Forums >Racing>2020 Marathon Training and relevant COVID 19 discussion echo chamber
3 months til Masters
Jt... I tend to do my longer runs at a moderate pace (6:40 ish) or as a workout with parts at marathon pace. So my 3 workouts a week are interval Tuesday, tempo thurs, long run Saturday...and easy the rest of the days. So most weeks I run 14-18 miles long run with maybe 3-4 runs in the 20-24 range during a cycle. I know what the wall feels like so I don't need to simulate it a lot. I try to keep my milage higher with more easy day miles. Early on in marathoning (23-30) I did more 2+ hour runs, but I am better off doing 12 miles easy after a moderate to hard 16-18 than doing 6 on a sunday after a 22 miler. My miles tend to be between 80-100 miles per weekfor most of a cycle.
2023 Goals
Marathon Sub 2:37 (CIM) 2:41:18
10k Sub 35:00 (Victory 10k 34:19)
5k Sub 16:00 (Hot Dash 5k in March (16:48), Brian Kraft in May (16:20), Twilight 5000 in July and August (16:20/16:25 Both heat index 102-103F)
Sub 1:16 Half Marathon City of Lakes Half Marathon 1:15:47)
Sub 56:30 in 10 mile (Twin Cities 10 mile, Canceled due to weather, 56:35 as a workout)
2024 Goals
Sub 2:37 Marathon
Sub 1:15 Half
Sub 34 10k
Sub 16 5k
The horrible footing has made it impossible to run sub 7 min for most of this winter outside so I have had some excruciating treadmill long runs.
Cyberic - welcome! With your yearly mileage you should have no problem running sub 3 in your coming 50s.
DPS - not sure about snow or ice, but running up and down hills for some considerable amount of miles make so many of my body parts hurt, especially first two-three runs. Human body is amazing and on run 3-4 and beyond it reacts like you just ran a regular run. That's pretty impressive the weekly mileage you run and the paces of those runs. Basically you run LRs faster than I run my best marathons right now
Andres - sorry I didn't comment on your marathon. Mostly because I do not see anything wrong in the training or nutrition. As for too many LRs - I think at my PR cycle in 2015 I had LR every Sunday - din't hurt me a bit. So, I do not know - maybe just running some LRs to the point where you have to fight muscle fatigue and general tiredness? Again, I am not sure. I would definitely tried to change something but not a lot.
My week was good, mileage wise and workouts wise. Decided save some money and not to run 50K next week - no need to pay for it if I can do the same thing basically for free.
Mon - off
Tue - 9.6 @9:57
Wed - 12.4 @8:20 with 4x1.5 (6:20-6:30 pace)
Thu - 9.6 @9:03
Fri - 12.1 @8:05 with 6 @MP effort (6:35-6:45 pace range)
Sat - 11.2 @8:57
Sun 31.2 @8:04
===
Total: 86.2 miles
paces PRs - 5K - 5:48 / 10K - 6:05 / HM - 6:14 / FM - 6:26 per mile
Stotan Disciple
DW nice work was looking at your insta post to see how it would go. Glad you had a great run.
JT nice work make sure to check out the Dr. Sanders on RS great world leading times in both women's races. Check out the mile & 3k they were both worth watching. Seems like Cain is on her way back. When you watch this race and see Touhy performance compared to Mary as a senior it's a telling sign of how immensely talented Cain was or could be. On a similar note my friend Maria paced the mile she was not exceptional in college but 6 years post college she has blossomed as an 800M runner and looks destined to really be special at the distance in 2020. She looks like she can qualify for Tokyo. So the point is there is hope yet for Mary.
Weekly Run stats
Mona Fartlek on Track. Lazy Becky mode
1 mile Warm up
10 Easy w\ 2.5 mile push
ORS Tuesday Run Fartlek (LES to WSH)
Peacock Power Pecking 8x 1K Repeats
6 Miles easy on bike path
Thinking should be done first, before training begins.
Oh my god - Kobe Bryant and his daughter died in a helicopter crash... Why? Why? Life is so freaking fragile and unfair
Thanks for the welcome.
I have no doubt I can do sub3 in my 50s. Since I started running late, I think my room to improve supercedes the effect of age at the moment.
But Nimmals, I will not run a 2:45 marathon anytime soon, if ever, because I spend most of my year running, as opposed to training. I run commute to work, and that is a lifestyle that is more important to me than performance. If I really wanted to be fast I would need to train accordingly, and I'm not willing to do the sacrifices DPS was talking about, like running his LRs on the TM. He's doing what is needed, I'm not. I'm half assing it too much. That state of mind can change, of course, and maybe it will, but with what I think I'm willing to put in, sub3 is a realistic goal.
I do realize you were telling me this because I was saying my height is a limiting factor, and I still believe it is, meaning I could not be a world champion, but I agree it is not limiting me at 2:59.
"DPS - not sure about snow or ice, but running up and down hills for some considerable amount of miles make so many of my body parts hurt, especially first two-three runs. Human body is amazing and on run 3-4 and beyond it reacts like you just ran a regular run. That's pretty impressive the weekly mileage you run and the paces of those runs. Basically you run LRs faster than I run my best marathons right now "
Yeah. I spent a good year just base building and I did years of 80-100 mile weeks in college and for a few years after. For me it was mostly about loosing weight and getting into shape again. Also, I have done very little speed work so far, which is why my easy pace has stayed fairly fast. I have only run maybe 1 or 2 miles in the last year that have been sub 5:50 pace and those were in races. I'm sure once I start doing some real speed work @5k pace my recoveries will slow down some too. but also most of them are on a treadmill under perfect conditions because i have a fairly large injury history with training in the winter. So I'm only really running outside when i know it is snow and not super slick ice. My road 5k, 10k, half, and marathon are all pretty soft post 25 cause of injuries causing me to blow up in races or having to back off pace to prevent further injury. that is why i took such a long wind up of base mileage and very little speed work combined with lots of stabilizing exercises just to make sure i can handle the speed work when in comes.
Nimmals- Your chart doesn't fit on my screen to actually see all the columns. Just an fyi. Maybe just me.
CyberEric. I can respect your honesty and at the very least I know you get any outcome will in the end be decided by you.
dpschumacher. I fixed it
Kobe - when I was in college I met Kobe Bryant he was just a Freshman he would come on the track and run laps. Back then we knew he was one of the best players in the Philly region he went on to become the best national junior player. My school did not have its own track so we used Penn and Lower Merrion's track for outdoor and Weidner University for indoor and going there for our practice we often saw him around the school. We were allowed to use their gym and often ran into him long before he became a legend. He was always such a humble young man. I also knew his sister Sharia and became friends while she was at Temple. I finished college before he was drafted and l was so happy for the family both of this sisters were also good student athletes. I lost touch with his sister but the family was so cool. My heart goes out to his family. He will always be Philadelphia's gift to the world. Every time he did something special I would rememberer his Philly connection and his sister and be like I knew them before he was a legend.
Often when we saw him running laps it wasn't with his team he was alone doing his own conditioning work that's dedication and he worked hard on his own without direction. And we didn't have to yell track when he saw us get there he would to run the outside even though we were guest and it was his school's track.
Mother of Cats
JT - it's really good to see a solid week for you. And...doesn't it drive you crazy to end your week on a half mile? We all have our neurotic things, and ending a week on a whole # is one of mine
Cyberic - joining in the welcomes. Your Canadian presence further reduces my ability to complain about winter weather.
Calbears - was that 50K on Sunday just so you could run a 50K for free (per your point above)? Or a superlong marathon focused training run?
Nimmals - thanks for the comments. Looking at your week, I have to ask: "what are the peacocks?"
[also, and this is very belated, and I know you had nothing to do with the music choice - but that Mariah Carey song was just perfect for that OSR mile race video. Usually when people put videos of running to music, it just comes across as awkward and forced; that was great
(edited to add - it is Mariah Carey, right? Now I'm thinking I might have it wrong....]
dps - I know we don't have ice like you have ice, but I will agree that it is the absolute worst. You just can't train on it at all - the risk is too great.
***
My week:
66 miles, 18 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimmingM: 9 "miles" pool-running. T: 8 miles very easy (9:10), upperbody weights/core, 2 miles very easy (8:51)W: 5.5 miles very easy (9:32), yoga, 6.5 miles very easy (8:47), drills+2 uphill strides.Th: 5 "miles" pool-running; core; later 4 "miles" pool-running.F: 12 miles, including 3200, 1600 in 12:44 (6:25/6:19) and 6:06. ~5 minute recovery between the two. Followed with leg injury prevention work and 700 yards recovery swimming.Sa: 10 miles very easy (8:51), drills+four strides, and upper body weights/core.Su: 22 miles, split as first 7 averaging 8:44, next 7.5 averaging 7:30, last 7 averaging 6:47 (plus half-mile jog). Followed with leg injury prevention work and 300 yards recovery swimming.
Had to balance recovery from the half with marathon training, since I've only got a few weeks left before taper. Time to get serious. So I did easy careful volume for most of the week, with a light track workout on Friday and then a long run on Sunday. Had a bit of a scare on Thursday when I felt like I was coming down with a cold. Fortunately, pulling back on stuff and getting tons of fluids and rest seemed to save stuff. Or maybe I wasn't sick after all - could have just been a combo of super dry air and post-race fatigue.
[if you're wondering about the odd pool-double on Thursday - I changed up my schedule so I could do some easy pool-running at times when the pool was guaranteed to be empty, so I could avoid spreading germs.]
I was happy with how the week ended. I'm still a bit tired from the half so I went into the long run with the mindset that I didn't have to force marathon effort if it didn't feel right. But...decided to give it a go when I was 7 miles from the finish, and as soon as I shifted into marathon effort I hit a groove. I'd like to be a bit faster than 6:47 on race day, but I'm thinking that as my legs freshen up I'll get a bit faster. I also did this long run on a route that included some rolling hills, which might have slowed stuff slightly.
Two more weeks of training before taper - 17 with 2x5 miles at marathon effort next weekend, and then 21-22 with the last 7 at marathon effort the week after that.
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.
Nimmals - thanks for the comments. Looking at your week, I have to ask: "what are the peacocks?" [also, and this is very belated, and I know you had nothing to do with the music choice - but that Mariah Carey song was just perfect for that OSR mile race video. Usually when people put videos of running to music, it just comes across as awkward and forced; that was great (edited to add - it is Mariah Carey, right? Now I'm thinking I might have it wrong....]
DW you are correct its Mariah and ODB.
Peacocks is a local group of men and women I coach consisting of runners and triathletes.
Cal: Solid week and I have the same question as DW about your LR today.
Nimmals: Cain did not have the race she wanted but I hope she can get back to previous fitness. Donovan had an awesome race; that 600m looked easy for him. I'm really excited to see what he does in the 800 outdoors. I could see him closing in on King David's WR eventually.
So sad about Kobe and his daughter (and the others in the helicopter). I was a huge fan of NBA basketball from the mid-80's through the late 90s, the Lakers-Pistons-Bulls era, but appreciate the greatness of the later subsequent generation of Kobe, Shaq and King James.
DW: Funny about the non-integer weekly total; that does not phase me, but I do tend to like even numbers for an individual run. Not even sure why, though most of my runs are out and back so turning around at a whole number of course always gives an even number total. Takeaway: runners are weird in many ways. I somehow missed that you are targeting a March 1 marathon; that puts your training in better context. Excellent quality LR today.
2:52:16 (2018)
I've been a bad thread participant (busy at work, etc, but everyone is so not really an excuse).
Regarding long runs - I'm definitely a proponent of including MP and tempo pace in some of the long runs.
Anyway, six weeks left until LA marathon. I had a pretty good week this week.
Monday - 6 easy miles roads
Tuesday - 5.8 miles TM with last 20 minutes walking at 11% grade
Wednesday - 6.6. miles TM
Thursday AM - 11 miles TM with 1 hour tempo (6:40 pace)
Thursday PM - 3.5 miles easy TM
Friday - 4.2 miles easy TM with last 15 minutes at 11% grade
Saturday 12 miles trails
Sunday - 21.3 miles roads with 4 miles tempo at the beginning (~6:22 pace) and 2 and 1 mile tempo near the end (~6:25 pace)
Paul is this your first marathon? I was looking at your log and pr's. I see you have run more than a marathon but have you trained for this specific distance before?
I hope posting one's week and commenting on other's weeks/training remains a central part of this thread and is not eclipsed by the recent barrage of nonsense.
I disagree... Though the nonsense was definitely available, I certainly saw more new faces on those days of "nonsense" I learned that just reporting mileage and paces week after week makes people sleepy and disinterested.
JTR - very cool your training continues without any problems.
DW - you basically always "hiding" pool miles - so this week would be like 80+ week, not 60+. In your estimate what pool mile worth in term of road mile?
DW & JTR - I was planning on trail run today and 50K race next week, but there was a rain tonight and in the morning, so, I decided on 50K today and trail run next week. This way I will not be racing next week and save hundred bucks It's all training - mostly for 100K trail race in May.