Carlsbad Marathon Week 2

Week 2

6 easy - 10/19/15

Just cruised - went really well even tho I was pretty groggy this morning - nice and cool outside.  Went too fast but it was going going on a semi-new route and felt good ~8:17mm.  Amazing what can be accomplished w/o setting pace alerts and just cruising comfortably.  Lots of hills on this one which I like - keeps things interesting.

4x1200 w/400m intervals - 10/20/15

After a nice warmup, I actually ran this on a real, live track!  Was supposed to be 6:40-7:00 for the 1200s but ended up closer to 6:30.  Which is too fast but it was doable, but barely.  Was definitely feeling it towards the end - especially that 3rd rep and the first couple laps of the last one.  Very happy to have this one in the books behind me.  Finished with a cool down which could have been significantly cooler and that's a wrap.  

The track was great - only one other guy out there doing similar to me.  Now just need to commence worrying about the 7 mile tempo run coming up on Thursday!

6 easy - 10/21/15

Had so much fun on this run on Monday ran it the other way today.  Still fun!  Felt good.

7 tempo - 10/22/15

The Big Enchilada.  Woke up crazy early as wife had to go to the airport so this run was done totally in darkness.  Only semi-freaked out once.  Still could not find the correct pace which is troublesome. Other than the hill right at mile 3 and the last half mile uphill which was a killer felt good and relatively relaxed the whole way.  Very Happy to have this in the books more as proof that it can be done and if I can get the pacing down it will be even better.  It really all starts with the first mile which needs to be about 20 seconds slower than goal pace as subsequent miles go faster.

REST DAY - 10/23/15

And working from home today - double bonus.  Want to try to maximize sleep before 10 tomorrow.

10 comfortable - 10/24/15

This went really well - first 4.5 was pretty much uphill was very happy to turn around and the second half went a lot smoother mostly downhill.  Ended up a bit too fast but it did feel comfortable after the turnaround.  Ended up 8:08mm

9 comfortable - 10/25/15

This also went pretty well - was supposed to be 8 but mis-calculated and ended up a bit over 9.  Ended up 8:09mm which was too fast but except for the nasty uphill at 2-4 miles it felt comfortable.

With a bit over 47 miles this week it feels good to get the miles back up a bit and still feel pretty good.  Next week will be nasty with a ladder workout, 7 tempo, and a 14 miler!  Toss in Halloween and it's gonna be downright spooky.

Second half week 1

Well that was supposed to be easy!  Not quite unfortunately.

Friday 10/16/15 - REST DAY - slept in until 7am - woo!

Saturday 10/17/15 - 12 long

Wanted to to 8:00-8:30 - WHAT A FAIL!  After 3 miles had to stop and turn off the 'slow alert' on my garmin watch as I just frankly could not keep up.  It felt harder than the 6 tempo I did on Thursday.  So after stopping, resetting my watch, and walking for a couple minutes I started back up. Got about 5.25 miles further before I thankfully hit a light and got to stop for about a minute.  Another 1.25 miles and I was done - that and I had to go to my daughter's soccer game.  So got 9.5-ish miles in and was pretty toast.  Went to the game, sat around for about 30 minutes, and then pounded out the remaining 2.5 miles.  That was as ugly as I run as I've had in a long time.  Wow.  Actually ended up relatively proud of myself for sucking it up and getting the miles in - so there's that.

Sunday 10/18/25 - 6 easy 

Well what a difference a day makes!  Had all alerts off on my watch and just cruised for about 6.25 miles and ended up around 8:23mm - ridiculous.  

Recap

Well finished off the week ~45 miles - which is about twice of the previous week.  Other than Saturday's debacle the runs went well.  Never would have imagined several weeks ago that the fast runs would go better than the long run.  Happy to have this first week behind me!

Next Week

Well it doesn't get any easier next week - looks like:

Monday: 6 easy

Tuesday: 4x1200m speed

Wednesday: 6 easy

Thursday: 7 tempo

Friday: rest

Saturday: 10 long

Sunday: 8 easy

On the surface this looks reasonable and doable but that's why we do the runs...  Have GOT to find my correct pace for the tempo run or I'll be toast.

Carlsbad Marathon Training - Week 1

Here is what week 1 training looks like:

Monday: 6 easy
Tuesday: 5x1k (400m recoveries)
Wednesday: 7 easy
Thursday: 6 marathon pace
Friday: rest
Saturday: 12 long
Sunday: 6 easy

NO PROBLEM :)  I have been running only about 25 miles/week so this will be a big jump.  I have run this amount of weekly miles before - so hoping my body will lock in!  Well... here's hoping!

Monday 10/12/15:
Since it's hot as balls and was too lazy to get up early had to do Monday's workout on the treadmill, which I really no not enjoy.  Fortunately it was only 6 miles.  However those six miles took more out of me than I imagined they would.  Maybe because I haven't had a lot of sleep lately but I HAVE had a lot of beer.  Need to cut that out/slow that down significantly for training.
At work we have these super-fancy treadmills - which are way to super-fancy frankly - that have these 'soft' 'outdoor-like' surfaces which I swear make them much harder to run on - and at any given speed they feel way too fast due to the soft surface I think.  Plus they vibrate ridiculously.  So I hate them.  They are Woodway and are allegedly 'really good' but I prefer the old fashioned ones thank you very much.  These first world problems are horrible I know.  Well got the 6 miles done here - a bit over 6 miles around 8:43mm.
Now this is my watch (Garmin 220) attempting to determine distance via my stride.  Which on a flat road works pretty well, but on a treadmill at a 1% incline not so much.  So I didn't actually go that far nor that fast.  Went closer to 8.13 miles so closer to 9:00mm.
Is it only me or do I always like to run an even amount?  In this case stopped at 55 minutes exactly.  Lame.

Tuesday 10/13/15:
2 miles warm up outside - very warm out.  Then 5x1k at 9.0mph with 1% incline on the treadmill.  400m rest intervals at 4mph.  It was doable but was happy when it was over!  Did I mention I really do not like the Woodway treadmill?  So about 4 minutes of running with a 3:30 rest interval.  See the madness here.  Followed by 1 mile cool down outside - which was very hot so not so cool.
Did I mention I'm happy to have this workout behind me?  I really do NOT like speed workouts!  However they are probably exactly what I need.

Wednesday 10/14/15:
7 'easy' - (strava) well that was not as easy as it needed to be.  Went too fast for starters - exactly what I did NOT want to do.  The real test will come tomorrow when I have 6 at MP.  The piper will be paid.  Maybe sushi and beer last night for dinner wasn't the best idea.  Not too warm out but pretty humid.

Thursday 10/15/15:
6 tempo.  Woke up 3 minutes before my alarm was set - that's a win already!  Run went ok - biggest problem was it was too fast and I could not 'find' my pace of 7:38 and ended up ~7:17.  Not sure I could have gone another mile at that pace so I really need to be able to 'lock into' my 7:38 pace.  For me it's all about the first mile.  Whatever I pace I go that mile sets the tone for the rest of the run and I went out too fast and could get not my bearings after that.  REALLY looking forward to a rest day tomorrow!  I get to sleep in until 7am!  Woo!  Strava

Carlsbad Marathon

After a horrific first Marathon at Long Beach in 2014 I (think) I'm ready to get back on the horse and run another one.  I went out too fast or I overtrained or I just failed - not sure which - probably all three, so this time I hope to learn from all of those mistakes.

At Long Beach after flaming out around mile 13 and walking most of the second 13 miles, along with horrible cramps and watching pace group after pace group pass me by before finally hobbling to the finish, I vowed to redeem myself, somehow in some way!

So here I go again into the abyss of marathon training.  THIS TIME I'm going to follow the plan more closely - for Long Beach I typically ran faster than the plan thinking this was a good idea.  Turns out it wasn't.  For Long Beach my taper wasn't really a taper - and when I toed the line I felt tired before the race even began.  By mile 13 I was done.

I really was a training rock star - exceeding all of the distances and paces and it was all just too much.  Besides I actually like running and it felt good.  Probably also liked to see the results on Garmin Connect and Strava.  But I paid dearly for it on race day.  THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN (or will it?)!

So follow along as I try to keep it under control and have an GOOD experience on race day.

That all said my Big Goal this time is to FINISH HAPPILY.   Here are my other goals:

1. Break 3:45
2. Break 3:30
3. BQ (under 3:25)

So Carlsbad Marathon here I come!

I've seen mostly women chronicling their marathon training and I'm for equality so I'm going to post my training log here for the world to see.

I'm going to try to follow the Hansons Plan - since I -just- decided to follow this plan I missed the first 2 weeks of it!  How's that for off to a flying stop?

But fear not dear reader!  I have been running 2 tempo runs (5.5 miles) and 1 long run (10ish miles) a week for the past several weeks so all it not (yet) lost!

Early last week I had a very nice run (5.9 miles just under 7:00mm pace) which has given me confidence so I'm feeling pretty good.  And if there is ANYTHING I have learned while running is confidence, or the mental side of running, is just as important as the physical stuff.  I'm always amazed how much better/faster/stronger I feel when NOT looking at my watch (Garmin 220) vs. when I do.

SO here are my paces for this training cycle:

Goal Pace:  07: 38 /MI
Strength Workouts:  07: 28 /MI
Speed Workouts:  06: 43 - 06: 60 /MI
Easy Days:  8:38 - 9:18 /MI
Long Runs:  8:08 - 8:23 /MI

Pulled directly from the Hansons site to run a 3:20:00 marathon.  Now I do NOT expect to run that fast during the race but I want to train at that speed to give myself some wiggle room during the actual race.  Maybe I'm sandbagging but I do struggle with the mental side of things during races so I want to ensure I have the fitness so I do not have to kill myself during the actual race to hit one of my goals.  It's sad but true I guess.

So follow along!  I will continue to update here as well as Garmin Connect and Strava (they are sync'ed) as to my progress.  I promise to publish at minimum weekly with how the week went and possibly more often as time permits!

This blog is mostly for me - to keep me motivated and share my story with who(m?)ever finds is useful!  Would love to hear anyone else's experience marathon training - thanks for reading!