Progress - A new PR

This past Sunday, I ran my 3rd Grand Rapids Marathon. I had a great training cycle that gave me the confidence to target a finish in the 4:08-4:15 range. I ran a 20 mile training run that had me really looking at the 4:08 mark.

Well, Sunday went real well, and I finished with a new PR of 4:06. That beat last year's PR by over 33 minutes. I spent nearly 22 miles of the race pacing to beat 4 hours. I'm now recovering from a great race and will spend some time trying to decide what to do over the winter and next year. Part of me wants to stick with the one marathon a year plan, and another part of me wants to take next year off and focus on shorter distances to work on my speed. My weight is down in the 180's and I see some room to maybe push 175 even. I thinned out nicely during this training cycle and want to keep that weight off this winter.

One thing that I took from this last marathon is that I now see how some of these faster times are attainable with a more consistent training cycle and simply adding more mileage. I spent much of my training cycle adding weekly mileage on to a modest base of 20-25 miles per week. I hit 35+ weekly miles and topped out over 40 miles 3 weeks of this cycle. I did do a lot of 5 day a week running, but honestly, I did more 4 run weeks than I would have liked. I simply made a point of hitting my mid length runs during the week as well as my long runs. The shorter 3-5 mile runs became expendable as I tried to juggle a busy schedule. I still don't see myself pursuing 2 runs a day, but if I could be more consistent at the 5 days a week, I could probably put the needed mileage in to take the next step in my time improvements. The idea of this blog is to go from 5 hours to 3:10, and I have made some considerable improvements.

So, at this very moment, in an idea world, I would rest this week, then start slowly getting back into running next week with some short runs. Maybe put a 9-12 mile week in next week. I would like to then get to a 5 day a week run schedule and put 4 runs of 5 miles and a longer run in the 8-10 mile range. If I can work my speed where I could comfortably do 35-40 minute 5 mile runs, I wouldn't mind doing a midweek 8 mile run, 3 5 mile runs, and a longer 8-12 mile run on the weekend. Then I could target a more aggressive training cycle next Spring.

Having run 3 marathons now, all during the same week in October each year, I think I would like to run a Spring Marathon. There are now three good options for me in May each year that require minimal travel. I felt a lot of stress to stay healthy and avoid a flu bug that seemed to really go around this year this last marathon. If I could schedule a Spring marathon, I'd have the October date to fall back on, or add to my schedule if needed.

Haven't gone away

It may seem like I've stopped running, but it has been quite the opposite really. Put 100 miles in January, and a new PR for my 5K in March.

I've tagged May as my month to rebuild my base before I begin fully marathon training in June. I hope to put in a lot of mileage in July, August, and September this year and finally break the 4:00 barrier.

Today, I ran a nice 4+ mile run in some nice 60ish degree weather outside. Was really rather nice to get outside.

Week 4 Plans

This is going to be an interesting week. Let's look at what Hal Higdon's Intermediate I plan calls for in week 4 before I discuss any changes:

M - Cross
T - 3
W - 6
R - 3
F - Rest
S - 6 pace
S - 11 easy


This is what I consider the first week of "real" mileage. Looking ahead, weekend running is not going to happen no matter what. I'll be on a plane on Saturday and we will be in Disney on Sunday. So, if I want to hit this week's goals, I'll have to move everything up one day and remove the rest day on Friday. I can rest on Saturday and Sunday. My other thought is how difficult it is to get 6 miles on the treadmill during my lunch. I'm debating on making the 3 mile days 4 milers and keeping the 6 mile days as 5 mile days. I know the Saturday 6 mile "pace" run is an important step up in preparing you for race pace. So I may try and do that on Thursday outside. Maybe I can do something like this:

M - 4
T - 5
W - 3
R - 6 outside
F - 11 outside.

The Friday run would be a slow pace, probably around 9:30-9:50ish. I'd be looking at slightly over 95 minutes. Our temps this week should get back in the 20's and 30's, so I should be able to get outside if we don't have the snow.

Week 3 results

The fact that the Kalamazoo Marathon falls on Mother's Day has basically now ruled the race out for me. I'm starting to look for another Spring Marathon, but right now I'm thinking if I want to run any distance event this Spring, it will be the 5/3rd event a week later. The 25K event may have to be enough for me as I look towards 1 marathon on my calendar for 2011.

The results of this week were very good, even if it was once again all on the treadmill. We saw single digit weather, about another foot of snow, and our first wind chills in the negatives.

M - 3.01 @ 8:35 pace
T - 5 @ 8:51 pace
W - 3 @ 8:39 pace
R - Rest
F - 5.01 @ 9:00 pace
S - Rest
S - 6.01 @ 9:14 pace

So ends my "cutback week" with 22 miles. Current month total for January is 68 miles.

Week 3 Plans

Week 3 is a cutback week for Hal Higdon's Intermediate I plan. It is already cold, and supposed to get even colder this week. I expect to hit all these runs on the treadmill again.

M - 3
T - 5
W - 3
R - 5
F - 6
S - Rest
S - Rest

Given the short mileage for each run, I figured I would try and hit all these during the work week. I may put in a couple miles on the weekend still, but I do ramp up mileage again for the next 2 weeks before another cutback week. I have a trip to Walt Disney World coming up with the family, and honestly expect to not run during that trip with what we have planned.

Link to the results of this week.

Now starting to look at 5/3rd as an event to run in place of the Kalamazoo Marathon. I know Traverse City has the Bayshore Marathon, and may look at that too.

Week 2 Results

This week of training can best be defined by one word: Treadmill.

Cold weather continues and more snow. I have no problem with the weekday runs on the treadmill, so I didn't even concern myself with outside running. However, I had a window on Friday to do my 9 mile long run. When I came into work, I felt like garbage and my stomach hurt. It didn't really recover until Sunday, so I decided to hit the treadmill in case I had to quit at some point. The results? Another week of all my runs being crossed off my list and a successful week overall:

M - 3.03 @ 8:29 pace
T - 3.01 @ 8:45 pace
W - 5.01 @ 8:53 pace
R - 3.02 @ 8:49 pace
F - Rest
S - Rest
S - 9.01 @ 9:31 pace

Week 2 of Training for Kzoo

Brrrrrr-----

Freezing temps again this week. Sticking with Hal Higdon's Intermediate I plans, the week is setup like this:

M - Cross Training
T - 3 Mile Run
W - 5 Mile Run
R - 3 Mile Run
F - Rest
S - 3 Mile Run
S - 9 Mile Run

That is not going to work with what is coming this weekend, so the changes will look something like this

M - 3 Mile Run
T - Rest
W - 3 Mile Run
R - 5 Mile Run
F - 9 Mile Run
Saturday or Sunday will have to be the other 3 mile run unless I can squeeze that run on Tuesday.


Weather is cold, Highs in the low to mid 20s all week and it looks like snow going into the weekend.

The results of this week are here.


More filler so the link right above shows up more clearly :)