Boston Training
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Boston is now less than 4 weeks away. It turns out that I've done more musing/chattering about training on the running challenge monthly threads than here; that's kind of the way the training time crunch has worked out. Some of my online socialization gets cut out, and the running challenge thread is what has most consistently remained.
Some odd musings don't really fit in the challenge thread, so here are random things that have occurred to me in the past 8 weeks since I last posted:
We've had a spirited discussion of long run philosophy on the challenges threads. Jack Daniels wants to limit them the lesser of 20 miles or 2.5 miles, as well as to 25% of the weekly mileage. Other experts relax that standard to 3 hours and 35% of the weekly mileage. Many amateurs have issues with these limits. For example, a woman I sometimes run with, who prefers a long run pace of 9:00 per mile, points out that at a 9 minute pace 20 miles takes 3 hours. Simple math tells me that 20 miles in 2.5 hours implies a 7:30 pace per mile; that makes me think the Jack Daniels limit is designed for elites, and is tantamount to telling amateurs not to run a marathon.
But as I follow an aggressive training program and note how I react to various workouts, I have another thought. I think the 25% or 35% of the weekly mileage standard isn't intended to limit the distance of the long run. It's intended to expand the base of non-long run mileage. For running 6 days a week, with a long run of 20 miles being a third of the volume, I get a total of 60 miles a week. 40 miles spread over the other 5 days implies an average non-long run day of 8 miles. Since some days might be shorter, that pretty much means at least one other day is over 10 miles.
And there's the physiological benefit. Last Saturday, I ran 22 miles in a bit under 3 hours. Sunday I was able to run for an hour with no problem. The 22 mile run capped a 68 mile week, in comparison to a 22 mile run capping a 41 mile week at the peak of my not-so-good training for my first marathon. Guess what? Not only was last Saturday's 22 mile run faster than my first one, I was in better shape afterwards.
What the limitations aren't telling you is, the total mileage has forced me to develop to where 10 or 12 miles isn't a long run. 15 miles almost isn't a long run. 22 miles is much less of a stress on the body when 15 miles is routine and 8 miles is an easy run. So I think the idea of limiting the long run to X% of the week isn't really a limit on the long run; it's really a way to force the runner to develop a stronger base and a longer easy run capability.
Or, as my coach noted in passing, "People don't understand that when you train for a marathon, you get to a point where 8 miles is an easy run." Yep, I'm there. It will be interesting to see how much of that conditioning persists after Boston.
I banged up my ankle somehow, about a week and a half ago. This cut out speed work for a week, and cut back speed work yesterday. I've seen my podiatrist, I'm doing what I can to make it not get worse, and it is getting better under the regime of only running easy, wearing the prescription ankle support, ice after every run, and ibuprofen. I'm getting to the point where I don't consistently remember the ibuprofen, because the ankle doesn't hurt; but it is clear that it is not yet 100%.
The mind-blowing thing is that the banged up ankle improved during a peak mileage week, when I ran 68 miles in the week and 22 miles on the last day of the week. I'm still wrapping my head around what active recovery means and how much I can do; but that 22 mile run was a big confidence booster. If the ankle gets no worse, I can complete Boston. I might not run it as fast as planned, but even if I run it at my long run pace I will easily re-qualify for 2017. There are advantages to being an old fart, including a rather generous BQ target time.
Last week, BAA numbered the race and released corral assignments. I am in Wave 2 (of 4), corral 4 (of 8). That puts me in the middle of the pack among runners who time qualifies, assuming there are about 6000 charity runners. I am well ahead of median for 60 year old men; the bulk of that age is assigned to Wave 3. However, there are enough 60 year old guys seeded into Wave 1 that there is no chance I will be in the top 10 in my age group. There are just too many guys out there faster than me, and they aren't all going to have a bad day or get sick.
Between having a cold one week, and having the wonky ankle now, I'm having to adjust the training plan. Fortunately, the guy who wrote the plan is my coach. He helps me with the adjustments, and at a minimum having the coach tell me to back off eliminates a lot of second guessing. I suspect a lot of race-canceling injuries happen to people who are trying to follow a plan, and don't back off enough when something happens to them. I don't want that to be me. Coach's comment yesterday: "You have the conditioning. You'll be able to run Boston." This was in the context of the light speed work I did yesterday; I get the impression that Coach thought I might have overdone it. He may be right; this morning the ankle was ever so slightly less good than yesterday morning. Today I run easy; I'll see how it feels tomorrow before deciding whether to attempt tomorrow's long speed workout. [3 miles at E, 2 x (4 miles at MP, 1 mile at T), 2 miles at E] One idea would be to modify it to be 3 miles at E, 10 miles at MP, 2 miles at E. That would still be somewhat challenging, wouldn't simulate the tired legs late in a marathon as well, and wouldn't beat on the ankle as hard.
When I started the structured training program, Boston started feeling real. Now that I'm past the last peak mileage week, Boston is beginning to feel imminent.0 -
I totally agree about the long run % thing - a lot of people on here say they are 'marathon training' when they do a couple of short runs in the week and build up to a REALLY long one on the weekend, but to me that sounds much harder than what I do, which is 60+ mile weeks with lots of easy miles to support the long runs. Not sure I agree about the elitism thing though - surely the point of saying 'the lesser of' 20 miles or 2.5 hours is to acknowledge that not everyone gets to 20 miles in 2.5 hours? Also I am happy enough to run 7:30 pace and am not remotely elite. My coach does include a 3 hour run in his schedule though (I'll do 22 miles for that; for his runners who are better than me, they'll do more and I'm not complaining!).0
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@litsy3 - Certainly the point of the lesser of 20 miles or 2.5 hours is to recognize that not everyone gets to 20 miles in 2.5 hours; I just think it's unduly restrictive. I don't have a problem so much with the idea of a time limit, as where that limit is set. I could run a 7:30 pace and get to 20 miles in 2.5 hours; but that's faster than I should be running my longest training runs. If the limit goes up to 3 hours, I can easily get to 20 miles. I've only run over 3 hours twice in my life - one 22 mile training run, and the 2015 Buffalo Marathon. I expect Boston 2016 to be the third time I run for over 3 hours.
I don't honor the 20 mile limit either, but I know people who do. Why 22 miles? Because that showed up in some training plans I've used, getting close to the full marathon distance was psychologically important to me the first time past, and now I know that I can recover from a 22 mile easy run in a reasonable amount of time.
I know one other guy who runs the full marathon distance in training. It works for him; he will also be running Boston 2016. But I don't want to do that without understanding how it fits in, and I don't know what the rest of his training program looks like.0 -
Well, yeah, but if JD sets the limit there it's because he has reasons for thinking it's not a good idea/beneficial to do more. You and I and some other coaches not agreeing with him and thinking it can be useful to do more isn't him being elitist, it's just a difference of opinion.
I've peaked at 22 miles in the past because I've done the Pfitzinger 55-70mpw plan that has that as the longest run and I quite like long runs. My current coach writes his plans in minutes, so you have more leeway about how far you go, and that system clearly is designed for faster runners to do higher miles. He'd probably let me go to 23 but most likely he'd laugh if I asked and tell me to do whatever I felt comfortable with.
Incidentally, a lot of Europeans who work in km don't go over 30k, because it's a nice round number!0 -
Boston is 2 weeks from next Monday. I'm currently in a cut back or early taper week, with a target of 56 miles. The targets for the next 2 weeks are 50 and 45 miles, respectively. For reference, I entered the structured training program with a solid base of 46 miles per week.
This week, I'm feeling beat up. It really started with crapping out of a speed workout Thursday of last week. Then I ran a 15K on Saturday, taking the first 10K at MP -10 seconds, but neglecting to slow down for the last 5K. I won my age group, but I would have won it even if I'd run the last 5K at MP or MP +10 seconds as planned.
Tuesday this week I crapped out of another speed workout. The speed part of the assignment was 3 x 2 miles at T, with 2 minutes recovery. The second recovery period, I had to walk. The third T interval, I ran 400m and was done. My left calf had twinges of a mild cramp, the sore right ankle was worrying me, and I just felt beat. Then I ran Wednesday's easy miles on heavy legs.
Thursday was more speed work, with the core of the assignment being 20 minutes at T. Coach asked how I felt. I told him I was a bit beat up, and it should be about time for taper. He had me change the core of the workout to 3 x 5 minutes at T, with 2 minutes recovery. Damn, he's good. 3 x 5 minutes was about all I could handle. I got it done, and felt good for completing it instead of feeling bad for failing to run 20 minutes at T.
Saturday's assignment is 4 miles downhill at MP -10 seconds, 6 miles rolling at MP, and 3 miles uphill at MP +15 seconds. I asked Coach where that geography was, and he said wherever I could find it. So I had something similar in mind; but I mentioned to him I was dithering between running that as written or just doing 13 easy miles. With no hesitation, he told me to do 13 easy miles. Okay, I know where I'm doing that. I'll pace 13 miles at 8:00 or 8:30 per mile for a local training program, depending on whether they have anyone who wants 8:00. There will be some little hills, but nothing challenging.
The next two weeks are taper. There are defined assignments every day, and they might not add up to the nominal weekly mileage targets. I asked Coach about that, and he said sticking to the daily limits is more important than hitting the weekly targets, and tapering more is better than tapering less.
So where does this leave my thinking? I won't have final conclusions until after race day, but right now I'm thinking that Eisenhower's quote that "plans are useless, but planning is essential" applies to marathon training just as much as it does to battles.
If I had mindlessly tried to follow the plan as written, it is likely that I would have run myself into injury. Or worse injury than my currently sore ankle. My coach wrote a very good plan; but he is big on adjusting it for individual needs. It calls for a base of 50 miles per week and a peak of 75 miles; but if you don't achieve the desired base (and I didn't), you scale the miles down to be proportional to the base you start with. It also says to see coach if you need adjustments or more recovery. Adjustments, I understood; the most common thing is working a shorter race into the marathon training plan. More recovery, I understand better now than I did at the start of the plan. That's where I am right now.
Progress isn't made by working hard. Progress is made by recovering well after working hard. It's easy to describe working hard, and it's easy to tell when I am working hard. It's more challenging to describe how to recover, or to feel when the recovery is good or inadequate. I think I'm better at that now than when I started this training cycle, but I still have some learning to do in this area.
The big realization in this training cycle is that most runners are stupider for themselves than they are for other runners, and I am no exception. It has been a Very Good Thing for me to have a coach telling me to back off when I'm considering whether I need to do so. On my own, I would talk myself out of backing off enough most of the time. With a coach telling me which way to jump, a lot of self-doubt goes away.
Today is a rest day. The training plan calls for 30 minutes at E, but I'm ignoring that and taking today off from running. Assuming I run my 13 miles on Saturday, I'll come close enough to the weekly target. And from here to Patriot Day, getting the ankle healthy is a bigger priority than proving I can run X distance or Y pace for Z minutes.
The plan is good. Under the plan, my paces have become 10 to 15 seconds per mile faster than when I started this training cycle. But the plan cannot be followed mindlessly. Adjustments must be made for my individual needs. Figuring out what those adjustments should be is the challenging part.0 -
Great post @MobyCarp ! I completely agree that more tapering is better than less tapering, a lesson I learned through my own experience. If you trained correctly, the value of running on fresh legs trumps any added fitness you are going to gain by pushing yourself needlessly 3 weeks out from a race. Let that beat up body heal! Best of luck in Boston!0
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Yep, more tapering definitely better if you feel you need it. I think you are lucky to have a sensible coach because it means that you just have to make sure you're not too stubborn to ask your coach for help, and he can figure out what the adjustments should be. Some people find it really hard not to follow a plan to the letter because they think they're slacking, but if you've got a coach to tell you not to, you can just go with it and not feel guilty.0
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Yep, more tapering definitely better if you feel you need it. I think you are lucky to have a sensible coach because it means that you just have to make sure you're not too stubborn to ask your coach for help, and he can figure out what the adjustments should be. Some people find it really hard not to follow a plan to the letter because they think they're slacking, but if you've got a coach to tell you not to, you can just go with it and not feel guilty.
Yes, that is a *HUGE* benefit. More than once, I've dithered between backing off or pushing. When Coach tells me to back off, that ends the dithering.0 -
I have never had a running coach, but the people I have talked to that have seem to agree that the biggest benefit of having a coach is that they keep you from becoming your own worst enemy during training. It is so easy to give others advice and not follow it yourself!0
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7 days out from Boston, I'm into the taper. The weekly mileage target is 45 miles, but there is a specified assignment each day and they won't add up to that many miles. That's okay. I expect I will run 40 miles or less this week, which is less than I've run any week since November.
This is only the second time I've followed a specific plan's taper. My first half marathon, I about went nuts with nothing longer than 3 miles in the final taper week. The current plan isn't that stringent, but I do have a much higher peak that I'm tapering down from. Today, Wednesday, and Friday are limited to an easy 30 minutes each. Yesterday (Sunday) was an easy 90 minutes, which felt normal. Tuesday and Thursday are speed work. Tuesday will be 2 miles easy, 4 x 1000m at T, and 2 miles easy. That will feel like a normal if not terribly challenging speed workout. Thursday is 20 minutes easy, 10 minutes MP, 10 minutes easy. That will feel like a little bit of nothing, not much more than the easy 30 minutes.
I will honor the taper. Today felt like I was just past a warmup and had to quit, but that's how taper is. You do it because it works.1 -
The hay is in the barn now. I ran 915.63 miles in the 16 week structured program. Today I got in my car and drove toward Boston. Tomorrow I should get 2 or 3 miles on the end of the course, as recommended by the program.
Odd end of taper, pre-race thoughts:
I put more miles on my running shoes in training that I'll put on my car getting to and from Boston.
I'm not worried about the race. I'm worried about the schedule, managing a 4 hour wait from getting on the bus till starting to run.
I've been keyed up an haven't slept well the past few days. I hope I can sleep well tonight, because tomorrow night will necessarily be short.
At the start of training, and particularly when I registered and made my first hotel reservation, I totally under-appreciated how much of an event Boston is outside of the race proper. I kind of feel like I need to run Boston again in 2017 to get the logistics right and plan for the non-race social events.0 -
Good luck. I'll be watching some of the race on my computer. Be sure to wave to us as you cross the finish.
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Good luck today!0
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Left a long post in the April Running Challenge thread describing the experience; don't want to reproduce it here.4
