Sunday, September 22, 2013

COMING TOGETHER

Two weeks till TCM and I'm just gonna say it; I feel great. It seems like it's been forever since I had a decent training cycle for a marathon. I've really enjoyed this training cycle and I'm liking how things are coming together down the stretch.

Thursday called for 4 x 1200m, but there's this prairie loop at Hyland that is probably between 900 and 1000 meters. It's a great place to get back to my cross country roots, get in a fun workout that includes hills and leg speed.

I decided to head back to the trails for my last 20 miler. After the run I posted on Facebook that I don't know how fast I am, but I sure feel strong - especially considering that this training cycle has included an 18 miler and two 20 milers on the hilly trails of Lebanon Hills, plus a 22 miler on the TCM course.

WEEK #14
Monday: Day Off
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 7 miles on the trails
Thursday: 10 miles with 5 x ~1K run on the Hyland trails
Friday: 5 miles
Saturday: BIKED 12.5 miles
Sunday: 20 miles on Lebanon Hills trails

Total:47 miles plus 12.5 miles of biking

Nothing to fancy this last week. Wednesday I hit a dirt track at one of the local middle schools for some 600m repeats. I tried to focus on 5K race pace, rather than going all-out on every repeat. Then today's long run just called for 17 miles, but I added a little twist. During the run I stopped at a high school track and ran 2 x 3 miles at MP. The first set was at 7:15 pace and felt really comfortable. Then I dropped down to 7:01 pace for the last set. I could tell I was working harder than the first set, but it still felt comfortable. So now I'm pretty confident with my plan of going out in the 7:10 - 7:15 range.

WEEK #15
Monday: Day Off
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 8 miles with 6 x 600m on track
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: Day Off
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 17 miles with 2 x 3 miles at MP on track

Total: 40 miles

3 comments:

  1. Chad, which Pfitz plan do you use? Advanced Marathoning? Have you used others? If so, can you briefly say why you prefer Pfitz?

    Thanks, and good luck on Sunday.

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  2. Kevin, yeah Advanced Marathoning. I don't know of any other Pfitz plan. I've used Daniels' a long time ago and had success with that too. I think I used Brad Hudson's plan once, but never made it to the start line.

    I like Pfitz because he offers a wide variety of programs. I think there are 3 different programs with 3 different mileage levels. I like his mid-week long runs and I seem to respond to his hard workouts.

    Maybe I should try something new, but I'm comfortable with his program.

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  3. Thanks. Pfitz has a marathon plan in the book Road Racing for Serious Runners -- the one he wrote with Scott Douglas. I just wasn't sure whether the plan was the same or not.

    Congrats on the race.

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