Training Supplement – April 30, 2017
I’m getting ready for the Eugene Marathon! I started breaking in the shoes I’ll wear and I’ll start carbo-loading on Wednesday. I watched the London Marathon live and found a video of the Boston Marathon since I missed the elite race. Locally, an upgraded water fountain is coming to the Custis Trail.
Clothing & Gear
Shoes. Saucony Ride 9. These will be my shoes for the Eugene Marathon! They arrived on Wednesday and I started breaking them in the next day. I should have about 50 miles on them for race day. I wish I’d bought them a couple of weeks earlier.
Sports Bras. Brooks Juno Racerback Sports Bra. Taking a shower after the Boston Marathon, I screamed out in pain. My sports bra chewed up my back! Two weeks post-race and the two dime-sized sores have scabbed over. It’s weird because the sores are at the lowest part of my rib cage – almost to my waist rather than my rib cage. In any event, it’ll be a while before I muster up the courage to wear this bra again.
(My Complete Clothes & Gear Page.)
Nutrition & Hydration
Nutrition. Carbo-Pro Powder and Pure Protein Shake. I’ll start carbo-loading for the Eugene Marathon this week. I’m planning to start by eating less carbohydrate for a few days, so I purchased some cans of a protein shake that I know I liked. Each shake has 170 calories and 35g of protein. It has 4g of carbohydrate and 2g of fat, which I think helps it taste better than other products that are only protein. As a carbohydrate supplement, I bought a product that I haven’t tried before. I’ll report back in my next training supplement on whether it helped. But, two scoops of the product contains 200 calories and 50g of carbohydrate – no fat, no protein, just carbs!
Post-workout Nutrition. Buff Bake Protein Cookie. I decided to clear out some of my Stridebox items this week. This cookie didn’t look appetizing but since it was bulky, I decided it was first to go. It was actually pretty good. It tastes like a regular cookie. But, I didn’t think it was really a nutrition supplement. The cookie was 180 calories, 17g of carbohydrate, 8g of fat, but only 8g of protein. I thought there might be better ways of getting more protein in my diet. It is gluten free, though.
Routes
Hazards. On Thursday, I ran my last tempo run of this marathon cycle. As I was rounding a bend on the Mount Vernon Trail, I saw a car on the trail! There were a couple of people gathered around and I stopped. There was a man lying on the trail but he didn’t seem seriously hurt and a cyclist that seemed dirtier than most so I assumed he may have had to dump his bike to avoid the collision. I couldn’t help thinking someone – myself included – may have been killed and whether there needs to be a barrier in this location.
Water Fountains. A few days ago, I noticed workers tending to the water fountain on the Custis Trail next to Nelson Street. They were putting in an all-weather fountain! It’s beautiful. Thank you, Arlington County!
Media & Motivation
Music. “Down the Road,” C2C. This is the song playing in the course video for the Eugene Marathon. I found myself grooving to it every time I watched the clip that I decided to buy the song and add it to my growing Eugene Marathon playlist.
(My “Songs of the Week” playlist on Spotify.)
Podcasts. “Episode 379 – Jo Pavey,” from Marathon Talk. I’m a new listener to this podcast and I think this was my favorite episode so far. There were two parts in particular that I enjoyed. First, they talked about advice you’d give to your younger self before running a marathon. The part about not taking your race time too seriously resonated with me since I just ran the Boston Marathon as a long run. Second, they interviewed Jo Pavey, who was recently awarded a bronze medal from the 2007 World Championships. I haven’t been compelled by the whole “these athletes miss their moment” argument probably because I’ve been looking at it from U.S. athletes who were upgraded. As a fourth place runner, she missed being on the podium entirely and that’s a shame.
News. The Boston Marathon and London Marathon. The downside of racing a marathon major is that you don’t get to watch the elite race live. Days later, I found a video of the Boston Marathon! I didn’t write this in my race report, but I saw Desiree Linden in my hotel after the race. Seeing how the race went down, I wish I’d said something other than, “Congratulations”. She must have been disappointed even though she’s one of the greatest American marathoners. Then, I caught the end of the women’s and men’s race at the London Marathon this past Sunday. Both were close, which was very exciting! The overseas lottery for next year’s race opens tomorrow and I’m planning to apply.
Movies. Prefontaine. I’m running the Eugene Marathon next weekend! I thought I’d finally watch this movie about the University of Oregon track legend Steve Prefontaine. I thought the movie itself was pretty bad but I learned a few things about him that I didn’t know. For example, I didn’t know he ran in the Olympic Games in Munich. I also found him more relatable than I thought. I understood his competitiveness.
Motivation. “I run to see who has the most guts.” – Steve Prefontaine
Thinking about a time goal for the Eugene Marathon, I’m struggling between running within myself and running aggressively. When I think about my personal best at the 2013 New York City Marathon, I ran hard from the start. Do I have the guts to run that way again?
Are there unique things you eat or drink during your taper?
Have a great race in Eugene Julia. It seems to me your training cycle has gone very well overall. I hope the weather is kind and you get the success you deserve.
It’s unfair the London Marathon offers ‘Good for Age’ entries to UK residents only. You’d qualify easily if it were also open to overseas runners. Good luck for the ballot. My name will be in there too, but it’s a long-shot. For the 2017 race UK nationals had only a 1 in 14 chance of being drawn. I’ve seen no statistics about the odds in the overseas ballot.
Thanks! In looking back, I wish I’d done some long tempo runs and/or more runs close to goal marathon pace, but overall I feel positive about how my training went.
I’m getting the sense that the lottery for London might be even harder than New York City. I think I’ve read the odds for getting in by lottery for that race is only 10%. I got into New York on my first try, so I’m hoping I get that lucky again. If not, I may go with a tour company.
For my recent marathon I based my training on an 18 week plan in the Pfitzinger and Douglas book. I thought it was odd that in the entire final 5 weeks the only running at marathon pace they set was a 2 mile dress rehearsal on race week. I’ve bought the Hanson’s Marathon Method book since, I note they have you doing a marathon pace tempo run every week from 3 weeks through to 17. I intend to try their plan at some point in the future.
Regarding New York 2016. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. I managed to arrange a guaranteed charity place before the lottery took place. If that hadn’t been possible I’d have bought a tour. London is a brilliant marathon, hence the difficulty getting in. I got lucky the first time I entered the ballot, back in 1992. I’ve applied several times since then without success, including the last three. Good for Age qualification looks like my best bet. I’m getting closer, but I still have to improve by another 16 minutes!
I thought Hanson’s was pretty grueling. All those marathon pace runs took a toll on me. In retrospect, I was probably running them too hard – closer to tempo pace.
With Pfitz/Douglas, I noticed that, too. (Magness actually throws two marathon pace workout during race week!) I’m going to run a few tomorrow. But, I’ll do them by effort to see what feels like marathon pace right now. I hope it’s around 8:00/mile.