What ever it takes!

12 weeks to go, I officially started my Boston training last night by starting to re-read Ryan Halls "Running with Joy"

Today didn't start off so great, first of all I forgot to set my alarm last night, luckily my internal alarm is only off by about 15 minutes.  I charged my Garmin last night with the intent of tracking HR and every mile split, the stupid thing died on my after only 3 miles. And then I attempted to finish my workout by doing speed intervals, but on my second interval my left glute totally charley horsed on me, so I just finished my final 2 miles really slow.   I'm guessing the risk of speed workouts isn't worth the risk of injury.  I think for my goals speed isn't all that important, I mainly just need to get my general fitness back, so from now on (at least for a while) no speed work faster than around 1/2 marathon pace.

10 miles in 1:16:00

Average HR was around 150 for the first 3 miles at 7:30 pace.  Pretty high actually.

Resting HR this morning 52.  Also high, it used to be down around 40.

Wasn't sure I'd even be able to run today after my muscle cramp yesterday,  I spent a lot of time on the roller and stretching though so this morning it felt OK.  Had to start slow to warm it up but after 3 - 4 miles it was fine.  I pulled out the ol' Garmin305, the things a bit clunky but much less temperamental than the 405.  My HR is still crazy high, based on HR my whole run should have been catagorized as marathon pace, but I'm just feeling a bit off lately, so I'm going to give myself a week or so to get over what ever ailment I may have before adjusting pace goals.

Distance	Time	Split Time	Avg HR
1	7:54	7:54	152
2	15:39	7:45	155
3	23:12	7:32	160
4	30:34	7:21	165
5	37:44	7:10	167
6	44:45	7:00	170
7	51:37	6:51	172
8	58:19	6:41	173
9	1:05:36	7:17	161
10	1:12:42	7:06	170
11	1:19:37	6:55	171
12	1:26:34	6:56	171
13	1:33:22	6:48	172
14	1:40:02	6:39	174
Total	1:40:02	7:08 avg	166

Recovery day, I considered swimming but the thought of that initial jump into cold water scared me away.  I wanted to run really slow so to satisfy my urge to push an up arrow button every mile I pushed the incline button instead of speed.  My HR was getting higher than I wanted even with the slow speed so I had to go down in speed every 1% I went up.

Mile 1 at 1%, Mile 2 at 2%.....Mile 6 at 6%.  Mile 7 and 8 flat. That's 1,100' of elevation if I do my math correctly.  6 miles X 5,280 X 3.5%.  Nothing special but I do feel like it gave my legs a break while still getting a cardio workout.

Mile	Time	Mile Split	Avg HR
1 @ 1%	8:51	8:51	135
2 @ 2%	17:52	9:00	138
3 @ 3%	27:06	9:13	145
4 @ 4%	36:36	9:30	150
5 @ 5%	46:26	9:49	155
6 @ 6%	56:26	10:00	160
7 flat	1:05:01	8:34	141
8 flat	1:13:04	8:03	147
Total	1:13:04	9:07 avg	148

Felt a little bit better this morning than I have this week.  Good news I'm getting out of the cold and smog for 2 weeks, bad news it's in Vegas.  Worst running city in the world, and the Palazzo gym doesn't open until like 7 or 8, to late either way to get in before work.  So starting Sunday it's going to be endless 2.5 miles loops around the Wynn Golf course for me :(

Here is a question that is probably dumb, and I've probably read it but I don't know the answer so I'm putting it out there.  12 weeks out from the marathon, when I'm running at "marathon pace" should that be my current marathon pace based on effort and HR or do I run it at my goal marathon pace?  HR for marathon pace based on calculations I made in much better shape are 151bpm - 168bpm.  Currently my goal MP of < 6:20 puts me around 172bpm, which I still think something is wrong with me and that will go down. but way, way to high never the less.

Distance	Time	Split Time	Avg HR
1	7:54	7:54	151
2	15:21	7:28	155
3	22:36	7:16	158
4	29:42	7:05	162
5	36:38	6:56	165
6	43:25	6:46	168
7	50:02	6:37	171
8	56:27	6:24	171
9	1:03:29	7:02	159
10	1:10:20	6:51	168
11	1:16:57	6:36	170
12	1:23:16	6:19	174
Total	1:23:16	6:56 avg	163

Easiest run of the week to give my legs a rest for tomorrows long run with tempo.  In December I took one week where I ran 18 miles everyday of the week, the purpose I thought was to make it so when I was doing official training long runs wouldn't scare me.  Well it didn't work, cause I'm afraid of a dumb 17 miles run tomorrow with 8 mile marathon pace tempo.  Strange.

Distance	Time	Split Time	Avg HR
1	7:30	7:30	146
2	14:54	7:24	151
3	22:13	7:19	153
4	29:29	7:17	156
5	36:53	7:24	155
6	44:23	7:30	154
7	51:55	7:32	154
8	59:54	7:59	151
Total	59:54	7:29 avg	152

 

Sometimes a good day comes along just when you need it.  I was nervous about this run for some reason but I woke up feeling the best I've felt all week.  Ran an 8 mile "warm up" I guess, the plan called for an 8 mile tempo at marathon pace but it was so (dare I say) "easy" I just went 9 to finish up the whole 17 miles.  6:10 pace was hard but sustaining goal marathon pace was definately doable.  I've decided no matter how good I start feeling, or how well my training goes over the next 11 weeks I'm not going to change my goal time.  I'm just going to work on making my goal time feel easy.  I went after sub 2:40 for so long with nothing but failure so just getting a nice PR will make me the happiest boy on earth.

Distance	Time	Split Time	Avg HR
1	7:53	7:53	140
2	15:31	7:39	152
3	23:00	7:28	150
4	30:21	7:21	155
5	37:32	7:10	160
6	44:35	7:02	162
7	51:33	6:58	162
8	58:27	6:53	163
9	1:04:52	6:25	161
10	1:11:15	6:23	170
11	1:17:34	6:18	172
12	1:23:49	6:14	174
13	1:30:00	6:11	175
14	1:36:14	6:13	174
15	1:42:29	6:14	174
16	1:48:48	6:19	174
17	1:54:55	6:07	174
Total	1:54:55	6:45 avg	163
Tempo Total	56:35	6:17 avg	172