So I am really focused on my training plan for OKC on 5/1 and one thing my training has taught me is that I need to add more mpw (miles per week) to my regiment. More miles, according to most experts, helps with endurance and speed at the same time and I need help with both. Heck, world class runners may put in 120 miles a week or more during their peak weeks of training. Now, I don't want to do anywhere near that many miles, but I do want to bump up from 20-30 mpw a week to a peak of 40-50 mpw. It is my hope that if I can do this I can set a new PR and and finish the marathon strong.
As I imputed the weekly training numbers into my excel spread sheet I became extremely excited about my plan, but then I started to realize... More miles equal more hours, and at my pace (9:45-10:30 m/m at MP- slower for training) even a simple six mile jaunt will take me an hour or so. 20 mile long run? 3 hours or more... That got me thinking about my typical week, with my job, tutoring, family, friends and the time I need to devote for those important parts of my life. With only so many hours in a day or week, where was I going to find the time to add these new miles?
I am sure that many other runners have this dilemma. How do I balance the rigors of marathon training with family and job needs? As I think about this question I become less excited and more nervous about the balance I will need to achieve.
I have some answers that I hope will help others as well.
1. Flexible schedule- I know most runners thrive on a set routine, but I know that I will have to have some flexibility to fit in the MPW week I need. AM run missed will mean a run after my son goes to bed that evening. Can't run on a Friday afternoon? Then I will get up extra early on a Saturday to fit the run in. I need to allow myself some wiggle room in my weekly plan to ensure I get my MPW in and done.
2. Time management- I will have to manage my time extremely effectively to make this work. Advanced planning and open communication with my wife will really help out in getting my miles in.
3. Less sleep- For my weekend long runs I know I will have to wake up before roosters to get in my 16-20 milers. Normally a waking up a little early wouldn't be too bad, but through in a teething infant and you realize every hour of sleep is worth more than gold.
4. Amazing wife- All runners whose significant others aren't runners know exactly what I am talking about. My wife understands my passion and doesn't mind watching our son or hearing me get up at 4:30 on a weekend. I know my training plan would be worthless if it wasn't for her.
Will it work? Only time will tell. I’ll keep you guys updated as I train.
Got suggestions on training and balance? Let me know and post a comment!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
So why do I marathon?
It may seem like a question I should have answered before my first 26.2, but I don't know if I ever put my reasons into a coherent answer. So let me answer the question: why do I marathon?
I think most boys want to be athletes and I was one of those boys. I played football in my backyard and imagined I was Joe Montana and played catch with my brother imagining I was Dave Winfield saving a home run at Yankee stadium. Problem was, that my talent wasn't really good enough to take me out of my backyard. Sure, I played soccer when I was really young, and I gave it my all, but I think the only reason why I played as much as I did is because it was an "everyone plays" league. While I never admitted it to anyone, I wanted to be an athlete. And I may have been a brain jock in M.U.N., debate and a state champion and in marching band (go Marching Spartans!) it just wasn't the same.
Fast forward a number of years and a couple of average stints on intramural basketball teams later and I still didn't feel like an athlete. Then in the Spring of 2009 I was sitting on my couch and watching the Biggest Loser- season whatever- and I saw the contestants run a marathon. Sitting there I thought, "well, if they can do this then I should be able to." And so the training began.
Looking back I had no idea what I was doing while I was training for Rochester in the fall of '09, but something began to happen. As I did my training runs and a few smaller races I began to think, "Faster, I know if I train just a bit harder I can go just a bit faster." And that thought turned in to, " How fast can I go in the long run?" For the first time in my life I began to think like a competitive athlete.
Jump slightly ahead to the fall of 2010 and mile 11 of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon... The week before I had run The Montgomery County Parks Half at an "easy pace" and finished in 2:15:xx. As I was crossing the finish I thought, "next week I will go fast(er)!" And a week later I was going fast when I hit mile 11, but then I got tired, and my body hurt, but I pushed on. And you know what, mile 11 was my fastest mile of the day. The non athlete Brian would have slowed down or even walked, but now I pushed through and finished with a 2:01:58. Now I was an athlete!
And that made me think what can I do in Philly? Could I break 4:30:00? Was there a sub 4:00:00 marathon in my future? I didn't break 4:30:00 yet, but I know I am an athlete because the passion burns to reach both of those goals.
So why do I marathon? Because in the marathon I am an athlete with all of the great things that has brought to my life. But those great things are another post for another day!
Dealing with disappointment
It's now two days after I completed my second marathon (Rochester, NY '09 and Philadelphia '10) and I have a myriad of thoughts spinning through my head, but I think mostly I am starting to feel more and more disappointed with my result. Yes, I know that, I set a new PR by nearly 45 minutes (Rochester was 5:20:04 and Philly was 4:36:44), but I had a really rough last 6 miles were I had to run/walk to finish and those miles were not enjoyable. Plus, I didn't meet my "A" goal which was a sub 4:30:00 time.
So the question is how do I get rid of this negativity?
There are some ways to combat the disappointment: First to remind myself that: a) I finished a marathon and b) I set a new PR by almost 45 minutes. c) did all of this while teaching full time and starting a family in May d) I have dropped 10 pounds and am in the best shape of my life. So, I am trying to stop every time I have a feeling of disappointment and remind myself of these things. I also need to look forward and know that I will improve.
The second way to deal with the negative thoughts is to focus on the next race. I have already picked my next marathon, the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on 5/1/2011. I chose this race because my wife's family lives in the city and I have heard it is a "must run" in terms of marathons.
And focusing on the future means constructing a better training plan and using that plan to run faster and finishing strong. Everything I have read says that my miles per week (mpw) are on the low side at 25-30 miles a week. So, the new plan will start with a base of 30 miles and work up to 50 miles during the peak weeks of training. Adding more tempo runs and "fast finish runs" to my training schedule should also help a great deal. It is my belief that if I can up the mpw, work on speed, and focus on a stronger finish I should be able to break through the 4:30:00 barrier and finish the next marathon feeling strong.
I will remind myself that Philly was a success and a race I can be proud of, while starting to focus on OKC this spring.
I plan to update the blog as much as I can with entries on training, thoughts on life while training, product reviews and any useful/cool articles I find. Plus, if I do any smaller races during my training I will do some race reviews as well
So the question is how do I get rid of this negativity?
There are some ways to combat the disappointment: First to remind myself that: a) I finished a marathon and b) I set a new PR by almost 45 minutes. c) did all of this while teaching full time and starting a family in May d) I have dropped 10 pounds and am in the best shape of my life. So, I am trying to stop every time I have a feeling of disappointment and remind myself of these things. I also need to look forward and know that I will improve.
The second way to deal with the negative thoughts is to focus on the next race. I have already picked my next marathon, the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on 5/1/2011. I chose this race because my wife's family lives in the city and I have heard it is a "must run" in terms of marathons.
And focusing on the future means constructing a better training plan and using that plan to run faster and finishing strong. Everything I have read says that my miles per week (mpw) are on the low side at 25-30 miles a week. So, the new plan will start with a base of 30 miles and work up to 50 miles during the peak weeks of training. Adding more tempo runs and "fast finish runs" to my training schedule should also help a great deal. It is my belief that if I can up the mpw, work on speed, and focus on a stronger finish I should be able to break through the 4:30:00 barrier and finish the next marathon feeling strong.
I will remind myself that Philly was a success and a race I can be proud of, while starting to focus on OKC this spring.
I plan to update the blog as much as I can with entries on training, thoughts on life while training, product reviews and any useful/cool articles I find. Plus, if I do any smaller races during my training I will do some race reviews as well
Philadelphia Marathon 2010
Quick background-I am 35 and Philly was my second marathon. My first was Rochester '09 and it was a bit of a disaster. I put in some decent training, but was just getting into running so didn't really know the right way to train. When I got to the race I thought I would follow the 5:00:00 pace group. Problem is the pacer's watch broke and he went out about a minute a mile fast for the first half. Needless to say the last half was ROUGH. I finished, but it was a shameful 5:20:00 time.
So about Philly...I lined up with the 4:30 pace group, although, this time I had my Garmin so I wasn't as concerned about staying with the pace group. And I had been smarter in my training so I knew what pace would feel good.
Miles 1-3: One word: Crowded! I found it a little difficult trying to dodge and weave through all of the marathoners and half marathoners as we started the race, although I still was just a bit over my goal of 10:00 miles
Miles 4-6: I settled into a great pace and was able to find pockets of empty space to run in. I was right at my 10:00 mile pace and was feeling really good. Crowd support was great and it really helped.
Miles 7-10: One more word: Hills- Well, as hilly as the course got I guess. It may have been the physically toughest part of the course, but I had done a good amount hills in my training so I was still feeling pretty good there too. And I was actually a little under my goal pace
Miles 11-14: The crowds of runners continued to thin out especially after the half marathoners split. These miles were a big psychological barrier for me, because it was around miles 11-13 when the wheels came off in my first marathon. But at this point I was feeling good, maybe to good and had sped up to a 9:45 pace.
Miles 15-19: One word: Lonely! These were some tough miles as we were running along the river. The crowd support had thinned out and I really didn't like the out and back loop. I think seeing the runners coming back as they were in the closing miles messed with my head. I felt discouraged and alone, which I think began to affect me. Although, I was still at a 10:00 mile pace
Miles 20-25: Houston, we have a problem- At this point I can't say I hit the wall, but I did struggle. Cardio was fine, legs were fine, but I felt weak and light headed. I never thought of stopping, but I did have to adopt a run/walk strategy. They had cones separating the out and back part of the course. So I made a deal with myself that I would speed walk to one and then run past two cones. This worked well and kept me goingI think the issue was that I didn't eat enough before the race (was worried about stomach issues during the race). and even though I drank a lot of Gatorade and ate a cliff bar, I think I am going to have to add gu into my training runs as well
Miles 26 and 26.2:I was so close that I knew I had to run the rest of the way. Crossed the finish with a chip time of 04:36:44 which smashed my PR.
Overall: I was disappointed I didn't break 4:30:00, but happy with the new PR. Thought the course was good, but didn't like the out and back. Crowd support was great while the race organization lacked a little.
Looking forward: I know that I need to focus more on nutrition and I think I need to up my MPW so that I can increase my speed and finish stronger that last 10k.
So about Philly...I lined up with the 4:30 pace group, although, this time I had my Garmin so I wasn't as concerned about staying with the pace group. And I had been smarter in my training so I knew what pace would feel good.
Miles 1-3: One word: Crowded! I found it a little difficult trying to dodge and weave through all of the marathoners and half marathoners as we started the race, although I still was just a bit over my goal of 10:00 miles
Miles 4-6: I settled into a great pace and was able to find pockets of empty space to run in. I was right at my 10:00 mile pace and was feeling really good. Crowd support was great and it really helped.
Miles 7-10: One more word: Hills- Well, as hilly as the course got I guess. It may have been the physically toughest part of the course, but I had done a good amount hills in my training so I was still feeling pretty good there too. And I was actually a little under my goal pace
Miles 11-14: The crowds of runners continued to thin out especially after the half marathoners split. These miles were a big psychological barrier for me, because it was around miles 11-13 when the wheels came off in my first marathon. But at this point I was feeling good, maybe to good and had sped up to a 9:45 pace.
Miles 15-19: One word: Lonely! These were some tough miles as we were running along the river. The crowd support had thinned out and I really didn't like the out and back loop. I think seeing the runners coming back as they were in the closing miles messed with my head. I felt discouraged and alone, which I think began to affect me. Although, I was still at a 10:00 mile pace
Miles 20-25: Houston, we have a problem- At this point I can't say I hit the wall, but I did struggle. Cardio was fine, legs were fine, but I felt weak and light headed. I never thought of stopping, but I did have to adopt a run/walk strategy. They had cones separating the out and back part of the course. So I made a deal with myself that I would speed walk to one and then run past two cones. This worked well and kept me goingI think the issue was that I didn't eat enough before the race (was worried about stomach issues during the race). and even though I drank a lot of Gatorade and ate a cliff bar, I think I am going to have to add gu into my training runs as well
Miles 26 and 26.2:I was so close that I knew I had to run the rest of the way. Crossed the finish with a chip time of 04:36:44 which smashed my PR.
Overall: I was disappointed I didn't break 4:30:00, but happy with the new PR. Thought the course was good, but didn't like the out and back. Crowd support was great while the race organization lacked a little.
Looking forward: I know that I need to focus more on nutrition and I think I need to up my MPW so that I can increase my speed and finish stronger that last 10k.
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