If you're following along, here is the NINTH week of training according to the 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon book. The paces below are specifically for the 4-hour goal. If anyone would like the paces for 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, or 5:00, I can start posting them alongside my plan if you let me know.
I am also posting on DailyMile, but everything (and more!) will be posted here as well. This "Marathon Training" series is an experiment for me both in fitness and in blogging, as I am going to go into more detail than in previous training cycles, documented on my Training page.
------
Last Week in Review:
Here is the original schedule from last week and my comments/modifications.
I skipped/rested more than usual this week due to the trouble I've been having with sleeping lately, and I'm glad I did because with that race you see below, I needed it!
You can read my recap of Saturday's half-marathon HERE, but for the purposes of this training log, I will say that although I didn't do as well as I had hoped, I did notice that the 400m repeats might be doing something for my base speed. I will need to wait until I do an actual road race to see if this is really so.
I skipped/rested more than usual this week due to the trouble I've been having with sleeping lately, and I'm glad I did because with that race you see below, I needed it!
You can read my recap of Saturday's half-marathon HERE, but for the purposes of this training log, I will say that although I didn't do as well as I had hoped, I did notice that the 400m repeats might be doing something for my base speed. I will need to wait until I do an actual road race to see if this is really so.
Week of Sept 5 (Week 8)
Monday - jog 40 minutes <-- skipped due to rain and Labor Day laziness
Tuesday - cross-train 30 minutes <-- tried to do Monday's run but had a stiff back and did Jacob's ladder instead
Wednesday - 16 x 400 m (.25 mi), 2:00-2:10 pace (about 7.3-7.5 mph) <-- final 400m repeat workout!
Thursday - jog 30 minutes or rest <-- did 30 min elliptical instead
Friday - cross-train 30 minutes <-- rested
Saturday - 13.1 miles for the Heartbreak Ridge Half (I think I said this was on Sunday, but it was actually Saturday) -- 9:34/pace
Saturday - 13.1 miles for the Heartbreak Ridge Half (I think I said this was on Sunday, but it was actually Saturday) -- 9:34/pace
Sunday - rest
This is the first week that something different is going on with the schedule (since we're past half-way, yikes!). Wednesday is now Tempo Run (sustaining a kind of tough pace over a pretty good distance versus kind of sprinting over short distances) day instead of those 400m repeats and will remain as such until the end of the program. We'll see how easily an 8:45-8:50 pace holds up holds up for 4 miles... I frankly am not very confident about it, but since I've been following along, it should be ok, right?
As for the long run scheduled, all I have to say is that 19 is pretty much 20 to me, yet they seem to qualitatively distant.
Week of Sept 12 (Week 9)
Monday - cross-train 30 minutes (swapped with Monday unless my soreness goes away and I can run 4 mi)
Tuesday - jog 40 minutes
Wednesday - 4 mi at 8:45-8:50
Thursday - jog 30 minutes or rest
Friday - cross-train 30 minutes
Saturday - 19 mi at 10:40-11:10
Saturday - 19 mi at 10:40-11:10
Sunday - rest
Do you do tempo runs?
To be continued...
I do tempo runs on the treadmill, I admit. It's the best way (for me) to stay on track - outside I have a tendency to change pace/speed too rapidly!
ReplyDeleteSee...told ya that the intervals work! The tempo runs were the most difficult for me. Each time I made myself run at least a 5K at the goal pace. After that I would decrease my pace for a tenth of a mile at a time if I needed a breather. Usually I could get through the tempo run with 1-3 of these slower pace "breaks." Hope that helps!
ReplyDeleteI really need to start doing more tempo runs---I think they are actually really fun, and it's awesome how you can feel them working!
ReplyDelete19, 20? Who's counting?! :-P
ReplyDeleteI do a speed run every week, alternating interval runs and tempo runs
Weird - your race report didn't show up in my google reader yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI started tempo's this week, too. I find them so much harder than intervals!
Tempo training is the bread and butter for marathon speed. While, technically, a tempo run is defined as the max speed you can maintain for an hour (hence the "10K pace" you see on most plans), if you can push that out to 10 to 12 miles, you will benefit greatly! If you're goal is marathon speed, let the intervals go and do more tempo training!
ReplyDelete