It turns out that Andrew is trying to do exactly what I’m too scared to attempt; going from 2:57 to 2:45. I had to ask about his doing workouts at goal MP rather than current MP. I like his response;
Actually, I consider myself to have 2:45 speed but not distance. This is based on other indicators. So I can turn and burn paces at the lower end of the distance spectrum but not at the high end. My 2:57 is a true indicator of my marathon ability all things considered - especially my fuel economy. But I chose 2:45 specifically because that's the time I should be able to run if properly trained given my current speed.
It should be fun to follow along.
Andrew also had an interesting post awhile ago about continuously evaluating your training and making adjustment accordingly. Now I don’t feel bad about re-examining my general outline two days after I wrote it.
This morning I was thinking about my statement from the other day, “I’m really more concerned about bumping my mileage (than dropping my pace).” I think I really need to focus on building my mileage right now. Once I get to a level I’d like to hold, then I can worry about pace a little more.
Last year I followed Ron Daws’s approach which is to spread out the week’s effort evenly from day-to-day while building miles. Don’t worry about running hard or adding long runs just yet because those are the things that wear you down and can lead to decreased mileage. Again, once you get your mileage where you’d like, then you can start running harder and increasing your long runs.
Today’s run was going to be a progression run. I got down to 7:30 pace but during the 4th mile I felt a sharp pain on the bottom of my right foot - between the ball of my foot and the big toe. It was okay once I slowed down, but anytime I tried to push off harder to pick up the pace, it hurt. So I backed off and ran 8 miles at 8:00 pace.
I’m just stealing this whole post from Andrew as today’s paraphrase of the day also comes from his site;
“If I write out a twenty week plan and complete week number one, I am not now starting week number two of twenty. Rather, I am now at week number one of nineteen.” – Renato Canova
Very interesting entries on your's and Mike's blogs recently regarding the "medium-hard" vs. "easy-hard" workouts. I've been back and forth a lot lately on how to prepare for my sub-3 attempt at Napa this March.
ReplyDeleteI think the following lines from your entry sum up where I'm at: "I think I really need to focus on building my mileage right now. Once I get to a level I’d like to hold, then I can worry about pace a little more."
Of course the first step is to get healthy.
Bart
The only sub-3 I can do is a half-M, so I can't relate to you guys. But I read your article in Run Minnesota about Blogging, and wanted to say hi. And good job. :-)
ReplyDeleteBart, yeah I think we get so hung up on pace some times that we forget that just building mileage is very important too.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm healthy. Just a little strain this morning. Hopefully nothing to worry about.
Dori, thanks for stopping by again. I'm glad you liked the article. I'm planning on contributing more articles to the magazine in the future.
I like the idea of progression run, and I think it is a pretty good approach to 100 mpw -- starting slowly so you can guarantee enough distance, then if you feel good you can always pick up the pace to high end aerobic or AT later so you also got in some intensity. This way, you can also avoid getting so hung up with the pace.
ReplyDeleteDuring my recovery from the last marathon and back to normal training, I applied such approach for 2 weeks with mileage at 60, this week I can easily bump up the mileage to 77 still with good intensity (LT pace and AerT pace).
I love when I get you thinking. If my recollection is correct, you weren't doing 100's for Chicago, were you? That's why I asked about your goal on 100mpw. You're right, watching Andrew's progress is entertaining.
ReplyDeleteHunter, good points. Plus progressively dropping the pace is better than progressively increasing the pace after going out too hard.
ReplyDeleteRyan, I wasn't doing 100s immediately before Chicago, but I had 1-2 last winter along with a couple of 90+ mile weeks. The winter seems to be my time for higher mileage because I don't care if I'm tired since I'm not racing at all.