Marathon 101 training log

[DisgruntledVirus]

If you have followed my posts over the past year and a half or so in this subforum, you'll know I want to run marathons and eventually ultras. Last year during training I had issues that kept me from training properly (IT band, shin splints, and poison ivy for the first time) so I had to put it off until this year. In talking with one of my friends about it I stumbled across a course called Marathon 101 which trains you to actually run the marathon. I found out I could get college credit (taking care of gym elective), which also means it's reimbursable by works tuition reimbursement program. So I signed up. They do various testing in addition to the runs which makes it a great place to gain information and learn more about my own personal body.

So the point of this thread is going to be to keep track of the testing results through the course (VO2max, lactate, body fat %, etc) in addition to a run log. If I'm feeling really spunky I might even throw up a food journal since a dietitian will be meeting with us regularly as well. Today was the first day of testing and the second round will be in 2 weeks, then after that is when the course actually starts. So until then I'll just be keeping track of basic run info (time/dist).

Testing Log
Start of course testing:
May 7th 2011
First day of testing (VO2max, body composition)
Stats:
6'2, 168 lbs, resting HR of 74, blood pressure 110/75

Bod Pod body composition:
Lean weight 153.4 lbs
Fat weight 14.6 lbs
% Lean 91.3%
% Fat 8.7%
Est RMR 1,822 k/cal
Vey active est RMR 3,789 k/cal

VO2max (I can post the test environment info if people want, but otherwise I won't):
4.11 L/min; 54 ml/kg/min
Treadmill: 5 mph and 18% grd elevation
Heartrate: 187 bpm

Second day of testing (Resting heart rate, pushups, situps)
Stats:
6'2, 168 lbs

Resting heart rate dipped as low as 48, and as high as 64. It averaged to 56 bpm over the 30 minute testing which is a bit higher than I would have liked.
Pushups (until exhaustion)=30 which I knew would suck, mainly because I haven't done really anything upper body in over a year
Situps (as many as you can in 1 minute)=35 which is acceptable since I didn't really push myself in it. I could have easily hit 40 but was too relaxed for the first 30 seconds.

Will be doing lactate threshold testing in the next few weeks once they get the administrative stuff for it figured out. Regular training starts Tuesday at 6 AM though. Yay!

Training log
Runs done before start of course:
5/7: 4 miles @ 8:34/mi pace after testing in morning (VO2max was 15 minutes at varying speeds and inclines)
5/8: 2 sets of 8x100m wind sprints with 30 sec rest. Running to/from park made total run 4 miles.
5/10: 6.25 miles in 52:51 for a 8:28 pace. Felt great, just ran at a comfortable pace and didn't care about time. Was the type of run that running is all about having.
5/11: 6 miles in 49:53 for a 8:16 pace. Was at a local hilly metro park that is basically 3 miles of hills. Felt great.
5/14: 8.5 miles in 1:18:03 for a 9:07/mi pace. Was hotter than my normal runs, and more humid, which I wasn't prepared for and made the run more difficult than I had hoped for.
5/16: 7.64 miles in 1:02:58 for a 8:14/mi pace. Felt great. Did a few ~30 second segments where I dropped my pace down to ~7 min/mi pace.
5/17: 7.64 miles in 1:03:23 for a 8:20/mi pace. Was a good run, could tell I was a bit sore from running the day before though.
5/19: 11 miles in 1:37:44 for a 8:54/mi pace. Left work early on Thursday because it was a nice day to go run. Decided on a different route which ended up being right about 11 miles (added some distance on the road I live on to hit 11). Took a much more relaxed and casual run and slowed my pace down for it. Felt fairly good after the run though.
5/21: 7.63 miles in 1:05:57 for a 8:39/mi pace.


After starting course runs:
Week 1 (3, 4, 3, 5 mile runs)
5/24: 3.16 miles in 24:37 for a 7:48/mi pace
5/25: 6 miles in 49:11 for a 8:12/mi pace <-- independent run, did at local hilly course
5/26: 3.21 miles in 25:32 for a 7:57/mi pace <-- rough run
5/28: 5.32 miles in 42:30 for a 7:59/mi pace. Cooled down waiting for rest of class, and decided to run some more while waiting so I did another mile in 7:30.

Week 2 (3, 4, 3, 6 mile runs)
5/31: 4.5 miles in 36:09 for a 8:04/mi pace. <-- did the 3.2, then turned around to go to the last person in the class and took a different route back that added 1.3 miles and another decent hill.
6/1: 6.75 miles in 1:37 for a 14:30 pace. I'm not a fan of this "run." The group is doing "trail run Wednesdays", so it was the first one and I decided to join for it. It ended up being a walk/hike/jog instead of a run. On the hills I would run up them, down to the base, and back up a second time in order to feel like I was doing a workout. It also timed out about right for me to get to the top about the time the rest of the group was. Needless to say, I won't be doing that again soon I don't think (didn't seem to get any benefit from it).
6/2: 3.23 miles in 25:00 minutes for a 7:45/mi pace. This was a fast run and I was pushing it. Felt great though.
6/4: 6.5 miles in 51:51 for a 7:59/mi pace. Felt great. Was a good run.

Week 3 (3, 4, 3, 7 miles)
6/7: Did track work. Didn't log time/miles on my phone (too many start/stops). Basically was 1 mile warmup and cooldown with the main part being 1/4 mile runs at a very fast pace (~6 min/miles). Only did about 3.5 total miles though.
6/8: 6 miles in 51:52 for a 8:39/mi pace. This was by FAR the most difficult run I have done this year. It was mid 90's and about 60% humidity where I was running and at the time I was running. This was the first run I honestly considered stopping mid-run due to the heat. That is definitely my weakness and where I need to get better at.
6/9: 1.33 miles in 11:03 for a 8:13/mi pace. Due to storms we ended up only doing 1.33 miles on the track before cutting it short. We were told to run more that night, but the 6 miler wednesday killed me. I opted to use it as a rest day, along with 6/10 (scheduled rest day), to take it easy.

Feel free to ask any questions, and/or tell me how fat and gross I am

 

[YoungGun21]

Man I wish I got college credit for my training! Did more work training for mine than I did for any of my classes this semester.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Man I wish I got college credit for my training! Did more work training for mine than I did for any of my classes this semester.

Yeah, that part I have yet to get done officially (the guy who handles that has been dragging his feet to say the least), but it will count for 3 credits once completed. I'm even more excited that work is going to pay for it (at least most of it)

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Sunday 5/8
2 sets of 8x 100m windsprints with 30 second cool down in between each 100m leg.

 

[SWScorch]

Sunday 5/8
2 sets of 8x 100m windsprints with 30 second cool down in between each 100m leg.

Was this part of the marathon training course or just something you did on your own? Because while windsprints will most definitely get you in shape, that kind of anaerobic fitness won't even come into play into marathon training. But if you're looking to improve overall fitness too, not just at long distances, then go for it!

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Was this part of the marathon training course or just something you did on your own? Because while windsprints will most definitely get you in shape, that kind of anaerobic fitness won't even come into play into marathon training. But if you're looking to improve overall fitness too, not just at long distances, then go for it!

The running portion of the course doesn't start until 2 weeks from this coming Tuesday.

I thought that those also helped develop speed, even while distance running?

 

[SWScorch]

They definitely do, but running a marathon is so comparatively slow that you really don't need any sprinting speed to do one. I rarely do anything faster than 5K pace when I'm marathon training, and the same goes for elite marathoners. Sprints like that will do wonders for your shorter races, such as 5K and under, but when you're "jogging" along for 20+ miles, your fast twitch muscles don't even do anything (unless you completely exhaust your slow twitch muscles and then have to rely on your FT, but that's no fun).

Its really just a question of what systems you want to train. When marathon training, muscle endurance and lactate threshold are most important. You improve those by 1) running long (2+ hours) and 2) running for an extended period of time at a reasonably fast pace (20-60 minutes at your one-hour to marathon race pace). Long intervals at 5K-ish pace work your VO2max, which is most important with races under the half marathon in distance, and fast sprints work your anaerobic fitness and legspeed, which is great for short races, but moot for longer races.

However, as I mentioned before, while sprints won't help your marathon at all directly, they could result in better form and turnover, and will get you in general overall shape quicker, so if you like doing them, by all mean go ahead. Just understand that for a marathon, your priorities should be long runs and the threshold runs I described above. I don't think they will hurt you at all, unless you find yourself doing a lot of work and nearing your limit, then you would want to solely focus on the training that will get you the most bang for your buck.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

They definitely do, but running a marathon is so comparatively slow that you really don't need any sprinting speed to do one. I rarely do anything faster than 5K pace when I'm marathon training, and the same goes for elite marathoners. Sprints like that will do wonders for your shorter races, such as 5K and under, but when you're "jogging" along for 20+ miles, your fast twitch muscles don't even do anything (unless you completely exhaust your slow twitch muscles and then have to rely on your FT, but that's no fun).

Its really just a question of what systems you want to train. When marathon training, muscle endurance and lactate threshold are most important. You improve those by 1) running long (2+ hours) and 2) running for an extended period of time at a reasonably fast pace (20-60 minutes at your one-hour to marathon race pace). Long intervals at 5K-ish pace work your VO2max, which is most important with races under the half marathon in distance, and fast sprints work your anaerobic fitness and legspeed, which is great for short races, but moot for longer races.

However, as I mentioned before, while sprints won't help your marathon at all directly, they could result in better form and turnover, and will get you in general overall shape quicker, so if you like doing them, by all mean go ahead. Just understand that for a marathon, your priorities should be long runs and the threshold runs I described above. I don't think they will hurt you at all, unless you find yourself doing a lot of work and nearing your limit, then you would want to solely focus on the training that will get you the most bang for your buck.

Awesome info here. Thanks!

I think I'm in fairly good overall shape, minus some upper body definition (which I want to work on, but it's secondary to the marathon stuff). So getting into shape isn't a "needed" thing currently. I have done half marathon distance at <2 hours (~9:15 pace or so) and regularly do 6 milers in <50 min pace (8:20/mi pace) so I don't think I need to get my body into running shape.

So let me ask this then. Last year I did a 5 mile race in 42 minutes, which was right about the same pace I'm now doing my 6 milers at (i.e. last years race pace is this years normal pace). With a marathon time goal of <3:30 being my target pace, should I keep my 6 mile runs at about that pace or speed it up? Because a <3:30 would be ~8/min miles, assuming I did my math right, so training at slightly slower than that is the preferred way to do it right?

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[SWScorch]

Awesome info here. Thanks!

I think I'm in fairly good overall shape, minus some upper body definition (which I want to work on, but it's secondary to the marathon stuff). So getting into shape isn't a "needed" thing currently. I have done half marathon distance at <2 hours (~9:15 pace or so) and regularly do 6 milers in <50 min pace (8:20/mi pace) so I don't think I need to get my body into running shape.

So let me ask this then. Last year I did a 5 mile race in 42 minutes, which was right about the same pace I'm now doing my 6 milers at (i.e. last years race pace is this years normal pace). With a marathon time goal of <3:30 being my target pace, should I keep my 6 mile runs at about that pace or speed it up? Because a <3:30 would be ~8/min miles, assuming I did my math right, so training at slightly slower than that is the preferred way to do it right?

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I would wait to see what the training program calls for. In general, most people find they can race a marathon about 30 seconds faster per mile than their easy run pace, if they are well-trained. For a typical easy run, I wouldn't worry about pace and instead just try to keep the effort low. You want to be able to hold a conversation if needed when you're just out for a run. Your program will most likely insert some runs at your goal marathon pace in order to get your body accustomed to running that pace, but you don't want to do that every run because you would get fatigued too easily. You actually improve when you rest and recover, as that is when your muscles rebuild themselves and overcompensate from the stimulus. And running at an easy pace improves aerobic fitness and gets oxygen and blood flowing to your legs while still allowing you to recover.

Chances are, your program will include a long run that starts low and builds up to 20 miles or so, and 1 or 2 harder efforts per week, with the rest of the days being easy runs, cross training, or complete rest. The best advice I can give you is to focus on the long runs and harder efforts, and don't even wear a watch if you run on the other days. Go as slow as you need to in order to recover. Also, for being your first marathon, I wouldn't be too attached to your time goal. Its good to have a goal to shoot for, but seriously, after 20 miles, its a whole different world, and you should be happy to finish no matter what. I tried for a certain time in my first marathon and ended up crashing and burning and it was a horrible experience. I don't want to see you do the same thing!

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I would wait to see what the training program calls for. In general, most people find they can race a marathon about 30 seconds faster per mile than their easy run pace, if they are well-trained. For a typical easy run, I wouldn't worry about pace and instead just try to keep the effort low. You want to be able to hold a conversation if needed when you're just out for a run. Your program will most likely insert some runs at your goal marathon pace in order to get your body accustomed to running that pace, but you don't want to do that every run because you would get fatigued too easily. You actually improve when you rest and recover, as that is when your muscles rebuild themselves and overcompensate from the stimulus. And running at an easy pace improves aerobic fitness and gets oxygen and blood flowing to your legs while still allowing you to recover.

Chances are, your program will include a long run that starts low and builds up to 20 miles or so, and 1 or 2 harder efforts per week, with the rest of the days being easy runs, cross training, or complete rest. The best advice I can give you is to focus on the long runs and harder efforts, and don't even wear a watch if you run on the other days. Go as slow as you need to in order to recover. Also, for being your first marathon, I wouldn't be too attached to your time goal. Its good to have a goal to shoot for, but seriously, after 20 miles, its a whole different world, and you should be happy to finish no matter what. I tried for a certain time in my first marathon and ended up crashing and burning and it was a horrible experience. I don't want to see you do the same thing!

The program builds up to 22 miles a month prior to race then does the normal taper down to ~16 or so. I'm not attached to the goal time more than if everything goes to plan, I want to train so I can do a 3:30 marathon. Realistically I'm expecting a sub 4:00 marathon.

As of now, my training runs are fairly easy pace. I can hold a conversation during them if I wanted/needed/had a partner. I have my body fairly set in what a 8:30/mi pace is so that is my comfortable, yet pushing myself a bit (on distance runs of 8+). My longer runs I slow down for and can do ~9:15/mi as an "easy" effort and hit my mileage goal, but could push myself a bit and run it faster I'm sure. I have ~22 weeks until the marathon, so if I'm at this point now then I should be able to improve over the next few months right? Which would make my goals achievable provided everything goes according to plan.*

*I realize that it's very unlikely anything will go to plan, but I'm being optimistic for once

5/10: Ran 6.25 in 52:51. A 8:28/mi pace average.

 

[YoungGun21]

One thing I've been told by my coach and something I've found out firsthand is that you can expect your mile times to increase by at least 1 minute for the last 10k. So, while I wouldn't recommend a time goal, if you are going to shoot for one you will need to factor that in.

FYI: mine were +1 minute by mile 16 and probably close to +2 minutes by 23.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

One thing I've been told by my coach and something I've found out firsthand is that you can expect your mile times to increase by at least 1 minute for the last 10k. So, while I wouldn't recommend a time goal, if you are going to shoot for one you will need to factor that in.

FYI: mine were +1 minute by mile 16 and probably close to +2 minutes by 23.

Yuck.

I'm thinking that I will do 2-3 extra miles during the longest run (i.e. from ~22 miles to ~24-25 miles) which will give me a good point for me to know what my marathon time should, realistically, come in at.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Ran 6 miles at a local metro park that is basically 3 miles uphill and then did the 3 miles back down. Time was 49:53, or 8:16/mi.

I wasn't trying to push myself either, I just ran what felt comfortable and happened to be faster than my normal 6 mile loop from my house. Was surprising to say the least. Felt great though.

 

[YoungGun21]

Yuck.

I'm thinking that I will do 2-3 extra miles during the longest run (i.e. from ~22 miles to ~24-25 miles) which will give me a good point for me to know what my marathon time should, realistically, come in at.

Probably not a good idea lol. I ran my race on April 30, went out for my first run yesterday, and I didn't feel so good. 1.5 miles was tough. Putting yourself in that condition just a few weeks before your race isn't a good idea. 20 miles is a big enough stress. The best thing for you will be to stick to your training plan, and to make sure you don't overtrain your body.

I'll pass on more advice from my coach: He just had me envision myself training for months and then running my first marathon to the finish line, then he had me envision myself training for months and dropping out halfway through the race.

It is your first race, and you already know you want to do more. No matter what your time is, it will be faster your second race.

*I don't want to seem like a know-it-all or anything. This is just what I've gained in my experiences (1 race!), and from discussions I've had with my coach/trainer.

 

[kamper]

One thing I've been told by my coach and something I've found out firsthand is that you can expect your mile times to increase by at least 1 minute for the last 10k. So, while I wouldn't recommend a time goal, if you are going to shoot for one you will need to factor that in.

FYI: mine were +1 minute by mile 16 and probably close to +2 minutes by 23.

Hmm, that didn't happen to me when I ran my first marathon last year. I ran around my goal pace for the first 10k, then couldn't help speeding up and by the end, while tiring, I was still going slightly faster than my goal pace.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Probably not a good idea lol. I ran my race on April 30, went out for my first run yesterday, and I didn't feel so good. 1.5 miles was tough. Putting yourself in that condition just a few weeks before your race isn't a good idea. 20 miles is a big enough stress. The best thing for you will be to stick to your training plan, and to make sure you don't overtrain your body.

I'll pass on more advice from my coach: He just had me envision myself training for months and then running my first marathon to the finish line, then he had me envision myself training for months and dropping out halfway through the race.

It is your first race, and you already know you want to do more. No matter what your time is, it will be faster your second race.

*I don't want to seem like a know-it-all or anything. This is just what I've gained in my experiences (1 race!), and from discussions I've had with my coach/trainer.

I very much appreciate your input, as it provides me other thoughts on the training from somebody who has gone through it personally. So thank you for that .

Here is my view on it and where I'm coming from in my view though. We are going to be doing 22 miles for our longest pre-marathon run, and doing that a month out. We will be obviously ramping up to that distance, then taper down for the last month. We both agree that 22 miles is a decent stress on a persons body, but the difference between 22 and 24 isn't much under the context of doing 40-50 miles/week. The benefits of going up to 24 will help in my mental training as then I'll know what to expect on a more realistic level. I think it's easier to mentally be able to go "I've trained for 24, what's 2.2 more?" than it is to go 4.2 more miles. I just don't see the realistic problem of it outside of a slightly higher risk of injury perhaps.

That is what I really find interesting about this sport, is that there are so many ways to get to where you are going. There is no "one right way" to do it, and what works for one person might not for another. It's a very individual sport, and you have to know your body in order to do well at it.

 

[RagingBITCH]

DV - there's differing opinions on what's the longest long run you should run. Most folks say 20-21, because it's supposed to mimic the time you'll spend on your feet running the marathon. Certain coaches, like Hal Higdon, have 26 miles in their training plans.

I've run 8 at this point, will start training for NYC at the end of this month - the most I've run (not counting marathons I've paced folks for "for fun") is 22. If your attitude is "what's another 2 miles", then why not run the full 26? Since this is your first, I'd stick with the 20-22.

There's a number of different variables that affect how well you do. I tell plenty of people this - you can't read about running a marathon. What works for me won't necessarily work for you, and vice versa. I've learned something new or something new to try at every marathon. Until you do one, listen to the program - if you are already modifying it because you think you know better than it - you're already destined to fail.

PS - running 24-25 miles because you think you can realistically gauge what you can run during the marathon is a stupid idea. Long runs are meant to be at 1-2 minutes slower (on average) than your race pace. Running that many miles at race pace is going to break down your body and result in a sub-optimal performance come race day.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

DV - there's differing opinions on what's the longest long run you should run. Most folks say 20-21, because it's supposed to mimic the time you'll spend on your feet running the marathon. Certain coaches, like Hal Higdon, have 26 miles in their training plans.

I've run 8 at this point, will start training for NYC at the end of this month - the most I've run (not counting marathons I've paced folks for "for fun") is 22. If your attitude is "what's another 2 miles", then why not run the full 26? Since this is your first, I'd stick with the 20-22.

There's a number of different variables that affect how well you do. I tell plenty of people this - you can't read about running a marathon. What works for me won't necessarily work for you, and vice versa. I've learned something new or something new to try at every marathon. Until you do one, listen to the program - if you are already modifying it because you think you know better than it - you're already destined to fail.

PS - running 24-25 miles because you think you can realistically gauge what you can run during the marathon is a stupid idea. Long runs are meant to be at 1-2 minutes slower (on average) than your race pace. Running that many miles at race pace is going to break down your body and result in a sub-optimal performance come race day.

Thanks for the advice. I am going to talk about doing more mileage with the trainers and see what they say.

Not being able to read about running a marathon is what really drives me to do it. I love that I have to learn my body and learn more about myself in order to be able to actually do it.

Your reasoning in the first paragraph of "well if you're thinking 'it's only another 2 miles' so why not just run 26?" is one I already had thought of. But ruled it out because it sounded like a bad idea, go figure . Oh, and that is one thing I need to really work on is my slow/long run pace vs my race pace. Right now I'm fairly limited in my times. My "slow runs" are ~30-60 seconds/mi slower than my "race pace" that is ~8:20/mi for the 6 milers. I'm still trying to figure out how to train for this and what works for myself. It's part of the challenge for me.

Anyways, did a long run Saturday of 8.5 miles in 1:18:03 for pace of 9:07/mi. The heat was killer though, and wasn't ready for that (high 80's with high humidity compared to normal runs in the 60's with low-mid humidity since I usually run at night). About a week left before it actually starts though!

 

[YoungGun21]

You mentioned about how this is very individualized, and I agree.

One thing I did to really get a feel for exactly what sort of mileage I should be doing each week, which days I should be doing faster runs, which days to take it easy, etc, is to go online and find about 5 training plans. I picked out their strengths and weaknesses, and I then basically tested them out. Some provide more rest days than others. Some provide a cross-training day. Some tell you to specifically run hills. Some tell you how much effort you should be putting in each day.

I started out with my own mix, but then I found that what I was doing was very similar to Hal Higdon's plan (Thanks to RagingB for reminding me about him lol). So, I followed Hal Higdon's "Novice I" plan, which is basically just to get you from start line to finish line. Of course he has others that will push you harder (Intermediate and Advanced levels), and I'll be trying those next time.

EDIT: Immediately after posting this I remembered that you are in a class and probably already have a training plan! lol. I'll leave this here because it might still be helpful.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

You mentioned about how this is very individualized, and I agree.

One thing I did to really get a feel for exactly what sort of mileage I should be doing each week, which days I should be doing faster runs, which days to take it easy, etc, is to go online and find about 5 training plans. I picked out their strengths and weaknesses, and I then basically tested them out. Some provide more rest days than others. Some provide a cross-training day. Some tell you to specifically run hills. Some tell you how much effort you should be putting in each day.

I started out with my own mix, but then I found that what I was doing was very similar to Hal Higdon's plan (Thanks to RagingB for reminding me about him lol). So, I followed Hal Higdon's "Novice I" plan, which is basically just to get you from start line to finish line. Of course he has others that will push you harder (Intermediate and Advanced levels), and I'll be trying those next time.

EDIT: Immediately after posting this I remembered that you are in a class and probably already have a training plan! lol. I'll leave this here because it might still be helpful.

Yeah, I'm doing a course and will most likely have to follow their schedule lol. I'm thinking it's going to be conservative and is designed more as a "train to just finish" deal instead of a goal time. I'm going to most likely talk to them about doing a harder training schedule to see about training for a sub 4 or so. I will follow whatever it is they say though (even if it feels too conservative).

Today's run 5/16: 7.64 miles in 1:02:58 for a 8:14/mi pace.

 

[vi edit]

Don't focus on time. All you do is set yourself up for disappointment. Once you get past 18 miles or so it's not so much about training as it is will power. There are so many factors that can come into play that can affect your time. Weather, course, diet prior to event, health, ect. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just focus on trying to finish. Time will take care of itself.

It's your first marathon, just get that under your belt and figure out what worked and didn't work for you. Then start thinking about what you are capable of doing.

There are certain plateaus you hit at particular distances...at least for me. 4 miles was one. Going from 4 to 8 wasn't a big deal. But going from 8 to 10 hurt. 10 to 14 wasn't that bad but 14 to 18 hurt...going past that was just a real power of will rather than anything else. You are training 8 miles right now. Doubling that is one thing. Tripling it and adding in another couple for kicks is something entirely different.

Focus on training and HAVE FUN. Don't worry about your times. Distance + time training = burnout and injury.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Don't focus on time. All you do is set yourself up for disappointment. Once you get past 18 miles or so it's not so much about training as it is will power. There are so many factors that can come into play that can affect your time. Weather, course, diet prior to event, health, ect. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just focus on trying to finish. Time will take care of itself.

It's your first marathon, just get that under your belt and figure out what worked and didn't work for you. Then start thinking about what you are capable of doing.

There are certain plateaus you hit at particular distances...at least for me. 4 miles was one. Going from 4 to 8 wasn't a big deal. But going from 8 to 10 hurt. 10 to 14 wasn't that bad but 14 to 18 hurt...going past that was just a real power of will rather than anything else. You are training 8 miles right now. Doubling that is one thing. Tripling it and adding in another couple for kicks is something entirely different.

Focus on training and HAVE FUN. Don't worry about your times. Distance + time training = burnout and injury.

I haven't focused on time during the run so much. I'll check it once or twice to get a feel of where I'm at though, and based off that and how I feel I'll adjust accordingly. I know what you mean about the plateaus. I've hit a few, and it seems I'm similar to you. From 4-7 isn't a big deal, but 8-10 can be. Then 10-13 wasn't too bad. I haven't done over 13 though so don't know what the next one will be but I'm guessing about the same as you.

I definitely have fun on every run. I enjoy getting back "in tune/sync" with my body. As I mentioned previously, running is meditation for me. It also helps me really get to know my body and mind in ways they otherwise wouldn't.

Run updates:

5/17: 7.64 miles in 1:03:23 for a 8:20/mi pace.
5/19: 11 miles in 1:37:44 for a 8:54/mi pace.

What was odd about the 11 mile run, was at around mile 8-9 all of a sudden my body and mind "disconnected" and my body/legs went into autopilot. It was extremely odd feeling. My legs were just were going on their own and it seemed almost as though my brain/conscious was elsewhere like an out of body experience is described. It was an awesome feeling, not to mention made the run easier haha.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Some updates:


After starting course runs:
Week 1 (3, 4, 3, 5 mile runs)
5/24: 3.16 miles in 24:37 for a 7:48/mi pace
5/25: 6 miles in 49:11 for a 8:12/mi pace <-- independent run, did at local hilly course
5/26: 3.21 miles in 25:32 for a 7:57/mi pace <-- rough run
5/28: 5.32 miles in 42:30 for a 7:59/mi pace. Cooled down waiting for rest of class, and decided to run some more while waiting so I did another mile in 7:30.

Week 2 (3, 4, 3, 6 mile runs)
5/31: 4.5 miles in 36:09 for a 8:04/mi pace. <-- did the 3.2, then turned around to go to the last person in the class and took a different route back that added 1.3 miles and another decent hill.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Awesome. The Garmin GPS/heartrate watches came in today. I think I'll head to go pick it up on my lunch, charge/program it, and use it on my run tonight.

I'll post pics and a review of it once I spend some time with it.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Crazy busy week.

So far I'm not a fan of the Timex watch. It's big, bulky, doesn't work well enough for me, and is more hassle than it's worth. That said, I need to use it for the course. I'll post a better review if I can get some free time this weekend.

Last night picked up an Osprey Raptor 14 backpack(http://www.ospreypacks.com/Packs/RaptorSeriesHydrationSpecificMountainBikingTrailRunning/Raptor14/). A few reasons for it. One, would rather use it than a belt on long runs I think. Two, can put some added weight in it to add some more resistance to the shorter runs. Three, can carry stuff for the class (i.e. extra fluids, medkit, etc) so it will be with us, although this isn't really a reason to purchase it just a side benefit. And fourth, which is the biggest reason, to get used to it for ultras. If I start training with it now, then I'll be able to just progress into ultras without having to "retrain" with something new. Looking forward to running with it tonight or tomorrow night. I'll work on a review of that as well if there is interest.

Finally, today we met with a nutritionist who went over some basic stuff (all of which matched with my own research on things so I don't have an issue using her as a resource). Some Q&A stuff which she answered questions similar to how I would have. When I asked her about HFCS vs sugar, and another person asked turkey bacon vs regular bacon her answers to both were in line with everything I've seen and read. Which is the least amount of processing and fake shit the better. I didn't have time to stay and chat with her, but asked if we could setup a time to meet and she was all for it. So need to schedule that.

The runs have been going well, today we did track work though (1 mile warmup, then a relay type thing of 1/4 mile at a fast pace and your cooldown is while the next person in your team goes, and 1 mile cool down). Was about 3 miles total, but don't really have times outside of the 1/4 mile sections I did in 1:23, 1:31, 1:27, and last one I did quick at 1:13.

I'll post the runs when I get some more time though.