This week was 49 miles of running, 18 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
Another down week, since I rested up to run the Fifth Avenue Mile on Sunday.
I was pretty happy with Sunday's race. It was obviously way off of my PR from last year, but it showed that things were trending in the right direction, both fitness-wise and in terms of focusing and competing well during the race. I'm actually a bit sad that I don't have a few more weeks to focus on shorter stuff - this past weekend was the first time I "felt like myself" at shorter stuff, if that makes sense.
But...CIM calls, so I'll just write off these past few weeks as a speed-intermission in my year of marathon training.
Reviewing my year so far, my training log has reinforced my belief that it takes me a fair amount of time to recover from a marathon and switch back to running shorter distances well. Not weeks, but more like months.
When I ran the Houston Half-Marathon this past January, I felt like the 13 weeks I had between the Hartford Marathon in October and Houston in January were not quite enough to run my best at Houston (though I was still happy with the race). And similarly, now that I'm 12 weeks out from Grandma's, I feel like things are just starting to turn around, and that in another 4-5 weeks or so, I could be running well at shorter stuff.
In contrast, it seems much easier for me to move up from shorter distances to longer, or to add a second marathon after the first, as I did this spring. [Note: easier, not easy.] At the same time, I know that just sticking to marathons is a formula for staleness and stagnation at that distance - the short fast stuff preserves my speed, which is the first thing to go as one ages. (Plus road miles are so much damn fun.)
Mapping stuff going forward, I think that after CIM, I'm going to skip a spring marathon. Instead I'll spend the spring focusing on shorter stuff, with the goal of running very fast in March/April/early May before a shortened marathon cycle to support a return to Grandma's Marathon in June 2019.
(it's just a shame that there are really no road miles in March/April.)
I was pretty happy with Sunday's race. It was obviously way off of my PR from last year, but it showed that things were trending in the right direction, both fitness-wise and in terms of focusing and competing well during the race. I'm actually a bit sad that I don't have a few more weeks to focus on shorter stuff - this past weekend was the first time I "felt like myself" at shorter stuff, if that makes sense.
But...CIM calls, so I'll just write off these past few weeks as a speed-intermission in my year of marathon training.
Reviewing my year so far, my training log has reinforced my belief that it takes me a fair amount of time to recover from a marathon and switch back to running shorter distances well. Not weeks, but more like months.
When I ran the Houston Half-Marathon this past January, I felt like the 13 weeks I had between the Hartford Marathon in October and Houston in January were not quite enough to run my best at Houston (though I was still happy with the race). And similarly, now that I'm 12 weeks out from Grandma's, I feel like things are just starting to turn around, and that in another 4-5 weeks or so, I could be running well at shorter stuff.
In contrast, it seems much easier for me to move up from shorter distances to longer, or to add a second marathon after the first, as I did this spring. [Note: easier, not easy.] At the same time, I know that just sticking to marathons is a formula for staleness and stagnation at that distance - the short fast stuff preserves my speed, which is the first thing to go as one ages. (Plus road miles are so much damn fun.)
Mapping stuff going forward, I think that after CIM, I'm going to skip a spring marathon. Instead I'll spend the spring focusing on shorter stuff, with the goal of running very fast in March/April/early May before a shortened marathon cycle to support a return to Grandma's Marathon in June 2019.
(it's just a shame that there are really no road miles in March/April.)
Dailies
Monday: Upper body weights/core and 9 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 400/800/1200/1200/800/400 in 1:38, 3:04, 4:35, 4:29, 2:53, 83. Also injury prevention work and recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 7 miles very easy to yoga (9:29) and then yoga. Later, another 5 miles very easy (8:50) plus drills and strides. Foam rolling at night.
Thursday: Upper body weights/core and 9 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 9 miles, including one mile up-tempo in 6:18. Followed with light injury prevention work and DIY yoga. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 5 miles very easy (8:51) , DIY yoga, and then some foam rolling
Sunday: 3.5 mile warm-up, and then a mile race in 5:36. Followed with half mile jog back to gym to change shoes. Later, did 8 miles very easy (9:02) to enjoy Central Park. Foam rolling at night.
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