Looking back.

I am not a believer in a full two-week taper before a big race. After one week of minimal running I am edgy, keyed up and impatient; after two, I feel dull and less-fit, like the edge has come off. Physiologically it may not be possible to lose significant fitness over two weeks, but psychologically it doesn't feel that way.

That was a long-winded explanation for why I was still doing "quality" as late as last Saturday. I've been alternating long runs designed to simulate marathon endurance requirements with 16 milers designed to simulate marathon speed. Two weeks ago I did my peak distance run; last Saturday, my peak "specific endurance" workout: 6 miles lead-in followed by 10 miles at marathon RP.

Rather than just talk about the Saturday run though, I thought I'd look back over key workouts this training cycle. These are the days I'm going to be leaning on this Sunday to remind myself what I'm capable of, and to remember all the work I put in to get to the starting line.

April 2nd, 17 mi @ 7:20 pace This might be an odd choice, given that this was supposed to be a 20. But I still remember how easy this pace felt, surging over the hills through the wildlife refuge in Natick. Snow had fallen the day before, and my only fueling was a few mouthfuls eaten at my turnaround. Despite the inglorious walk home, what I was left thinking was: all I need is to work out my nutrition, and I will kill this 3:10 marathon time. In fact it was around then that I decided I was selling myself short with a 3:10 and started targeting 3:04.

April 24th, 16 mi @ some horrible time: I had been sick this week, and missed two straight days of running. Given that, you can imagine how keen I was not to blow my long run. The first 12 miles weren't too bad. 13-14 were pretty rocky. 15-16 were pure suffering, running right into the teeth of the bonk wall, every fiber of every muscle screaming to throw in the towel. But...for once, I didn't throw in anything. I finished the damn run, and the last two miles ended up being 7:48 pace. If I can do that, then I can run this 26 (i.e., do better than run 20 and jog-walk the last 10k).

April 30th, 22 miles. The notes from my running log say: "22 w/ 2x 2mi @ 6:55, and last 6 @ 7:14. Beautiful day, strong throughout. Consumed 4xBloks & 1xgel. Had 2 water stops." The subtext there is: I got my nutrition right, and everything else followed easily. This workout gave me loads of confidence that my basic fitness would be in the right place to run a BQ time.

May 22nd, 16 miles. Last Saturday's run. 6 @ 7:12, followed by 10 @ 6:40. This was test to see how hard breaking 3 hours might be. Right when I finished I had mixed feelings about it. I had kind of wanted it to feel easier as I was wrapping up, and instead felt somewhat fatigued. But then I thought "hey, here we are, mid-stream in training, on the back of a 9 miler with 3x mile intervals 2 days ago, running 10 miles at faster than my fastest contemplated marathon pace over rolling hills, and pretty much hitting it on the nose. So what if I'm a little fatigued?" So I decided I was happy about it after all, and took it as testament that I certainly have the leg speed I need.


I will put up another blog post tomorrow about goal-setting for the marathon. See you then!