Coach Says: No Soup for You!

So it's no secret that a 10 miler and a marathon are two different animals, and I always figured scheduling them a few weeks apart would lead to an interesting challenge. My goal was always to set a new PR in the 10 mile distance (68 min), and to still run the marathon around a 7:15 pace.

The problem comes with how the long runs in my training plan set up (or don't) with the ultimate goal of a marathon. In the past months, I've completed a 20-, 21-, and 22-miler, each offset by an easier week in between. With my recovery weeks after the 22-miler (peak of training), a two-week taper for the Army Ten Miler, and a two-week taper for the Marine Corps Marathon...it would be six weeks between my final super-long run and the marathon, just too long for the body to retain a hundred percent of the benefits from all that build-up and base mileage. So I reached out to the experts for a little advice.

As part of racing the marathon with Team USO, they provided training plans and a coach, which I hadn't used to date. So I e-mailed the coach and asked for a suggested training schedule that would allow me to bridge the gap between the two races and still meet my goals. I did not hear the answer I wanted...seriously, direct quote "I know this is not what you want to hear." The best suggestion was to run 8-10 miles the day before the Army Ten Miler, and then run the race without shooting for a PR, instead running at marathon pace -- 7:15/mi would be faster than my 2010 ATM time but well over my 2011 Parkway Classic time. 


Sounds good and all, as my main goal this year was building to a good showing in the marathon, but it's not that easy in practice. I know myself...and I don't think it's possible to toe the line on October 9th and not give it my all. But I obviously can't risk nullifying months of training by overexerting on a distance I've conquered before. This is a dilemma that may not be answered in the next couple weeks...it may not be answered when the cannon goes off to start the Army Ten Miler...but it better be answered by mile two or three.



No PR for you!
Come back to Army Ten Miler in one year!

2,400 Calories of Carbs in One Day

In previous blog entries I've mentioned computational marathoning and carb loading in general, but even I've had trouble in the past converting all those numbers into specific foods or a menu. Turns out, Runner's World this month solved that problem for me.

Ever wonder what 2400 calories crammed into one day would look like? Well there's a menu in the RW article below, and it includes Swedish Fish FTW!!

Fill 'Er Up
Carbo-loading can help you race without hitting the wall—as long as you do it right.

By Dimity McDowell
Runner's World - Nov 2011

Race Bibs Await!

In less than two weeks, I'll be pinning on bib number 1399 in the Army Ten Miler. Not bad, I think I've hit my peak with regards to corrals, starting in the Green corral. Doubt I'll ever be fast enough to join the 500 runners in the elite Yellow club.

---------------

A couple weeks later, I'm donning bib 31790 in the Marine Corps Marathon in support of Team USO and America's fighting forces on the front lines.

MCM bibs, waiting for delivery to DC.

22 Miles and 250 Beers

Week 13 wasn't much to write about. Just a quick recovery week with a couple skipped runs to rest up for the final assault in the following week.

Week 13 Summary  -  (7 Weeks to Go)
Wed	5 mi
Thurs	6 mi
Sat	12 mi
Total Week's Mileage: 23 miles

But week 14, wow, what a week. Altered the schedule a bit to accommodate Oktoberfest on Saturday, so I knocked out a 22-miler on Friday. 22 MILES. Hard to really comprehend the distance until you're on the final mile and smiling about the past three hours being all worth it. The 22-miler was actually easier than I expected, which puts me in a great mood headed in the taper weeks to recover for the Army Ten Miler in early October.
 

Week 14 Summary  -  (6 Weeks to Go)
Mon	8 mi
Tues	5 mi
Thurs	10 mi  (at marathon pace)
Friday	22 mi
Sat	Oktoberfest  -  Ein Prosit!
Total Week's Mileage: 45 miles

Did I mention Oktoberfest? Yeah, had 30 different brands and types of German beer, making up a beer mountain of 250 bottles of beer. It...was...epic.

250 bottles of beer on the wall, 250 bottles of beer;
Take one down, pass it around....

For total 20-week training plan from previous blog posting: Click here.

Annual Milestones Passed: 700 Miles & 100 Hours

Since last week and this week are following a modified training schedule (Oktoberfest Saturday!), I'm going to forgo a weekly summary and instead make a note about passing some year-to-date milestones: I broke the century mark for hours run in 2011, and I passed the 700-mile mark.

You can tell by the peaks and valleys in the monthly summary below where I ended half-marathon training (March), entered speedwork and 5k season (April-May), and hit marathon mode (June).

The miles and minutes include my warm up and cool down, so that adds about .8 mile (~8 min) total per training day, throwing off the annual pace. Omitting those two slow jogging periods, annual pace is just under 8:00/mile for the year, even with my long-slow-distance (LSD) runs.
 

Year-to-Date Summary
Jan	30 miles  (283 minutes)
Feb	72 miles  (661 minutes)
Mar	93 miles  (838 minutes)
Apr	52 miles  (443 minutes)
May	67 miles  (557 minutes)
June	74 miles  (632 minutes)
July	158 miles  (1,374 minutes)
Aug	163 miles  (1,414 minutes)
Total Year to Date: 708 miles  (103 hours, 12 minutes)

Celebrating Labor Day Weekend with 51 Miles

I think this weekend was a big breakthrough in both the physical and mental game, but it started out with a very bad experience.

On Friday night, I purchased a road bike from a local store, but first I took it out for a test drive on the W&OD trail. As I was testing it out, I looked down at the gears, and then heard an unmistakable sound from the intersection 10 yards ahead. When I looked up, two cyclists had dropped their bikes on the trail and were sprinting towards an intersection; people were running from the other side of the street as well. It was at that time I realized a cyclist had been hit. I honestly thought I was going to roll up on a dead body...it sounded awful. The pick-up truck that hit the cyclist stopped 20 feet past the crosswalk with the rider laying on his back in front; his shoes were 10-15 feet away and the bike was crumpled underneath the front axle of the truck. I didn't want to crowd the scene so I kept my distance, but the rider was responsive and honestly looked better than I guessed by the sound. Both probably shared some blame; driver probably wasn't paying attention as much as he needed, and the cyclist likely ignored the stop sign on the trail or assumed the truck would stop. Regardless, I was a bit shaken up by the sight and sound, and took intersections even slower on my weekend runs.

Back to running...I've been getting concerned lately with my speed. I've been so focused on distance and endurance, I've felt like my speed is dragging lately. So on Saturday I decided to push a bit and run my 10-miler at my goal marathon pace of 7:15/mile. I finished the run in 75 minutes, but that included a stop to refill water bottles, waiting out a couple red lights, and obviously slowing down at road intersections...so when I was actually moving, it's a good bet I was under the 7:15 mark. This was a big mental boost for me, just reassuring that I still had some speed under the hood.

Sunday was the big day. Supposed to be a twenty mile jog, but I decided the day prior to tack on a bonus mile if I felt up for it. The temperatures weren't too bad and the run was fantastic. I felt great throughout until I predictably hit a bit of fatigue around mile 17. Approaching three hours of running, the final mile was funny actually...there was so much accumulated sweat and spilled water in my shoes, they were making a squishing noise as they hit the pavement and felt a pound heavier. I couldn't help but laugh about it a bit, I probably sounded ridiculous running past folks in the final kick, but oh well. I really felt good about my finishing time too; I completed 21 miles a few minutes quicker than I finished my 20-miler two weeks earlier. Coupled with the run on Saturday, I knocked out 31 miles this weekend and at a decent pace too, so it was a great feeling and big boost for the final weeks of training.

Week 12 Summary  -  (8 Weeks to Go)
Tues	5 mi
Wed	10 mi
Thurs	5 mi
Sat	10 mi  (at marathon pace)
Sun	21 mi
Total Week's Mileage: 51 miles

For total 20-week training plan from previous blog posting: Click here.

Entering the Road Bike World

Watch out trail, I'm going to be cross-training on Monday. And this is going to be moving me a wee bit faster than the Asics.

2011 Specialized Allez Comp - Apex Compact

Just wanted to give a shout-out to Spokes, Etc for all their hard work and great customer service in getting both my wife and I set-up with new road rides this season.