training update

I just counted up the weeks on the little training calendar I wrote and stuck on the refrigerator door, and found that I just finished week 6 (out of 12). So I'm half way there! Progress is going; not perfectly, but it is going. To recap the last week: I ran 17M on Saturday in ~2:10, bonked, rallied to run the Walpole 10K on Monday, then did mostly low-key mid-week runs T-F. I was excited to try another long run on Saturday, despite the general feeling of flatness and depletion that hadn't quite gone away since Walpole. In my previous marathon training cycles, I discovered that I needed to allow two weeks between long (2+ hour) training runs in order to absorb them successfully. I'm not quite sure why I ignored that wisdom; sometimes I need to relearn these things, it seems..! In any case, I set out Saturday morning for another crack at 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Conditions were sunny, with an occasionally stiff breeze from the South. In the spirit of Science I brought enough runner candy (gels and shot blocks) to support about 300 cal/hour. With no particular plan in mind, I loped down into Dedham, then took a left on 109 and ran up into West Roxbury, where I picked up the VFW. My legs still felt pretty flat, but I held out hope they would loosen up as the run continued.

Physically speaking, the stretch along the VFW (mile 8-10) may have been the high point. I turned around and wended my way into Millenium Park, planning to make my way home on the Blue Heron. To pick up the Blue Heron you have to run circumferentially around the big hill that sits in the middle of the park; to my left, the hill's flank rose up steeply, covered in clover, wildflowers, and long-tailed grasses. Brilliantly illuminated by the sun, the sweet-smelling greenery made a sharp contrast to the march of forest on the right, overhanging the brook that parallels the path; and, sitting above them both, a blue sky streaked with fast-moving clouds. 

I mention this scene because, as I passed through it, I experienced one of those almost-painful moments of euphoria that sometimes happen on long runs, when the mind has been jogged loose from ordinary concerns and the radiant beauty of the world is laid momentarily bare. I turned with some regret to cross the footbridge over the stream and head into the shadows of the forest. 

Things started to get rocky around 1hr, 40 minutes. I even indulged in a brief, unsuccessful rummage for wild grapes around mile 13, seeing some crushed specimens on the trail. I had been keeping up with my nutrition plan for the first 90 minutes, but tapered that off at this point, my stomach growing queasy. I ended up looping the reservoir in Cutler Park twice, pace slowing to a crawl. I didn't exactly bonk, but I puttered to a stop around 2:20, having finished the alphabet in the game of What has Johnny got in his Pocket that I had been playing against myself. 

So, the lesson here is: I need two weeks before doing another long run. I was very, very flat on today's easy 8 miler. I'm going to make this week a "down" mileage week (keeping it around 45m, compared to 60+ for an "up" week). Then next week (week 8), I'll try, try again. The nutrition helped, but I think I'm going to go back to the candy+energy bar scheme I was using on my 1st marathon; that seemed to work a little better for me, and it was an excuse to eat gum-drops. 

Since I know you like data (a safe bet for anyone reading this blog), here are pacing graphs for my 1st three long runs. Note how, in terms of finishing pace, I've basically gotten consistently worse. That's me alright--training myself into a hole in the ground.

(click for better view)

Walpole 10K Race Report

Short and sweet, as there's not a lot to say. I felt a bit heavy-legged on my warmup, which, accompanied by a few garlicky burps from the ciabatta bread I ate this morning, didn't necessarily augur for a fast day. My goal anyway was to go out in a pretty-conservative ~6 minute pace and practice what I hope to do at Baystate: slow start, steady progression, strong finish.

I usually use the Lap Pace setting on my garmin because the reading is more stable, but today, since I was using it as an upper-bound limiter I set it to show instantaneous pace. Shortly after the start I remembered why that setting is annoying (7:26! 5:18! 6:29! omg!), but it did more or less serve its purpose. After reeling in a few enthusiasts over the first 1/2 mile, I settled in behind Bob Ruel of HFC and ran with him for the first two miles (though I didn't recognize him as he was out of singlet).

I started to split from Bob around the rolling hills that go by the golf course, and from then on I was on my own. I'd see the blue singlet of the eventual 3rd-place finisher bobbing ahead of me on some of the long straights, but he was well out of my reach. I did succeed in accelerating in the back half, and felt consistently strong throughout. I was laboring a bit on the last hill, but not really suffering--honestly, I flogged myself harder on last week's track workout (which, perhaps not coincidentally, was 5x2K at 6min pace).

I feel like if I had been 100% in racing head-space and not two days of a failed 20 miler I might have contended for 3rd place (or at least given him a scare), but as it was I glided to an uncontested 4th, in 38:06.

Served its purpose as an early tune-up for Baystate, but otherwise unremarkable performance.

Unsuccess

Well, on the heels of Thursday's great tempo, I had a rather disappointing failure of a long run today. The goal was 2:40, but bonked pretty hard around 2 hours and made it only as long as 2:10. This made it almost identical in distance and time to the long run I did on August 18th, except for the end: on the earlier run I never bonked; in fact I felt strong at the end and was pretty sure I could have done another 15-20 minutes without too much difficulty.

Here's a summary of the two runs:

August 18th, successful long run

Distance:         16.78 mi
Time: 2:15:02
Avg Pace:         8:03 min/mi
Elevation Gain: 1,367 ft

split       time                     dist.      pace
1      35:27.1 4.33      8:11
2      57:32.7 7.02      8:12
3      27:01.9 3.44      7:51
4      15:00.0 1.99      7:33

------------------------------------------
Weather: Cool, cloudy, intermittent rain, probably in the 60s.
Terrain: Varied, but substantial flat sections along the Charles River. Roughly 2/3rds trail.
Nutrition: 3x shot blocks (i.e. 1/2 package) and water, my usual.


September 1st, unsuccessful long run

Distance:         16.88 mi
Time: 2:10:01
Avg Pace:         7:42 min/mi
Elevation Gain: 690 ft

split     time               dist.     pace

1    1:00:07.8 7.77    7:44
2    59:53.6 7.89    7:35
3    9:59.4 1.21    8:14  *bonk*

-----------------------------------
Weather: felt like 70s, sunny, with a cool breeze.
Terrain: 100% road; mostly rolling hills (I'm shocked this route had less elevation gain than the other)
Nutrition: 3x shot blocks and water, +1 salt tab.


So why the big difference? Let's see...
Nutrition: pretty much identical. I know some would suggest eating more, but I honestly don't think that's it.
Terrain: The lengthy trail sections probably helped save my legs, but I'm unsure how much.
Weather: Today's weather felt gorgeous. But I think it might have been easy to underestimate the affect of the sun, which is still quite potent. Likely contributing factor.
Pace: yeah...I'm dreading that this is the main factor. The 30s /mile difference, stacked over 12-13 miles, is perhaps wearing me down?

I have two more long runs scheduled. I have been running with my Garmin showing only chrono, because I didn't want to get distracted by pace, but I think next time I'm going to reverse that and forceably limit myself to 8 minute miles. Discouraging--it almost feels like the long tempos are pointless, since they don't seem to make a whit of difference in when I crack--but for now I guess I'm just going to try to keep the optimism that somehow endurance and speed are going to come together in time for the race.

(Feeling pretty sore now, but I'm signed up for Walpole 10K on Monday. We'll see how it goes).

Progress

Great run this morning: 2 miles warmup, 2 miles @ 6:45 pace, 5 miles @ 6:40 pace, 2 miles @ 6:30 pace, feeling easier and easier the whole way. On uphills I just increased my cadence and hardly felt them. It helped that it was practically ideal running weather (unlike my track intervals last Tuesday, which were done in pouring rain, with tractors reseeding the infield that kept backing up and turning in Lane 1). In early August, it felt like a good job just to finish a 14 mile run in the muggy heat, and even the concept of running a full marathon seemed like a mean-spirited joke. Now I'm back to nearly the fitness I had in April, the weather is better, and I'm starting to anticipate my long runs with some proper enthusiasm.

Days like today make me think that I really might be able to hold up to a 6:45 marathon pace (though I'm not relenting on my determination to start at a "walk", i.e. ~7:20 pace).

2hr, 45min run this Saturday. I'm thinking of driving out of my normal zone so I can see some new roads.

pacing for baystate

Back in January of this year I ran the Derry 16 miler for the second time--a beautiful hilly winter run up in New Hampshire. And, if I don't mind saying so, I was killing it. I went through the half marathon in around 9th place, and a little under 85 minutes. And then I totally died, like someone popped open a plug and all the energy drained out of me. You would think (as I would have thought), that with under 5k to go, in a strong position in the field, I would be able to "just gut it out"--but seemingly not. After a dismal 2.9 miles of walk-jogging, I crossed the line and pretty much vowed I'd never do another marathon (strangely, even in the middle of the suck, I was thinking I'd do Derry again--but marathons seemed out of the question). 

I've replicated that sad performance in pretty much all of my other races above 1/2 marathon distance. My record has not been bad. It has been absolutely dismal. I blew up in the MV 20 miler, both my marathons, one of my two Derry 16M races (the other was merely OK), and Highland Sky (but that one gets a pass, since the point was just to finish). 

The point is that I don't seem to handle bonk well. Maybe it's physiological, maybe it's a character flaw. Earlier in my experiments with endurance racing, I was really fixated on the idea of somehow "training up" the toughness. I still want to get mentally stronger! But my thinking has changed, or at least broadened. Now I'm keen on avoiding the bonk altogether. 

Marathon pacing feels like a game of over-under to me. When you start the race, you make a bet: "I think I can run this race in 6:55 pace," say. You want to pick the fastest speed possible, without going over your fitness. If you go over, at some point in the race, the wheels are going to come off. If this happens 2 miles from the finish, maybe you limp in OK--but if it happens at mile 20--or mile 18 (see Keybank VCM)--then it's going to get ugly.

This is all just background for my thoughts about how I want to try to pace Baystate. In my first marathon (Hyannis, winter 2010), I thought I was in 7:15 fitness and went out around 7:00 min/mi. In my second marathon, I trained targeting 7:00 minute pace, and started the race at 6:45 pace (and then it got hot). You may be noticing a problem here. 

So, for marathon #3: I am training targeting 6:40 pace. This is a little fast for me for long tempos (admittedly not according to the hilariously awesome McMillan Running Calculator, which seems to be under the impression I should be able to bust out a 2:45 marathon). I expect I may struggle to finish the gold-standard 15 mile tempo at that pace, but I'm planning on being flexible--breaking it into three chunks with breathers at 7:30 pace, for instance.

And then, once I have that under my belt, I'm going to start at 7:20 pace. I'm going to slowly to drop to around 7:05 pace, and go through the half at around 7:00 pace. And then I'm going to hold that pace, and hold it. And if things go according to plan, I'm hoping to finish in that pace, with no bonk. But I won't lie--making it down to 6:40 pace for the final mile would be grand, and I'm very much hoping for it.

Because, you see, for a runner that's been doing this 17 years, I'm dumb as rocks at the start of long races. I need to tie an anchor around my waist, put my feet in concrete--anything to keep the pace reasonable. In fact, I've given up on playing the under-over game, finding the right even pace. I want to pick a pace I'm sure is too slow for me, and then ease in. I want to negative split. That's the big goal. Negative split and no bonk.