I don’t know if it was the Landis interview or what, but I’ve been thinking about what’s missing from my training. In my mind I still think I have a shot at running times similar to what I ran in college. But I’ve had those thoughts for over 10 years now. Earlier this spring I was probably within a minute of my 5K time and two minutes of my 10k time. That’s still a fairly long ways a way.
While I’d like to “blame” it on age, this WAVA age-grading calculator says I should only be running 25 seconds slower for a 10K. And my mileage last winter was, by far, higher than ever. So I can’t “blame” that either.
The one thing that jumps out is intensity. Running with a team nearly every day is a lot different than running solo every day. I can remember running hard workouts on Tuesdays and recovery runs on Wednesdays at 7:15 pace. Granted, I skipped a lot of days, either due to being tired or being injured. And granted, I probably violated every Runner’s World “rule.” But the results do speak for themselves, as all my PRs from the half marathon and down are from my college days.
With that said, I’m going to try and push the pace a little more during some of my runs. I may not get down to 7:15 pace on my easy days, but I think I’ve proven that running 8:00 pace or slower isn’t going to get the job done. Heck, even if I run 7:30 pace, I’ll still be roughly 40-60 seconds/mile over my marathon pace. Maybe doing six runs a week at 8:00-8:30 pace and then trying to drop to 6:40 pace is too much. That large a jump may be too difficult physically and mentally.
These thoughts lead to an 8 mile run last night at 7:30 pace. It felt really good - comfortably hard. Really this run was no different than the last two Tuesday night group runs. The main difference is that I was by myself.
This morning I was tired but forced myself to get out of bed and lace my shoes up again – only 8.5 hours since my last run ended. I was surprised that I felt as good as I did, once I got going. I managed 9 miles around 8:00 pace.
Quote of the day;
“Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’” – Peter Maher, Irish –Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner
10 comments:
You could also just run a lot more and the times would come down naturally, like your boys Daws and Lydiard said. Just something to think about. Miles make champions.
Remember this post? "Could I run 1:25 on 60 mpw? Yes. Could I run sub-3 on 60 mpw? It’d be close. Could I run sub-2:55? No way. I think I’m the type of runner that could run well just based on miles and strong aerobic runs. Just look at my race results from last year. I was running 40-50 mpw and doing a lot of speed and ran 39:02 for 10k on a pancake flat course in ideal conditions. Last weekend I would’ve run a minute faster (if you can believe McMillan) with ZERO speed work in the last 3.5 months."
If you were doing that on 40-50 MPW, what could you do at 70+? Might be time to get some running in while the weather is good. I only give you this kick in the butt because I know you can take it.
Wow, it's weird to have yourself quoted on your own blog. Yes, I remember that post.
Don't worry Mike, I haven't reverted back to my old ways - mileage is still king. I do plan on building back up but with the recent injury, I think going from 32, 40, 51 and ~65 this week is pretty aggressive.
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of taking the winter to gradually build my mileage with just easy runs. Chicago is 3 months away and while I need to build mileage I need to do it with more strong aerobic runs.
WOW--never seen that race before--that's amazing!!!
Okay, in regards to your statements:
1. There were 31,000 people. But probably 30% were Yankee fans as we're only about a 2 hour drive from the NY line. Arg. I hate them. :)
2. Martinez has thrown out 5/66? He sucks SO bad at defense that Matt and I were trying to figure out if he'd EVER thrown anyone out this entire season. I think I could say the entire alphabet in the time it takes him to release the stupid ball! ha ha
Sara, it sounds like you're lucky that NY is so close - otherwise we may have to contract the Indians (like they were trying to do with the Twins a couple of years ago).
Cool film clip on the race.
Funny about your questions on aging and whether or not you can touch your old PR's. I just commented in my blog on the men who are faster than me in races and 20 years older. I was hoping that meant I could get faster in my 40's and 50's. Not true?
I like your response to Mike. You're ramping up pretty strongly as it is. Good luck on pushing your pace a little. I just started that today on my Gen Aer 10-miler. 108 days to Chicago!
Wow-wee, awesome race video! Thanks! I was 11 in '72, vaguely remember hearing about Wottle at the Olympics.
that's an amazing race! i was a freshman in college.
Ryan, thanks (I think) for the reminder that Chicago is only 108 days away.
As for Wottle, gotta keep in mind that that's the Olympic-freaking finals. He's not doing that at some chump meet. That's what they call "running your own race."
In my mind, the biggest bang for the buck for us weekend warriors is a lot of miles a week at marathon pace. The key workouts are the long pace runs of 10+ miles and even 15+. You really can't get the benefit needed from other workouts. Plus, if I can reel off a 15+ pace run or two under load my confidence is high. I also understand hydration and weather data when doing those.
Miles is the way, no question, but get the most you can out of 50-70 a week and then move up. If a person can handle 12 to 20 miles at week a marathon pace and get a solid 10-12 miler and a 15-22 miler in a week the rest is gravy. It's not easy to do, but you also can get to close to maximum in 2-3 months.
I haven't run a lot of marathons, but the ones I trained for left me tired all the time. You have to get out and push. Lose a lung once in awhile.
double, it always sounds so easy on paper.
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