Sunday, January 29, 2012

Week in the Rearview Mirror: January 22 - January 28, 2012

 

This was a good solid week, and another one where it just good doing it (at least for the most part). I had planned on doing an 18- 20 mile long run on Saturday, but opted to do it in three parts within 24 hours instead. Just judging by the way I'm feeling this morning (Sunday), I would say that things worked pretty well. While I'm a bit stiff, it is nothing like it was with a single run of that length, and I actually feel pretty good.

I have more than just a feeling that my friend Paul is right in that one of the reasons these long runs are "knocking the snot out of me" is that I'm just not running them slowly enough. I would personally be THRILLED with a first marathon time between 4:00 and 4:15, and that would be roughly a 9:43 pace or better. I just noted that my last three long runs were at an average pace of 9:24, 9:22, and 9:36 respectively. In other words, I'm not doing them right... I'm essentially "racing" them.

Going forward, I'm going to HAVE to slow down on these, even if that means inserting some walk breaks for no other reason than to just slow me down. I'm NOT a fan of inserting walk breaks, since I personally find it harder to start running again than to just keep running. But I DO have to slow down on these. Thanks for pointing out where I might have been going wrong Paul...odds are you were spot-on.

The good news though is that as a consequence of having this type of week, I've not only set a personal record for the number of training miles run in a week, but I've already put more training miles in for January than any month to date since I started back to running last summer !

Here is what last week looked like...

Day   Activity   Distance (in miles)
Sunday Walking 5.02
Cycling 10.69
Monday Rest Day
Tuesday Elliptical 0.77
Running 10.26
Walking 1.06
Wednesday Rest Day
Thursday Walking 0.64
Running 4.09
Friday Running 6.02
Saturday Elliptical 0.81
Running 8.05
Running 6.15

These are my time and distance totals for the week:

Activity   Time Total   Distance Total (in miles)
Running 5:14:12 34.57
Walking 1:38:03 5.66
Cycling 0:42:20 10.69
Elliptical 0:20:00 1.58
Overall Total 7:54:35 52.50


Only 27 days till the Cowtown Marathon...I'm am SO looking forward to it. No more really long runs or days are planned, with just some solid 3 to 7 mile runs planned as I'm able to throughout the weeks. That should provide a nice taper as long as I don't press the speed on the running days, and then take it a bit easier the week of the marathon. .

Happy Running Everyone !!!
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15 comments:

  1. Bill FineJanuary 29, 2012 at 9:28 AM

    Great week, Michael.....and you're going to CRUSH Cowtown.....going easy over the next few weeks will get you to the line strong and ready. Can't wait to read all about it!!!

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  2. Bill FineJanuary 29, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    btw, I like to think I'm somewhat computer-savvy, but I've tried without success to add both the ClustrMaps and the Countdown Clock to my blog to no avail......any chance you can walk me through it? Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. MichaelJanuary 30, 2012 at 6:43 AM

      Bill,

      For ClustrMaps I went to http://www.clustrmaps.com/index.htm and put the URL to my blog along with my email address on the first page and clicked Make My Map. It has been a day or two since I did it, but it either generated the JavaScript and placed the gadget on my blog (which I moved around), or just generated the JavaScript for me. I then copied the generated JavaScript, went into Design mode on the blog, and added a gadget of the type HTML/JavaScript. I then pasted the copied JavaScript into the edit box and saved it.

      For the countdown timer, I pretty much did the same thing. I went to http://www.mycountdown.org/ and clicked on My Countdown on the left-hand side and selected one (the link below the image of the timer). It will walk you through the creation, and leave you with a block of generated JavaScript. Just put that in an HTML / Javascript gadget on your blog and save it. Although the countdown timer I have works great for me in Windows, I did note that on my iPad it fails to showup (no idea why).

      Hope this helps,

      Delete
    2. Bill FineJanuary 30, 2012 at 5:22 PM

      Thanks, man.......don't know why I couldn't figure that out on my own! Actually, now that I dug deeper into the Clustrmaps site, they kinda give you the directions....duh! If only I was as curious as I expect my students to be....oops!

      Thanks again!

      Delete
  3. financecupcakeJanuary 29, 2012 at 5:03 PM

    Great week! You're going to have a run marathon. You've put in all the hard work, so now enjoy the taper.

    It sounds like your friend Paul is correct. Lesson learned! :)

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    Replies
    1. MichaelJanuary 30, 2012 at 6:44 AM

      Thanks...apparently I learn all my lessons the old-fashioned way. The hard way. :-)

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    2. PaulJanuary 30, 2012 at 10:15 AM

      Hi Michael,

      I suspected as much. Don't feel bad. It's the mistake the virtually every beginner makes.

      Re: the not wanting to walk because it's hard to start running. How are you going to drink at water stops? If you don't want to choke on the water you'll probably have to walk for at least a few seconds...

      Delete
    3. MichaelJanuary 30, 2012 at 2:12 PM

      In the last couple of half-marathons I did, I carried not only my own GU, but also a couple of 10 ounce "water" bottles on the belt (I had Gatorade in mine...just like the taste I suppose). Both times I was really glad I did, since I could just avoid the whole water station fiasco with the swerving, stopping runners, and cups everywhere. When I want a drink, I just reach back and get it.

      I plan on doing that for the marathon as well, so we'll see how that goes, but your advice is sound just the same. Thanks again !

      Delete
    4. PaulJanuary 30, 2012 at 10:05 PM

      I carry GU but I use the local water. Partly because sometimes I want to dump water on my head 8) I also got tired of carrying water..it was handy but also extra lbs...

      What I do is bring a plastic bottle of water to the start and chug it 5 min before the start (gradually). I then avoid water stops for the first few and only hit them after the crowd has spread out and not so frenetic 8)

      Using GU and drinking fluids with carbs is sort of doubling down. Not that the research is cast in concrete ..whatever works! But if its' a warm day especially you might want to do GU + water.

      Delete
  4. ChristiJanuary 30, 2012 at 6:36 AM

    Great training week!

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  5. it's all about paceJanuary 30, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    excellent week Michael.

    I think that the hardest part about slowing down the long runs is ego... I know I don't like to see an 11+ minute mile split but... LSD runs really do work.

    I'm looking forward to your marathon success

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    Replies
    1. MichaelJanuary 30, 2012 at 2:08 PM

      Yes, I've just got to get a bit of the ego out of the way and let the LSD runs be Long and Slow (and not something that makes me hallucinate later because its so tough :-)

      Delete
  6. The Unexpected RunnerJanuary 31, 2012 at 6:31 AM

    That's a great training week &, I think, it was a smart thing to break up your long run into 2 runs. Remember the goal is to get to marathon day HEALTHY. Taper is there for a reason. Looking forward to hearing all about your marathon!

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  7. scottclemFebruary 1, 2012 at 7:58 PM

    Good week MIchael! As you might've noticed, I too have slowed down my long runs since my marathon. I can't say for sure that it has helped me, but every expert that I've read stresses the value of doing the long runs SLOW. There is a calculator on Runners World that you can use to calculate what your long run should be.
    You will do great in Ft. Worth, I look forward to seeing your run on RunKeeper.

    ReplyDelete

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