Tuesday, January 15, 2008

MAN - I'M TIRED

I had a great week, until Saturday. I had been running in th evenings and ran great all week. I had a long 10 miler Friday afternoon and was scheduled to run with my running group on Saturday. My group starts at 6:00am and they meet about 15 minutes from my house. I normally get up at 5:00am to meet my group. The alarm clock went off and I couldn't get up.

My legs just hadn't recovered from my 10 miles that I had run only 12 hours earlier. I layed in bed and heard the cold wind howling. I just felt so tired..............I turned the alarm clock off and went back to bed. I woke up later at around 7:00am with my two boys yelling, "Yea Daddy's here! Get up and make us breakfast!." I spent the rest of the day doing stuff with the boys. It was good having a guy day.

But this meant that I missed my mileage for the week and my 6 day streak. I feel really bad and disappointed in myself for missing this critical workout so early in the training cycle. Sunday afternoon I spent some time thinkng about the week and how I could make next week more successfull. The main thing I decided was that just because a mileage is written down on my weekly plan doesn't mean that I am going to run the plan. I have to schedule the run into my life.

I am a busy businessman and I schedule my entire life. From now on I am going to schedule my runs just like I would a meeting. I am going to think about my next day's workout and I am going to think about recovery time and rest time. Good plan, now I just have to stick with it.

Last week was really warm outside and I took full advantage of the weather and ran outside everyday. This week is really cold and in Virginia the low 30's is really cold. I decided to hit the gym and run on the treadmill's and stay warm. I ran 10 miles yesterday and it wasn't so bad. I ran the first 4 in front of the tv and the last 6 with the ipod. Today I ran a 6 mile tempo run and I really think that the treadmill might be the way for me to get my speed and endurance up. I ran 7:30's tonight and they didn't feel that tough. I ran the last mile in 7:00's and the last 800 in 6:40. The people in the gym thought that I was crazy.

Two days down and four to go. Scheduled for a 20 miler this weekend. Need to start thinking about that run and how I am going to make it a successful run.

Friday, January 11, 2008

ENDURANCE MESOCYCLE

Tomorrow morning is a long run and completes my first week of serious training in 2008. I haven't ran 6 days in row in a long time. I have felt that my legs were a little tired and sore in the mornings but all and all I have felt exceptionally well. My ankle joints have hurt more than anything but no serious problems just soreness. I have had a time getting out of bed a couple of days this week.

My goal is qualifying for the Boston Marathon. When the 2009 race occurs I will be 37. My qualifing time will be 3 hours and 15 minutes. That averages 7:20 for 26.2 miles. My training and goal pace is to break 3:00 hours or a 6:52 pace. I want to train so that I can maintain a 6:50 pace. If something happens during the race and I slow I should still be able to finish in 3:15. At least that's the plan right now.

Sounds simple enough on paper. Last year my PR was a 3:45 at Richmond. It felt painful and I walked an awful lot during the last 8 miles. I know I have an 3:30 in me right now if I can just get it out of me. The Shamrock Marathon is on March 16, 2008. I am training using a short 12 week plan that should get me to the finish line in under 3:30. This will serve as my baseline for the summer training and will help me determine my starting point for a fall sub 3:00 attempt.

My Shamrock training plan will peak at 70 miles per week. That will serve as a good test for what kind of mileage I can handle during the hot summer months. I should have around 40 weeks after Shamrock until a December attempt. Right now I am thinking about spending 20 weeks building up my endurance, strength, and speed while continually keeping my mileage around 70 miles per week. Then I am planning an 18 week training plan that will take me straight to Boston.

Last year I ran one day a week speedwork sessions. I am planning on twice a week speed or hill workouts. The problem is that all of the running clubs do intervals on Wednesday nights, and that just makes scheduling a second hard week difficult. I've got plenty of time to figur that out.

The key to being succesful this year is going to be consistancy and sticking to the plan. No sleeping in, no skipping days. The only way to Boston is with mileage, lots of mileage. I am going to use the hard day easy day technique. And every third week is going to be a fall back week where I cut my mileage back.