I only ran once this week, for just over five miles, so in lieu of the typical week-in-review post I thought I would add a "training in review" post. Here is a week-by-week breakdown of my marathon training, going back to the first of August:
August 2-7: I have on record 26+ miles, but I think I ran without the watch once this week, so it was more than that. I botched a tempo but got in a good long run. This was the week I permanently gave up on Brooks and started training in the Nike Air Pegasus again.
August 8-14: I botched another tempo run. This was an uneventful week. 41 miles.
August 15-21: I ran two workouts plus an awesome long run in the mountains that included something like 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Solid week, 37 quality miles.
August 22-28: 43 miles, including me upping the ante on the long run for the first time, to nearly 16 miles.
August 29-September 4: Only 27 miles. I came down with a mild virus and as a result missed a long run. This was the beginning of a major freefall in my nutrition, which wasn't great to begin with, and likely caused the virus. I did however run a season-best in the 5k on a difficult course.
September 5-11: 46 miles, including a really good long with Eggers, Brinkley, and Baum, plus a fantastic workout. I started some noticing some pain in my heel about this time, however, which I would later self-diagnose as achilles tendinitis.
September 12-18: One run for 9 miles. Took the week off to rest my achilles tendon.
September 19-25: 46 miles. I felt horrible all week but got back in the swing of things with a half-decent workout and a painful 18-miler with Mitchell.
September 26-October 2: Only 38 miles but I got in a good workout and my first 20-mile run of the cycle, which I did by myself.
October 3-9: 33 miles. I'm back to slacking off again, but I rolled on a tempo run with the Meetup runners and on a solo speed workout at McAlpine. This was a planned cutback week as far as the long run goes.
October 10-16: 44.4 miles. Good week, bad week. I screwed a tempo run - again - but ran my longest run of the cycle, and tied for longest of all-time (later surpassed by the actual marathon, of course) at 22 miles. I also retired the Pegasus I had been training in and got a new pair.
October 17-23: 46 miles. I got in two really good tempo workouts with the Meetup group and my second 20-mile run...and yeah, that's about it. My training had clearly become "quality over quantity" at this point but at least the quality was good. Besides, I was still fighting that sore achilles at this point.
October 24-30: 44 miles. I ran a double on Thursday, getting in some intervals at McAlpine and then a tempo run with the Meetup group for their costume event. I also ran 13+ with a pickup at the end for the Sunday long run.
October 31-November 6: 24 miles. The taper had begun but I did run 19 miles of the course between Saturday and Sunday.
November 7-13: 36 miles. Race week! I ran two short shakeout runs and then the race. My legs felt very fresh through the first half, but they got heavy through the center city and I eventually fell apart due to some bad cramps. I still finished in a time of 3:29:47, good enough for 83rd overall out of nearly 1,000 competitors.
The question now is this: What caused the muscle cramps that ruined my day on November 12? I ruled out poor race-day fueling; I had that down pat. I did wait until two days before the race to start carb-loading, so that likely had something to do with it. Again, my nutrition intake went from bad to worse back in September, which affected some of my workouts and probably led to a vitamin deficiency. So step one for the next marathon is to discipline myself to eat better. Step two, however, is to increase the mileage. As I write this I have since parlayed marathon training into my best race of the year at the Turkey Trot - less than two weeks after the 26.2. So I want to build on my training, stay healthy, and get faster. I have also dropped 15 pounds since July and 30 since March, and think I can get a little bit lighter. That won't hurt, either!
August 2-7: I have on record 26+ miles, but I think I ran without the watch once this week, so it was more than that. I botched a tempo but got in a good long run. This was the week I permanently gave up on Brooks and started training in the Nike Air Pegasus again.
August 8-14: I botched another tempo run. This was an uneventful week. 41 miles.
August 15-21: I ran two workouts plus an awesome long run in the mountains that included something like 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Solid week, 37 quality miles.
August 22-28: 43 miles, including me upping the ante on the long run for the first time, to nearly 16 miles.
August 29-September 4: Only 27 miles. I came down with a mild virus and as a result missed a long run. This was the beginning of a major freefall in my nutrition, which wasn't great to begin with, and likely caused the virus. I did however run a season-best in the 5k on a difficult course.
September 5-11: 46 miles, including a really good long with Eggers, Brinkley, and Baum, plus a fantastic workout. I started some noticing some pain in my heel about this time, however, which I would later self-diagnose as achilles tendinitis.
September 12-18: One run for 9 miles. Took the week off to rest my achilles tendon.
September 19-25: 46 miles. I felt horrible all week but got back in the swing of things with a half-decent workout and a painful 18-miler with Mitchell.
September 26-October 2: Only 38 miles but I got in a good workout and my first 20-mile run of the cycle, which I did by myself.
October 3-9: 33 miles. I'm back to slacking off again, but I rolled on a tempo run with the Meetup runners and on a solo speed workout at McAlpine. This was a planned cutback week as far as the long run goes.
October 10-16: 44.4 miles. Good week, bad week. I screwed a tempo run - again - but ran my longest run of the cycle, and tied for longest of all-time (later surpassed by the actual marathon, of course) at 22 miles. I also retired the Pegasus I had been training in and got a new pair.
October 17-23: 46 miles. I got in two really good tempo workouts with the Meetup group and my second 20-mile run...and yeah, that's about it. My training had clearly become "quality over quantity" at this point but at least the quality was good. Besides, I was still fighting that sore achilles at this point.
October 24-30: 44 miles. I ran a double on Thursday, getting in some intervals at McAlpine and then a tempo run with the Meetup group for their costume event. I also ran 13+ with a pickup at the end for the Sunday long run.
October 31-November 6: 24 miles. The taper had begun but I did run 19 miles of the course between Saturday and Sunday.
November 7-13: 36 miles. Race week! I ran two short shakeout runs and then the race. My legs felt very fresh through the first half, but they got heavy through the center city and I eventually fell apart due to some bad cramps. I still finished in a time of 3:29:47, good enough for 83rd overall out of nearly 1,000 competitors.
The question now is this: What caused the muscle cramps that ruined my day on November 12? I ruled out poor race-day fueling; I had that down pat. I did wait until two days before the race to start carb-loading, so that likely had something to do with it. Again, my nutrition intake went from bad to worse back in September, which affected some of my workouts and probably led to a vitamin deficiency. So step one for the next marathon is to discipline myself to eat better. Step two, however, is to increase the mileage. As I write this I have since parlayed marathon training into my best race of the year at the Turkey Trot - less than two weeks after the 26.2. So I want to build on my training, stay healthy, and get faster. I have also dropped 15 pounds since July and 30 since March, and think I can get a little bit lighter. That won't hurt, either!
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