PREFONTAINE

great job this week! sounds like you have a lot of motivation behind you right now. that's awesome -- take advantage!

Allie,

Hi. Thanks. I have had a pretty decent seven weeks so far.

I read your race report. I think you ran like 18 marathons from what I remember. Maybe more. I gathered from the report that Elites in some ways are like Non-Elites. Trying to figure out the puzzle on as to how to put together the best race!!!

You increased your mileage and made various improvements to your training and were off your PR by four minutes when all was said and done. Hey nothing wrong with the race you ran! But really, it is a mystery.

My Marathon PR is 3:54. I ran that time with the last nine weeks of my training regimen being 20 mile weeks from what I recall. That training was lacking to a significant degree...and I PR off that??? Would I ever train like that again and expect to PR...no. BUT...it is interesting to note that what I considered inferior training resulted in a PR.

I guess the point I am making is that we continue to identify what works and what does not work. A multitude of variables come into play. We think and rethink. We make alterations. An example: After reading ACorns' blog and his decision to do 8 weeks easy and 8 weeks more intense, I decided to do the same thing. I'll see how it works out in October. But the trying to figure it all out....................have to admit.........that is fun.

Oh...you have PRs left in you. You'll figure it out. Then...you will do some more thinking about how to PR again. And then you get to think...and rethink. And there we go again!

i absolutely agree -- it's really hard to pinpoint every little thing that can be tweaked in order to pull off the "perfect" race. i actually don't think it's possible, because there are just SO MANY variables. one little thing can throw off the entire race, and it may be something that is less obvious or that has gone by completely undetected in training. the marathon is unpredictable, which makes it such an exciting event. i think the fact that we have to continually experiment and tweak and never find the answer is why it's so alluring. we can have those days where everything seems to balance out perfectly, but even then it's hard to say what exactly it was that allowed the race to go in our favor. i think it has the ability to capture our attention forever...there will always be something new to learn or more ideas on how one can be their best.

all the best with your training. you are doing great.

Nice job hitting your goal for the weekdays! Breaking things up into shorter runs is key for me.