Plan B

[Toby Barlow]

Are the forums still used?  Does anyone still read them...because I need some help!


I just ran the Ogden Marathon and was hoping to BQ with a 3:40.  I felt like my training was capable of hitting that time, but my cards didn't play out on Saturday.  I ran a 4:02 instead. 

I'm trying to figure out a plan B to get my BQ.  These are my thoughts and I would appreciate any feedback - no sugar coating!!

1.  Run Utah Valley Marathon.  I'm trained and could get 2 solid weeks of more training (BUT what kind of training would I do during those 2 weeks??).  I don't have to register until June 10, so if the weather is predicting hot, I won't do it. 

2.  Run Big Cottonwood.  I can have a few more down weeks and then ramp my mileage back up.  The BC course makes me a bit nervous and the "waiting" might drive me crazy. 

My training blog has all my daily runs/race reports and is very detailed.  I would appreciate any and ALL advice - no sugar coating!!

Thanks y'all!

[Jon Allen]

Toby,

Sorry to hear about Ogden- sounds like a bummer of a race.

Here's my two cents- I wouldn't try UV, seeing as it is so close to Ogden. But I'm pretty conservative. Lots of people run 2 marathons a month apart, especially if the first one went poorly and you ran slower than expected, saving lots of soreness and wear&tear. Your call. If you feel good in a week, it's not a bad possibility.

I'm not familiar with Big Cottonwood, but it seems to have a doozy of a drop. If that scares you, you could look at Top of Utah or similar.

Just looked at your training for the year. Looks like you really built up your mileage to your all time high around 50 miles per week. My main advice- I think your build up of mileage was good. I think the main thing that would help you get your BQ is continued high mileage. I bet you will find 45-55 mile weeks much, much easier now that you have broken that barrier. If you do a whole summer with that kind of mileage, your chances for a BQ will be much higher.

This is just my initial thought, without reading any of your old race reports. What do you think?
Jon

[allie]

i agree with everything jon said...esp mileage and TOU.

[Toby Barlow]

Thanks Jon and Allie for the advice!  I'm trying to put together a new training schedule....I think TOU is going to be Plan B. 

In addition to the higher mileage, do I need to throw some speed work in there or just work on my mileage?

[allie]

i think you should keep doing what you did for your ogden build up -- you don't want to throw in too many new elements. just focus on increasing the mileage. it looks like you did a few on/off sessions and some 400m speed workouts, and you also had a lot of runs where you hit GMP or faster for several miles. you were also diligent with your long runs and a lot of those were solid progressive efforts.

all of the elements are there already, so i think if you focus on bringing the MPW up, everything will come together.

it's interesting to look at your progress this year, especially during march and april. you were finishing a lot of runs well below 8:00 pace (a good 30-60 seconds faster than your GMP). the BQ is in there, no doubt about that.