Sunday, March 15, 2009

First Marathon Of 2009

Monday, March 9
p.m. 60 min Treadmill
8.5M (8.5)

Tuesday, March 10
a.m. 60 min Treadmill
8.8M (17.3)

p.m. 30 min Treadmill + 8x200m 32-34 sec (200m jog)
5.5M (22.8)

Wednesday, March 11
a.m. 2 hrs Treadmill incl 4x10min @ 7% incline 6:40/mi pace (5 min easy pace recovery)
18.05 (40.85)

Thursday, March 12
a.m. 45 min Treadmill
6.5M (47.35)

p.m. 60 min Treadmill
9.35 (56.7)

Friday, March 13
p.m. 50 min Treadmill + 8x200 31-33sec (200m jog)
8.5M (64.7)

Saturday, March 14
a.m. Progression Run (6:00, 5:50, 5:40, 5:30, 5:20, .5M@5:10)
12M (76.7)

Sunday, March 15
a.m. 3 hr Treadmill (26.2M in 2:51)
27.7M (104.5)

Total Miles: 104.5M


The change in weather presented somewhat of a conundrum for my weekend runs. Temps in the high 30s - mid 40s made it seem like running outside was a no brainer. However I've done less outside running this winter than in years past so to jump in with a workout and a 3 hr run would probably be a little aggressive. Runnersworld online just had an article up on this very topic. While I don't think its necessary to be as conservative as they advise, it is probably a good idea if I ease into it over the next couple weeks - 60 min here and there, some hill workouts, etc before I get too crazy.

That said, it seemed pretty insane to do a 3 hour run on the treadmill today while it was 46 degrees outside. And while last week I felt like I was gaining strength as I approached 2:40, this week the 2:40-3:00 segment was getting pretty rough. I was pushing 5:56-6:03 pace so it could have more to do with the aggressive pace than the run time. Nevertheless, I had a good look at what my top end of time and pace is right now. I will probably only do one more run longer than today during this training cycle, so for the most part I should be staying well in my comfort zone from here on out.

So with my first "real" race in almost 20 months coming up a week from today I'm starting to feel like a runner again. As for goals, I'm breaking it down thusly:

< 25:00 = Wow, where the hell did that come from?
25:00-26:00 = Very pleased, right where I want to be.
26:00-27:00 = Not bad, but got some work to do
27:00+ = Uh-oh, time to re-evaluate goals for the spring.

I got to catch some of the NCAA championships on the internet this weekend and I have to say its got very exciting lately. Being one of those "slow" distance runners in college I never got to compete on a DMR and after watching the excitement of those races at this years meet I have to say I feel like I missed out.

3 comments:

Kurt said...

so good to see you posting !!!! and hell looks like running well to boot.

Thomas said...

Never mind the pace, spending 3 hours on the treadmill sounds indeed like an insane undertaking. No matter the circumstances, I can never see myself doing anything like that.

Good luck with the race!

Eric said...

Good to hear from you again, Patrick! I won't be doing G-ma's this year, but, I promise, someday. Good to see you running well again.

On the DMR note, I never got to run one either, and it makes me kind of sad/jealous to see it so popular now. It's a great race, no doubt. I did get to run a 4x1600 at the Drake Relays back in 1995. That was pretty frackin' cool. The crowd didn't help me run much faster, though...