Running • Page 97

But, real talk, need to figure out some speedwork in my current training routine. I just can't motivate myself to do sprints.

 

Haha, sorry, not my intention!!

My PR is only a little faster than that (1:15:30 at the same race last year) but I blew through the halfway point at my marathon earlier this year at 1:15:57, so I figured I’d be in good shape to shave at least 2-3 minutes off my personal best. Heart/lungs weren’t quite ready for that plan, though.

 

Have you ever done the Yasso 800s?

https://www.verywellfit.com/how-to-do-yasso-800s-2911888

 

My favorite workouts are goal pace runs. Dialing into that pace for increasingly longer blocks (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 minutes) did so much to build both my fitness and my mental strength during this last training block. Speed work and tempo days are important too, but I definitely got the most out of those goal pace days.

 

I’ll have to give these a try. They look like something I could tackle.

Do you connect those goal pace runs to longer distances at a slower pace or is the goal block your own run for the day?

 

The 800s are so nice. They suck in the moment but the method really does work.

I've done a similar thing as Craig too. Usually, I'll start with 5-10 minutes at that pace during a long run and then it becomes a workout/speed day when I'm doing more than 2 segments in a single run.

 

I would usually do a couple miles warmup, then the block at pace, then a couple miles of an easy cooldown. So I'd often end up with 10-15 miles on those runs, with the majority at pace but some good easy stuff on either end.

 

Everyone has their own preferred method and motivations and likes and dislikes of training plans and whatnot and I’ve spent the last few days looking at some different ones for the first time in a very long time and after taking a bit of break from consistent running to let injuries heal and getting swept up in other, less physically demanding hobbies I’m ready to get back in the swing of things again and it’s so refreshing and exciting again. That time away, while not at all fun and very annoying, was helpful in the long run I suspect.

Talking with my sister and BIL about doing a half marathon in October-ish so it’s been fun to go through all the Excel spreadsheets I put together that track all that kind of stuff and while it’s so far away, time moves fast and it’ll be nice to wake up day after day and know there is something on the calendar to look forward to and work towards again.

 

Did my first YASSO workout this morning. I set my paces at about what I was doing pre-injury and was able to match everything, so next week I'm gonna push it a bit further and see if I can start hitting some actual growth.

Though, the treadmill showed more distance than my watch (by about a quarter of a mile at the end), so once I switch from treadmill to the road, I'm sure it'll get funky.

 

We have a treadmill mostly for winter runs or if it is especially bad weather in general and I just struggle on it. I'll also use a hotel treadmill when traveling if it's not practical to get outside. 4-5 miles is about all I usually do on them. Most runs outdoors, I am usually in the 6:30-7:30 pace range for a standard run of 6-8 miles, but I feel like on the treadmill I run a slower pace and that I am working much harder.

 

I freakin hate treadmills. Haven’t used one in years. Thankful that winter conditions here are simply cold with the occasional rain compared to the conditions some of you guys face!

 

1.14 seconds off the world record in the 1500m

 

running 15mph? the hell

 

@Craig Manning what did your taper look like for your last marathon? In talking with my friend that coaches college cross and track, I think my approach might be a little dated haha.

 

I think my longest run the week of a marathon is like 5 miles or something.

But ultimately listen to your body. I've done a super light week where I ran less than 15 miles and had an amazing race.

 

At peak, I did two 100-mile weeks in a row, leading into the last really long run (22 miles) three weeks out from race day. I cut down to 70 the following week, with similar intensity (including a tune-up race the Saturday two weeks from race day) and then 65 the week after that. After I hit the one-week-to-go mark, it was much lower mileage (I think I had about 20 miles that week going into race day) with all the runs being super easy/low intensity other than a mini workout on the Tuesday before to keep my goal pace dialed in.

Definitely felt super well rested on race day and ready for the event both physically and mentally, so I think this was a pretty successful taper strategy for me.

 

Lmao, Craig you’re an absolute beast. Like. In complete awe of you every time you share info like that.

 

Haha, thanks! It was a really wild spring of training, that’s for sure. Those peak weeks really warped what my brain/body felt was “normal.” Felt like I was eating five meals a day.

 

I did the “8 weeks of 30+ miles, 3 week taper” method for my first marathon and I’m pretty sure you ran further than that in your back to back 100 mile weeks and then your first taper week.

Do you follow any specific nutrition plan?

 

I think looking at this it is more in line with what my friend is suggesting in terms of taper. I think in the past I have done too much and too long of a taper. My coaching friend was essentially getting at that he felt that I should maintain more of the top end aerobic fitness closer to race day, which does make sense.

An interesting aside in building my plan out for my goal (which is around 2:50) was that he was focused more on key sessions (workouts) and effort level for runs rather than hard and fast mileage targets. It probably stems from having a base already, but it was interesting and logical to see the focus on long run workouts and other workouts to get the speed endurance dialed in. I think another issue for me in the past has been not spending enough time going faster than I need to run on race and not spending enough time going slower to recover. I think like a lot of marathoners I was spending too much time in the middle grinding myself down in training. My longest run will be 22 and there is a crucial 5 week block of really upping the fitness before heading into the taper. There are some parallels to what you did, but also some differences, which makes sense. I think ultimately, you are definitely logging more mileage per week, but I think that differs for a lot of people these days.

 

Nothing super specific on nutrition. My sister has really experimented with different diets a lot (she's an elite marathoner) but it's never seemed to make a whole lot of difference. I was mostly just making sure I was getting plenty of carbs and plenty of fruits and veggies, along with a good amount of protein.

I trained with lower mileage last time, and knew that I wanted to ramp it up a bit more this time around. I think it definitely made a difference. Those big weeks really built up my endurance and the ability of my legs to keep going through serious fatigue, which served me well during the race. During my first marathon, I fell off my goal pace at 15 and started hurting real bad at 20. Running 11 miles when you know your goal is slipping away, and six when you're in agony, is pretty fucking awful. This time around, I stayed locked in on pace for the first 23 and then had to grind for three miles. Way less demoralizing.

But I think if you're not going to do as much mileage, the key really is trying to get some faster speeds in especially during those long runs. I had two workouts a week and then was always trying to run those long runs at a solid tempo (usually like 30 seconds slower than race pace) with some good race pace segments thrown in. In particular, I think trying to push to race pace for the last 3-4 of a long run is awesome practice for what that late-in-the-race fatigue feels like, which 100 percent prepared my legs for what was coming.

 

Going to have to carefully read through those posts when time allows. My only contribution is that in my dialed in “everything is about the upcoming marathon” I made sure to have like 2-3 cups of veggies with every meal. I’m sure it helped and made a difference but it didn’t make me feel like a superhero.

HOWEVER, when I eat like shit I DEFINITELY feel that after awhile and know it’s making an impact.

 

I very much would like to try my hand at a 100-miler. But in like 2026, going to take my sweet time working my way up to that and do several 50K’s and 50-milers.

however, I am TERRIFIED of the woods at night and everything with more than 4 legs and while I would have plenty of time and runs to get over that fear idk if I actually can (or want to lol) so I may limit it to a 50-miler distance (and even getting that done before darkness would require incredible training and performance and carefully selecting the event).

 

So I’m not sure what this means and maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and my feet will be fucked, but I just came back from a short 3 mile run with no issues and when I took my shoes off… realized they didn’t have ANY soles in them. Since the day I started running I was told I needed some $50 booster sole thing so I’ve always bought a pair for each pair of shoes so it’s not even like I used the ones that come in the shoes. No! I would upgrade to something thicker/softer and here I just ran without ANYTHING in the shoes and didn’t notice at all lol

hopefully my feet aren’t fucked tomorrow or in a couple or days or a few hours. I’m baffled how I did not notice at all and now I’m wondering if I can save 50 bucks and stop buying these…