Category Archives: Training

Reflections of a 20 Mile Run

The first 20 miler maybe the toughest. That was the topic of discussion at the end of the run as we all stood around recovering from a nice 21 mile run. I was the novice in the group as this was my longest run ever and everyone else has several marathons already under their belt (with some impressive times to boot!) I think we decided that the first one might be the hardest, but they never really get easier. Not overly encouraging as we have 2 more 20 mile runs in the upcoming weeks. But their points were well taken At this distance it is easy to have a bad day and feel it. Runs of this distance require a little more thought and preparation than an easy 10 miler. I plan to prepare well for all of my upcoming long runs!

Preparation – We spent a pretty quiet evening at home on Friday night, eating Pasta and watching the Olympics. I can’t say I hydrated excessively, but felt pretty hydrated. I actually woke up Saturday morning with “pre-race jitters.” I hit the bathroom several times and ate a bagel with peanut butter and half a bowl of oatmeal. Then I hopped on my bike and rode the 2.75 miles to where we were meeting. It was a nice easy ride on a cool (low 60’s morning).

The Route

Run Time – I loaded up my shorts with a package of cola flavoredClif Shot Blok and off we went. The plan was to take a Shot Blok every 5K. I managed to do that and felt like that was a good mixture for most of the run. We actually did take the pace nice and slow as we started out. We had a group of about 10 runners which was a nice size. We started approximately at the 1.5 mile mark of the Twin Cities Marathon. We followed the course pretty accurately hitting the official water-stop around mile 3 where I picked up some CLIF SHOT Energy Gel of the Chocolate persuasion – they offered both Chocolate and Double Expresso. They did this for all the runners about a month ago.

We made some course deviations to throw in some soft trails but hit the hills along Minnehaha Parkway so we wouldn’t be surprised by them during the race. That was actually a good thing because I didn’t realize there would be any on that part of the course, so now I can plan for them. We hit them about 7 miles into our run which places them approximately in the 8-9 mile range.

Pace Chart

Coming back from the turn around point I noticed on my Garmin that we were in my Marathon pace range (my goal is 7:15 so Marathon Pace runs would be between 7:30 and 7:00). The pace chart shows us hitting 7-flat for a brief moment of time in the 9 mile range. I wanted to stay with the group but also knew we had a long way to go still so I was willing to let them go, knowing eventually we’d catch up. I never really got gapped by the group and had someone to run with for most of the run, which was nice!

The trails were quite crowded on our return run as many training groups were out there hitting the roads. On the return we “closed” the lakes – running around them on the opposite side so that we essentially ran around the entire thing. I started feeling bad when we got to Lake Calhoun, it had been about 5 miles since the last water stop and I was tired. I stopped to pee real quick and caught back up to the group at a water fountain.

We then swung by the Marathon Water Stop at 17.25 already 1.25 miles farther than my longest run. I grabbed 2 cups of water, a cup of Powerade, and ate a Chocolate Gu (I didn’t eat the first one). I had gotten a little hungry somewhere in the early teen miles, but not the hunger that can really be satisifed while running. I over did it at the last stop and felt it within the next mile. I was still moving along fairly well but could feel my hip flexors getting tight, my toes getting blisters, and my stomach was a little off.

I hung in there and finished at the consistent pace we had been going. I ran the last mile pretty much by myself, with a group right in front of me and a guy behind me who later said, “My GI tract finished the run before I did.”

Reflections – Those are my thoughts from my first 20+ mile run. Here are my take-aways:

Eat a bigger breakfast,
Don’t try to “cram” for the final miles,
Be consistent with nutrition on the run,
Steady pace throughout the run, try to avoid spiking the pace,
Relax and have fun!

Here is a list of my mile splits if you care! Oh, I guess I should note that my Garmin had the run at 20.5 miles but pretty much everyone agreed that it was at least 21.

9:00
8:14
8:20
8:14
8:11
8:12
8:03
7:49
7:47
8:12
7:33
7:54
8:03
7:55
7:37
8:00
8:05
7:59
8:14
8:01
3:52 (8:07 pace)

[tags] Running, 20 miles, Reflections [/tags]

Marathon Training: Week 11

3 Replies

A pretty good week that ended with my longest run ever! I definitely started to feel the load of building up the miles this week though, especially on the hills. The weather has been great for pretty much all the runs so that is really nice.

Monday:4-6 easy miles. 5 mile recovery run. It was nice and slow as I was feeling yesterday’s race. I ran around Powderhorn Park doing laps around the lower level until I got to 3.5 so that I would hit 5 on the way home. I finished the run in 42:05. The temperature was around 60 with high humidity, but it was cool enough that the humidity wasn’t much of a factor.

Tuesday:8-10 miles with hills. 8.6 miles at Hyland Hills again. This time we didn’t run up the ski hill, but it didn’t matter too much because my body was quite tired. I really felt all of the previous hillwork and racing on hills during the run. Hyland is a great place to run because it has a lot of options for hills and flat spots too. 1:08:30 was our overal time on a pretty good evening to run. We got the run in between some major deluges, so it was pretty humid and around 75. Surprisingly the trails weren’t really that wet.

Wednesday: 5-7 easy miles. I had planned to run 6 miles today but ended up only running 4. I felt pretty wiped out and didn’t want to push it too hard. I was suffering a little bit from Olympic sleep deprivation and this run is always pretty tough anyways. I did my Downtown via Park 4 mile loop in 33:22. It was a nice 61 degrees but 94% humidity made for a nice sweaty run! I seemed to hit a lot of red lights today – which I didn’t complain too much about!

Thursday:Rest Day. I did a pretty good job of resting, but I did bike commute 8.6 miles, but I tried to keep it at an easier pace.

Friday:10 miles. A nice 10 miler to start the weekend off! It really would have been nice to get out on some trails but I did what has become my normal Friday loop of running around the Minneapolis Riverfront – Boon Island, Nicollet Island, and the W River Parkway. I tacked on some miles running through the University of Minnesota East Bank Campus and made it home in 1:22:20 for the run. I wanted it to be an easy run as the 20 miler loomed on Saturday, so that definitely fit the bill. It was in the low 60’s and humid for this run as well!

Saturday:18-20 miles. Ta dah, my longest run ever and the route-maker made it a little long, thanks Nathan! Couldn’t have asked for a better day for this run and a great group of about 10 people to run with for it. We ran almost the entire first half of the Twin Cities Marathon Course and got a waterstop provided by the marathon. We ended up running 21 miles around the Lakes for a pretty decent run. We finished in 2:45:22 before it got too hot. Temps started in the mid 60’s and were in the mid-70’s when I got home. We felt the heat on some of the exposed areas around the Lakes but much of the run was shaded! I felt good for the first half and struggled more in the second. After the last stop at 17.5 I started feeling bad for awhile (I had taken too much water) and finished valiantly with a long slow uphill in the last mile. My hip flexors and toes hurt the worst!

Sunday: Cross-Training. I rode my bike to the YWCA and swam a total of 400 yards. I did my best Phelps impersonation and failed miserably! I did swim 200 yards without stopping – alternating freestyle and backstroke. I didn’t feel too sore upon waking up so that is a really good thing! It was nice to sit in the hot tub though!

Weekly Mileage Totals:

Running – 48.6 miles

Biking – 52.2 miles

Swimming – 400 yards

Tip of the Week: Occasional racing may be important for marathon success. Particularly this is true for Novice runners who have raced infrequently–or not at all–before catching the Marathon Bug. One reason for racing is to test your fitness: to get an idea of how fast a pace you will be able to carry in the marathon. Another is to test all your strategies from the shoes you’ll wear to grabbing fluids at water stations. Leave nothing to chance. Too much racing, however, can lead to overtraining, so don’t overdo it.

Week 11

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

Marathon Training: Week 10

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This was a pretty good week of training overall. The weather finally cooperated for the most part with only a few humid days and many excellent nights. My in-laws came in Monday night and left on Saturday night so we had plenty of touristy things to do around town. We had a great hill workout on Tuesday followed by a PR in the 15K on Sunday!

Monday: Easy 4 miles. Four nice easy recovery miles on a cool but humid morning. It was 70 degrees again with like 90% humidity. I ran down Park Ave towards downtown and came home on the LRT Trail my Downtown-Park 4 Mile loop. Its a good loop mixing in some scenery with the Metrodome and just being downtown! I ran it in 31:11. I failed on the first attempt at Day 1 of Week 5 of push-ups. So back to Week 4 for me!

Tuesday: 8-10 miles with hills. I finally started bike commuting again this week so that has been fun! With the marathon training class actually meeting in south Minneapolis I was even able to ride to class which felt great! We met at Lake Nokomis and then ran to the Ford Dam on the Mississippi River for a hill repeat workout. It was in the low 80’s without a lot of humidity so a pretty good day for a tough workout. From our starting point to the bottom of the hill it was just under 2 miles. We then proceeded to run up a 1/4 mile hill 10 times! My Garmin says it was like a 10% grade without 70 ft of elevation gain (Does that sound right?), but the Garmin’s elevation profiles are notoriously off. I do know that we ran up the hill 10 times and here are my splits: 1:37, 1:32, 1:30, 1:27, 1:23, 1:36, 1:34, 1:31, 1:34, and 1:15. This was a fun workout not only having the guys I normally run with but also having the entire training class running up and down the hill passing each other all the time – it was a good “team building” workout. We took our time jogging back to complete the 8.25 mile workout in 1:05:21. Afterwards it was a quick swim in the lake before heading home on the bike for 23.5 miles of biking. I was worn out, but luckily the National Night Out block party was still going on!

Wednesday: 5 easy miles. I thought I would be completly exhausted and worn out after so much excercie yesterday, but I didn’t feel too bad. In some ways I think biking like that helps clean out some of the toxins from my legs. I did my push-ups before heading out and did 77 back on Week 4 Day 2. Yesterday evening I left the car at a tire shop to get a screw pulled out of the tire and fixed so I planned my run to end at the tire shop. It was a beautiful morning in the upper 60’s and it felt really nice despite the humidity. I ran along the Greenway and ended the route perfectly at the shop for 5 miles in 40:45.

Thursday: Rest Day! This was a day of rest from running, but we spent a lot of time walking around. My in-laws are visiting so we did some touristy things like visiting the Walker Art Center, wandering around St Paul, and much more.

Friday: 9 miles at race pace. I was still a little undecided about racing on Sunday or not but thought I should keep my options open and not run at race pace. I can always make it up later! I ended up running 9.5 miles with a starting temp of 61 and some nice breezes. It was humid but the low temp kept most of it away! I ran the route that takes me downtown and makes a square around the river. I added a little bit of distance by cross the Stone Arch Bridge twice and running along the East side of the river towards the Univ of MN before cutting back across on 10th Ave Bridge. The bridge seemed to take forever but it gave me plenty of time to look at the new 35W Bridge that is rapidly nearing completion. I took it nice and easy and could feel a little bit of the Tuesday workout. My overall run time was 1:17:45. I did my push-ups before leaving again and managed to get 85 done for Week 4 Day 3.

Saturday: 10-12 miles. I took today off since I knew we’d be doing more walking and touristy stuff today and I’m planning to race on Sunday.

Sunday: Cross Training. 15K Race today in 1:03:22 unofficially. It was the MDRA 15K which was a 3 lap course with some hills on a beautiful morning temps stayed around 60 the entire race. Check back tomorrow for more details!

Weekly Totals:

Running – 36.1 miles

Biking – 24.5 miles

Hal’s Tip of the Week: Practice makes perfect. Practice not only running, but everything else related to race day. That includes equipment. Do you know what shoes you’ll wear on race day? Buy a new pair now! How about shorts and singlet? Test your clothing in training to make sure nothing chafes or causes a blister. Do you expect hot or cold weather race day? Weather can be unpredictable. Will you be prepared if the temperature suddenly drops (or rises) 30 degrees on race day? Consider every scenario you might encounter.

Week 10

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

Marathon Training: Week 9

1 Reply

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]

Book Review: Marathon Preparation & Recovery

4 Replies

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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