Sunday marked twelve weeks until the Chicago Marathon – which means that this was the first ‘official’ week of my twelve week training cycle.
I’ve maintained consistently high mileage since I ran Jersey City in the spring, so I don’t need a longer build up than this. Twelve weeks should be enough time to slightly refocus on longer long runs, more threshold work, and some marathon pace running.
I’ve outlined the general plan here. This week started off easy enough – with 75 total miles, two easy long runs, and a team workout on Wednesday. I also ran the last part of the Raritan Valley Road Runners XC Summer Series on Tuesday, more or less wrapping up my summer racing season.
The other highlight of the week is that the weather broke. It’s been a brutal summer, but there were a couple days this week that were great running weather.
The Weekly Plan
Here’s the plan for the week:
- Sunday: 16 miles, easy long run
- Monday: 6 miles on the trail
- Tuesday: 4 trail miles in the AM, 6 miles at the XC race in the PM
- Wednesday: 6 trail miles in the AM, 6 miles at the track workout in the PM
- Thursday: 8 trail miles
- Friday: 15 miles, easy long run
- Saturday: 8 easy miles
And here’s how things went.
Sunday’s Hot Failure of a Long Run
At the start of the week, it was still quite warm. It wasn’t as hot as it had been, and that may have lulled me into a false sense of security.
I allowed myself to sleep in a little bit, so I didn’t actually hit the road until 8AM. It was warm, but the humidity wasn’t crazy. The first half of the run felt ok, and after the first couple miles I was cruising along at ~8:00 to 8:15/mi.
When I got to the turn around point at 8 miles, I realized that I had made a mistake in going out too fast. I was still cruising along, but my breathing was a lot more labored. I didn’t feel nearly as comfortable, and I just hoped I’d make it to the end.
At around the ten mile mark, I stopped to fill up my water flask. I also took a minute or two to catch my breath – and I needed it. When I restarted my watch, it was hard to really get going again. I had been cruising along in the low 8:00’s, and the next mile was closer to 9:00.
With five miles to go, I was looking at a net uphill for most of the rest of the run. I stopped for a quick walking break, and that allowed me to make it through the next mile. I took another break before the big hill, and then I charged up it.
At the top, I was gasping for air, and I had to stop for a lengthy break. Another mile down the road, I needed a final walking break. I think I stopped four times in all in those last few miles.
When I got back to the Reservoir, I was able to regroup and put in a good effort in the final mile. I ran that in 7:51. So I finished strong(ish) – but it was much harder than it should have been.
Maybe this wasn’t a total failure. But it wasn’t a great sucess, either. It was a humbling reminder of the impact of the heat.
When I got home, I showered, collapsed on the couch, and took a nice long nap. After some reflection, I also realized that I haven’t been taking gels on my long runs this summer, and that may have been part of the problem.
Monday’s Easy Trail Miles
Monday was an uneventful morning on the trails. It was still warm, and I was just focused on taking it easy.
The long run in the heat had left me a bit sore and fatigued. I had a XC race coming up on Tuesday, and I was just hoping I’d feel rested enough with another easy day.
I finished six miles in 57:28 – so not terribly fast, but not horribly slow either.
Tuesday: The Final XC Race
I woke up Tuesday feeling better. I was still a little stiff, but nothing crazy.
In the morning, I did four easy miles on the trails and by the end I was nice and loose. I drove down to the office for a meeting, and afterwards I went directly to the XC race course.
The timing worked out so that I had an extra hour or so to kill. I stopped at Rite Aid to grab a snack (Gatorade and a Butterfinger, since they didn’t seem to have any Clif bars). I got to the park around 5:30, took a quick nap, and generally relaxed until it was time to warm up.
At 6:15, I got out of the car and started jogging around. I felt good – a lot better than I had at the previous races. I picked up my race bib, and in the final couple minutes of my warm up my pace dropped down to ~6:00/mi. Maybe this was going to be a good race after all.
The weather was decent, and it didn’t feel too hot. But it was still a little humid, so I ditched my shirt and pinned my bib to my shorts. The wind felt good, and I think it helped cool me down a bit. I also took a gel before the start, hoping that might give me a little boost of energy.
Last time, I went out too fast and I paid the price. So this time, I tried to pace myself in the first half.
At the gun, I fell in towards the middle of the pack. I kept my breathing under control, and I tried to find my pace. Throughout that first lap, I eased into the race and passed a few people. I came through the halfway point feeling pretty good.
At this point, I should have sped up. I’d run the first mile in ~6:35, which isn’t bad. If I’d picked up the pace here, I would have been fine. Instead, I kept taking it easy for a little while longer. I was slowly moving up the field, and I decided to wait until the final hill – just after the 2 mile mark – to hit the gas.
For most of the second mile, I was running a few paces behind a friend who’d been running this series. I beat him in the first race, and he passed me in the next two. This time, I caught up with him around the two mile mark and surged ahead. My split for the second mile was ~6:45 – so much slower.
But once I hit the final hill, I did speed up. I reeled in a guy or two, and I slowly pulled closer to the rest of the pack. I could see about ten guys ahead of me, and I just tried to chase down as many as I could. In the final half mile, I passed one of the guys that had passed me last time – that felt good.
Although I made up some ground, it wasn’t enough. I ended up finishing 12th in 21:03 (although I could have sworn I saw 20:55 on the clock when I crossed). I still had some gas in the tank – but I ran out of runway.
The top three guys finished well under 20 minutes, and beating them tonight wasn’t in the cards. But the next 8 finished between 20:12 and 20:55. If I’d pushed a little harder in the second mile, I should have beat out most of them.
It was definitely a tactical error on my part. I erred too much on the cautious side, and I paid for it. That’s the tough thing about racing. Go out too hard (like I did last time), and you’ll slow down before you finish. But take it too easy, and you leave some on the course.
Wednesday: The Team Workout
In the morning, I ran an easy six miles on the trails. I planned on attending the team workout in the evening – so the goal was to just loosen up and take things easy.
I was a little tired from the race the night before, but overall things felt pretty good. The run itself was uneventful. A nice hour spent in the woods.
I got home from the office in time to take a quick 20 minute nap. I extended that to 30 minutes … and then I showed up to the track a little late for the workout. Oops.
I jogged a couple laps for a quick warm up, and then it was workout time. The plan was a set of hill repeats, a tempo run, and then a mile a bit faster than tempo pace.
I wasn’t sure what to expect after the XC race. During the hill sprints, my legs felt a little slow and heavy. But it wasn’t terrible. We did 5x hill repeats, with about a 50-60m gentle start followed by 100m steeply uphill. When we were done, we took a couple minutes to regroup, drink some water, and prepare for the tempo run.
The tempo was a continuous 15 minutes on the track at around threshold / half marathon pace. The guys I would normally run with were doing a different workout – focusing on an upcoming mile race. But this tempo run was perfect for me with my focus on Chicago.
I ended up taking the lead and slowly pulling away from the rest of the team. The first lap was a little fast (~6:15-6:20/mi), and I eventually settled in to about a 6:30/mi pace. I did some mental math, and 15 minutes should last about 9 laps.
I counted down the first four laps, and I felt great. Breathing was easy. The next four, things got a little tougher. But I pulled through the 2 mile mark on pace and feeling ok. I lapped a bunch of people, and there were lots of words of encouragement.
In the final lap, one of the other guys passed me and surged ahead. I latched on to his shoulder and tried to stay just behind him. We accelerated to ~6:00-6:05/mi for that final lap and finished strong.
After a three minute breather, it was time for the final mile. Coach said it was optional, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to actually do it. But once I caught my breath, I decided to go for it.
The guy who had passed me towards the end of the tempo took the lead on the mile. I fell in a few steps behind him. In the first lap, he pulled away by a couple strides, but after that I locked on to the pace. We were going ~6:10-6:15/mi.
I counted down the laps – they were tough, but doable. By the final lap, I had fallen back 10 to 20m from the lead, and I tried to slowly close that gap a little bit. I came across the line a couple paces behind him in 6:15.
I finished up with a couple laps to cool down and a brief yoga sequence. Total mileage: 6 miles.
I felt surprisingly good for having run a XC race the night before. The weather was cooperating – it was in the low 70’s, cloudy, and not terribly humid. It was like a little taste of what will be possible once the weather really breaks in the fall – and I can’t wait.
Thursday: More Easy Miles
After two hard days, I really needed an easy day. And I took it easy on Thursday.
Eight uneventful miles on the trails. My first mile was very slow – 11:46. I was stiff, and I needed to ease into things. My pace improved a bit, but it was a slow run overall. Most miles were above 9:30, and my overall time was 1:18:43 (9:50/mi pace).
But there’s nothing wrong with going slow on a recovery day …
Friday: The Midweek Long Run
We went into the city Thursday night for the Billy Joel concert at MSG. It was amazing.
I had originally planned on doing 15 miles in Central Park Friday morning. But we had to get back early so my wife could make a morning appointment. Alas, Central Park would have to wait for another day.
I was afraid I might have to switch to the treadmill, depending on when I could actually get out to run. We got home a little before 9, and I took a quick 20 minute nap. The weather was surprisingly nice, and I decided to run outside when I finally got going at 10:00 AM.
The temp was in the 70’s, but the humidity was low. If it wasn’t sunny, it would have felt glorious. But despite the sun, it felt pretty good.
I aimed to take it easy the first few miles to warm up – and to avoid my mistake from Sunday. Most of those miles were above 8:30. I also took a gel at mile 4, in an effort to keep up my energy and stave off some of the effects of sweating.
I stopped at mile five for a quick bathroom break, and then I was back at it. The next five miles were pretty good – 8:30’s trending down towards 8:00. I took another gel around the turn around point at 8 miles. At mile 10, I was back in the park at the bathroom and I stopped to refill my water flask.
After that last quick pit stop, I allowed myself to push the pace down for the final five miles. I started off just slightly faster – 7:57. But I progressively sped up from there. I took a third and final gel at 12 miles. All five of the final miles were under 8:00, and the last three were around 7:30.
It was a great midweek long run, and I hit the 15 mile mark at 2:03:25. This was redemption for Sunday’s failure, and it also felt good to get in two 15+ milers in one week. Something I haven’t done since I trained for Erie last summer.
Saturday: Some Easy Miles in AC
Friday night, we left for Atlantic City. I’ll be down there through the middle of next week for a conference.
The traffic was atrocious. What would normally take 2 hours turned into a 3 hour drive. But we made it, and after grabbing some dinner we turned in for an early night.
I woke up at 6:00 on Saturday, and I was out on the road by 6:15. We’re staying at Harrah’s, so I started off with ~2 miles down to the boardwalk and then I ran up the boardwalk past Tropicana another two miles.
The couple miles were slow. My legs were stiff from both the long run the previous day and the long drive. But things loosened up, and the final four miles were pretty good.
It was a good easy run – and it capped off a solid week to start my training for Chicago.
Reflections and Next Week
All told, this was a good first week of marathon training.
My long run on Sunday was a disappointment. But it was also a lesson learned – pace myself in the heat and start taking gels on my long runs.
I learned from those lessons, and the midweek long run on Friday was much better.
My race on Tuesday didn’t quite live up to expectations. But it also wasn’t a disaster. I made a tactical mistake, and I failed to speed up when I should have. But I finished the race strong – a sign that the fitness is there and I just need to work on my pacing.
And Wednesday’s track workout was great. Under perfect conditions, the paces might have been a little slow. But given the fact that it was still warm and that I’d run a race the night before, they were great.
I hit 75 miles – the most I’ve done in a few months. Next week, I’ll do 75 miles again, but I’ll also aim to bump up my long run to 18 miles.
The only real challenge here is that I’m away at a conference for the week, and that makes scheduling a bit tougher. But I’ve rescheduled my long run for Monday – when I’m less busy in the morning – so I think I can work it out.
We’ll find out. Wish me luck.