Log for July 22 & 23 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Friday
- 4-Mile “Barefoot” Recovery Run – Since I ran a couple of repeats at track on Thursday using my new forefoot stride, this made my weekly Hattori run a little more difficult because my calves were already tired. It was still a very enjoyable recovery run with Paxton through the streets of Bellevue. Also still LOVE my Hattori’s.
Saturday
- 15.2-Mile Long Run – Most of my Spring and early Summer has been focused on shorter trail runs, tempo runs, and speedwork, trying to improve my overall strength and speed as I move into the meat of my marathon training. While this has gone very well, I also know that my aerobic threshold is significantly shorter than where it needs to be for the fall and winter marathons. Today’s run was all about running at a slow to moderate pace and maximizing the amount of time spent on my feet in the aerobic zone. The group was doing a 10-mile run through PW park, so Marc and I met early to get in just over 3 miles through Belle Meade before entering the park. I felt really good for most of the first 10 miles, even through the significant hills. However as our running time pushed past 1:30, I felt extremely tired, and my legs began to falter. When the group finished their run, I was right at 13-miles. My training plan called for 16 today, so I continued to run after grabbing some fluids, though my body was begging to be done. During the final miles I felt extremely tired, and decided to cut the run a litter short at 15 miles. Looking back on the run, it is interesting how good I felt for the first hour and a half, and how bad I felt for the last 45 minutes. I think there are several reasons for this:
- It was very hot and humid, even beginning at 5:15am. Not to be gross, but during the second half of the run my right shoe was sloshing with sweat. When I finished I could literally wring the sweat out of my clothes.
- The route had over 1,200 ft of elevation gain, and most of this was in the first 10 miles.
- When I’ve done 12 to 14 mile runs in the Spring and early Summer, they’ve typically been at a higher tempo and lasted between 1:30 and 1:45. Even though I was running slower today, my body was not used to being in the aerobic zone for over 2 hours, and I could really feel it. This, however, is precisely the reason for long, slow training runs. I’m gonna work really hard this summer to focus on maximizing the time on my feet during the bi-weekly long training runs, and worry about pace during the alternating bi-weekly marathon workouts.
