This week, it gets real.
Not only do I need to hit peak mileage – 85 miles – again. But I also have my first 20 mile long run.
Even though it’s not much farther than the 16 mile long runs I do every week, something about it just feels qualitatively different. It’s both anxiety inducing beforehand and pure satisfaction afterwards. And some mix of fun and pain in between.
Towards the end of this week, I’ll also be tapering down a little bit. I have the Big Bang Mile coming up on Sunday. This was initially supposed to be last month – before I got into the heavy marathon training – but it was rescheduled due to thunderstorms.
I can’t afford to take it too easy for an entire week, but I’ve shuffled things a bit to have two easy days at the end of the week. Just enough to – hopefully – let a little fatigue go and make my legs feel fresh come Sunday.
We’ll find out.
The Plan for the Week
Here’s the plan for the week:
- Sunday: 10 miles, easy
- Monday: 20 mile long run (no workout)
- Tuesday: 6 mile trail run AM, 5 mile treadmill PM
- Wednesday: 8 mile easy run AM, 6 mile workout PM
- Thursday: 16 mile long run
- Friday: 8 mile trail run
- Saturday: 6 mile trail run
And here’s how things went …
Sunday: The Not Long Run
Usually, Sundays are for long runs. But not this weekend.
We were still out of town in Bedford, PA for my family’s camping trip to Shawnee State Park. We planned on meeting for breakfast around 9 before hitting the road, so I didn’t have time to put in a solid long run.
Instead, I planned on running 10 miles this morning and doing my long run when I got back home on Monday.
While scouting out for places to run, I noticed a mountain on Google Maps – Kinton Knob. When I mapped out the route to get there, it was just about 10 miles round trip and ~1,500 feet of elevation. That should be interesting, no?
I woke up and watched the replay of the women’s Olympic Marathon. Then I hit the road. It took about a mile and a half to get to the road that started heading up. Uneventful.
The first quarter mile or so wasn’t that steep. And then, suddenly, it was. For a short bit, the grade was ~15%. It occurred to me that this was similar in slope to the last big hill in the Olympic marathon, and it gave me a newfound appreciation for what they went through.
About two and a half miles in, the road started to level out. And I seemed to hit a dead end. There was a no trespassing sign and what looked like a driveway heading off to the right. I had no signal on my phone, so I couldn’t see the map. So I just decided to head back down the hill.
Frankly, I don’t know if I wanted to run another 2 miles and 1,000 feet up anyway.
I continued back towards the hotel, and I turned to run down the trail that I had followed the previous day. The first couple miles had been slow heading up the hill, and then I took it easy for a couple miles to catch my breath.
But once I got to the trail, my legs came back to life. On the way out, I kept things easy – ~8:45/mi. But once I hit the turnaround point, I picked it up a little bit. The last three miles were 8:07, 7:47, and 7:47.
I showered, we all ate breakfast, and then it was time for the long (4 hour) drive back to Jersey.
Oh, and it was 55 degrees out when I left for my run. It felt amazing. I can’t remember the last time the weather felt this nice.
Monday’s Long Run
Monday morning, it was time to tackle my first twenty miler of this training block.
I didn’t have any meetings scheduled for the morning, so I had some flexibility in my schedule. I woke up early, drank my coffee, and hit the road.
I started with a hilly route of about 10 miles along the road from my house to a nearby park. The weather was decent – mid 60’s with low humidity – so I wasn’t too worried about the pace. But I wasn’t trying to push things, either.
The first half went smoothly. I took gels at miles 4 and 8, and I sipped on my water flask every mile or two. I didn’t look at my watch, other than to glance at the heart rate, until I hit the ten mile mark. When my watch buzzed and I looked down, I was a little shocked to see 1:21:23.
Did I really run the first half that fast? Ok.
By mile 11, I was back at the Orange Reservoir and I was going to finish up with some laps on flat ground. I stopped at the water fountain for a quick second and filled up my water flask, and then I started the endless loops.
Originally, I planned on speeding up a bit at the ten mile mark. But since I’d already gone so fast, I decided to instead keep things about the same until mile 15.
At mile 12, I took another gel. I sped up a little bit, and miles 11-15 were 7:41, 7:55, 7:32, 7:34, and 7:41.
I tried to push it a little after mile 15. But it didn’t feel great. I was starting to feel fatigued, and I didn’t want to crash and burn with a few miles to go.
Mile 16 was 7:23. I took my final gel, and I let my foot off the gas a little bit. The next two miles were still pretty fast, though – 7:29 and 7:36.
If I had ended here, it would have been an amazing run. 18 miles in 2:22, and my average heart rate in the upper aerobic zone until the last couple of miles.
But I still had two miles to go, and this is where thing started to go downhill. I tried to increase the pace just a little bit for the final two miles, and my legs weren’t having it.
After a minute or so, I just decided to back off. I eased up on the pace, and halfway through mile 19 I got a mild side stitch. I was able to run through it, but it didn’t feel great. With about a half mile to go, I passed the water fountain. I stopped briefly to refill my water flask and to hopefully get rid of the side stitch.
Two or three minutes later, I was feeling much better. I pushed a little harder on the last bit, and I got my pace back down to ~7:10/mi for the final quarter mile.
My time – with two quick stops at the water fountain included – was 2:38:39.
Although I was disappointed I didn’t finish strong, I was thrilled with the time. I did two 20 mile long runs in the spring while I trained for Jersey City – and I finished those in 2:47-2:48. And those runs were in March, when the temp was in the 50’s.
So this represents a huge jump in fitness for me.
Tuesday: The Day After
I felt kind of worn down the rest of the day Monday. The heat probably had something to do with it. It wasn’t terribly hot out – but the temps climbed into the low 70’s before I was done.
When I woke up Tuesday, I didn’t feel half bad. Not too sore or stiff. I hit the trails for an easy six miles, and I finished in 57:29.
I remember feeling like I was going a lot faster. But the fact that I could run 9:00-9:10/mi for the second half, and it felt easy, is a good sign.
In the evening, I hopped on the treadmill for five more easy miles. Uneventful. Loosened up pretty quick, and I eased into the usual pace. 45 minutes and done.
Wednesday: Back on the Track
Wednesday morning, I started with 8 easy miles.
I needed to charge my car up, so I drove over to the Reservoir instead of hitting the trails. I did four laps at a fairly pedestrian pace.
I didn’t feel bad, but my legs were definitely a little fatigued. With a workout scheduled for the evening, I didn’t want to push too hard.
I finished in 1:10:25, and the last few miles were all around 8:30/mi.
There was a huge crowd at the track for the workout tonight. I got a few laps in, and then we did some drills and strides to warm up.
The workout was another mix of paces. First, some reps at around 10k pace (4 x 3 minutes, 2 minute jog) to fatigue the legs. Then, some 400m repeats to finish up at a faster pace with 60s standing recovery.
There were four of us in the lead pack, and I kind of hung on to the back at first. The first two reps felt pretty good, and we ran ~6:15/mi.
On the third rep, the guys upped the pace a bit and I tried to hang on. We were running ~6:05/mi, and my legs felt good. But suddenly, my stomach didn’t.
With about 15 seconds to go in the third rep, we passed by the bathrooms. I broke off and took a quick pit stop. I was out before the 2 minute recovery was up, and the guys were just coming around on their recovery jog.
I latched on to the pack again for the final rep – ~6:00/mi. Nice.
We drank some water, took a breather, and jogged a lap for recovery. Then it was time for the 400’s.
The first one felt good. We all started together, and I didn’t fall too far behind. Crossed the line in 82 seconds.
On the second rep, we started to get a little spread out and the gap widened. But I finished in 83 seconds. Not bad.
On the third rep, my stomach was grumbling again. I eased up a little in the middle, and crossed in the line in 85 seconds. After a much needed 60 second rest, I tried to hammer the last rep – but I had nothing left. I felt like I went pretty slow, but I was still able to come through in 87 seconds.
We caught our breath for a couple minutes, and then we jogged a mile for a cooldown. Towards the end, my stomach was rumbling again as soon as we finished I hit up the bathroom for another pit stop. I felt much better afterwards.
My legs felt pretty good for the workout – especially considering the amount of miles I’ve put in over the last two weeks. But the digestive issues messed up the workout a little bit. This could have been a great workout.
But it still wasn’t terrible.
Thursday: A Midweek Long Run Outside for a Change
I’d have liked to have taken an easy day in between Wednesday’s workout and the MLR, but I chose to run it on Thursday instead. This way, I could leave Friday and Saturday as shorter, easier days.
The weather was pretty nice. Or at least, nice for August. Mid 60’s, with a dew point in the high 50’s. It was going to be sunny, and the temperature was forecasted to reach the 80’s in the afternoon – so I got out early and planned to finish before it got too warm.
When I got started, my legs were a little heavy. But it wasn’t terrible and I didn’t feel like I was going super slow. I did a similar route to Monday – 11 miles of rolling hills to the park and back followed by 5 miles of laps around the Reservoir.
I came through the ten mile mark at 1:26:27. So a lot slower than Monday, but not terribly slow. The first couple miles were slower while I warmed up, the middle was ~8:30/mi, and the final few were down closer to 8:00-8:15/mi.
When I got to the Reservoir, I stopped at the water fountain to fill up my flask and I tried to push the pace a bit. I couldn’t get going at first, and mile 12 was 8:11. But the next three were better – 7:44, 7:51, 7:48.
I had one mile to go, and I was starting to feel worn out. I took my foot off the gas for the final mile and slowed the pace a little bit. I ended up finishing that mile in 8:03 – and 2:14:25 for the entire run.
My goal was to finish under 2:15. Not too fast, not too slow, and my heart rate was in the 130’s – 140’s for most of the run. Even at the end, it only got up to ~153-154, which is below my effort in a marathon (~158-160).
This didn’t feel quite as effortless as the midweek long run last week. I’m sure the schedule had something to do with this. The heat towards the end probably played into it as well.
But I made it through – and this was the final hard thing for the week.
Friday’s Easy Miles on the Trails
Oh man, did I feel rough this morning.
I woke up and hit the trails for eight easy miles. The first mile was tough – very slow, very stiff. The second mile got a little better. It wasn’t until the third mile or so that I really felt warmed up – although I was still going pretty slow.
About three miles in, I was staring at the ground in front of me. One foot in front of the other. Then I heard a rustling in the leaves to my right.
Looked up to see a deer maybe 10 feet away. It’s funny how you can get so focused on one thing that you totally miss what’s going on around you.
Good thing it was a deer and not a bear.
I made it to the four mile mark and turned around. By this point, I was pretty well warmed up. I felt better, but it was still slow going.
On the way back, I was doing ~9:30/mi. Total time was 1:18. Not my slowest on this route, but pretty close.
Saturday’s Quick Six Miles on the Trails
It’s such a luxury to have two easy days in a row.
And to only have to wake up and do 6 miles? Awesome.
I was still a little stiff at the start, but I warmed up more quickly today. The first mile was tough, and then it got a lot easier.
After the turnaround, I was doing ~9:15/mi on the way back. So a little faster than yesterday. But I made sure not to get carried away. With a race tomorrow, the goal today was to stay nice and easy.
In the last mile, I threw in a few strides. Not quite as quick as I would have done on a paved route, but just enough to stretch out my legs and lengthen my stride for ~100m or so.
I felt pretty good after I finished up. Hopefully with a good night’s sleep, I’ll feel rested and have a good race in the morning.
Reflections on the Week
I’m four weeks in, and I’m feeling great.
Yes, this week wore me down. But that’s the point. I made it through two weeks at peak mileage, did a pretty good job over the last two weeks at balancing my long runs, my workouts, and my midweek long runs. They weren’t all perfect – but they were all pretty good.
Every time we work out at the track on Wednesdays, I surprise myself a little bit with the paces I’m able to hit. And I’m thrilled with how the 20 mile long run went. I’ve got one more coming up in September, and if I can perform similarly I’ll be super confident going into the race in Chicago.
But for now, I’m thinking about the mile race tomorrow. The weather isn’t looking great – temp in the 70’s, high humidity, and a dew point of 70-71. It’ll be cloudy with a chance of showers. If it actually rains, it might not be so bad. But if it’s just sticky out, it’s going to suck.
Last month, I tried to time trial a month in the same conditions and I hit 5:55. In the right conditions, and with more rested legs, I think I could bust out a 5:20 or 5:30. But for now, I’ll be happy if I can get down to 5:45. It’ll be the fastest mile I’ve ever run, and it’ll leave me with a soft PR that I can beat up on next spring.
My plan is going to be to hit the halfway point in 2:50 – 2:55. Then we’ll see what happens.