I'm not into just feeling better. It's time to figure out how I run 2:59. I've thought about it a lot. I ran a 3:01 2.5 years ago. It was a crazy day. I hadn't done a race in over a year. My inclination was I was in good shape; I ran a 20-mile training run at 7-minute pace. No regrets, but I screwed up the pacing. I had the race but pretty much pissed it away because I was timid. My mom noticed at the end that I didn't look as horrible as previous marathons. She knew. I hope not to let that happen again.
My goal: 2:59 at the Philly Marathon in November. I need to train an insane amount. I'm OK with that. Right now, a good 18 weeks out, I'm doing 35 miles a week and 5-6 miles daily. I'll start to up the long run and hopefully add some speed work. I loved a recent story in the NYT by Michael Barry about what it takes to ride the Tour. His point is quite clear: it hurts.
The key to training well for the Tour de France is not only to train hard enough that the body is fit, but more important, to train it to recover from near daily racing and not collapse from exhaustion before the three-week race is over. If a cyclist is overtrained, his fitness will fade. But if he is not fit enough, he will be unable to tolerate the speeds in the first week of racing and will head home early.5.1 miles, 36:30
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8 comments:
I love the mantra. So true. It always takes me 50 efforts to just start - and then I feel so good I want to keep at it. I need to figure out how to work in at least an hour of at least gym time in between all this crazy party coverage.
The diff between you and me is, I derail easily. Tequila gets this train off the tracks with a quickness.
I like that Mom made it into your blog. She probably made that comment and then made you walk a mile to the car.
Easily the #1 reason I dont run on a day I should is achohol related. If I feel hungover I fear running will put too much pressure on the system and cause injury. No proof for this just a belief (excuse?). Next time I feel myself bailing because I`ve drank the night before, I am going to try this mantra out and go anyway (just need to bring lots of water).
Inspiring post - might help me push through this issue.
Good luck on the sub-3 mission.
Suck it up and lay off the sauce!!!
What's up with the photo of the Dildos, Butt Plugs and BenWa balls in the article about Cannes.
Brian,
I posted to you before. If you really want to break 3 (I'm aiming for 2:56/6:45 pace at Chicago myself), I think you need to slow down your daily runs then hit it hard on speed days. 20 miles at 7:00 at your level is, well, kind of dumb. No offense, but that is a workout for a 2:36 marathoner.
Most days I'm at 8:30 pace (55 miles week), but then for speed I'll do 3x2miles at 6:10-6:15 pace. Or the last quarter of my long run at marathon pace. That's where you build the lactate threshold/stamina you really need.
more is more.
for the long stuff: slow down, go obscenely far, frequently, and 3 hours will be cake.
for the hard stuff: speed up. when it's time to run fast, run as hard as you can.
longer on the slow runs, faster on the had runs.
Anonymous and kupka.ca,
Thanks for the advice. I know you're right. I think part of my aversion to speed training is I just chicken out from how it's stressful. It's a mental thing. I'm heading out now, however, determined to fartlek for 4-5 miles. I'm not sure what I'm doing, so hopefully you can help me figure it out.
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