Asphalt Junkies CLOSED AND GETTING OUR FIX (Page 57)

Matt great story I think you may have found a training partner.

Time for some long-term planning! 

I'd like to do a marathon in June 2013.  I'd LOVE to get a Boston qualifying time but understand that it may take a few attempts.  I need to do less than 3:45.  My loose goal has been to get my long run up to 15 miles and do that length of run a couple times a month.  I think I will be doing my last tri of the season (an oly) at the beginning of November.  After that, I can focus on running.

Any suggestions on how long my long run should be leading up to the marathon?  Keep in mind that I tend to recover pretty easily from long runs as long as I have a very gradual build-up.  (I'm pulling 30 miles out of my butt.)  How many times should I do the "long" run before the marathon?  How long would an honest taper be for a race like this?

Thank you to all the Junkies!  Have a safe holiday weekend! 

Long term planning is a great idea Tracy.  Currently my long term plan has been to race the Oly's for a couple of years and then do HIM's for another couple of years and evaluate my abilities to complete a full IM.  So far so good.  I completed 2 years for the Oly's last year and this is the beginning of my HIM journey.

But I guess I am not your question.............

I cannot remember our HM time or your 10 mile time that you recently posted so Ill have to go by memory for my suggestions and thoughts.  

First off there was a thread in the main forum about whether it was easier to complete and IM of qualify for Boston and the results were astoundingly heavy toward qualifying for Boston.  This was  primarily because of the time constraints to get to the Boston marathon and the fact that completing a full IM allows 17 hours for completion.  Boston is certainly a very lofty goal and one that many people don't achieve.  It is a pretty hard row to hoe getting there for sure...........

But while I can't remember your times, as stated above, I remember thinking when I read your times via your posts (because you don't have RR's posted) that I thought you were pretty fast.  I think you are sitting in a very GREAT position to be able to qualify for Boston!  You already posses a great deal of fitness and based on your ability to run hills you could hit a flat, fast marathon course and probably be pretty close with some hard core training.

Now to November.  If you have the time to start a slow build now to get ready for some higher mileage training in November than that will help you be ready sooner.  I am not talking anything outrageous now, but getting to a 30 MPW avg. and then later in the year start a solid base build with a higher volume to accommodate the marathons.

For a specific long run distance there are a couple of different approaches that you can take.  Some people have had good success with a long run near 16-18 miles.  But this is supported by many, many moderate distance runs.  I have no personal experience with this method of marathon training, so I'll give you my own suggestions based on my reasonable success.

I suggest, at a minimum, 2- 20 mile runs leading up to the race.  But since you may be looking at a BQ for your first race about 4 -20's would get you into a better physical, and more importantly, mentally prepared state to run.  The mental aspect of marathoning is critically important and possibly equal to the physical demands.  Those last 6 miles are really the second half of the race (as has been said by many others). 

For a good running base leading into the marathon a 40 MPW base would be a minimum for someone looking to BQ.  But that is an absolute minimum.  I had a 50 MPW base leading into my last marathons and it proved successful.  Nearly all of my miles leading up to the race were easy miles except for 1 tempo run a week beginning about 2 months out.  And then these runs were lower distance building to a max of 8 miles at half marathon pace or a little faster.

I have been long winded (as usual) and I hope you have gotten some ideas.  I will answer any other questions you might have that remain unanswered.  But I think you have the capacity and ability to pull off a first time marathon BQ if you have the training to and mental preparedness to back it up.

Wow, Dirk!  Thanks for the long reply!  Yeah, I'm bad about writing race reports. 

I think I can get myself up to the 30 MPW average with what I have been trying to do.  Here is what I've been targeting, slowly but surely.

• Mon - 3 mi easy
• Tues - 4 mi easy
• Wed - no running
• Thurs - 6 mi tempo or hill
• Fri - 2 mi easy
• Sat - no running
• Sun - 15 mi long and easy

That gets me to 30 MPW.  I'm very close to hitting these numbers but my consistency each week is lacking.  If I wasn't trying to fit in cycling and swimming, I don't think I'd have a problem getting these workouts done.

My paces for the 10 mile race and the half mary were both about 8:10/mi.

What would a 50 mile week look like?

Thanks so much for your help!  Have a great holiday weekend! 

bswcpa - 2012-05-26 7:28 AM In unrelated news - my daughter is going to State with her 4x400 relay team!! She had a really bad night (a lot of tears - being ranked 3rd and coming in 9th) Tuesday at regionals in her individual 400 race but came back strong a half hour later with the relay team which she anchors (ranked 3rd and came in 2nd). She and 2 other freshmen make up the team with 1 sophomore so they're young. They're ranked 17 out of 27 state qualifying teams in Indiana and they're just thrilled to be going. What an experience! We'll be driving about 8 hours round trip next Friday just to see her run for one minute. It'll be worth it, though.  

That is so awesome!

I had my triathlon today!  Short story- overall it went well, I placed second in my AG! (out of 15 I think.) First time I've placed, and the award was a bottle of wine.

Longer version- I was actually quite nervous for the race (among other reasons) because this was the first race since the dreadful triathlon from Sept 2010 when an injury I didn't know I had just exploded halfway through the run.  Very devastating race.  I am still managing the aftermath of that today, and go see an ART guy occasionally.  I was slightly nervous that something would flare up or explode during the race today, but nothing happened. (Phew.)  I was actually getting nervous during the bike portion because I though my glutes felt weird, but nothing came of it.  Hopefully the coming days have the same story!  Overall the swim went pretty well. The biking leg I was a bit disappointed with.  I'm not sure of my official time, but my bike time was basically the same as, if not worse than, 2 years ago when I did this same tri/course, and I felt I was putting in more time on the bike leading up to the race this time around.  My run I think I can overall be happy with, given the course profile.  It was hilly enough for me, and about a mile I would say was on the grass.

David and I did meet up before and after the race.

The even longer version will be coming via a race report.

Yay!!!!  Congratulations on an AG placing!!!!! 

Tracy, I am thinking about a marathon too.  (It's just intriguing. )  I think I will be doing some "test" sort of week(s).  I am looking at a marathon training plan (Pfitz), and I think in the coming weeks (maybe even the upcoming week depending on how I feel), I was going to try out the first week of the plan, and see how I feel after that. (I will likely shorten the long run by a couple of miles though.) If I feel good, I was thinking about starting the plan "officially" in a few weeks for an October or November marathon.  Again, I feel nervous about my hip adductor issue, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to maintain marathon running, so I'll have to try it out to see if it works.

This plan starts off at about 33 miles(?) per week and maxes out at 55, and is an 18 week plan. It also has 3x 20 mile runs. I have the book (it's called "Advanced Marathoning") but a quick google search brought this up just so you have a basic idea of it (but it doesn't tell the whole story with suggested pacing and that): http://www.columbusnet.com/tupeloschedule.pdf

Until the point you "officially" start focusing on your marathon, I would keep up running so you feel confident you will be able to start week 1 of whatever marathon training plan you choose (if you choose a plan) confidently!

That was a good link for some ideas.  Thank you.

I don't like following a plan.  I design my own plan using Google calendar which allows for a lot of wiggle room.  I typically make my plan for a month and then adjust each week.  It causes my progress to be a bit slow but I have not been getting injured.  When I followed a plan in the past, I was just disappointed when I couldn't make a workout happen.

I love running so it's not a problem making sure that I keep it in my schedule. 

Awesome races guys!!!

I did no real training the last couple days. I did get a run in this morning. Its been snowing for 2 days here! I sit here reading about 80+ degree days and I just want some 70's. Geeez.

Congratulations on an AG placement! I know how you feel being a little psyched out about the injury. Sometimes the hardest part of getting over an injury is believing that you can (if that makes sense).

michgirlsk - 2012-05-26 11:36 AM

bswcpa - 2012-05-26 7:28 AM In unrelated news - my daughter is going to State with her 4x400 relay team!! She had a really bad night (a lot of tears - being ranked 3rd and coming in 9th) Tuesday at regionals in her individual 400 race but came back strong a half hour later with the relay team which she anchors (ranked 3rd and came in 2nd). She and 2 other freshmen make up the team with 1 sophomore so they're young. They're ranked 17 out of 27 state qualifying teams in Indiana and they're just thrilled to be going. What an experience! We'll be driving about 8 hours round trip next Friday just to see her run for one minute. It'll be worth it, though.  

That is so awesome!

WOW! And she is only a Freshman - that is really exciting! Keep us posted!

Congratulations and can't wait for all the details. Amazing to think where you were a few months ago, struggling with back pain, and now your first race is in the books!

NICE!!!!!  Congratulations!!!!!

Time to go spring skiing!

Samantha congrats on a great finish today placing 2nd in your AG. I am glad to hear everything went well and that you did not have any setbacks. That is awesome.

bswcpa - 2012-05-26 7:28 AM Good Saturday morning everyone! I don't recall who's racing this weekend. Is anyone? If so, may you race well! Welcome back, Dina! Hope the road trip was fun. Jeff - thanks for the heat talk. I can always count on you to give good info. I know you said your Oly last week didn't go well but I haven't seen a race report. Are you hiding it from us? Allison - Glad to know you're alive. Thanks for sharing that inspirational story. Can't wait for my bananas to ripen to try that "ice cream" recipe. Sounds yummy. How's the leg and when's your next event? Tony - Hope you get over your sickness. Good job in getting a run and training in, though. Tracy - Yes, I've been on athlinks. When I'm entered in a race and the participants are listed on line I check out that site to see what my fellow AGers usually do in that distance. You can get lost in all the fun details on there. Matt - Loved you sharing about your son. Too funny. I don't see where you're scheduled at Maumee Bay. Did you decide not to do it? Paul - Glad you were able to get a ride in and hope your shingles are getting better. My hubby's dad got them last year and I remember how miserable he was. Dirk - How's the deck project coming along? Your daughter looked beautiful in her prom pictures. Have you come down off the big podium since your super win last week? Stan and Warren - Thanks for sharing the bike rules. Those were a good chuckle. JoAnne - How are you feeling now that you're rested from your marathon? Vero and John - Glad to see you checking in and still training. Karl - Sorry about your experience with the pothole. Hope your bike is patched and you've gotten to ride again. Samantha - Is your first tri next week? I bet you're getting excited! All's been well for me - took this week easy after my Oly. I have an aqua mile swim on the horizon where I'll be about the last out of the water but the money goes to a good cause so it's worth participating. Any of you close to northeastern Indiana should come to the Warsaw Optimist Sprint Tri on June 23. Dirk, Allison and I will be there so we can have a mini-Junkie outing. In unrelated news - my daughter is going to State with her 4x400 relay team!! She had a really bad night (a lot of tears - being ranked 3rd and coming in 9th) Tuesday at regionals in her individual 400 race but came back strong a half hour later with the relay team which she anchors (ranked 3rd and came in 2nd). She and 2 other freshmen make up the team with 1 sophomore so they're young. They're ranked 17 out of 27 state qualifying teams in Indiana and they're just thrilled to be going. What an experience! We'll be driving about 8 hours round trip next Friday just to see her run for one minute. It'll be worth it, though. Whether you're racing, relaxing, training or partying may you have a blessed Memorial Day weekend. Thank you for those who served and for those who gave their lives for my freedom!

Brenda it was great to hear about your daughter although I wish she had a better night for herself it sounds like she did very well in the relay finishing 2nd. I think it's great that you are going to get to see her race even if it's only for one minute. Best of luck to her next week.

David congrats on finishing your first Tri. I think that is a great time for your first one and I envy the swim time. I hope I can do that well for my first one.

I have run couple of marathons and used two different plans, the first was a modified version of a beginners plan on Runner's World and the second one was the FIRST plan which has you run 3 days a week. They both worked and helped my accomplish the goals that I had set for each marathon. I think this time around I will definitely be looking to run more then I did in the two past attempts. The reason I went with the FIRST plan was that I had problems running more than 4 times a week so I would run 3 to 4 days and supplement that with cross training. I just could not run more than that without having problems. I will definitely be looking to run more days and miles for the upcoming NYC marathon in Nov. I am not looking for a BQ as that will never happen but I definitely have a goal I want to achieve and I think I am up to being able to run more. The only thing I am worried about is training for the marathon and the HIM that I have at the end of Sept. Normally I would start training for the marathon in July but since that will not be my only focus I will be interested in how I can not only train for the HIM but how I can get in the necessary mileage for the Marathon in Nov. I am thinking this will be a challenge.