I ran the Spring Forward Distance Run 15K as a tune-up and rough fitness assessment. The race fell at the end of a 110 mile week, so I likely would not run the best time that I possibly could. However, I felt that I could still put up a solid time. My official PR for 15K had previously been 53:38; although my 15K split during one of my half marathons was likely faster, I don't count that. For this race, I felt that 5:30 pace would be reasonable. The course was described as having "friendly hills", which I found to be very dependent on one's definition of "friendly". Nonetheless, I finished the race in 51:17, right around the pace that I wanted to run and good enough for a huge PR. This led into my next week, another 120 mile week (this time actually implementing doubles...). There really wasn't a whole lot of quality done, but being able to put in the miles for one last big week helped my confidence, and putting in a 10 mile tempo to close the week solidified this.
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| Attempting to finish strongly after the hills of Mendon. Credit: Rochester Runner Pics |
It's been a rough winter of training, but despite this, I've gained some insight into what works for me and how to train for the future:
1. Miles are good. Between last fall and now, I've run a lot of miles and built a strong aerobic base. In the past, I've been afraid of going too high and not taking enough "low" weeks for fear of injury. For comparison, my last marathon build-up last spring averaged about 65 miles per week with a peak of 95. The first test of this was this past fall, and it seemed to continue into the spring. Despite one injury scare, I still haven't broken. I can handle a lot more miles than I previously thought, and the time on my feet running will definitely help to push me through the marathon.
2. Too many miles are maybe not good. Yes, this seems in direct contradiction to what I just said. Despite feeling in shape, I feel like I may have overdone it some weeks. A peak week during this marathon build-up of 121 miles was tough (yet still not my highest week ever). In the process of building the aerobic base, I sacrificed the ability to do more quality workouts. Whether this will be detrimental or not is yet to be seen. In this future, I need to find some balance as to what is enough without going overboard.
3. My build-up was too long. The later marathon this year at the end of April compared to the beginning of April last year gave me a sense that I'd have more time to train. I started doing some good workouts in December and ramped it up in January and February (a lot of these, unfortunately, on a treadmill). During the later months, however, I started to lose steam mentally. I'd start a workout day feeling physically fine, only to be mentally fatigued enough to turn it into an easy run. Fortunately, the combination of recent less-snowy weather and the impending marathon have helped to revitalize my motivation. For future marathons, however, I know now to start workouts a little later and spend more time initially just running.
Despite the ups and downs, I feel like I'm in shape and ready to put in a good time in the marathon. In the taper process, I'll drop to no more than 70% peak mileage this week, then 50%, then ~33% the week before the marathon. I have a couple more workouts to keep the legs awake and one more race, the 10K at the Roc City Classic this weekend. Overall, my goals for the next two weeks can be summarized by three statements: Sleep more. Run less. Don't get injured.
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