Marby: Great job on the 50k! You held the pace really consistently throughout, so I'm assuming it was a relatively pleasant experience.

DW: Nice week. What is your usual weekly mileage while marathon training?

jhudak: Looks like the fitness is definitely returning with that tempo and LR.

Mikkey: Great to see the quality training and mileage from you, and sounds like you are really enjoying it which is most important!

My week went well; a good 3 x 2 mi workout on the road and a decent LR today with a fast finish. 3 weeks till race day, so this week will be similar to previous weeks but then tapering will begin!  I'm scheduled for dose #1 of the vaccine Wednesday afternoon which works well; I'll do my weekly workout that morning, then easy running the next several days in case I feel lousy.

Weekly for period: From: 03/15/2021 To 03/21/2021

Total distance: 69.72 mi

 

Nice week to you as well.

 

We had a sorta-forum encounter....I parked in Parking lot A (right near the 395 bridge) just before 7:30 am - I got there by taking 395 in, and then taking the Potomac Park exit before making a right onto Buckeye and another onto Ohio Drive.  As I was waiting to make the right, two guys ran by on Buckeye, going counter clockwise.    Based on your Strava - one of them was you...

 

(I remember the runners specifically because I had really struggled with the tights/shorts decision before going with shorts this morning.  So I was checking out runners to see if anyone else was wearing shorts.....)

DW: That sounds like me. I was the taller guy who was likely running in front with a teal long sleeve. I hope you went with shorts, it was an almost perfect morning.

Mickey: Solid week. Especially with the tempo work considering your time off from it. Good luck on the TT.

JT: Good week. The long runs appear to have been going really well. How are you feeling about sub 2:50?

DW 11-12 weeks is the schedule,so early June.I have my ultra 5th June so will try and get it just after that if possible.

  the Mary Peters track is soo amazing and therapeutic and in beautiful surroundings.  

How old were you when you left Belfast?  My memories (just from the news) were grim.... the troubles, bombs, BobbySands, etc

Was it actually like that?  Sound like you have fond memories?

.

 

Thanks. I'm feeling like sub 2:50 is possible if everything lines up...but then again I've felt that way for the past 3 marathons and it didn't pan out. This time around I think I should not be over-trained, given the shorter cycle and the down time from the hamstring strain, so hopefully that will be a plus.

Is this finally the race you get it done? I hope so! I've always been optimistic about your ability to get it done. I know you'll probably dismiss this, but maybe try running more than once in the 4 days prior. You have a very extreme taper, more than anyone I've ever seen. You don't need to run every day, but even getting out for 30 minutes one additional day could make a big difference race day. Peaking around 70ish MPW, I would do 7 5 0 3 the 4 days prior. Since you like more of a taper, maybe do 5 4 0 3. But I do think just getting your legs moving those days can help. Going from running 6 days a week to just 2 or 3 is a shock to the system.

Just a friendly thought. Or, just blow this off and still break 2:50 to show me how wrong I am 

 

Running Problem: Boston, CIM, and COVID.... your 3 favorite topics. Why not branch out to a different marathon?

Travel restriction in place at work due to COVID 19. Boston is probably not going to happen for me and it's been a goal race for probably 7 years with three or four being a point I got serious about it. I guess I could pick a different marathon but it seems like every marathon I find is either sold out, or doesn't allow people outside of a specific area to participate. SO it's really hard at this point to just branch out to a different marathon when the goal I've had and the bar I've set has just been ripped away from me. It's actually seriously hard to even motivate myself to go run when I could start doing more jeep stuff. It could include the family, and outdoor recreation has been socially distanced since the beginning of time.  COVID isn't a favorite topic of mine. It's a pain in the ass. If I leave the state I have to stay home for 10 days. If I get vaccinated I don't get any more or less freedoms. I have friends and family who don't visit and have said we can hang out as soon as covid 19 vaccinations allow it. Also, it's caused me to work from home, which I love, and now I'm hearing it's not going to be allowed when COVID 19 ends and just further proves to me work doesn't give two fucks about what I enjoy or don't like about the office. It's more important to them I show up and be miserable in the office where no one wants to talk to me, than let me sit at home like I have for the past year and let no one talk to me.  So NOT in a nutshell, it isn't just so simple as to branch out to a different marathon. Heck, it was just announced a local 5k and 10k can happen, on different days, with no medal, and absolutely no after party. I'd rather run a time trial and keep my money than follow that bullshit. I can't wait until COVID 19 is no longer in the news and all the unvaccinated people who weren't able to jump the line by claiming they are essential are sitting next to a stranger at a restaurant and no one wears a mask because we don't worry about COVID 19. I look forward to CIM along with other friends because I have GREAT memories of that race including meeting people from this and the last forum. I don't know of another opportunity where 3-7 people from this forum are going to show up and have brunch, or spend an hour together or maybe even sight see on a casual jog ever again. I could just as easily isolate from the forum as many others have and no one would really miss me.

Regarding tapering, I remember from The Four Minute Mile that Roger Bannister took 5 days off running before big races. Now that's a serious taper, especially since he was racing a mile most of the time! But it obviously worked for him.

JMac, I wanted to ask how running at 9000 ft has been? Seems like you got used to it fairly quickly, or at least are able to run your sea level easy pace. If you train a significant time up there you should be able to really tear it up once you come back down to the lowlands.

Maybe I just remembered that one odd one, but I always thought you did 0 4 0 0 or something like that. It's funny, Pfitz I don't think even tells you to take a day off, so I always thought my taper was a bit more conservative as I always take 2 days off before the race.

I actually do agree with the little mileage camp. I will say for someone running 70 miles a week usually, if you're doing 7 5 0 3 the days before the race, that's only 15 miles! You could even do 6 4 0 3. The minimum I would do is 5 4 0 2.

Probably something in the middle does make sense so it's not a shock in the other direction! I think your compromise makes sense. I will also agree with Mikkey that running solo is probably the bigger issue. however, I will say that I have done a ton of research into tapering and it seems like the vast majority of people that fail are the ones who take too many days completely off or over taper more than a few days out.

Elevation - it sucks. My first night here, I walked up one flight of stairs and was completely out of breath. I also was out of breath sleeping, which was fun. I don't know why but it hits me harder than most. My first run was a complete disaster, ran a 5K and literally felt like I raced it, I was coughing for hours afterwards like I do with a race. Now, I'd say I'm pretty used to it. I still find hills to be tough, something about the lack of oxygen gets me there.

I have a lot of respect for these guys who train constantly at this altitude. Most guys I think train lower in the US, like Boulder which is about 5K feet and Flagstaff which is 7K, but even that is pretty rough. Seems like Kipchoge trains around 8K. I imagine if you start getting too high (10K+) you start losing the benefits.