Posts Tagged ‘marathon training’

Overwhelmingly Detailed Gasparilla Marathon Weekend Recap (Part II)

3, Mar 2010

Before I went to bed, I set the alarm clock for 4am. In order to be on time for a 6am race located almost an hour away, I figured that might be cutting it kind of close, but on the same token, I also couldn’t fathom waking up at an hour with the digit ‘3′ in front of it. So 4am it was.

I slept remarkably well considering I’m not used to going to bed at 8:30pm. Didn’t really have any pre-race anxiety, and although I woke up briefly a couple times, all I did was glance at the clock and go right back to sleep. Finally at about 3:20am, I woke up and was feeling anxious enough that going back to sleep wasn’t an option. I laid there for 20 minutes soaking up my last few moments of rest before engaging in my pre-race rituals.

Since everything was neatly laid out from the night before, I didn’t have to waste much bandwidth in getting out the door. I chugged a 36oz Gatorade while popping an assortment of vitamins and ibuprofen, chasing them down with bites from a dry blueberry bagel. The Gatorade went down quickly and it would be the last thing I drank prior to the race, which was still 2hrs away. No over-hydration like I’ve done in past marathons (I thought)… In both NYC marathons I’ve been forced to stop and pee against the wall of the Verrazano bridge immediately after completing the 1st mile. Of course I ended up stopping to pee mid-race anyway, and in keeping with tradition, found a nice overpass to urinate on.

But I digress. After finishing my food/beverage/vitamin intake, I took a hot shower. As I’ve mentioned before, the pre-long run hot shower is my ace in the hole. Wakes me up, warms up the muscles. I dried off and tried on my race clothes, which at this point had been downgraded to just a long sleeve tech shirt and running shorts (down from a tank top, 2 long sleeves, a pair of Asics tights and a pair of shorts). I had to remind myself, even though Florida has experienced a particularly cold winter, it’s still Florida, so why was I even considering dressing like it was nyc. Then I went outside to check out the temps and confirmed my choice in garb. Then it was out the door and off to Tampa…

J

Quality vs. Quantity

3, Oct 2009

I’ve been really easing into my marathon training plan this time around. Reeeaaally easing into it, running once every 3rd day and cross training in between. When I run, I run with intensity (5 miles at 6:36 pace on Friday, nice!). When I cross train, I cross train like crazy, circuit training my way around the gym and maintaining 20mph on the bike for upwards of an hour.

It’s a modified version of FIRST (www.nycin310.com/?p=259) that’s helping me get back into serious training mode, while continuing to recover from injuries. I swear to god, there’s always something wrong with me. Now I have some shit going on with my 2nd metatarsal in my left foot. Might have to schedule another trip to the podiatrist for early next week. But I digress.

I’ve been trying all week to find running articles online that will validate what I’m doing, but keep coming up short. I’m pretty sure it will be a while before I find any reliable source that says you can run 2 or 3 days a week and still run a respectable marathon time (I’m shooting for 3:25). FIRST requires 3 or 4 days. However, there’s definitely a trend in the mid-level amateur running world towards lower milage, higher intensity plans.

Today I was breezing through some of my favorite blogs and came across a post from the Running Laminator that debated the benefits of high-milage programs vs. lower milage/higher intensity programs. It’s an excellent post, with excellent comments and I highly reccomend reading it here:

http://therunninglaminator.blogspot.com/2009/09/debate-continues.html

There’s no doubt about it, if you’re trying to run elite/sub-elite times, you need high intensity running days, punctuated with easy running days in between… which leads to high milage weeks. It’s almost a guarantee that f you are injury prone, this style of training will lead to sprains, tendonitis, ITBS, etc. So in my injury-phobic state, am I going too far? Will I be able to succeed in shaving 15 minutes off of my 3:40 marathon PR by running even less than I already do?

I dunno, stay tuned.

J

Training for NYC with a Spring Marathon

20, Jun 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve given much thought to the idea of running 26.2 miles. So far this year, I’ve been wrapped up in racing 5ks/10ks and now, training for a half marathon. Even the 13.1 seems daunting right now, since I’ve been slacking a little in the workout department and stuffing my face with foods a runner shouldn’t touch with a 10ft pole.

Let me remind everyone that I’m not attempting my 3hr 10min NY Marathon this year. I’m attempting to Boston qualify in NYC 2010, which means that I still have plenty of time to get on the ball. And despite a recent plateau I’m in much better shape than I’ve ever been before.

Now before I dive back into the NY Marathon with an anticipated improvement of 30 minutes, I’ve decided that I first need to dip my proverbial toe back in the pond. So I’d like to split the difference by running about 3:25 in an early-spring marathon. Now… when and where to do it?

I’ve run the Miami Half before (www.ingmiamimarathon.com), so I considered running the full race distance early next year. But Miami is on January 31st and I get back from my honeymoon the second week in September. That leaves me enough time to train, but barely. I also considered the Disney Marathon (http://tr.im/Disney26) which is on January 10th, but the other factor I’m up against is the cost of hotel and travel.

So I need an early spring marathon that’s in a snowbird state and won’t cost me more than the price of entry and an airline ticket. Pretty strict criteria, where am I going to find that? Easy. Crash with my parents in sunny St. Petersburg, FL and run the Gasparilla Marathon in Tampa on February 28th (www.tampabayrun.com).

Not only is this a perfect race for me in terms of timing and expenses, but Gasparilla is an exciting time in Tampa, complete with…

When Training Time is Scarce…

15, Jun 2009

It’s been a few days since I ran, and it’s been a few days since I posted. After spending the last 4 days in Jamaica, I can’t say its good to be back, but it will be nice to back to a semi-regular routine. I say semi-regular because it’s become progressively harder to carve out time to run and strength train as work demands, an upcoming wedding and family/friend obligations crank into full gear.

NYC East River Run

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/ny/new%20york/634124511962571375

I channeled my scheduling frustrations into today’s run. I figured if time is getting more and more scarce, it only makes sense to pack more quality into my workouts. I did a 6.67 mile tempo run from the Financial District up the FDR and to about 14th street. The first half I ran 7:03 splits, then on the way back I decided to fight the jet-lag and RedStripe induced sluggishness by picking up the pace to 6:36.

It felt great to push myself since the only running I did since Wednesday’s Corporate Challenge was a single 25 minute jog around the resort in Jamaica. The big trick will be to figure out how to schedule a long run one day this week, since I can’t guarantee that there will be time over the weekend. I’ll post a follow-up to the NYC Chase Corporate Challenge in tomorrow’s post.

J

Training Knowledge Is Power, Arm Yourself

23, Apr 2009

I have to hand it to my Mom, she’s forwarded me two great articles in the last 3 days. Yesterday’s New York Times included a story titled “Want to Go Faster? You Need a Trainer.” It speaks to exactly what I said in yesterday’s post. You can’t just go out running or go to the gym and hope that your persistence and dedication will pay off. You need to learn how to TRAIN. There are two ways to do this… 1) Have someone else guide you by joining a running club or hiring a coach / trainer. 2) Read everything running related that you can get your sweaty hands on.

Seriously, if you want to get better and you’re not training with a purpose, with specificity in mind… you probably won’t get much better. If you don’t go into every workout knowing which system(s) of your body that you are stressing and conditioning, then your probably not doing much of either. It’s a simple concept, but in the last few months it’s really hit home with me. And I’m running my best times ever…

Here are the first few paragraphs of the article, the rest can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/health/nutrition/23best.html

Want to Go Faster? You Need a Trainer
By GINA KOLATA

IF anyone ever wondered whether it was talent or sustained systematic training that makes athletes so good, they need only look at Joshua Gordon, a professional mediator in Boston.

Mr. Gordon ran cross-country in college before stopping completely to take up baseball. Six years later, in 1999, he decided, almost as a lark, to run the Boston Marathon. He joined a program to learn how to run longer distances, a process that involved gradually increasing the length of his runs and focusing only on distance, not speed.

The Manhattan Loop – Prequel

6, Apr 2009

After flirting with a hamstring injury during Friday’s speed work, I decided to take it easy this weekend. Friday night activities were of the taco and tequila variety, so frankly I was proud to even make it to the gym on Saturday for some bike/elliptical and a few pull-ups/dips.

Sunday should have been a long run in the 8 – 9 mile range, but to play it safe I substituted with a 3hr, 30 mile bike around the perimeter of Manhattan. It took me several attempts over the last 6 months to carve out a seamless route, so it’s something I’d like to post for the benefit of others. I took some pictures while I was out riding and I’ve mapped out the precise route on walkjogrun.net.

Manhattan Loop – Part 1 (13 Miles)

manhattan-loop

I’d Rather Be At the Start of Boston, Than the Finish of Any Other Marathon

3, Apr 2009

Here’s a couple of Boston Marathon promo videos sponsored by Adidas. If you’re ever looking for reasons to keep training, watching these videos can’t hurt. I’m aware that this probably makes zero sense to non-marathoners…

J

3 Days A Week

30, Mar 2009

That’s how many days a week I run… and it works. How do I know? I’ve run a 3:40 marathon, a 1:30 Half and an 18 min 5k, ALL respectable times. And for the last 2 years, I’ve rarely run more than 3 days a week.

After recovering from all the training miles I put in for my first marathon, it was hard for me to go out there and run 5 days a week. It seemed like every time I tried to build back up, I kept getting injured. So last May, as I was beginning to train for my 2nd NY Marathon, I searched the Internet to validate my training plan. I wanted to know that training for a marathon could be done with a 3 day a week training schedule. Fortunately for me, I discovered this article…

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_outdoors/2008/05/run-your-fastes.html


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