fifty-four and fifty-five (End of the "base building")

4 miles in 31:45
3 in 23:40


That makes 21.5 for this rest week. This marks 20 weeks til the marathon and my upcomming official training deserves a summery of these past months of mileage build up:

13 weeks of consistent running.
292 miles.
3 weeks of 20(+) miles each.
3 weeks of 25 miles
3 weeks of 30 miles

A 10 mile run in 1:13:00
A 5 mile race in 31:00

I wish I had been running since January, cause 13 weeks just flies by. I'm sure the next 20 will as well, so I will keep focused on the 2 factors that should make this first marathon a success:

1. Staying consistent. I can't imagine getting in the miles I need to without running 6 days a week. I've only let my running frequency slip a couple times over the past weeks, which is a huge success for me so far.
2. Running on purpose. These last weeks have been put together on the fly, running the workouts that I could fit in and the ones that felt reasonable on that day. I just had a weekly mileage in mind and tried to hit it by the end of the week, with some variety mixed in (Longer runs, tempo, etc)
From here on out I want to hit the target workouts on each day, or at least commit to the long run day a week in advance (this would be easier if I had a more consistent work schedule). I want to get the rest I need before important days, get the hill sprints in, etc.

All this talk...It used to get me excited to run, but now it just looks daunting. Oh well. Here it goes.

fourteenth

5 miles. 4 in 31:40ish. plus 1 in 6:30.

My first "progression run" went well, even though I didn't feel completely rested. I made the transition from starting my week on monday to starting it on Sunday (since pretty much every calendar starts with Sunday as the first day. Frustrating considering we call it the weekEND. I'm definitely not the first to be annoyed, but whatever the case) and I had to pack my miles for last week into monday through saturday. I got them all in, but I felt sluggish today. A little overdressed by the time the run ended and it warmed up.

Hudson teaches to incorporate goal marathon pace in small increments early on in your marathon training, and that's what I tried to do today. 

I have a LONG way to go before I will come even remotely close to running 6:30 miles for a marathon, but well, I am shooting high. I might not come close for a couple years and if that is the case, I better adjust my "marathon pace" pretty quick.

This whole workout/typing about it kind of highlights one of the more bothersome parts about marathon training: setting a goal time and/or predicting your pace.

Most runners have experienced at one time or another the very sad ending to a race where the beginning was run too fast. I don't want that to happen, so here is my plan to avoid it:

1. Set an ambitious goal pace and train to run it.

2. Modify that goal pace as necessary to ensure that it reflects my training progress

3.Start the marathon around 15-20 seconds per mile slower than the final goal. This should be a pace that I successfully ran in long progression runs towards the end of the training cycle, and one that I feel confident I can maintain for 26miles.

4. Negative split the race.

I don't want to run really well for 23 miles only to have the race and time ruined during the last 3 miles run at 2 or 3 min/mile slower. So yes. I will be cautious and conservative.

ninth

5 miles in 40min. On the treadmill.

Too cold and windy to want to run outside. In the last 4 weeks of training, I have kept the majority of my runs outside and on asphalt or dirt. I am hoping that this can help prevent injury (and keep me motivated).
I felt strong the entire run, and did not feel any foot pain. I get nervous every time I start to get a small pain in the ball of either foot. I have had trouble with foot pain (two years ago) and I attributed it to an irresponsibly large amount of treadmill running. To be honest, I was running about 25-30 miles a week. I ramped up the volume too quickly and the week I got hurt I ran 10miles on the treadmill, then 8, then 8 again on 3 consecutive days. Dumb.

My goal for this week is 25 miles. I want to formulate an "official" 20 week training plan, so depending on whether I run the Boulder or Denver marathon, I have 5-8 week(ish) of base building left and would like to start my training at 30 miles/week minimum. Hopefully... Assuming all goes well.

I am basing a lot of my training planning off of Brad Hudson's Run Faster. He focuses on high milage and adaptive running. Peaking for a race by incorporating larger and larger portions of race pace running as training progresses. Flexible training schedules to avoid injury (not forcing a workout simply because it is written on the schedule). And several other key points, that offer only a simplistic analysis of his training philosophy.

I will provide more details as I continue to read and continue to flesh out my own training plan.