Tuesday, July 5, 2011

T-Minus 7 Days

So close to starting my marathon training!  I sort of consider the past month part of my training, but I was really just building up my base and getting into the routine of running so it wont be as daunting once I start.  I think I have become a lot more disciplined in running though, so I hope that will make it a smooth transition to something even more structured.  I must admit, it is a little easier to run when I make up the mileage!

4th of July
Yesterday was the 4th of July, so I wasn't able to run sadly.  The good news though was I had a great time with my family and we had some good food!  And somehow my family managed to grow some pretty big and juicy watermelons!


The pictures are a little small sadly

Today's Training
So I took a day off from running, which turned out to be needed after running 4 strait days ending with a 5 miler.  Today I was able to get out and run again though, so I did a two mile speed training run.  By speed training I mean I just increased my speed from start to finish, which I seem to like to do.  I was sprinting the last 800m which felt horrible while doing it, but excellent once I finished to see that I had a really great 2 mile time! (13:49)  It was a cool 85 outside as well so that probably helped a little as well.

In Other News
I am going to start looking for trails to run around here as well.  I have a feeling there wont be many, but it would be a nice change of pace to run a trail rather than always a road.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE running on the road, but someday I want to run an ultra(and by someday I mean like 5 years from now) and most of them take place on trails.  

I am also looking into running a 4 miler next Saturday, the only problem is I am scheduled to run an 8 mile long run, so should I do it and run two separate 4 miles, or is there a better way to do that?  I would like to get another race under my belt, and it benefits the local fire department so I am sure the T-Shirt will be cool!

Questions
- What did you do on the 4th?
- Know any websites that have a database of trails?
- Have you ever ran a race during marathon training? How did you work it in?

Brett

7 comments:

  1. I've never run a marathon, Brett, but during my half-marathon training I've run races like 5ks or a bit longer and just used them as speed work for the week.

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  2. 4th
    Went biking in the morning, gave the lawn a WAY overdue mowing, grilled, went to a minor league baseball game. A nice day to end a pretty epic weekend.

    Trails:
    Try this: http://www.traillink.com/ I admit, I haven't used it, but "my" local rail trail appeared on it and seemed to show lots of results.

    Racing during training:
    During my only marathon training, I ran one race. It was the weekend before the marathon. I was in a training group through the local running store, and the coach advised me to take a couple miles off my last taper long run (scheduled to be 10 miles) and take the 5K easy. So, I ran 8 miles on Saturday and took the 5K on Sunday really nice and slow.

    You're far enough out at this point that you have several options. I would just race it and switch my long run to another day. Another option is just to continue on your run after the race. At a 5K a few years ago a guy training for Boston destroyed the field, and then turned around and ran the course at least one more time.

    If I wanted to continue my long run on race day, though, I would probably not really be able to "race" the race, so if you think that's the case for you, it depends on how much you care about medals or PRs etc at this particular 4-miler.

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  3. you are getting so close -- exciting!!

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  4. Woo hoo for marathon training being so close! You are going to be knee deep soon enough and will be thanking yourself for laying down a solid base like you have.

    As for races, my first I did not at all because I was (un-needlessly) paranoid. After I got it out of my system I realized you can incorporate races in just fine, you just have to move around your workouts. In fact, now I see the benefits of doing a half within a month of the marathon just to test your marathon pace. Just be smart and don't go race happy. One a month is more than enough, you don't want to burn yourself out or not benefit from cut back weeks by going balls out for a 10k.

    Good luck!!!

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  5. During marathon training I ran a 5k, two ten milers, a 20k trail race, and a half marathon, and a relay where I took a 6 mile leg as Wonder Woman. New PR's in the 5k, ten miler and half, well, I guess in the 20k too since it was the only 20k I've ever run! These distances were all (give or take a mile or two) scheduled weekend long runs.

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  6. Thanks all for the encouragement and advice! I think I might do the 4 mile run, go at a quicker pace for the first 4(race) then jog another time around the course if they don't mind :) haha

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  7. No marathon here (yet) but during all of my half marathon training's I work in the shorter races I want to run, 5K's, an 8K and a 10K...
    Just count it as your run for the day~

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