Another hot day, but a long run completed
(For anyone who hasn't read this blog before, I'm a older, slower marathoner working on my quest to finish a marathon in all 50 states. I'm at 43 states now, with a total marathon count of 63. I've done battle with hyponatremia in the past, and still have to take electrolyte replacement capsules frequently when I run. Also, I use the Galloway walk-run method, adjusted according to the distance and conditions.)
I don't like long layoffs between marathons. I've found it easier to stay at the long-distance level, rather than dropping back to shorter distances and then having to work my way back up the ladder. But that's what I allow to happen every time my schedule has a long gap in it. Like this summer, when the gap is between Sunburst on June 6 to Mesa Falls on August 22. Now I'm going through the mileage-building process once again. And this time, I've added another facet to the challenge.
Unexpectedly, I managed two sub-5:30's recently--one at the Florida Marathon in December 2008, and the other at Ocala in February. I didn't keep that up, but my times did stay a bit under my norm of last year. So in June, faced with the long stretch between marathons, I saw my choices as these. Either I could not worry about speed, look for marathons with generous time limits, and just finish my remaining 7 states, walking if necessary. Or I could try to work on speed and be confident of attaining times well under 6 hours. I chose the second option.
The plan was two-fold. First, I would do some speed work during the week on the treadmill. (For several reasons, I can't run outdoors during the week, so I rely on the treadmill.) Second, I would lengthen my running intervals. For the last couple of years, I'd been doing 4x1's, 3x1's, and even 2x1's. But I thought if I could increase the interval to 6x1's, even 7x1's for shorter runs, that would surely build my endurance more.
The speedwork has been spotty, to say the least. I do get on the treadmill nearly every night, but most nights I do nearly all walking and little running. When I have run, I haven't pushed the pace very often. So much for that part of the plan. However, I did manage to have success with the extended intervals, doing a couple of runs at 6x1's and 6x1's.
Which brings us to the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, I set out for 18 miles at 5x1's, and did it, despite the oppressive heat.
One week ago, I intended to increase the distance up to 22 miles, still at 5x1's. I managed to slog through 16 before the heat nearly overtook me. I was determined to keep the interval at 5x1's. I somehow made it to about 18.5 before I just couldn't continue.
But Mesa Falls is coming up fast--in just two weeks. Yesterday was do or die day. I went out intended on 24 miles, but I knew that I'd need to do a couple of things different from last week. First, I started an hour earlier--at 4:00 instead of 5:00. I knew I needed to get in a lot of miles before sunrise. Also, I planned to shorten the run interval a couple of times in the later miles. I stayed with 5x1's for the first 12 miles, then went to 4x1's for the next four miles. I could feel the heat taking it's toll, and part of my brain kept trying to convince me that maybe 20 would be enough, or at least 22. But I knew I needed to get in the distance, no matter what it took. I changed the interval to 2x1's and managed to finish steady. Yeah!
There may be runners out there who find long runs (anything longer than 20) easy after a while, but I'm not one of them. They are never easy for me, and never a sure thing. Each long run finished is a triumph.
And now I'm looking forward to much cooler temps in Idaho in a couple of weeks. I figure that's worth at least one minute longer run interval.
For my tutoring service, visit http://WiseOwlTutoring.net.
For more information about my writing and editing, visit http://BettieWailes.com.
I don't like long layoffs between marathons. I've found it easier to stay at the long-distance level, rather than dropping back to shorter distances and then having to work my way back up the ladder. But that's what I allow to happen every time my schedule has a long gap in it. Like this summer, when the gap is between Sunburst on June 6 to Mesa Falls on August 22. Now I'm going through the mileage-building process once again. And this time, I've added another facet to the challenge.
Unexpectedly, I managed two sub-5:30's recently--one at the Florida Marathon in December 2008, and the other at Ocala in February. I didn't keep that up, but my times did stay a bit under my norm of last year. So in June, faced with the long stretch between marathons, I saw my choices as these. Either I could not worry about speed, look for marathons with generous time limits, and just finish my remaining 7 states, walking if necessary. Or I could try to work on speed and be confident of attaining times well under 6 hours. I chose the second option.
The plan was two-fold. First, I would do some speed work during the week on the treadmill. (For several reasons, I can't run outdoors during the week, so I rely on the treadmill.) Second, I would lengthen my running intervals. For the last couple of years, I'd been doing 4x1's, 3x1's, and even 2x1's. But I thought if I could increase the interval to 6x1's, even 7x1's for shorter runs, that would surely build my endurance more.
The speedwork has been spotty, to say the least. I do get on the treadmill nearly every night, but most nights I do nearly all walking and little running. When I have run, I haven't pushed the pace very often. So much for that part of the plan. However, I did manage to have success with the extended intervals, doing a couple of runs at 6x1's and 6x1's.
Which brings us to the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, I set out for 18 miles at 5x1's, and did it, despite the oppressive heat.
One week ago, I intended to increase the distance up to 22 miles, still at 5x1's. I managed to slog through 16 before the heat nearly overtook me. I was determined to keep the interval at 5x1's. I somehow made it to about 18.5 before I just couldn't continue.
But Mesa Falls is coming up fast--in just two weeks. Yesterday was do or die day. I went out intended on 24 miles, but I knew that I'd need to do a couple of things different from last week. First, I started an hour earlier--at 4:00 instead of 5:00. I knew I needed to get in a lot of miles before sunrise. Also, I planned to shorten the run interval a couple of times in the later miles. I stayed with 5x1's for the first 12 miles, then went to 4x1's for the next four miles. I could feel the heat taking it's toll, and part of my brain kept trying to convince me that maybe 20 would be enough, or at least 22. But I knew I needed to get in the distance, no matter what it took. I changed the interval to 2x1's and managed to finish steady. Yeah!
There may be runners out there who find long runs (anything longer than 20) easy after a while, but I'm not one of them. They are never easy for me, and never a sure thing. Each long run finished is a triumph.
And now I'm looking forward to much cooler temps in Idaho in a couple of weeks. I figure that's worth at least one minute longer run interval.
For my tutoring service, visit http://WiseOwlTutoring.net.
For more information about my writing and editing, visit http://BettieWailes.com.
posted by Bettie Wailes at
10:27 AM
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