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Undertrained marathoner - 2 weeks out (Read 395 times)

Mishka-old log


    I posted this in the main forum, then remembered we had this group here at RA. Figured it was worth a shot posting here too. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you folks might have. My last 2 months in preparation for the NY Marathon 2 weeks from now has been less than stellar. Same story as usual...I'm not smart and patient enough to stay healthy. I have done a (barely) sufficient job of cross training in the mean time. My long "runs" were 2-3 hour bike rides, mostly easy, with a little intensity thrown in. I did 4 or 5 of those. My injury is slowly allowing me to run again. I'm still hoping for an honest performance in the marathon (but knowing realistically that getting within 20 minutes of my PR would be an accomplishment). That's what I'd like to go for though. I think I have a solid base of general fitness. It is just not running-specific right now. And in 2 weeks, I'm obviously not going to convert it fully to running-specific fitness. I'm not sure what would bring my fitness back around the best at this point. My biggest concern is that my legs will not have the tolerance to pound on pavement for 3+ hours. I was thinking of getting in a medium-long run (1:30 - 1:45) on pavement, at a slow pace, within the next few days. Would that help with impact-tolerance in such a short time frame? Or is too risky, even at a slow pace? Is impact-tolerance my key issue? Or should I be focusing on something else altogether? Any other suggestions?


    #2867

      I recommend doing a your medium long run, but throw in some walking breaks every once in a while right from the get go. A minute every mile, or 30 seconds every 4 minutes, or something like that. It'll help you control your fatigue. The first time that I ran Boston, I had some health issues that kept me from running anything over 4 miles at a time right up to a month before the race. It was far and away my slowest marathon, but I finished without walking. This was before I started taking anything but water during a race, although I did sample the treats along the way. Just be aware that you'll need to go out slower than you normally would, and stick to that.

      Run to Win
      25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

      Mishka-old log


        Thanks for the insight, Blaine. I would not have even thought about taking walking breaks, but it would seem to allow a longer effort, while reducing the risk associated with a sudden spike in training. I'll probably go with it. Thanks again. MTA: Out of curiousity, how far do you think you were off of what your well-trained potential would have been for that Boston race?


        Oh Mighty Wing

          Mishka, I know some marathoners who went in undertrained and they took a walk break approach. They came out of the experience with this advice: Practice the strategy in the weeks leading up. Use teh plan from the beginning - do not wait till you are tired to start walking. I hope there is something helpful for you in that.
          Mishka-old log


            Shan, thanks for the response. I'll probably do the walking breaks for the training run, then go for broke in the marathon itself. At least that's what I'm thinking now. It may change after this run. If I do the walking breaks in the marathon, there would be a big revision in my goal (which, again, might be necessary). We'll see. If I do go with the walking approach in the race, I'll use it early.


            #2867

              Thanks for the insight, Blaine. I would not have even thought about taking walking breaks, but it would seem to allow a longer effort, while reducing the risk associated with a sudden spike in training. I'll probably go with it. Thanks again. MTA: Out of curiousity, how far do you think you were off of what your well-trained potential would have been for that Boston race?
              Let's see...that was my 5th marathon, my 3rd one that got me qualified was a year earlier when I ran 3:07:13, followed up by a 3:10:19 (hamstring problems), and in my Boston race I ran 3:42:31, which is over 20 minutes slower than my next slowest marathon that I've ever run (3:18:40 in Maine - my 2nd marathon, 3 years after my first one, where I only had 9 weeks of running under my belt before racing it.) Obviously, my 50k was slower, and I expect my upcoming 50 miler to be slower, but those'll be by choice, and not necessity. My next marathon after Boston was my first sub-3 marathon, which was 2:52:37. That was my first race using gel packets. I definitely would not have been sub-3 at that Boston race had I been in shape. You need to know that course to do well on it, I think, so in a normal effort I'd guess that I'd have probably been between 3:05 to 3:10, which on that day would have probably been around 3:15-3:20 given (a) my lack of knowledge about the course, and (b) the fact that it was in 2005 when the race still started at noon and it was in the upper 80s and humid without a cloud in the sky. So I'd say I was off by 20-25 minutes, realistically. My second attempt at the Boston course was 2:54:22 in 2007, but I was hampered by my fears of the nor'easter and was way overdressed which ruined my PR attempt. (All times gun, net times were anywhere from 2 seconds to 2 minutes faster.)

              Run to Win
              25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)


              #2867

                Shan, thanks for the response. I'll probably do the walking breaks for the training run, then go for broke in the marathon itself. At least that's what I'm thinking now. It may change after this run. If I do the walking breaks in the marathon, there would be a big revision in my goal (which, again, might be necessary). We'll see. If I do go with the walking approach in the race, I'll use it early.
                I shot you a link on facebook to my notes on galloway (anybody else reading this, that download is going to go away at some point, but you can read it on my website in a series of multiple articles. The part relevant to this discussion is at http://news.runtowin.com/2008/09/18/jeff-galloway-clinic-run-walk-run.html) - when I spoke with Jeff afterwards, and he doesn't have much data on folks that can run sub-5 in the mile and how they do in the marathon, but he did coach one guy that cut his time from 2:33 to 2:28 by walking for 15 seconds every mile or so, dependant upon where aid stations were and such.

                Run to Win
                25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)