2017 Eugene Marathon Training – Week 19

Since I’m tapering, I only ran two workouts this week – a long on Sunday and a tempo on Thursday.  The countdown to Eugene has officially started – 8 days to go!

Training Schedule
Week 19: April 23rd – April 29th

Sunday: Long run.  15 miles steady
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Easy run. 8 miles w/sprints or hills
Wednesday: Easy run. 4 miles
Thursday: Tempo run. 12 miles w/ 6 miles @ half marathon pace.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Easy run. 6 miles

Mileage Total: ~45 Miles.  I planned to follow the taper guidelines in Pfitzinger’s Advanced Marathoning.   This was the second week of my taper, so I reduced my mileage by 40% of its maximum, which was 74 miles/week.

Adaptations.  I adjusted my tempo run after consulting Pfitzinger and Magness’ Science of Running.  I also moved Saturday’s easy run to Friday since I was up early anyway and thought it might be better to sleep in the next day.

Goal.  Take my scheduled rest days and run my easy days easy.  Outcome: Slight fail!  I took my rest days but ran my easy days a little too hard.

Workout Details

Long Run.  15 miles steady [Log Details].

It’s been a while since I ran with my Sunday run club, so I thought I’d drive downtown to run with them and catch up.  Plus, I thought I could bore them with stories about the Boston Marathon.

We started out running towards the National Mall.  I ran with a stranger who was looking to do 8:30-9:00 pace.  We ended up running 8:15, which was a little fast.  She seemed alright with it and I knew I could do it even though that was “hard” for me.  Maybe 2 miles in, we were joined by another woman in the club who I haven’t seen in ages!  The “slower” woman pulled ahead and joined the guy running 7:30-8:00 pace and I caught up with my friend.  She left me after 4 miles, so I ended up running on my own for the rest of the run, which was fine except running their pace left me spent.  After 10 miles, I had to stop a few times to catch my breath.  But, I hit my mileage goal for the day.

Overall pace=8:22.

 

 

 

Tempo Run. 12 miles w/ 6 miles @ half marathon pace 7 miles alternating 400m @ LT pace and 1200 @ MP [Log Details].

It seemed both Pfitzinger and Magness had the last hard workout of a marathon training cycle 10 days out from the goal race.  But, the workouts were very different.  The Pfitzinger plan had 9 miles w/3 x 1,600m @ 5K with 50-90% recovery time.  But, Magness scheduled 7 miles alternating 400m @ LT pace and 1200 @ MP not including the warm-up and cool-down.  Since I did mile repeats recently, I went with the Magness workout.  I wanted to leave the house around 6:30am, but I left a couple of minutes “late” deciding which workout I wanted to follow.

I felt a little flat during the warm-up to the Custis Trail.  But, my paces were fine when I started the repetitions.  In fact, I was probably running a little too fast.  During the 1200m part of the 3rd set, I was running on the Mount Vernon Trail and realized – THERE WAS A CAR ON THE TRAIL!

 

There were a couple of people gathered around it so I stopped.  They seemed dazed and not in a mood for talking.  I also saw a couple of people gathered around a man lying on the road.  For a moment, I thought about not looking.  But, I looked.  He wasn’t bleeding but was clutching his chest and breathing heavy.  Surveying the scene, I was shocked to see a TRUCK on the river side of the trail IN THE BUSHES!  I guessed the man on the ground was the driver of the truck since he was in street clothes.  A cyclist who was stopped had some dirt on his shirt and I guessed maybe he had to dump his bike to avoid the collision.  I wasn’t any help, so I decided to keep running.

The next couple of sets were very fast as I contemplated the fact that the accident had just happened.  Had I left my house on time or ran a little faster, I could have been a part of that accident.  I felt lucky to be alive.

Split paces=7:34/7:55 (set 1), 7:18/7:44 (set 2), 7:10/7:52 (set 3), 7:24/7:26 (set 4), 7:08/7:43 (set 5), 7:30/7:43 (set 6).  Mean=7:33/8:26.  Overall pace=8:14.

Health

Injuries.  My left knee was sore this week.  I was pretty concerned because it hurt to the touch, which to me suggested some type of impact injury.  I’m hoping it heals before Eugene.  I also went to my chiropractor on Wednesday for my piriformis problems.

Weight.  Surprisingly, my weight stayed pretty consistent this week.  Tomorrow, I’ll start my carbohydrate load after a medium depletion run.

Sleep.  I slept like a rock all week!  Not always for 8 hours, but I slept through the night for about 5 or 6 hours.

Allergies.  The pollen was high this week.  I dealt with it since I wasn’t trying to run particularly hard this week.  But, I finally took a Zyrtec today to deal with my nasal congestion.

Weather

The weather was overcast but perfect for running most of the week.  Rain moved in on Monday, which was a rest day for me, and it was overcast and windy on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Temperatures rose on Thursday and I was sweating steadily during my tempo.  It seems our “spring” was only a few weeks, (which I think it typical for Washington, DC.)

Racing Schedule

Future races.  I’ve been studying the Eugene Marathon course and broke it into 5 different segments, each roughly 5 miles.  Then, I watched the video over and over again until I felt like I knew what to expect in each section.

I couldn’t help myself and checked the weather.  I also did a weather check – overnight low of 39, Sunday high of 65, sunny with some clouds.  Yes, please!

Next race: 2017 Eugene Marathon on Sunday, May 7th. (My Complete Racing Schedule.)

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your last hard run before a marathon?