Tag Archives: Hal Higdon

Marathon Training: Week 9

This has been a pretty weird/rough week.  I think there are 3.5 reason why this might be the case.

0.5 –  Camping and being gone all weekend didn’t setup the week very well.
1 – Staying up an extra hour pretty much every night this week working on my list of tasks, including wading through 435 pictures from the camping adventure.
2 – Not recovering from running in 91 degrees on Tuesday.
3 – Changing the schedule around to coordinate with the race on Sunday and wanting to perform well!

Monday: 4 easy miles. 4 miles on the downtown loop from home. I did it in 31:55 in the 69 and humid weather.  This is a fairly easy loop with a lot of stop and go, due to traffic. I was a little stiff and sore from the activities from the weekend.  I think specifically walking down the river on the rocks caused a variety of stabilizing muscles to be sore!  I finished with a total of 73 push ups in Week 4 of the Hundred push-up challenge.

Tuesday: 9 miles with hills. This was a scorcher of a run at the Hyland Hills with the Marathon Class. It was 91 degrees with a slight breeze.  It actually wasn’t too bad when we were in the shaded areas, but much of Hyland is prairie so there was plenty of sun! I had spent the last several hours walking around the Minnesota Zoo with some of the kids I work with – so I was a little tired! I tried to stay hydrated before the run and felt really good until we decided to run up the ski-lift hill. According to Garmin this is over 100ft elevation gain in about a quarter mile for about a 25% grade = brutal on the quads! I made it to the top without stopping and then barely hung on for the next 2 miles. it was overall a rolling trail with pretty much a hill of some degree in each mile.  We ran about 9.5 miles in 1:15:51 so not too bad. Afterwards we all went to Majors for a Dinner Fun Night which was a good time to meet others from the class not in my training group.  I had a burger and fries, while Mark across from me ate a Colossal Burger all 2lbs of it!

Wednesday: Four easy miles. I think it was expected to wake up a little tired from yesterday’s run, but I definintely had no motivation and a somewhat early meeting made me opt out of the morning run. I really did plan on running in the evening, but it never happened.  I did bike for 6.5 miles – that counts for something right?

Thursday: Rest Day! Well since I took yesterday off from running I decided I didn’t really deserve a rest day. So I went for an easy run along the Powderhorn loop.  I still felt pretty tired and wiped out so the 3.26 miles in 27:21. It was 71 and pretty humid.  I did manage to bang out a total of 76 push-ups for Week 4 Day 2 of the hundred push-up challenge.

Friday: 9 miles at marathon pace. No excuses for not running again. I woke up lacking motivation and pretty tired still.  I biked 10 miles including 5 after the Twin game on a beautiful evening out.  It would have been a good time for a night run!

Saturday:18 miles. Wanting to race well on Sunday I decided to skip the long run today.  I think it will be ok! I might need to look at the schedule closer and not miss many more long runs though.  I would have preferred to take a day off before the race, but having already taken 2 off this week I thought I couldn’t afford it.  So I went out for an easy 3 miles on the Little Earth Loop.  It was 62 which was great but the humidty did catch-up by the end.  I ran it in 24:12.  I didn’t think I’d be able to finish Week 4 Day 3 of the push-ups but I did manage to struggle through 85 total push-ups!

Sunday: Cross-Training. 10K race – 2 laps around Lake Calhoun on a decent day for racing. It was in the lower 70’s with about that much humidity.  It tried to rain a few times but never quite did and the clouds broke right about starting time.  I finished in 41:59.  My 5K splits were pretty much even 20:55 and 20:58.  Check back later for all the fun details!

Weekly Mileage:

Running – 26 miles

Biking – 37 miles

Hal’s Running Tips: Stretching is important for marathoners, who risk losing flexibility because of their high-mileage training. Include some stretching in your daily running routine. The best time to stretch is not before you run. Pre-workout muscles may be tight; the risk of injury is increased. Instead, stretch during–or after–your run, when muscles are warmest. If you own a hot tub, do some stretching while you’re soaking.

Week 9

[tags] Marathon Training, Hal Higdon, Running [/tags]

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Book Review: Marathon Preparation & Recovery

I just finished the 75 page e-book, Your Comprehensive Guide to Marathon Preparation and Recovery written by accomplished marathoner and blogger Blaine Moore. He recently won the Cox Sports Marathon in Rhode Island in 2:43 (I’m not sure what his PR is).

According to his blog he has finished 9 marathons and has been competitively running since 1992.  He establishes his credentials for the book during the introduction.

The book is well written in an easy to read and follow format.  E-books are a new trend and make for great portability and ease of reading and re-reading no matter where you are, assuming you have a computer or cell phone!

He easily walks the beginning and experienced marathoner alike through the 4 major parts of a marathon – deciding to do one, pre-race training, the actual race, and post-race recovery.  His goal is to simply make the marathon as painless as possible!

This book isn’t a training schedule like you might get from Hal Higdon or Jeff Galloway, but it adds insights that are sometimes left out of those training schedules. Some of the advice and tips might seem like common sense, but I think that is sometimes the things we forget to pay attention to.  The facts are interspersed with links to past race reviews and stories of his different experiences at the various races he’s run.

I enjoyed the “What to do during the race” section which hit on my most common ailment – starting too fast. I also resonated with other points, like not walking through aid stations if you didn’t do walk breaks in training.  I’ve done that before and it never helped, Blaine has experienced that and explained that it makes your legs stiffen even that short amount of time.

I’d say give it a read, its quick and easy and contains lots of valuable insights for every marathoner.

[tags] Marathon Training, Blaine Moore, Training, Marathon, Book Review [/tags]

Disclaimer: I won my copy in a recent contest at Blaine’s blog.

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