2016 Boston Marathon Training – Week 2

I’m trying to gradually build mileage even though my body is still trying to recover from the California International Marathon.  Generally, I feel pretty good.  I’ve been wearing a heart rate monitor during my runs to keep my easy paces “slow” and not pushing myself to run the moderate or hard paces “fast”.  I ended the year with a race – the Fairfax Four Miler and was back marathon training the next day.

The Details

For my Sunday long run, I wanted to do 16 miles.  In order to build mileage, I decided to run twice on Monday or “double”.  I followed the fartlek workout in the book on Tuesday and the progression run on Wednesday.  The rest of the runs were easy.

Long Run (16 miles, last 30 min. hard – uphill, if possible).  [Log Details]

I had coffee and half a bagel for breakfast.

I started the run with my club.  The pack was me, a woman new to the group, and two of our sub-3:00 guys.  The weather was fine except for the wind – they were blowing at 14-20 mph.  We ran into a headwind for the first 6 miles.  The sub-3:00 guys pulled away after about 2 miles.  I ran with the woman through 5 miles.  Left to my own devices, I went to my HR monitor and tied to keep it around 152-154.  That was about when my easy run yesterday started to feel hard.  It was still pretty strong on Four Mile Run but once I hit the W&OD, I didn’t feel so great.

The start of the hard effort segment was rough.  My HR dropped but I was only running around 9:00 pace.  I was surprised that even though I was tired, my piriformis didn’t hurt.  Maybe the hill work is helping?  At about the 1:55:00 mark, I got a weird numb feeling in the back of my throat.  I seem to get it whenever I take a Gu, so I’ve been assuming it’s some type of allergy.  But, I also wondered if I could be having some type of asthma attack, so I slowed a little.  (On Monday, I scheduled an appointment with my ENT for next week.)  Maybe 10 minutes later, I felt better and picked up the pace – particularly on the downhills. Towards the end of the run, it felt like the wind was at my back and I began to feel warm.

Average pace=8:48 pace.  Hard uphill segment=8:35 pace.

Easy Run (6 miles + 6 x 8-sec. hill sprint) and Easy Run (4 miles).

Again, I wouldn’t normally write about an easy run but on Monday I ran a double.  (I may write a longer post about running doubles but logistically, it’s very similar to running to work.)

I was pretty tired after Sunday’s long run.  So, I decided to cut the 8 miles in the Hudson plan down to 6 and then run a double in the afternoon.  During my last training cycle, I thought 8 miles was a little long to feel “easy”.  Doubling would also help me meet my mileage goal for the week.

The runs themselves went well.  I ran with a heart rate monitor for both runs.  In the morning, I averaged 9:03 pace and in the afternoon, I ran 8:31 pace.  For some reason, I seem to run faster in the afternoon although it feels like a similar effort.  The mall is also much flatter than the courses in my neighborhood so the runs tend to feel easier.

Fartlek Run (9 miles w/8 x 2 min. @ 10K).  [Log Details]

I didn’t feel great out the door.  It was cold and rainy, and my lower legs felt very stiff.  But, after the warm up, I started feeling pretty good.  The first three interval sessions were strong.  I ran those on the Mount Vernon trail with the wind mostly at my back.  I started to fade a little by the fourth when I got to Four Mile run and had the wind in my face.  The last interval in particular was straight into the wind.  I didn’t speed up the effort to bring down the pace, though.  This is early interval work, so speed isn’t a big concern at this point.  Plus, I’m racing later in the week.  That’ll be a better speed workout than this fartlek.

2:00 pace segments=7:24, 7:22, 7:11, 7:17, 7:06, 7:33, 7:22, 7:40 pace.  Average=7:22 pace.

Progression  Run (12 miles, last 5 miles moderate).  [Log Details]

On Wednesday, the schedule called for a 10 mile progression run.  Since I wanted to hit 68 miles this week, I added two miles to this workout.

I felt pretty good during the early miles.  I wore my heart rate monitor and tried to keep the pace in the 140s on the flat sections and no higher than the low-160s on the uphills.  I started the 5 mile moderate segment after climbing a short but brutal section of the Custis Trail.  For the uptempo segment, there were two pretty significant climbs but it was mostly flat or downhill.  I thought I should be able to run at around the same pace as I did on Sunday’s run.  When I felt relieved it was over, I knew I ran it harder than I should have.

Moderate miles=8:37 pace.

Fairfax Four Miler [Long Details]

On Thursday, New Year’s Eve, I ran the Fairfax Four Miler.  Here’s a link to the race report.

Progression  Run (3 miles easy, 3 miles hard, 3 miles easy).  [Log Details]

I wasn’t sure about this progression run.  I ran a race the night before and didn’t think I’d have it in me to run 3 miles hard.  But, I also went out on New Year’s Eve.  I drank several beers and was on my feet most of the night.  I ate a microwave meal and drank some water before going to bed but wasn’t exactly run ready the next morning.  I didn’t feel well enough to run until later that afternoon.

Despite the race and hang-over, the run went well.  Having worn a heart rate monitor for the past two weeks, I ha a better sense for what my paces for this workout should probably be.  I kept the early easy miles around 8:40 pace.  For the hard segment, I wanted to keep things under 8:25 pace.  Surprisingly, the pace didn’t feel that hard at all.  But, I resisted the urge to run much faster than 8:teens.  The final easy miles were a little slower than 8:40 pace, but that’s okay – it’s a cool-down.  It’s supposed to feel easy.

Hard miles=8:13 pace.

Other Running-Related Activities

Injuries.  I’ve noticed my left piriformis is feeling a little better.  I spend an hour with the foam roller on Sunday, so that could have helped.  It could also be the hill work.  Hudson mentions in his book that he’s seen runners with chronic injuries improve when they’ve done hill work.

Media of the Week.  

Song.  “Meet Me Half Way” by The Black Eyed Peas.  This song came on a couple times this week.  It has a good beat for moderate pace runs.

Picture.  It was cold and overcast all week but the sun came out today.

The Week Ahead

My goal is to hit 70+ miles next week.  In order to do that, I’ll add more miles to my long run and do 18 miles tomorrow.  And instead of doing two 8 mile easy runs this week, I’ll cut them both down to 6 miles and run a 6 mile double on Monday.  As far as the workouts, I’ll probably follow the ones in the plan for now.

Inspiration.  “Training is a case of stress management. Stress and rest. Stress and rest.” – Brooks Johnson