Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Illness!
Well, the bug that's been going around finally hit me. At least it is with 9 weeks left in my training program. I've been sick the past two days, and will likely miss at least 2 runs. Hopefully, I'll be back in running shape by Thursday or Friday. If I'm back in shape by Thursday, I'll try to get in 26 miles this week. If it takes until Friday, I'll only get in 19 miles.
Labels: marathon
Marathon training: week 9 update
Well, I've reached the halfway point of my training program. This week was a back off week, meaning my long run mileage was not an increase over the previous week. I was supposed to run 24 miles this week: 3 miles, 7 miles, 4 miles, and a 10 mile long run.
I'm happy to report, especially after last week's disaster, that this week was a high quality week. I ran all runs as scheduled, and even finished my long run with no walking breaks. My pace on the long run was under 11:00 min/mile, which is pretty quick for a long run (for me).
Next week will be the real test. I've stated that if I can run more than a 14 mile long run, I should be able to finish my training and do the marathon. That run occurs this week. I've got a 15 mile long run on the schedule for this weekend. In addition, I have a 3 miler, a 7 miler, and a 4 miler during the week. This is a total of 29 miles (which makes it the first week I will have actually run a marathon distance in one week).
I'll let you know how it works out...
I'm happy to report, especially after last week's disaster, that this week was a high quality week. I ran all runs as scheduled, and even finished my long run with no walking breaks. My pace on the long run was under 11:00 min/mile, which is pretty quick for a long run (for me).
Next week will be the real test. I've stated that if I can run more than a 14 mile long run, I should be able to finish my training and do the marathon. That run occurs this week. I've got a 15 mile long run on the schedule for this weekend. In addition, I have a 3 miler, a 7 miler, and a 4 miler during the week. This is a total of 29 miles (which makes it the first week I will have actually run a marathon distance in one week).
I'll let you know how it works out...
Labels: marathon
Skiing update
Well, now that I've skied one black, I've been skiing them regularly now. I tend to be able to get down the groomed blacks without too much trouble, although I would hardly say I look good on them. The bumpy blacks still give me some trouble.
I rented some longer skis last weekend (178cm Salomon X Wing Tornados), and I learned something very valuable: while I like how fast I can go on these skis, I could not maneuver them well enough. I'd like to be able to ski moguls well, and I think these skis were just too long and heavy to get them turned around as quickly as I would have liked.
One final update: it looks like Nathan and I are going to go to Whistler for a ski weekend before the season ends. We were planning to go this weekend, but it looks like something is going on up there that is making all the rooms extra expensive. We will try to go sometime in the next few weeks, before the snow starts to melt.
I rented some longer skis last weekend (178cm Salomon X Wing Tornados), and I learned something very valuable: while I like how fast I can go on these skis, I could not maneuver them well enough. I'd like to be able to ski moguls well, and I think these skis were just too long and heavy to get them turned around as quickly as I would have liked.
One final update: it looks like Nathan and I are going to go to Whistler for a ski weekend before the season ends. We were planning to go this weekend, but it looks like something is going on up there that is making all the rooms extra expensive. We will try to go sometime in the next few weeks, before the snow starts to melt.
Labels: skiing
Marathon training: week 8 update
This week was not good. TechReady 4 was in town, and I spent most of the week downtown. Not only did I not get any runs in during the week, I also didn't eat right while I was there.
Anyway, I went out for my long run on Sunday, which was scheduled for 13 miles. I figured I'd extend it by a little and make it into a half marathon.
Things started out okay, but by mile 5 I was starting to really get tired. I hit the turnaround at 6.5 miles and was really struggling. By the time I hit 7 miles, I was absolutely out of gas. I basically walked most of the way back. When I tried to get started running again, I could only go for a few hundred yards before my legs just refused to go.
I'm not sure what it was: the lack of running, the poor diet, the food I ate before the run, etc., but it really worried me that I could have such trouble at a distance I've done before and was only a mile longer than the distance I ran the week before. In addition, it was especially troubling given that I started having trouble so early in my run...
Anyway, I posting this message over a week late and can say that things have worked out (check my next post).
Anyway, I went out for my long run on Sunday, which was scheduled for 13 miles. I figured I'd extend it by a little and make it into a half marathon.
Things started out okay, but by mile 5 I was starting to really get tired. I hit the turnaround at 6.5 miles and was really struggling. By the time I hit 7 miles, I was absolutely out of gas. I basically walked most of the way back. When I tried to get started running again, I could only go for a few hundred yards before my legs just refused to go.
I'm not sure what it was: the lack of running, the poor diet, the food I ate before the run, etc., but it really worried me that I could have such trouble at a distance I've done before and was only a mile longer than the distance I ran the week before. In addition, it was especially troubling given that I started having trouble so early in my run...
Anyway, I posting this message over a week late and can say that things have worked out (check my next post).
Labels: marathon
Monday, February 05, 2007
Marathon training: week 7 update
Yesterday I completed the 7th week of my training program. I was scheduled to run 24 miles, but cut short one run by a mile (I think I ate really bad that day and competely ran out of gas after just 2 miles). That means I ran 23 miles last week, including a 12 mile long run.
Here's a recap:
Here's a recap:
- Monday: Scheduled Rest Day
- Tuesday: No run (scheduled for 3 miles)
- Wednesday: 6 miles at marathon pace
- Thursday: 3 miles
- Friday: 2 miles
- Saturday: Skiing
- Sunday: 12 miles (11:04 pace)
I talked to a guy at work who has run a couple marathons about pace during his training runs. He ran one run per week at planned marathon pace (PMP), typical training runs at about 30 seconds below PMP, and long runs at 60-90 seconds below PMP. I think I will try to follow this approach.
Next week adds one mile to the plan for a total of 25 miles. My long run next Sunday will be 13 miles, or basically a half marathon. The sad part is I still haven't run the distance in a week that I will (hopefully) be running in a day!
Labels: marathon
