Notes
22 week long buildup to Mohawk Hudson Marathon, starting after a week off of track (where I ran 10 flat 3kS) Initial (ambitious...) goal of sub 2:40
STATS:
--- Mileage: 49.7, 69.9, 62.8, 70.4, 91.3, 89.0, 89.4, 48.2, 89.8, 76.0, 32.6, 17.1, 7.7, 30.8, 63.3, 75.7, 85.0, 92.6, 85.9, 79.2, 60.6, 59.8
--- Setbacks: 3 days off for vacation in week 8, ITBS in weeks 11-14
--- Best 4 wk avg: 85.68 (wks 17-20)
--- Best 6 wk avg: 80.61 (wks 4-9)
--- 1426.7 mi total / 64.85 avg
--- Avg Pace: 7:1x
RACES (road except where noted):
--- 28:45 / 5 mi ft3rd(wk7) (VDOT = 58.6)
--- MASS DASH (wk 10)
--- 17:19 / 5k ftw (wk 18) (VDOT = 58.9)
--- 21:04 / 6k xc (wk 18) (VDOT = 58.7)
--- 15:40 / ~2.6mi xc ftw(wk 19) (VDOT = 53.1) <-- "race"
--- 17:05 / 5k ftw (wk 20) (VDOT = 59.9) <-- 10 mi warmup
--- 2:49:06 'thon (wk 22) (VDOT = 57.6)
KEY WORKOUTS:
--- <First 9 weeks essentially easy miles + strides>
--- 2 2 hr E in first 10 wks
--- 4 T w/os 20-30' @ ~6' pace between wks 17 & 21
--- Yasso 800s avg 2:48 wk 20
--- 17@6:37 on bike path wk 18
--- 2:11 @ 7' including broken 10 @ 6:3x wk 19
OTHER:
--- Some context... graduated, started new job + home in Quincy
--- fairly consistent lunge matrix, mini bands ; intermittent hip mobility, rope stretching
--- Sleep: mediocre (a little over 7 hrs avg probably)
--- Strength training: none
--- Diet: mediocre / poor
--- Weight: from 185 during injury -> 181 by marathon
--- Did a pretty good amount of rowing during injury
ANALYSIS:
After a poor final track season and my first break in a long time, came back to running at the start of the summer with somewhat of a mental break - ran a good amount, just all easy + strides. Not the worst thing, slower and less than I've done in the past but pretty good training w/ the exception of some missed days over the 4th (not so bad). 58.6 VDOT 5 miler off of this training (for comparison, ran 10k VDOT of 61.3 on the 4th in '14).
Major setback in the middle of the summer with the ITBS - almost certainly could have handled it better (more appropriate treatment and MORE rest EARLIER). I did row a lot during my injury, not sure how much that did for my fitness but at least kept me sane. Came off the injury feeling pretty out of it but rebounded quickly and strung together a solid 6ish weeks of training in advance of the marathon. Had a nice progression of workouts and races. Fitness-wise, I'd say that the City of President's 5k (59.9 VDOT) is probably better than the 10k last summer, considering the 10 mile warmup.
The marathon itself was my "worst" race of the summer, but for sure the most fun and satisfying, and I think the lower VDOT is misleading considering it was my first time at the distance. There were definitely things that could be improved tactically (slower first half) and fueling wise (need more practice to decide if GU would have helped) but the biggest thing was the total lack of marathon specific runs - either LRs or MP runs. For the next marathon I do, I definitely will try to get in regular 2 hour LRs w/ maybe 2 20 milers and a 2:30, + hitting MP during some sort of workout basically every week for the second half of the buildup. Will almost definitely run Boston in 2017, and I may go after a fall marathon next year. Either way, I think the goal for my next marathon will be sub 2:40, and I'd like to think that my ultimate potential at the distance is much better than that...
I'll think about goals general ideas for the next couple months tomorrow