I have been conspicuously absent from the land o' DrunkRunner blogging for some time. This absence has been due to some personal health issues that kept me off the road until recently. However, I am happy to report that I strapped the ol' shoes back on and am turning up the heat in order to make it to the finish line of the Houston marathon. It will be a struggle, especially since I only have approx. 12 weeks until the race. But I am trying to put in the miles as quickly and safely as possible. If all else fails, I will still be satisfied to do a half-marathon this year, but I am trying for the whole kit-n-caboodle.
For the last several weeks I have been averaging about 10 miles a week. Not impressive, but running is running. This week I starting training seriously with a training plan I put together at runnersworld.com. It needs some tweaking, because right now it has my pace at a painfully slow 11:55 for my 8 mile run tomorrow. I need to fiddle with the numbers a bit, because it still has me running in the 11s even right before the marathon. Is this standard? I know that race day adrenaline kicks in and people run faster than their training pace, but really?
So far I have run a couple or 3.5 milers and yesterday was a 5 mile tempo run. I managed to keep my average pace more than a minute under the 10.17 pace set by the training plan. Like I said, I need to tweak the numbers. Today Ginifer and I are going to run a nice 4 miler and then tomorrow I am set for my longest run (an 8 miler) since about May. I might be overdoing it the first week, because I have been adding extra miles to the plan, but I need to get my lungs and legs back in this game! It is the long runs that I find mentally daunting, simply because it has been so long since I did one. But I just need to put together a kick-ass running mix, eat my carbs the night before and load up on water (Note: I did not say cut out the alcohol!)
Stats for the week so far:
Miles: 12.1
Time: 1:53:15
Avg. Pace: 9:21
Observations: Dear Running, I have missed you greatly these last few months. I hope you aren't angry that I abandoned you briefly. Can we still be friends? Sincerely, Dr. Pavement Pounder
For the last several weeks I have been averaging about 10 miles a week. Not impressive, but running is running. This week I starting training seriously with a training plan I put together at runnersworld.com. It needs some tweaking, because right now it has my pace at a painfully slow 11:55 for my 8 mile run tomorrow. I need to fiddle with the numbers a bit, because it still has me running in the 11s even right before the marathon. Is this standard? I know that race day adrenaline kicks in and people run faster than their training pace, but really?
So far I have run a couple or 3.5 milers and yesterday was a 5 mile tempo run. I managed to keep my average pace more than a minute under the 10.17 pace set by the training plan. Like I said, I need to tweak the numbers. Today Ginifer and I are going to run a nice 4 miler and then tomorrow I am set for my longest run (an 8 miler) since about May. I might be overdoing it the first week, because I have been adding extra miles to the plan, but I need to get my lungs and legs back in this game! It is the long runs that I find mentally daunting, simply because it has been so long since I did one. But I just need to put together a kick-ass running mix, eat my carbs the night before and load up on water (Note: I did not say cut out the alcohol!)
Stats for the week so far:
Miles: 12.1
Time: 1:53:15
Avg. Pace: 9:21
Observations: Dear Running, I have missed you greatly these last few months. I hope you aren't angry that I abandoned you briefly. Can we still be friends? Sincerely, Dr. Pavement Pounder
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2 comments:
Welcome back to running, PP. We've missed you.
Your plan sounds pretty good. I would caution that the increased mileage might be a bit much. At the first sign of lingering knee pain, I would ratchet back a little. That said, for decades marathon runners trained 6 days a week, so it might just be doable.
Your numbers sound good. When I had RunnersWorld run my numbers I simply adjusted the time on my sample race until I got numbers that were closest to what I was running on the distance runs anyway. I think this meant I lied and said that I could run a 7 minute mile, but since the plan doesn't call for running a 7 minute mile it has all worked out great!!!
Again welcome back, man!
hey you!
very impressive!
i wouldn't run more than the plan says, but you could run faster than the plan says. it sounds like you will be in a good position to run either race. don't let the distance runs intimidate you. in certain ways, they are the easiest part of the week until they hit about 17 miles. you'll just zone out on endorphines about an hour into it anyway ;) keep it up!
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