20 Days to Go (I will run a sub-3 hour marathon and qualify for Boston!)
Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace)
8/28/17 - T - 2 mile WU + 2 x 3 miles @ 6:41 min/mile w/ 1 mile RI @ WU + 2 mile CD (4/6)
8/29/17 - W - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
8/30/17 - R - 2 mile WU + Progression - 10 miles with 10 sec cut and last 3 at MP, HMP, and 10k + 2 mile CD (10/10)
8/31/17 - F - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
9/1/17 - Sat - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
9/2/17 - Sun - 14 miles @ 7:35 min/mile + 5 miles @ 6:58 min/mile (15/18)
9/4/17 - M - OFF
Total (training) mileage = 65.7 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 29/34 (85%)
Tuesday was the peak of the HM Tempo workouts.
2 mile WU + 2 x 3 miles @ HM Tempo w/ 1 mile RI + 2 mile CD
T+D of 100-105 (I know right?), cloudy, and on and off gusty wind up to 20mph.
HM Tempo = 6:41 min/mile
HM Tempo window = +/- 10 second (6:31-6:51)
The dynamic WU felt good. Very loose and legs were flying easily. The WU also felt strong. I was hopeful the intervals would follow suit.
HM Tempo = 6:44, 6:54, 6:36, 6:41, 6:58, 6:43
The first three intervals were good. I ran the flat route on 1 and 3 and the hilly route on 2. I had a bit of tightness in my right achilles during the end of #3. But thankfully when the RI started it dissipated. I ran 4-6 in reverse direction with #5 with the hill again. I was really starting to struggle on #5 and 6. It wasn't my breathing or cardiovascular system as those both felt strong. But my legs just didn't want to go faster. Thankfully, the pacing was fine. It didn't help that during intervals 4, 5, and 6 the wind REALLY picked up as a storm was trying to roll in. The biggest positive was a DOUBLE RAINBOW. One of the two was a full rainbow and it was seriously the brightest rainbow I've ever seen. It was magnificent. I decided to take it as a sign from my unicorn friends.
Average pace was 6:46 with 4/6 intervals hit. The super surprising part was the HR for the intervals was 152, 154, 154, 152, 151, 154. So further proved that I felt fine breathing/cardio wise but my legs just didn't want to go faster. Overall though a very solid run!
Wednesday was an easy day with an average pace of an 8:48 min/mile and HR of 128. This was also the first test of Run Gum with caffeine. 1 piece which contains 50mg taken 15 min prior to starting the run. No adverse effects were noted. Tomorrow is an attempt to chew one piece during a moderate pace run.
Thursday
1898 days down and 24 to go!
2 mile WU + 10 mile Progression + 2 mile CD
Run Gum Test #2 - Try 1 piece (50mg) mid-run
T+D 107, cloudy, no wind
Progression paces = 8:08, 7:58, 7:48, 7:38, 7:28, 7:18, 7:08, 6:58, 6:41, 6:23
Progression window = +/- 5 seconds
My right hip has been sore since after Tuesday's HM Tempo run. It felt fine today, but not 100%. The dynamic warm-up was ok, but somewhat stiff. I think the peak is on it's way out (which is fine because I just want it to come back on race day). I decided to wear my freshest pair of Zealot Iso (about 40 miles) instead of my Kinvara 7 in an effort to maybe save my hip some beatings.
Progression = 8:08, 7:59, 7:51, 7:37, 7:30, 7:18, 7:07, 7:01, 6:37, 6:27
This was my third and final attempt at the 10 mile progression with the last 3 intervals at MP, HMP, and 10k pace. The first attempt was 8/10 with the HMP and 10k as misses. The second attempt was 9/10 with the 10k as a miss. Neither the first or second attempt's 10k pace was even close to goal. So today being the last one I was hopeful to finally nail a 100%. Although during the first interval I really questioned that possibility. After doing this run twice before and with the start of this one I was finding that Progression run's just seem off to me. I struggle to slowly pick up the pace like that instead of holding one set pace for a period of time. So the first couple of intervals were within defined range, but never felt comfortable. I took an e-Gel at mile 3.5. The run continued until I hit mile 7.9 (during the 7:28 pace goal) at which I tried the Run Gum. This was one piece (50mg) and I attempted to chew it while running a moderate pace (7:18-7:28 goal pace). The texture is unlike my normal chewing gum, in that it kind of breaks apart upon chewing rather than a soft chew. So this causes it to flake/brake apart on first chew. This caused a bit of difficulty with trying to navigate breathing and chewing. I could taste the caffeine but could tell no immediate difference. I chewed it for roughly 5 minutes and 0.7 miles. Since I wasn't noticing anything I decided to try and focus on my breathing instead and spit the gum back into the wrapper. I continued with the pace but continued to be rather uncomfortable with trying to hit the 7:08-7:18 pace. Then roughly 8 min after beginning to chew and 3 min after stopping chewing, BAM! Suddenly, things didn't seem as difficult. I felt like I was hitting a groove and did my best to hang on. I got the MP interval (7:01), then HMP interval (6:38)... I didn't just hit the HMP I was actually a touch under. But the big question was what about the 10k interval? It had alluded me both of the other attempts. Would I get it this time? I hit the end of the HMP and I just exploded. I felt comfortable and just locked into pace. I held it as best I could and came in at 6:26! SUCCESS! HUZAHH! I had finally hit the 10k pace at the end of the Progression. And even at the conclusion of the mile I felt like I still could have kept going. But I was also glad it was over.
So, for the final Progression attempt a perfect 10/10! As for the Run Gum, I'd say it had a noticeable effect today as things were a struggle in the beginning of the run and then things felt much cleaner/stronger at the end. Happy with the progress! The last Run Gum test is on Sunday's LR Hybrid (14 miles @ LR and 5 miles @ MP). I will attempt to chew 2 pieces towards the end of the run. Not much training left!
Friday was another easy day. It felt like I had gotten run over by a truck. Just really sore and stiff. The average pace was 9:24 with a HR of 123. I wondered whether the Run Gum was beneficial for completing the desired workout, but also masked my normal effort based indicators that would have slowed me down. If that makes sense? Like I was able to run faster, but maybe I shouldn't. After this weekend's test run, I'll probably keep the use of caffeine as a performance enhancer to races only. I need to keep those training indicators to keep me healthy.
Saturday was another easy day that I took very easy. Average pace of 8:51 and HR of 124. Still sore and my right hip was giving me a little grief. I was interested to see how Sunday would go and was considering changing the taper from 14 days to 21 days.
Sunday
1901 days down and 21 to go!!!
T+D of 91-112, sunny, and wind got progressively faster but peaked around 10mph.
Run Gum Test #3 - 2 pieces (100mg) taken with 7 miles remaining and 2 miles before MP fast finish. Goal was to simulate the race day plan of taking the Run Gum at mile 19.
14 miles @ LR + 5 miles @ MP
Long Run Pace = 7:35 min/mile
Long Run Window = +/- 10 seconds (7:25-7:45)
Marathon Pace = 6:58 min/mile
Marathon Pace Window = +/- 10 seconds (6:48-7:08)
Yesterday the right hip was a bit sore. I iced it for about 15 minutes and things felt better. Just a minor blip, but trying to be mindful. It feels this way because I pushed a bit hard on Tuesday's HM Tempo run. The dynamic WU wasn't great and an indication to me that the peak is gone for now.
Long Run = 7:38, 7:39, 7:24, 7:43, 7:33, 7:38, 7:29, 7:32, 7:35, 7:37, 7:20, 7:39, 7:36
The long run pace felt mostly natural. While things weren't at peak performance, the pace was solid. I used this run as practice for drinking from a water cup. So I laid out three cups with roughly 5oz water in them. I gave my first attempt at drinking from it at mile 3.5. It went ok, I didn't choke, but I also didn't consume a ton of the 5oz. I also lost track on mile #4 when I noticed with about 0.7 miles in I was at 7:18. So I tried to slow down to get it within range, but to no avail. I took my first E-Gel at mile 3.5. I intentionally slowed down mile #5 to compensate for the too fast mile #4 with a 7:43. Things settled back down and things continued to click. Around mile #9/10 I could tell the "real race" was starting as I was getting that feeling of late race fatigue. Mile #11 was another water cup test, but this time I tried to double fist it with a cup in each hand. I was able to get a little more water than a single cup, but not much. The water cup was somewhat successful and I still don't know if I go with my hand-held 8oz or hands-free. I really like running with nothing in my hand. We'll see based on the weather what I end up choosing. At mile #11.5 I had my second E-Gel. At mile #12 was when I started the Run Gum Test. I chewed two pieces (100mg caffeine) simultaneously for about 1 mile. The effect was more noticeable immediately. Unfortunately, that did lead to a way too fast 7:20. Wrapped up the last two miles of long run pace and was being mindful of staying slow even though the caffeine made things seem slightly easier. The final average pace was a 7:34 min/mile, 11/13 intervals within range (two too fast), and average HR was 141 (historical is 138-142). After the 14 miles at long run was finished, it was time to ramp up to marathon pace for the last 5 miles.
Marathon Pace = 7:02, 6:58, 6:59, 7:16, 6:59
I picked up the pace to what felt like marathon pace and didn't check for the first half mile. I wanted to see what felt natural. Pace turned out to be right on target. The first three miles were uneventful and comfortable. The fourth mile was definitely a kick to the stomach. A good simulation of the mile 21 climb at Lakefront. While the pace was outside the goal window (7:08 max), the Strava GAP shows that it was reasonable with a 6:58 adjustment. I can certainly live with that. Finished up the last mile at 6:59. The final average pace was 7:02, 4/5 intervals hit, and HR of 152 (historical 148-152). That breaks a streak of 6 straight perfect interval marathon paced runs. Average pace of the last 7 MP runs is 6:59. The current projection from my training is a 2:59-3:04 marathon in 21 days.
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Originally, I was planning on a 14 day taper with another 20 mile run next weekend. However because the last two 19 mile runs have had minor fades, and because my right hip and right calf don't feel 100%, I've decided to change to a 21 taper. That's what I've used for all 10 of my marathons so I feel comfortable with that decision. Only 11 days of training left and then the Hansons 10 day window begins! Almost time for that victory lap!
