Monday, May 25, 2015

Week 16 of Marathon Training

Monday:  Ran 3.03, Sculpt, walked half mile
Tuesday:  Swam 1000 yards, Sculpt X's 2, Ran 4 miles, walked half mile
Wednesday:Ran 8 miles, walked half mile
Thursday:  Ran 1.03 miles, Swam 1000 yards, walked half mile
Friday: Sculpt class, walked half mile.
Saturday: Ran 7.30 miles    (no long run due to an accidental over sleeping for the first time in 16 weeks).  I couldn't do it later because I had relatives in my home from Ohio, my son's graduation party was that day and his graduation was that night.  I decided to rest on Sunday and run long on Monday morning due to it being a holiday and I'd have lots of time to do it.
Sunday:  Rested and lots of housework.


Totals for week 16 of Marathon Training:
Ran 23.36
Swam 2000 yards
Sculpt classes:  4
Walked 2.5 miles
Biked:  unfortunately none

On May 21st I posted this on the 50 States Marathon Club Facebook page:
Need advice. My marathon is on June 6th and it's been a year since I did one last. I've been following a combination between a beginner and intermediate marathon training schedule. Both had me run a 20 last week which I did. And 18 two weeks before.
On the actual marathon site there was a beginning training plan listed which I looked up yesterday. It said I should have ran 23 last weekend and 20 this week then taper. Now I'm wondering if I should do 20 this weekend like their schedule says , or squeeze in 3 more for 23, or stick with the plan I've been using and do 12 this Saturday?

I received many different answers, but this particular answer I felt helped me make my decision the most:

Well, it wouldn't be a marathon discussion without a difference of opinion so here goes. 

What virtually everyone else has said about 20 being plenty and the value of a 3 week taper *is* conventional wisdom but it's not gospel or an immutable law of p
hysics. A lot of conventional wisdom is just plain wrong. 25 years ago, the medical community was CERTAIN it was life-threatening to allow babies to sleep face up because, empirically, it seemed obvious they could choke if they regurgitated. When actual studies were done, though, it turned out sudden infant death was associated with sleeping face down. Oopsie!!

Thousands of 50 Staters and Marathon Maniacs have made it abundantly clear our bodies aren't nearly as fragile as we once thought. I've paced 46 marathons, mostly in the 4:45-5:15 range which means more first-timers than BQ hopefuls. Chatting with my group members before the start about their training, I get worried if their longest training run was 18 or 20 miles because they tend to drop out at 20-22 miles. 

There's a reason for that. Most training schedules add a mile or 2 to the long run week by week precisely because the body can push itself 10% farther than its previous max before feeling like it's in unchartered territory. If your longest training run never jumped by 6-8 miles, why attempt such a Herculean leap on race day? 

The injuries that interfered with running your other marathons sound like unfortunate coincidences, not due to under or over training. Plain old bonking is far more common. 

I would recommend a 22 mile long run this weekend then start a 2 week taper. 22 would be that magic 10% increase, plus it resets your max so that on race day you won't be in unchartered territory until mile 24.2 (10% beyond your longest training run). If you can make yourself run it 30 seconds per mile slower than race pace, that's even better because you'll have put in close to as many minutes on your feet as you will on race day. 

Just one marathoner's opinion. The MOST important thing is to trust your gut and your training. You've done the hard part. Whatever you decide to do the next 2 weeks, you've done everything within your power to have a good outcome. Believe that and have a good time (the kind that ISN'T measured by a clock).



________________________________________________
Well I took his advice to heart and decided to do another long run of 22 - 23 miles.  I didn't have time for it on Saturday, as I accidentally slept in for the first time in 16 weeks on a Saturday, but I did do 23.03 miles on Monday in Week 17 which you will read about next week.


Totals for Year 2015
Swimming:  62,928 Yards=   35 miles 1328 yards
Elliptical :    14.45 miles
Biking inside: 274 minutes 
Biking Outside:  78.14miles
Zumba class:        5.5 classes
Sculpt classes:        101 classes
Les Mills Body Pump:  1 class
Les Mills Body Flow class:    14 classes
Walking:   46.05 miles
Running:      535.94 miles


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