Week 10 - Marathon Training
Today’s lesson is on the importance of hydration. It’s a pretty simple lesson. It goes like this: make sure you hydrate. Not only before you run, but all day long.
The basic equation for people who are engaged in a rigorous training regimen (i.e. marathon training) is to drink 40-50% of your body weight in ounces each day. I’d say I do a pretty good job of following this equation—if I were fifty pounds.
Confession: I don’t like the taste of water. Rather, I don’t like its lack of taste. I fill my water bottle every morning before work, take a few sips, and then promptly forget it. (Funny how I never forget to drink my coffee.) I do a better job of drinking low-calorie sports drink, but nothing is better than water. And bad things happen if you don’t drink enough of it.
I was sleeping peacefully Friday night, dreaming of a long run that I would take in the morning, when somewhere around 3 A.M. my right calf seized with a cramp. The muscle knotted up in a ball, starving for water. I massaged it lightly, and after what seemed like an hour but was more likely a couple of minutes, the muscle calmed down.
I got out of bed, hobbled downstairs, and drank a glass of water. As if it would do any good.
What’s fortunate is a cramp like this is only sore for 24 hours, so I merely switched my long run to Sunday and took Saturday off. And that ended what was otherwise a very good week of training.
Week 10 - Training Record
Monday - 9.8 mi w/ 3 x 2-mi Tempo repeats
Tuesday - 7.0 mi Easy
Wednesday - 9.1 mi w/ 5 x 840m Long Hill repeats
Thursday - 6.5 mi Easy
Friday - 8.5 mi Easy
Saturday - Off
Sunday - 15.3 mi Long Run + 25 Dogs
Total - 56.2 miles
Monday’s workout was 3 x 2-mile @ tempo repeat pace (6:55-7:12) with 3-minute recovery jogs. Coming off a bit of vertigo from the weekend, I did not know what to expect, so I took the first repeat under control. For as often as I train like an idiot (i.e. don’t drink enough water) there are moments when I can say I am proud of my (rare) display of wisdom. In this case, easing into the workout proved effective, and I found myself able to get faster through the workout without ever feeling like I was increasing my effort. Too many times I have completed a workout in the reverse fashion—starting out with a pace that was unsustainable, and then crashing the last couple of repeats.
Lap 1 – 7:15.9 + 7:11.1 (7:13.5)
Lap 2 – 7:09.6 + 7:03.1 (7:06.3)
Lap 3 – 7:07.4 + 7:02.0 (7:04.7)
Average Pace – 7:08.2
Not bad. Worth nodding my head at. In another week or so, I’ll come back to this workout and try it again to see if I can sustain the same effort.
While I like to compare similar workouts separated by a few weeks, I am dubious of such results. I prefer to measure improvement by way of running races. A competitive performance drives a faster pace at what feels like a lesser effort. Chalk it up to adrenaline. As for my workouts, I simply want to stay within the zone of optimal training paces.
And that especially goes for my least favorite workout: long hill repeats.
I’m not sure why, but it always rains on long hill repeat day. As if the workout could not be more miserable. I ran this same workout on Week 8. My selected hill climbs 100 vertical feet over 840 meters. The hill crests at about 700 meters, but I like to continue the repeat from one intersection (at the bottom of the hill) to another intersection (at the top). The effort is hard to describe. Since it is all uphill, the estimated race effort is not discernible. So my mental word for it is “long hill strong.” By the top of the hill, I want to feel like I need a recovery run back down.
On Week 8 I ran 4 x Long Hill Repeats at an average bout of 3:52.4. Since I had planned to increase my bout by one repeat, I figured that would be an appropriate target. Despite the wind and hill and rain, I did just that.
My bouts were as follows: 3:50.9, 3:53.1, 3:53.1, 3:53.5, 3:54.0. Average pace: 3:52.9.
This will continue to be a staple workout for me every two weeks, no matter how much I hate it.
The odd thing about workouts with long repeat bouts is the mileage adds up without feeling like you’re racking up a lot of miles. Unlike a long run, which feels like I am running longer than what my mileage reports.
I complete my long runs by myself. Sometimes, when I go longer than two hours, my neighbor rides his bike along with me for conversation and beverage supply. I am grateful to him for that. While it is true that I enjoy the solitude of running, the burden of a long run can sometimes feel like too much of a good thing. I look for ways to make my long run feel shorter. One method is to run a series of 2- or 3-mile loops. If I break up the run into shorter segments, it ends up having the same sensation of mileage accumulation as a repeat workout.
My other method is to count dogs.
Week 11 - Training Plan
Monday - Easy
Tuesday - 1k Repeats @ 5k Pace
Wednesday - Easy
Thursday - Marathon Pace Run
Friday - Off/Shake Out
Saturday - 5k Race w/ Extended Recovery Run
Sunday - 2 Hour Long Run
Target - 55-58 miles
My daughter, son, and I all love dogs. I think it’s safe to say that we are the World Record Holders in Dog Loving. Since we lost our beloved Ulysses (yellow lab) last February, my fervor for dogs has increased with my not having one. And since I run through my neighborhood that has ample sidewalks, a lot of people walk their dogs. So I count them, and then report the total over text to my kids (who are both in college).
Sunday was a record day. Not only was it sunny, and not only did I complete the entire run without looking at my watch, but I saw a record 25 dogs in exactly two hours. I ran 15.27 miles. Out of the 25 dogs, 19 were big dogs (my favorite), 3 were medium sized dogs (which I tolerate), and 3 were little dogs (which may as well be cats, with the exception of Jack Russell Terriers, which have the soul of a big dog).
I’m pretty disciplined when it comes to not stopping and petting the dogs. The only exception is when I see a three-legged dog named Missy. She’s a black lab mix that her human adopted as a rescue. Whenever I pass her, I say, “Hi Missy,” and she immediately rolls over on the grass and asks for a belly rub.
With a total of 56.2 miles in the week, I feel confident that I am ready for another little increase. The common practice is to increase mileage by up to 10% each week, but I know my body adapts better to slighter increases of about 5%. Sometimes less. I allow myself a mileage target, and that target always has a low point of equal mileage from the previous week. However, if you look at my training records over the past few weeks, you will notice that my mileage exceeds the high target by a couple of miles. I grant myself this allowance. It seems pretty harmless and builds my confidence.
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