Matthew Jordan
| Programming, Running, and ThingsThis week was the first substantive week of marathon training. Prior to this week, I had built up to running five days a week:
- A ‘fast-ish’ day of running, where I would attempt to run most of the run at approximate marathon pace.
- 4 to 5 miles of hills, generally running 2 to 2.5 up Monte Sano and back down
- (Rest)
- Medium run day, generally between 8 and 10 miles run at a slow pace (but probably not slow enough)
- 5 mile easy run day
- Long run day, generally between 10 and 15 miles
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this, as it incorporates some tempo like runs, hill work (strength training), and two long-ish running days. The downsides are:
- Something of a lack of science to my method. I came up with the plan by incorporating elements of my previous marathon attempts (which haven’t gone well) and a lot of reading about various methods, including Hanson and Pfitzinger. That’s probably not a smart idea.
- Pacing. Looking at my run results, I’ve been running a bit too fast in most places.
- For the longest distance I’m currently doing, my volume still probably isn’t enough.
Enter the Hanson Marathon Method.
I explained in my previous post why I chose it. So how did it go for me?
Monday - Speed Work (12x400m repeats)
I moved the speed work up from Tuesday, it’s regularly scheduled day, to Monday as I had an early morning meeting Tuesday and hadn’t run on Sunday, thereby avoiding the “no back-to-back SOS workouts” rule. That weekend I purchased a pair of Nike Zoom Fly shoes from our local Fleet Feet store, and I was pretty excited to try them out. Due to being a Linux user, I’ve had some trouble with the Garmin Connect app pushing workouts down to my watch, so I decided to do my run at a local high school track, which conveniently was within a 1.5 mile-ish warm up run from my house.
The plan was:
- 9:40 min/mile warm up/cool down
- 7:50 min/mile 400m sprints with 11:00 min/mile 400m recover laps
This being my first set of speed work, I think I did relatively well. The splits aren’t exactly the best, as I found I’d usually rocket off to a too fast start on each 400m interval and have to throttle it back to get to the right pace. This led to most of my 400m repeats being run too fast. My recovery intervals were worse, and I eventually just decided to try and go no faster than a 10:20 min/mile. Next week I should have the workout pushed to the watch, and the beeps/buzzing of the Garmin should keep me in line better.
| Type | Distance (miles) | Pace (min/mile) | Time (min) | Total (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Up | 1 | 9:43 | 9:43 | 1 |
| Warm Up | 0.64 | 9:32 | 15:49 | 1.64 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:29 | 17:40 | 1.89 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:25 | 20:17 | 2.14 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:41 | 22:12 | 2.39 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:25 | 24:48 | 2.64 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:39 | 26:42 | 2.89 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:30 | 29:19 | 3.14 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:24 | 31:09 | 3.39 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:23 | 33:44 | 3.64 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:35 | 35:37 | 3.89 |
| Recovery | 0.27 | 10:43 | 38:31 | 4.16 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:36 | 40:23 | 4.41 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:15 | 42:57 | 4.66 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:34 | 44:49 | 4.91 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:20 | 47:24 | 5.16 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:26 | 49:16 | 5.41 |
| Recovery | 0.24 | 10:19 | 51:47 | 5.65 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:31 | 53:39 | 5.90 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:27 | 56:15 | 6.15 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:30 | 58:06 | 6.40 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:26 | 1:00:43 | 6.65 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:20 | 1:02:31 | 6.90 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:23 | 1:05:06 | 7.15 |
| Speed | 0.25 | 7:01 | 1:06:51 | 7.40 |
| Recovery | 0.25 | 10:11 | 1:09:22 | 7.65 |
| Cool Down | 1 | 9:31 | 1:18:52 | 8.65 |
| Cool Down | 0.61 | 9:25 | 1:24:39 | 9.24 |
| Totals | 1:24:39 | 9.24 |
After writing all of this down, I realize I am still running way too fast. Drat.
Tuesday - Easy Run (5 miles)
At this point, I had managed to get my workouts downloaded to my watch, which made pacing a lot easier. I did my favorite route through downtown Huntsville, which includes a nice jaunt down from the square through Big Spring park. I also swapped shoes for my Brooks Glycerin 15’s, my old stand-by in running shoes.
While I run this route a lot, the fact that it goes through some nice neighboorhoods and downtown makes it a favorite. It certainly beats running alongside interstate access roads or down a four line thoroughfare, both of which are some of my other options.
| Type | Distance (miles) | Pace (min/mile) | Total (min) | Total (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 1 | 9:37 | 9:37 | 1 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:34 | 19:11 | 2 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:43 | 28:54 | 3 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:43 | 38:38 | 4 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:37 | 48:14 | 5 |
| Totals | 48:15 | 5 |
Wednesday - Crosstrain
I’ve chosen to do some strength training at a local gym for my crosstraining. I find that keeping my upper body in “okay-ish” shape helps with long runs. Without it, after about 10 miles I usually end up with some ice-pick like pain jabbing between my shoulder blades. I may write someday what this routine looks like; suffice to say it takes about 60 minutes and isn’t liable to turn me into He-Man any time soon.
Thursday - Tempo (5 miles)
I’ve read a lot about the dreaded tempo runs. Up until now, other than a few ill advised “push it” moments, I’ve usually stayed above the 9:00 min/mile mark. If I’m going to get a 3:45 marathon time, however, I have to be able to hit and hold a 8:30 min/mile pace. That feels ambitious, but not out of reach. Since my runs are now starting to include some warm up/cool down times, I decided to add those to all of my workouts and push that to my watch as well.
When Thursday dawned, my legs felt tired. I suspect this was the after effects of having run my speed work a bit faster than I should have, combined with the start of my “cumulative fatigue”. Or it’s too early and I’m just imagining how I’m going to be feeling. Anyway.
| Type | Distance (miles) | Pace (min/mile) | Total (min) | Total (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Up | 1 | 9:45 | 9:45 | 1 |
| Tempo | 1 | 8:38 | 18:23 | 2 |
| Tempo | 1 | 8:39 | 27:02 | 3 |
| Tempo | 1 | 8:36 | 35:38 | 4 |
| Tempo | 1 | 8:36 | 44:14 | 5 |
| Tempo | 1 | 8:35 | 52:49 | 6 |
| Cool Down | 1 | 9:42 | 1:02:30 | 7 |
| Totals | 8:36.8 (tempo) | 1:02:30 | 7 |
Two things I learned from this run:
- I kind of messed up my tempo run slightly, as I had set my goal tempo pace to 8:35 as opposed to 8:30. Rather than suffer five miles of beeping and buzzing, I just went with it. I’ll fix it up for the tempo run next week.
- That last mile at tempo pace was no bueno. I had to keep on mentally telling myself “one more mile, you’re good; one more mile, you’re good”. And by mentally, I mean I was muttering that out loud through some slightly random neighboorhood. I’m not worried that I won’t be able to do another 5 mile tempo run next week; I am worried about week 9 when I go from a 5 mile tempo run to an 8 mile tempo run. That’s a huge leap. I may try to gradually increase this over the next two weeks just to even out the pain a bit.
Friday - Easy (5 miles)
After my tempo run, I woke up on Friday feeling pretty good. I again decided to go for about a 9:40 min/mile pace, and did the good old downtown course again.
| Type | Distance (miles) | Pace (min/mile) | Total (min) | Total (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Up | 0.02 | 23:58 | 0:30.7 | 0.02 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:45 | 10:15 | 1.02 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:42 | 19:57 | 2.02 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:50 | 29:47 | 3.02 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:40 | 39:28 | 4.02 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:39 | 49:07 | 5.02 |
| Cool Down | 0.09 | 11:32 | 50:09 | 5.11 |
| Totals | 9:43.2 (easy) | 49:55 | 5.11 |
Note that I’m including my small-ish warm up/cool down routines for easy runs now too, because why not. I’m moving damnit, and those calories count.
Saturday - Easy (6 miles)
Saturday morning I felt a bit more tired than on Friday morning. That didn’t surprise me; I usually feel the worst after effects of a strenuous exercise two days later. I was a bit concerned, as I had volunteered to do parking at the Monte Sano Art Show all day that day, and I knew I was going to be on my feet for around 8 hours at least. I decided to shoot for anything over a 10:00 min/mile pace. I still wanted to finish up in about an hour, as I had to be up in the state park by 8:00 AM or so to start my volunteer duties.
| Type | Distance (miles) | Pace (min/mile) | Total (min) | Total (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Up | 0.16 | 26:22 | 4:11.0 | 0.16 |
| Easy | 1 | 10:11 | 14:22 | 1.16 |
| Easy | 1 | 10:02 | 24:24 | 2.16 |
| Easy | 1 | 10:08 | 34:32 | 3.16 |
| Easy | 1 | 10:03 | 44:34 | 4.16 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:58 | 54:33 | 5.16 |
| Easy | 1 | 9:47 | 1:04:20 | 6.16 |
| Cool Down | 0.05 | 12:32 | 1:04:56 | 6.21 |
| Totals | 10:01.5 (easy) | 1:04:56 | 6.21 |
Sunday - Long (10 miles)
Sunday morning dawned and I knew I was in a bit of trouble. All of the walking yesterday had definitely made me pretty sore, despite my best efforts the night before on loosening things up on a foam roller. My largest concern was not that I wouldn’t be able to run 10 miles, but that my soreness might cause me to whack out my knee and cause larger damage. I decided that at the first sign of trouble I’d stop and stretch and/or walk, as I’d rather take a DNF on my first long run than mess up the whole shebang.
Although, I will admit in a moment of honesty, that if I mess up my knee on week 6 of a program that is supposed to help prevent injury then I’m probably not ready to do this thing in the first place. Anyway. Let’s keep that little realistic thought out of the way for now.
Despite my misgivings, it went just fine. I hit up the old Rocket City marathon course. Starting in and around downtown, it forms a nice out and back through South/Central Huntsville, keeping mostly to small quiet neighboorhoods. Given the course’s popularity, you’re always bound to run into a couple dozen other runners, which I like on long runs (safety first). I kept up my long run pace of ~9:20 min/mile relatively well. I also practiced taking a Gu gel while running; something I haven’t done in the past. I’ve always walked my water/Gu breaks, but if I’m going to keep up a pace throughout an entire marathon, there’s no time like the present to train for it.
| Type | Distance (miles) | Pace (min/mile) | Total (min) | Total (miles) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Up | 0.16 | 30:25 | 4:55.3 | 0.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:19 | 14:14 | 1.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:20 | 23:34 | 2.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:20 | 32:54 | 3.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:24 | 42:18 | 4.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:22 | 51:40 | 5.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:18 | 1:00:59 | 6.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:17 | 1:10:16 | 7.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:17 | 1:19:33 | 8.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:18 | 1:28:51 | 9.16 |
| Long | 1 | 9:18 | 1:38:09 | 10.16 |
| Cool Down | 0.06 | 11:57 | 1:38:53 | 10.22 |
| Totals | 9:19.3 (long) | 1:38:53 | 10.22 |
Total Impressions
- Total Distance: 42.78 miles
- Total Time: 409.38 minutes
- Total Calories: 6014
Well, it is just week one, so I probably should tamper my enthusiasm.
- My legs feel pretty good today (which was an Easy run day, but that’s technically on week 2). I definitely have a perma “ache” or soreness in them, but it’s that good level of soreness/achiness that says that you’ve done something, not any kind of acute pain. I can imagine that as the weeks go on and the mileage goes up, this is only going to become “more of a thing”. I’m okay with that.
- I hate getting up in the morning and running, but once I get out the door I’m fine. It’s worse when it’s dark out; I’m finding myself hitting the snooze once or twice just so I can leave just after 6 when there’s a hint of light as opposed to 5:45-ish when there isn’t. It’s a weird mental thing. I’m not looking forward to having the cold pile up on top of that.