Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Running with more deliberate pacing
Sorry I couldn't think of a better title. Anyway, tonight starts a weird section of my marathon training - I'm fully recovered (in all ways) from the Distance Classic, the Run Hit Remix is over, and now my long weekend runs are approaching. Except that in two weeks I'll be heading for vacation and will have to juggle my long runs to get them in. So I'm still in a no-man's-land of training that won't be over for almost a month.
To refresh, the Distance Classic taught me that I needed to vary my speeds during training. Since my Tuesday run is the first of the week (Monday is for cross-training; I do weights and elliptical) I want to ease into the week but also start strong, so I did a warmup lap (1.25 miles), a fast lap and a cooldown lap. The first and third laps averaged 8:20/mile pace while my middle lap was at 7:04/mile. This was just what I was looking for to start the week - a deliberately varied pace where I was able to keep a consistent pace, both fast and slow, for a set distance.
Tomorrow is my longest midweek run to date in my current training plan, 7.5 miles (or 6 laps of my neighborhood). I'm planning to take a similar metered approach: I'll go at the slower pace for the first four laps and then speed up (though not quite as much) for the last third of the distance. This type of schedule should get my body used to working hard even when it's tired, excellent prep for those last several miles of the marathon.
To refresh, the Distance Classic taught me that I needed to vary my speeds during training. Since my Tuesday run is the first of the week (Monday is for cross-training; I do weights and elliptical) I want to ease into the week but also start strong, so I did a warmup lap (1.25 miles), a fast lap and a cooldown lap. The first and third laps averaged 8:20/mile pace while my middle lap was at 7:04/mile. This was just what I was looking for to start the week - a deliberately varied pace where I was able to keep a consistent pace, both fast and slow, for a set distance.
Tomorrow is my longest midweek run to date in my current training plan, 7.5 miles (or 6 laps of my neighborhood). I'm planning to take a similar metered approach: I'll go at the slower pace for the first four laps and then speed up (though not quite as much) for the last third of the distance. This type of schedule should get my body used to working hard even when it's tired, excellent prep for those last several miles of the marathon.
# posted by Joel Corbin @ 9:16 PM 
