Off day. Hung out with family today and just relaxed. I took the dog out for a three mile shakeout run and seems that I survived that week of running. Last week was about 106 miles and some pretty decent workouts. The formost goal is always to keep just out of the injury range at my age and I have managed that. I'm still 6 lbs over race weight and it looks like that's a benefit that I just won't be able to realize this marathon. It's actually kind of cool to know that it's still in my back pocket as a gain I can get in the next few months. If I had any kind of discipline I would just get it done.
I am still thinking through the training run from yesterday. I gained a lot from that run mentally and maybe not so much that can be used to improve my running as just understanding about what marathoning is about. Just a few thoughts that have been bouncing around my skull: First, I don't think that it's uncommon for me to run a bit faster in some races than I have the talent for. It has led to some crashes. I think that most guys that I end up running next to across the finish line are much fitter and possess more God given ability. They certainly run with better form and are more consistant race to race. Every runner who feels that he or she takes this sport seriously must wonder at times, whether they run from ability, training or can just take more pain on a certain day. I can't say that I've figured that out, or expect to, but it was a new experience for me to run under effort and have a chance to consider what could be done different.
Second, is the look at speed training for a marathon. FRB gives you the opportunity to see what guys do to train for some real marathon speed. There are some times here that I'll never touch and I love the work of looking at how they do it. There are also some folks who really know their stuff as far as physiology goes. I've been wondering something and bouncing it around for a while. I'm only two years into the marathoning and would appreciate any opinions on this. It seems to me that the 10 mile distance Tempo run is the Holy Grail for a marathon. If you spend several months working that pace down with the right kind of training to what you feel is the maximum training effort that you can do it at, you have reached a pretty valuable number. The real work for training should be to get faster at this distance. It's the information and tool to carry with you on race day. Running race distances under the half marathon you will go under this pace since your effort level is higher. In a marathon, you can hit it even if you are running 26 since you are willing to hang out there farther. It's your "care" number, if you will. You can run it in a marathon, or even run under it a couple of seconds a mile, but you will pay a price one way or another.
If you drop even as little as 5 to 7 seconds below that pace in the first 13 miles, you are going to pay the price seriously the second half. You never gain time in the first half of a marathon, you only create potential problems. So, if you are looking to run a marathon 3-5 minutes faster than your 10 mile speed you better look to running that in the last 11 miles. | 