Beyond Boston. What’s next?

I’ve finally come to terms with how tough Boston felt for me and am enjoying having another Boston in the books and another one to look forward to next year. So what’s next now? I took a couple weeks to recover after Boston so I could start fresh for my next segment. I told my coach about the races I’d like to do and he drafted up a plan for me. After tomorrow’s long run, I’ll have run about 52 miles this week. I guess 50-ish miles per week is my new base.

I have some 5k’s, a mid-Summer half, a fun 5.25 miler and then the Wineglass Marathon planned over the next five months.

Here’s the schedule:

May 21 – Berwyn Victory 5k (the last mile is uphill. ugh.)

June 4 – Oy Vey 5k

July 4 – Good Neighbor Day 5k

July 16 – Pottstown Half (This will be warm! Not expecting a PR, but it’ll be good training before I start the marathon specific stuff.)

August 6 – Irish Pub 5.25 Miler up on the Cape (I’m really looking forward to this one.)

September 18 – Philly Rock n Roll Half. I had signed up for this one before I had decided to do Wineglass, so I’ll just use this as a regular training run. Should be fun. Maybe I’ll take pictures on the course!

October 2 – Wineglass Marathon. Will I finally get my sub 3:30 marathon time? Or better?

Here’s what I did for training the last two weeks after I finished my post-marathon recovery:

5/2-5/8

Monday: 8 miles

Tuesday: 6 miles

Wednesday: Fartlek-2 mi warm, 4×6 mins ON (tempo)/2 mins OFF, cool to 8 miles

Thursday: 6 miles

Friday: 8 miles

Saturday: 12 miles

Sunday: 6 miles (Only supposed to do 4 but I felt like running more)

5/9-5/14

Monday: 8 miles

Tuesday: Fartlek-2 mi warm, 8 x 1 min ON/2 min OFF, cool to 8

Wednesday: 8 miles

Thursday: Lactate Threshold: 2 mi warm, 2 x 10 mins @ tempo effort with 2 mins jog recover, cool to 8

Friday: 8 miles

Saturday (tomorrow): planned 12

My coach left out the specific paces since he’s going to use what I do this month to set next month’s training paces. I felt good the first Fartlek workout with the 4 x 6 mins, but I was kind of sluggish for yesterday’s 2 x 10 mins tempo. The first 10 mins interval I ran a 7:30 pace, and the second a 7:20 pace. It was warm and I had done squats the night before. The previous week my paces for the 6 mins tempo effort intervals were 7:12, 6:56, 7:13, 6:49. So you can see what I mean when I say I was a bit sluggish yesterday.

Next week I have my first 5k post marathon, so I’m excited to see how I do. It’s a bit hilly, so I don’t expect to be exceptionally fast. It’ll be fun to do some fast, short races this Summer.

10 weeks to Boston

The snow covered trees after our Friday run.

Today I finished my 62 miles for the week with a very hilly 14 miles. My legs were tired. I suppose I shouldn’t have done those squats yesterdays. (D’ya think?)

We met at 6:30 this morning. It was about 20 degrees out, but the sun was coming up, which is a change from January when it was still dark at this hour. Our run consisted of a couple miles on a flat bike path and then up a very long, very steep hill. Then up more hills, down some hills, up more hills, etc. And then back on the flat path. At the top of the highest hill we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the frost covered farm fields and a rising sun that stretched out across them. Unfortunately, I don’t carry my phone on my runs, so no picture.

The beginning of this week my ankle started hurting again after my speed workout. I decided (hoped) it was my shoes, so I stopped wearing them. Guess what? My ankle got all better when I ran with my regular training shoes, Nike Zoom Odysseys (heavenly) and New Balance 870v4 (also a nice and comfy support shoe). I ordered the new New Balance

NB Vazee Prism: Aren’t they pretty? 

Vazee Prism shoes that are built for speed for my speed and tempo runs. They were waiting by my doorstep when I got back from my run and they are NICE! I tried them on and they feel very comfortable right out of the box. They have an aggressive upward curve at the toes to promote quicker toe off I suppose. I ran a little down and up my street just to try them out. They do feel fast. We’ll see how they feel after a 10 mile speed session. I have high hopes for these shoes, so I really hope they workout.

Here’s a quick recap of the week:

Monday: 10 miles with 3 x 1.5 miles at Lactate Threshold pace (foot started to hurt, was wearing my old PureFlows)

Tuesday: 5 a.m. 10 mile run with friends. Slippery. Wore my Nike Zoom Odysseys and foot started feeling better.

Wednesday: 8 miles alone during the day in the rain. I was tired and ran slow, but I actually started feeling good near the end of the run. Whenever I don’t feel so great at the

Me, sopping wet but happy after a run in the rain.

beginning of a run, if I run slow enough, I’ll always feel better by the end. Ran in my Nike Zoom Odysseys and my foot felt all better.

Thursday: 10 miles with 6 miles at marathon pace. I ran this on a different bike path that was a little hilly so that I could have a little practice for Boston. Ran in my New Balance 870v4s. They’re not the fastest shoe, but they kept my foot feeling healthy.

Friday: 5 a.m. 10 mile run with friends. It snowed the whole time and was really pretty. It was in the dark, but driving home afterwards the sun was up and all the snow was sticking to the trees, which made it kind of magical. Ran in my Nikes. Feet felt fine.

Saturday: 6:30 a.m. 14 mile hilly run with friends. Ran in my New Balance shoes. Feel felt completely fine. Seeing a trend? These two shoes obviously work for me.

Mileage for the week: 62 miles and healthy. Woohoo!!

My awesome Nike Zoom Odysseys. I LOVE these shoes.

 

 

February High Mileage

I Can FLY!!!!

Yesterday I ran my last long run of January and finished a 61 mile week. The run was REALLY HILLY and I wouldn’t have been able to run it the way I did if I weren’t running with a group. We ran at Valley Forge park, but we ran a route that was a lot hillier than normal because the paths weren’t completely plowed yet. The landscape was breathtaking with the fields still covered in snow and the sky a spotless blue except for a sheer white moon.

I met up with a girl I haven’t seen in a long while. She’s really fast. She now has two small children and I haven’t run with her since before she had her kids. She was really fast then and I’d say her speed is coming back just fine. We had stopped at the water stop and chatted a bit with the other runners and then continued our run, thinking everyone was running along with us. After a bit we looked back and couldn’t see a soul. She said, “Where is everyone?” As I said, she’s fast.

Tonight I got my February schedule. I’m pretty excited about it. I’ll be getting into the meat of marathon training this month. I’ll be finishing the month off with a 68 mile week. Each week I’ll have a lactate threshold workout and then a marathon pace run, in addition to my weekly long run and 8 and 10 mile easy runs. I love it!

My coach is through Hansons Coaching Services, so he uses the Hansons method. The method is known for the 16 mile long run. That’s kind of a misconception, though. The method really uses the very traditional rule of basing your long run on a percentage of your weekly mileage. I think they like to keep it to around 25% of your weekly mileage.

Past marathon cycles my long runs have been kept to 16 miles. But looking at this month, I see that when my mileage approaches 70 miles, he bumps up my long run to 18 miles. Wahoo!

I’m trying to make sure to run a certain amount of hilly runs. Those hilly runs make running on a flat route feel like I’m not running at all! For my marathon pace runs, I’m going to try to run every other week on a hilly route, which means I’ll be doing marathon “effort”, since I’m sure I won’t make the target pace on those runs. I’m pretty sure running by effort on hills will make me a stronger runner, even without making my pace.

Here’s what my last week was:

Monday: 2 miles warm up, 4 x 1 mile @ 7:13 with 60 sec recover, 2 mile cool down. I had to do this on the treadmill, which made the pace easier to hit. I was tired, though, since I had shoveled for a few hours that morning and I was running this workout at 8:30 at night.

Tuesday: 10 hilly miles. My legs were tired. The top of my right foot at the base of my ankle was aggravated and really affected my gait near the end of my run.

Wednesday: 8 miles total, but I had to break the run up because of GI issues. That was painful! I ran very easy because of my foot, but running in different shoes helped. I saw my chiro that night and he knew exactly what was causing it and pretty much fixed it. All better! I’ll be returning the culprit shoes though.

Thursday: 2 miles warm up, 2 x 3 miles at 7:40-7:45 pace with 5 mins recovery, 2 miles cool down. I ran this on a flat bike path. I ran a bit faster than the prescribed pace and it felt kind of easy. Maybe what the doc did made me faster!

Friday: Easy 10 mile run on the flat bike path with a friend. This was nice. I also did a spin class and some strength early that morning.

Saturday: HILLS HILLS 14 miles of HILLS!

Tomorrow (Monday) I have 10 miles, with 3 x 1.5 miles at lactate threshold pace. February: Bring it!

 

Training for Philly with a Hansons

This week I enter into my marathon specific phase. Two weeks ago I ran the Philadelphia Rock n Roll half marathon in 1:41:00. That’s pretty much the exact time I should have run to set me up to train for a an 8:00 marathon pace. I always seem to slow down a bit near the end of the marathon, so if I actually averaged that pace during the whole marathon, that would be a huge success for me. However, anything under 3:35 would be fantastic.

The week after the half I had just a week of normal runs. This is the first week of the Hanson-style Strength runs (6×1 mi, 4 x 1.5 mi, 3 x 2 mi, 2 x 3 mi, etc, at half marathon pace) and then the classic marathon pace runs. My mileage this week will end up being 53 miles. Next week it jumps to 58, then it goes up to 62 for several weeks in a row. I LOVE this part. I really, really do. Sometimes I think I love the training more than the actual race. The race is just my excuse to train.

Philly’s perfect timing, though, because right after the race is Thanksgiving week. I’ll be able to take the full week off and relax with my family. That will be nice, although I’m sure I’ll actually be itching to get back out on the roads.

The Delaware Marathon Race Report

Post race hug from my husband

On Mother’s Day I ran the long anticipated Delaware Marathon. I had trained hard for this one using the Hanson’s Marathon Method. I did great. It was a very warm day and a very hard course. You’d think it’d be flat since it’s Delaware, but no, it’s hilly.

I thought, “Oh, it’s mostly flat and the hill wont’ be so bad.” Is it mostly flat? It didn’t seem so to me. The beginning is flat when you run around the river, and then it goes beyond the city limits and you encounter turns and hills. There’s one small section where the street is cobblestone and you need to run on the sidewalk or else you might twist your ankle. There’s a nasty one mile long hill that, when you get to the top, the “flat” part just seems to still be a slight incline. The day was warm, too, which made it challenging. I found myself running alone for small parts of the race. A lot of roads were still open to traffic. They had marshals directing traffic, and they did a great job, but I found it rather disconcerting to see a truck oncoming, crossing a road that I was about to cross.

Strolling after the expo the day before

Right before the race, I slathered on this magnesium spray, thinking it would keep my legs from cramping. During the first miles I was wondering why my legs felt so sluggish. Then around mile 5 it occurred to me: that magnesium spray is a muscle relaxer. Oops. Do you think that affected my time? I think at the very least it made the race feel harder. Maybe that’s why it felt so hilly to me.

I was aiming for a 3:32 time and I ran a 3:35:59 time. I think with the hills, the warm temps, the many turns, and the magnesium spray it’s still a very good time. I also placed first in my age group. Yay! I ran my previous PR of 3:39:30 at Steamtown, a fast course with a net descent.

Usually, for the last six miles of a marathon I slow down significantly. This time I did not and people that I know who saw me were surprised by how strong I looked at the finish.

Here are my split times:

My mom, kids, and Beth spectating

1. 8:10

2. 8:27 (I was trying to hold back)

3. 8:10

4. 8:07

5. 8:12

6. 8:02

7. 8:30 (first mile long hill is here)

8. 7:57

9. 8:09

10. 8:00

11: 7:36 (going back down the mile long hill)

12. 7:50

Beth and me after our full and half

13: 7:50

14. 8:20

15. 8:10

16. 8:14

17. 7:59

18. 8:16

19. 8:12

20. 8:55 (2nd mile long hill)

21. 8:23

22. 8:14

23. 8:23

24. 8:21

25. 8:32

26. 8:32 (there’s a nasty half mile hill around the beginning of this mile)

.31 final (I must have weaved a lot): 7:26

Hanging out after the race

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really like this course. The race itself is really well organized. It’s a small race so it has a local race feel, which a lot of people love. It was nice for that. Parking was great. It was pretty running by the river. It was not so nice running under the hot sun. There are half marathoners and relay runners also running the race with you. There were signs pointing you in different directions, depending on if you were running the marathon or the relay, which went well. There were also a lot of volunteers that pointed you in the right direction. I have to say, though, that I much prefer races where it’s just marathoners and it’s a straight shot, like at Boston and Steamtown. Both of those courses were fantastic.

The post race feel is great. There are tents everywhere, including a massage tent, of which I took advantage: awesome. It’s by the river and people were sitting on the grass everywhere hanging out. The post race food is great, except that I couldn’t really eat any of it because my stomach was too queasy.

My mom, my kids, and my husband came to watch me finish, which was awesome. I drove down with my friend who ran the half and she stuck around to watch me finish, too, which meant a lot to me. She screamed like crazy as I ran to the finish line. My mom took a video, which you can watch (Video of my finish), and you’ll hear my friend screaming my name. My mom said she loved the feel of the event because everyone seemed so relaxed and happy. It really is a great event. People really love this race. I just didn’t like the course. I guess I was spoiled from my previous marathons.

My mom and me after the race

What made this marathon so special was the fact that my family was there to see me finish. I got to celebrate the event as a Mother’s Day gift and share it with my mom too. She had never seen me race before, and so I was so glad she finally got to see it. My two youngest kids got to see me too. For that, it was very special and by far my favorite Mother’s Day ever.

 

 

The final miles before the Delaware Marathon

My faithful running shoes

There are only six days left before the marathon. I’m in taper mode using the Hansons Marathon Method. The last 16 mile run I did was two Saturdays ago and it was supposed to be at an easy, slow pace. I was looking forward to this because I thought it would be a pleasant run and the start of my taper. All my other 16 mile runs had a hard part, such as “run the second half faster than the first” or “run the last three miles at a sub 8:20 pace”. I had run some heavy mileage with lots of hills before this run and my legs were beat. It turned out that the entire 16 mile run “at an easy pace” felt like the final three miles of the marathon. It was painful. Not to mention I had decided to run with my friend who wanted to run on hills.

After that run I was very worried that I wouldn’t recover enough in time for the marathon. There were only two weeks left until the marathon. I ran that 16-miler on a Saturday. Sunday I ran 6 miles. Then on Monday I ran 10 miles with 6 x 1 mile repeats. Sheesh. Would I recover in time? I had a day off Tuesday, then I believe the taper was starting. I only had an easy 6 miles. But my legs were still tired. Thursday I had my final marathon pace run. It was short: 6 miles at marathon pace with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down, 8 miles total. I was expecting it to be easy, but my legs were still beat. I was starting to worry again. How was I going to taper enough in less than a week and a half to run 26.2 miles at that pace?

The following day I had 6 miles at an easy pace. My legs felt fine. It turned out to be a really nice run. Then Saturday I had a 10 mile run. My legs were light and it was easy to run a faster pace. Pfew! The taper was kicking in. Yesterday I ran a very easy 4 miles with my husband. It was great. Now I’m really feeling the taper.

Today I have an easy 8 miles. Tomorrow I have a rest day. (Tuesdays have been my one day off of running). Wednesday I have an easy 6 miles that will include 2 miles of “pick ups”. That means for two miles I’ll run 2 minutes fast, then 2 minutes easy, and repeat until the 2 miles are over.

The final three days before the marathon will look like this:

Thursday: easy 6 miles

Friday: easy 4 miles

Saturday: easy 20 minute shakeout jog

Sunday: Go time!

Marathon Training: Five mile race report

This past Saturday I had a five mile race. It was the final piece of my speed segment for my marathon plan, or so I suspect. From now on, all my speed work goes from short intervals at my 5k pace, to long intervals (anywhere from one mile to 3 mile repeats) at my half marathon pace. Tempo runs are now at my marathon pace and are longer, instead of shorter and at my half marathon pace. I’m excited, because I’m a bit burned out on working on my speed! I’ve been doing it since late September.

So, Sunday I finished my week with an easy five-miler, bringing my mileage for the week to 48 miles. My workout for Saturday was, of course, the five mile race. The coach wrote down that I was to shoot for a sub-36:35 time, which would be a sub-7:19/mile. My previous PR for this hilly five mile race (did I mention the race is HILLY??) was 37:58, which is a 7:36/mile and I remember how hard it was. I was very doubtful I’d be able to run a sub-36:35 because of the weekly mileage he had me doing that week. Here’s what my week looked like leading up to Saturday’s race:

Monday: 8 miles with 12 x 400 @ 5k pace

Tues: Rest (My one and only rest day of the week!)

Wed: 12 miles with 6 mile progression run: 3 mile warm up then 6 miles at these paces: 8:20, 8:10, 8:00, 7:50, 7:40, 7:30, then 3 mile cool down.

Thurs: 8 miles

Friday: 6 miles easy

Saturday: Race

Sunday: 5 mile recovery

Between the speed workout, the 12 mile progression run, the 8 miles that I ended up doing on the faster end because I ran with my co-worker, and then another 6 miler, I thought my legs would be too tired to run a good race. But guess what? They weren’t! They felt strong and fine.

I ended up running a 36:08 time, which is about a 7:14/mile. I was really happy with that and it was a huge confidence booster that my training is really making me stronger. My legs felt strong. In fact, 48 miles with the hard runs just didn’t seem to bother me. I really feel like I’m recovering a lot faster than I was this past Summer, for example.

I think it’s time to up my mileage, which is exactly what my plan is about to do starting with this week. This week I have 52 miles on deck. And then it’ll go up each week from there until I reach and stay at 60 miles for several weeks.