03 September 2010

We're BACK! Well, sorta. (Marathon Training Day 222)

We have resumed training.  A mere 7 weeks shy of the Indy Marathon, having not run since the Geist half marathon in May (which, by the way, was AWESOME! 13.1 miles in about 2hr45min for a pace of 12.595 minutes / mile.).

We ran on Tuesday and Thursday, the same route both days (and both at night).

Phil & Niki
3.45 miles / 50 minutes
14.493 minutes / mile
Phil & Niki
3.45 miles / 46:41
13.531 minutes / mile
So, we're back to running, but we are nowhere near back to our previous level of fitness, as I see that in April we could have run this same distance at a pace of more than 3 minutes per mile faster.

In addition to not keeping up with running, we've not been keeping up with the wines either (but we have been drinking them).  We'll start doing that again, too.

This weekend we have plans to do a lot of work on the house (I want to bamboo a bedroom which still has carpet and stuff in it).  Also, we have to do homework, study for quals and run.  We want to run for 2 hours on Saturday (during the day, this night running is not fun).  HW and studying will take about the same amount of time.  And the rest of the day will be spent on the floors.  This weekend is going to suck.

Anyways, back to plans for running and whining wining.  We have 7 weeks (including this one) to prepare our bodies to run 26.2 miles.  It usually takes about 18 weeks to train from the ground up for a marathon.  We have 7 weeks.  So, the plan is to run further sooner.  The week day runs will gradually get longer, while the weekend runs will rapidly get longer.  Here's the plan now:

week 1: weekday runs: 1 hour each, weekend run: 2 hours
week 2: weekday runs: 1.5 hours each, weekend run: 3 hours
week 3: weekday runs: 2 hours each, weekend run: 4 hours
week 4: weekday runs: 2.5 hours each, weekend run: 5 hours
week 5: weekday runs: 3 hours each, weekend run: 6 hours (marathon distance)
week 6: weekday runs: 2 hours each, weekend run: 4 hours
week 7: weekday runs: 1 hour each, weekend run: 6 hours (at the Indy Marathon)
It'll be tough.
Also, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305 to track our runs (HR monitor and GPS).  Very cool device.

Phil

4 comments:

  1. I know you're pinched for time, but don't go too far too fast! In addition to losing time, you've also lost some endurance in your bones and joints. The last thing you want to do is hurt yourself because you took the summer off!

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  2. No kidding! I think the plan now is to train our bodies just to keep moving, not so much running, for 26.2 miles. I think that as long as we can keep moving, we can finish.

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  3. Woohoo! Running again!

    And a few comments about your plan...
    1- You don't need to run the full distance before the actual day. Adrenaline, excitement of the day, sheer determination will help get you through. And, it's a long and tiring effort for your body. It takes a while to recover which dampers the middle of training.

    2- Your weekday runs are awfully long. It's exhausting just to read. A few 1-2.5 hour long runs during the week will probably be fine. Building up one long run on the weekend is more important.

    3- I know you guys originally had a plan. I like this guy, Hal Higdon. Maybe you can jump in on Week 12(?) of one of these to help you pace without dying. Not that you would die on your plan, but part of me dies just looking at it. http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm

    4- Are you going to have matching t-shirts?

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  4. yeah, the revised plan is not a good idea. our original plan was a modified hal higdon plan.

    as for matching shirts... GREAT IDEA! so, yes, we will. probably.

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