body weights/core, 20 minutes pool-running, and streaming yoga.Sa: 4 miles easy (8:57), followed by streaming yoga and 50 minutes pool-running.Su: 12 miles progressive, split as first 8 averaging 8:40, next 2 averaging 7:38, next 2 averaging 6:56. Followed with streaming yoga, leg strengthwork, and 40 minutes pool-running.
Got PRP injected in my ankle on Tuesday afternoon, so took some downtime and then eased back into stuff. We did NOT inject the double posterior tibial tendon - everyone's agreed that those tendons are fine the way they are. So we just did many of the ligaments in my right ankle.
Bummer is that the doctor thinks I need two rounds of PRP in the ankle, so I have to go back next month.
jhudak: Nice week. Glad you are feeling recovered from the half and ready to go for the rest of your marathon cycles training.
DW: Good to hear the PRP treatment #1 went well; hopefully this will solve your problems.
Not much exciting from my week. I did just a bit of fast running Thursday to keep sharp. In the spirit of tapering I took Friday off. Today's long run, the last of this cycle, I felt pretty lousy. I think it might have been a combination of running a tad quicker and longer than my usual for the day before, and also not having much of a dinner Sat. and nothing prior to the LR; basically running on empty. Hopefully I'm getting the crappy-feeling runs out of the way as I don't want to feel that way in 2 weeks. Now the taper really begins. And I've started looking at the forecast for Mentor Ohio multiple times per day already
Morning Run w/ 1 mi hard (5:40) +
6 x 30 sec