Ran 4.3 miles with some plyometrics (skipping, bounding etc). Last week's recovery schedule did the job for my legs. They feel good. It is good to start the challenge when my legs aren't "trashed"! Watch out Jeff!
Running plans for the rest of the week (so Jeff knows what to expect):
1 easy day: this week there is 4 miles scheduled. This day is fexible but probably will be Tuesday.
Wednesday: 8 miles with 6 Yassos. What are Yassos? Well, I love these things - maybe not when I am doing them, but the results are amazing. Bart Yasso came up with this idea a number of years ago that if you take your goal marathon time in hours and minutes (say 4 hours, no minutes - 4:00:00), and convert it directly to minutes and seconds (so it would be 4 minutes, no seconds - 4:00) and use that to run 800m intervals (so 1 800 in 4:00) and you do 10 of these with an equal rest interval (4:00) three weeks or so before your marathon, that it is a strong predictor of your actual marathon time. I have successfully used these in the past, and I say he is right! Incidentally, I ran my second fastest marathon (fastest in the last 18 years) at Houston in 2005 after doing these Yassos and the modified Higdon workouts described below. Yeah, so what you say? I had appendicitis during that marathon! I had emergency surgery soon after. Ok about the Yassos: I take it a bit further in that about two months ago, I started with 1 800m interval and have now built to six. These make for a tough workout, but the results are going to be there for me in Chicago in October. In mid September, I will be able to do ten 800m intervals with appropriate rest within a 10 mile run. This will predict my marathon finish time, very accurately.
Thursday: rest or cross train.
Friday: 8 mile pace run. A run at marathon pace.
Saturday: 14 miles with the first 10 about a minute slower than planned marathon pace and the last 4 miles close to marathon pace if I feel good. This long run following the "pace run" the day before is following methods set by Hal Higdon. I believe the idea is to get the body to run 20+ miles within 24 hours to properly teach the body to run when it is tired. It works!
I'll probably ride my bike in the hills on Sunday which provides me a great recovery but doesn't count for the challenge.
So I talked with Jeff on the phone today and he reported that he had biked 4.3 miles! I thought "Wow, what a coincidence! We did the same mileage today." Oh no, that was for yesterday. And, he had already done some biking today and would probably do some more tonight. This challenge has certainly ensured that I get out of bed in the morning and put in the miles. This morning I really thought about changing my alarm and running this evening. But, I thought, what happens if there is an afternoon storm with lightning? I'll run when it is pouring rain, but I don't run in lightning. So I dragged myself out of bed and ran. Thanks Jeff! |