Weekly Training Blog March 23 to 29- Duck Tape and Bubble Gum

Monday

PM 7.2 miles on road, first 3.2 with Melissa and Uta in 22:33 rest solo, 48:08

XT whartons, rubber bands, Thoracic Bridge

Tuesday

PM Barker farm 16 at fundamental pace, 1:34:10, this felt VERY easy, I was fighting the coordination a good bit but it held all the way which was the point of doing this run.  Trying to get the form back to where I'm again holding the coordination for 20 miles plus.  This run was at 5:53 pace but this loop is very hilly and tends to be about 10 seconds per mile slower than my regular loop which is about 10 seconds per mile slower than flat running.  I have run this fast on this loop but not with this ease it felt like 7min pace plus.  Just walking. total 16 miles

XT whartons, YTI, rubberbands, thoracic bridge

Wednesday

PM Regular 20k, 1:16:30, with temps in the mid 40's this was far and away the warmest run I have had in quite some time, of course there are still a couple feet of snow on the ground so it isn't summer just yet…

XT whartons, YTI, thoracic bridge,  My left heel/ankle spasmed when I was running some errands around 8:30pm and I did some ankle drills when I got home, very tight at the solues attachment.

Thursday

PM 11miles first 2 miles with Uta in 16mins.  It was raining hard and she didn't want to run when she didn't perk up I just swung back and dropped her off, she was happy about that, rest solo in cold driving rain.  1:14:38, left heel was very sore and week was actually limping for most of the first two miles with Uta until it loosened up some.

XT went right to Bikram Yoga after the run, also did whartons, YTI, ankle drills, some wharton stretches for the foot and ankle and rubber bands

Friday

PM bearhill 4.2 with Uta for a warm up, 26:53, dropped her off then did skipping warm up, light drills, and strides.  Then a Moneghetti fartlek around my 'block'.  Covered 4.114 miles in the 20 minutes.  Just about one house further than on the same session last week so a new Mona PR.  Average pace was 4:51.6/3:01.2.  This was a very good session.  The heel, soleus attachment, still very sore but was able to get it loosened up enough to do this. 2+ mile cool down, 14:45.

XT ankle drills, YTI, whartons, rubberbands, wharton stretches for ankle and foot

The loop I was doing this workout on is just over 1500m and goes around the roads that surround our town home complex.  Melissa could see me going by from our living room and noticed that though my shoulders were back I had my head "really far forward, like awkwardly far forward"  so we are assuming that has been part of my recent struggles with the coordination again.

Saturday

PM 6.3 first 4.2 with Melissa, got a bit of a sore throat last night and hoping to get in a good workout tomorrow so I decided to take it real easy today, 43:30 

XT Bikram Yoga- interestingly ran into 1:03:30 half marathoner Eric Ashe who had been dragged to his first class by his girlfriend. also whartons, wharton stretches for ankle and foot, YTI, rubber bands, eccentric calve raises

Sunday

PM I slept in and then had a lazy morning hoping the throat would clear up but I ended up deciding to scrap the workout.  I have done marathon workouts a few times when feeling a bit off or a bit of a sore throat at the start and by bedtime that night I've been sick as a dog and I didn't want to risk that.

  So I did my regular 20k, with a fast last mile.  I ran 1:14:00 for the 20k with a final mile of 4:51.2.  The idea was to run marathon pace for the last mile this was a good bit faster than that but I was feeling good.  Putting more focus on head position seemed to help with the coordination though it was feeling a bit off from the recent tests of it. 

XT whartons, YTI, rubberband, ankle drills, eccentric calve raises

Summary

I'm very fit.  I would like a few more marathon specific workouts and obviously I would love to have the coordination thing 100% gone and just a memory but after 8 years it is unrealistic to think it would just disappear overnight.

  Looking back at some of my past cycles for comparison this one is a bit more spread out and the miles are lower but in terms of workouts it isn't bad.  Before the Olympic Trials I ran  5 good marathon workouts and had two workouts that were aborted part one, one for coordination, one because I was hurting.  

  Before New York City 2008 (the best fitness I have ever had going  into a marathon) I had 7 moderately good workouts basically I would get through about 1/2 to 2/3 of a marathon and then lose coordination then in the afternoon I would do 3 to 6 miles at marathon pace.  I was super fit but not surprisingly I lost coordination at about 10k into the marathon and limped in to a mid 2:20's finish.

  Before my debut at Austin in 2006 I ran 2 good marathon workouts and 1 good not specific workout as well as 1 good half marathon race.  I ran 2:15:28 there but I had not done enough specific work and I ran out of glycogen and ran 5:15, 5:40 (uphill), 5:15(downhill), 5:28 for the last four miles. After averaging 5:07 pace for the first 22 miles that is a pretty bad bonk.  

  This year I have 4 good marathon workouts and 3 moderately good ones and a number of good non-marathon specific sessions.  I would really like to get in at least one and possibly two marathon workouts before tapering.  I am very fit and that can be maintained without specific work but I would like to make sure I am still specifically prepared for marathon.  Fitness is only half the battle in the marathon you must be ready for the specific challenge of the marathon or you will just be another fit runner shaking your head wondering what happened out there and mumbling about fueling better or carbo loading.  

  My plan is to do a specific workout next Sunday and then maybe take a personal day the following Wednesday to do one last session.  Now before you judge me too harshly this is my third year back teaching and I worked part time for a year before that and in that time I have taken one day off, I got stuck at an airport in L.A. so I'm not some lazy ass who skips work willy nilly. 

  Other than that I want to mix in one weekly longish run at fundamental pace focusing on coordination.  this is not specific to marathon racing but it is specific to my holding control of my right leg which will be the biggest limiting factor in my race performance.  I'll probably do 16 to 18 again this week then go for an 18 to 20 about a week out from Boston. 

  As for the sore throat and the heel.  I still have the sore throat.  Hopefully it doesn't become anything more.  The heel was improved quite a bit by the yoga.  I'll try and go again tomorrow and the eccentric calve raises help a lot so I think that will come around real quick.

  Hope you are holding together better than I am and you have a great week.