Sunday, February 6, 2011

Weekly Work-out Wrap-up

This week I learned an important lesson that one would think would be common sense:

**Writing down a goal pace for any given work-out does NOT mean that pace will be achieved!**

Doh!

This was the first week of my Furman FIRST Run Less, Run Faster marathon training program. Since there are only 3 runs a week, they are all hard efforts. Hard effort I can do. Effort-beyond-what-my body-has-ever-even-contemplated-doing I cannot do. When I put this plan together I calculated my BQ pace and looked at my current best paces and split the difference in half for the paces I would use for this training program. I figured that would bring me a step closer to a BQ race in the next few years. (Current BQ for me is 3:40).

Essentially, I'll be training at paces intended for a sub-4 hour marathon. My current PR is 4:20:58, so this may seem absurdly ambitious (and maybe it is) but that PR was in a race in which I was relaxed, running for fun, and not short of breath or in any amount of distress at all until the last 6 miles. And the last 6 miles were mostly just hot, I still wasn't short of breath or pushing too hard. So if I can keep it together mentally throughout this training cycle and push, push, PUSH, the workout paces for a 4 hr marathon should be *close* to doable.

But, they won't be automatically doable, that's for sure. On Monday I was supposed to run 4 x800 @ 7:20 pace. I'm not sure I've ever tried to run 7:20 for any distance, ever. Hmm. Why did I write that down on the schedule and think nothing of it??? I got down to 7:41 pace though and probably, maybe could have gone a bit faster. Yow-za, this is going to be a tough training cycle!

Overall, it was not a great training week for me. I didn't get my long run in, I didn't swim, my weight workouts were short. I'm still working to get back on my regular sleeping schedule.

But I HAVE to kick a** this week because otherwise one bad week will turn into a trend, and we don't want that do we?

By the numbers:

Miles run (completed/planned): 14/25 (ouch!)
Days of Week I Ran: 7/7
Long run:
0/1
Speed work sessions: 1/1 Speed work completed at goal time: 0/1
Hill Work: 0/1
Biking sessions: 1/2
Swimming sessions: 0/2
Weights
: 2/2
Days I Ate Healthfully and Sparingly: don't remember, but don't think it was too bad!


For next week, there will be no excuses:

Monday (Long Call): weights
Tuesday: 13 miles @ 9:30
Wednesday: swim, spinning (6:15p)
Thursday (Day off): xc-ski (w/ enough intensity to count as x-training)
Friday (Long Call): 1200 @ 7:50, 1000 @ 7:40, 800/600/400 w/ 200 m rest intervals
Saturday: swim, 7 miles w/ 5 miles @ 8:45
Sunday: weights, xc-ski

Looking at that schedule makes me nervous. That's a lot of freakin' exercise!

Happy Sunday to all!

3 comments:

  1. I'm doing RLRF, too! This week is my first week for half marathon training then if I survive, hope to use the program to train for my first marathon (Portland). The paces are definitely tough. Maybe if you start slower at the beginning of the program to build up those faster times, you can gradually, every few weeks, bring the paces down through the program? That way, you can avoid getting discouraged early in the training cycle and hopefully reduce the potential for injury.
    As for racing in IL, I will be in the Chicago area 2x this year that I know of. Once for training (May or Aug) and one for a wedding (mid July). Once I get it nailed down, I will put a shout out to see if anyone in your kick-ass windy city wants to meet up for a race or run. I can't wait to visit!

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  2. Good luck this week. You can do it!! It's nice that you are able to mix it up so much. Good luck with the FIRST plan.

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  3. I've read a lot about this plan, and I'm interested to see how well you do on it! You'll have a better week this week!!

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