Jay Silvio mentioned an internet training planner program called smartcoachin one of his blog entries (Jay’s Week That Was: Baltimore 1 of 16). One of the things I've been troubled by is the lack of goal or target times for the various runs in my marathon training plan. Since I'm working towards the Baltimore marathon as my 5th marathon, I'm no longer just interesting in finishing (though that's always the fallback goal, should the event go badly). I want to improve my times. I ran the B&A in March in 4:35, so I would like to break 4:30 in Baltimore, assuming it's not too hot or humid or...  And that seems like a reasonable goal. 

The training plan I put together (based on Moores Marines plan), has lots of speedwork and distance running, but the thing that eludes me is something of a target pace for each run. I know the distance runs should be slower, but how slow, if I want to hit a specific target for the marathon? And really, it's too hot and humid now to run that fast (for me, anyway).  And as for speedwork, I have no idea how fast I shoud be running intervals. I have some mileage goals but no target paces.

Smartcoach gives me that. I don't know if they are too aggressive or too easy, but at least I don't feel like I'm floundering anymore.  As I look at the plan, it seems like the target paces are slower than 've been pursuing, but I've had trouble maintaining my paces, so that's probably a good thing. So I'm going to try it out, for a few weeks anyway, and see if it feels right.

Well, after a short break (two weeks of no running at all following the Frederick marathon May 4, one week in the Bahamas partying hardy), we've started training for the Baltimore Marathon. It's running this year on October 11 and it's part two of the Maryland Double Challenge (the things we do for a medal to hang in the closet!). We've decided to start over, from scratch. Sort of. We (my turtle partner and I) are determined to break 4:30. Our fastest times are around 4:39. So we're close. But how do we train for a target speed?

After looking at lots of plans on the internet and talking with other marathoners, here's the basic idea: interval, tempo, and distance runs every week. We're starting out with intervals -- 4x800s with a couple easy warmup and cooldown miles on Mondays. Except that every other Monday will be hill work -- 4x hill ascents and descents. Increasing the number of reps every few weeks. Since we're trying to hit a target finish time of 4:30, we're working the intervals based on the Bart Yasso 800's theory -- so we are aiming for intervals in under 4 minute, 30 seconds.  As I understand it, intervals should be run at a speed just short of gasping for air. 4:30 is too slow for that for us. So last night's intervals ranged from 3:40 to 3:50. Perhaps too fast, but I would like to have some extra gas during the marathon. I haven't figured out how fast to do the hills yet. These are especially important because the Baltimore marathon is very hilly. 

Every Thursday is the distance run.  A 4:30 marathon means a 10:18 pace.  So we are planning to run at a 10:18 pace during our long runs. This may not hold up as the distance extends beyond 16 miles or so. I've personally run 18 miles in 3 hours, which is a 10-minute pace, but after that I faded. But I have to believe that if we want to improve our speed, we need to actually run faster. I guess it's a balance between running fast and having enough recovery time between distance runs. We'll start with only 10 miles, so we should be able to build nicely. We'll run each distance for a couple of weeks, then drop back a bit for a recovery week and then increase by a couple of miles. Gotta work out the water, especially as the DC summer rolls in.

Every weekend will be a  tempo run -- 70% effort as I read it. I really don't know what that means except for a loose definition that we can converse (like all-stars), but it's hard.  I think for me, this means running at about a 9:30 pace. I ran a 10-mile tempo run earlier this spring in 88 minutes, so I think somewhere between 9 and 9:30 should be about right. Maybe a little slower, but under 10 for sure.

So, that's the plan. I'm working on putting it all down on paper (or spreadsheet). Hopefully it will pay off.

We're now 9 days to the Frederick (locally and affectionately refered to as "Fredneck") marathon (Here). As usual, I don't feel ready. My left knee is swollen (on the outside, water on the knee) and hurts. I went to the Dr. and he said I'm not damaging it. But it aches all the time. And my left ankle hurts too. In fact my left shoulder hurts as well. Maybe this is because I'm not left-leaning enough? And I have trouble breathing this time of year -- allergies of some kind or another.

This will be my fourth marathon, so I guess I no longer worry about finishing. I'm pretty comfortable with that. It's just the manner of the finish. I think my hopes of breaking 4:30 are not realistic this time around.  I ran 5 tempo miles Wednesday and 12 easy miles yesterday (Thursday). The easy miles were much harder than they should have been. I'm concerned about how well this marathon will go.

My plan for the next 9 days is to run an easy 5 miles Monday, get the Dr. to look at my knee again Tuesday, run an easy 2 miles Thursday and then do the Marathon on Sunday. I'm hoping the Dr. can drain the fluid and inject something to keep it from bothering me. That was what he indicated when last I saw him, anyway.

Straining onward...

Well, I ran the B&A marathon yesterday and while I was please with my time, it was not my best day ever. I had (in a previous blog post) expressed some concern about my left knee. I had figured that if it was bothering me, I could stop running at the half and be scored for that instead of the full marathon, but that turned out to be no problem at all. My problem was all in my head -- I ran far too fast at the outset and then died towards the end.

My wife dropped me off at the Severna Park HS at about 7:15 am. I had been struggling over what to wear both the previous night and that morning. The forecast was for low 30s in the morning and up to the low 50s during the day. So, in the end, I wore shorts (with an extra pair of runners underwear because I hate getting cold in certain places) a long sleeve shirt, and an Annapolis Striders vest, which has mesh pockets for gels and so on. Then, in a fit of indecision, I put heavier stuff in my gym bag, figuring I would decide as late as possible what I wanted. Well, at 6:30 am, the thermometer in my car was reading 24! It was a bit colder than the weather gods had predicted.  I had cotton sweats on to keep warm before the race and I was really undecided about what to wear. In the end, I decided (hoped) it would warm up, so I left my heavier stuff in my checked bag. I did add a second-layer shirt, and in the end I think it was perfect. Although the highs for the day eventually reached the low 50s, it was in the 30s and 40s for the race.

After getting that struggle out of the way, I did some short slow runs around the starting area to warm up and to stay warm. As the time to start approached, a strange thing happened: the race committee decided we were all set up on the wrong side of the starting line. So they had us move around to the other side (now heading east). But before we got there, the decided that was wrong and to go back (heading west). And then, they decided the east-facing start was correct after all, so we all moved to the other side. This time for sure! I was lined up way in the back, in any event. I didn't want to get in the way of any of the other runners.

When the starting gun fired, we all started pressing forward. It took me a little over a minute to reach the starting line. Much better than the 12 minutes for the Marine Corp! I started to run and had to stop immediately, the walkers ahead of me (who I assumed would start running when they crossed the starting line) kept walking. So I had to dodge around them to get running room. But then we were off, and it felt great. I was pretty much keeping pace with other runners around me when we hit mile 1. I was on a 9:40 pace, which seemed fast but felt good. Soon enough we were out of the residential area and onto the B&A trail which is a paved, mostly level trail that used to be the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad. I love the trail -- it has all this history to it. And it just rolls along, though it was quite crowded with the 1000 entries in the marathon and half-marathon.

I saw several people I knew from Striders training, and got an encouraging hello and wave from Renee Cover (thanks) as we passed each other (twice). Anyway, I seemed to want to keep the 9:40 pace up -- I hit the 10 mile mark very close to the 9:40 pace at 1:37. And I passed the half marathon point at around 2:08. And it all felt great. Warming up, my knee was fine. So I kept going. I was doing great and going strong all the way to mile 18, which marker I passed in just under 3 hours. But then things began to get tough. I got more and more worn out. I started slowing down a lot until by mile 22 I was running a 12-minute pace. The only problem I had in those early miles was water -- it seemed like a long way between some of the water stops and I should have tanked up a bit more at each one. But that didn't seem to be a problem later.

Around there somewhere, I was caught and passed by a Ruth Ripley from the Syracuse, NY area. Ruth was running her 96th Marathon and she looked great. She was doing a run/walk Galloway approach and it was working well for her. I kept my pace up until Mile 23. By yelling at myself. Several years ago, my father passed away after a 7-year fight with cancer. So I told myself that the exhaustion and pain I was feeling were nothing compared to the exhaustion and pain he felt in all those years of chemotherapy and to buck up. And that worked for a long way. But at mile 24 I was dropping. So I shifted to Ruth's walk/run approach. I walked for 2 minutes and ran for 8. I was amazed at how much better I felt. I only actually walked for 3 intervals -- 6 minutes -- but it brought my pace way back down again to something nearer to 11/mile. And, as I came around the last turns into  the finish area, I was almost sprinting.

There was a real treat waiting there. The race officials had a PA system and were announcing everyone's name as the approached the finish, shouting encouragement. It was a fantastic end to the race.

In the end, in spite of the difficulties I got into late in the run, I set a new PR at 4:35:25 -- about 4 minutes faster than the Marine Corp last October. So I can't complain too much. But I do believe that if I had held my pace at a slower 10/mile, I might well have broken 4:30. Who knows? Not me!

I would like to say thanks to the Annapolis Striders for putting on a great marathon. I liked this a lot more than the Marine Corp (which was just too crowded). To the Ron Bowman of the Strider for the training programs, timely coaching and training advice. To my running buddy Spencer Hines, who keeps me honest. And most importantly to my wife for putting up with the training time.

Slogging Onward...

Less than two weeks to the B&A marathon. Definately in taper mode. I took the past week off to let my knee heal a bit and then ran a short 5 miles last Saturday. It was an okay run, though I felt a bit leaden. Too much time off? Not sure. But my knee felt fine while I was running. I had planned to run 12 or so, but I got to about 5 and mother nature intervened. So I plodded on home to use the facilities and never made it back out the door again

But later that evening, my knee (outside, over the top of the cap) was very tender. I was quite worried, but by today (Tuesday) it feels fine again. So, I'm trying to decide if I should run at all during the rest of my taper, or if I should just let the knee rest, or if I should skip this marathon altogether! It's a hard decision. I'm signed up for Frederick in a couple of months, so the time off may be a good thing. But I really love the B&A marathon and want to run it. I'm sure I can get through it -- the issue is one of doing more permanent damage.

Ah well, decisions, decisions, decisions...

Well, only 4 weeks to the Baltimore and Annapolis marathon, 2008. I'm not ready. I thought I wasn't ready for the Marine Corp Marathon last fall, but I'm really not ready for this one. I think all the training I did for the MCM is gone and has been replaced by Christmas and New Years training, which is mostly doing beverage lifts!

I've done some 18 mile runs and did a 14.4 last night, but my knees are protesting and I generally felt tired and weak. Tomorrow I'm gonna drag my sorry arse out of bed at 5:30 to hook up again with the striders for a 22 mile trainer. If that goes well, then I might think there's hope. I'll do one more 20+ and then taper. It's a short taper, but I'm not focused on this marathon anything like I was for the MCM. I'm using it more as a long-distance training run for the Frederick, which isn't until May.

But I can't have a slower time either (some ego, huh?).

I've cast my die and registered for three marathons in 2008. Now I have to get kickin with the training again. I signed up for the Baltimore-Annapolis (B&A) marathon on March 2, the Frederick marathon on May 4 and the Baltimore marathon on October 11. 

I had pretty much committed to doing Frederick with my RB -- he lives close to that area, and it turns out there is a "special" (as in "rode the short bus"?) deal called the "Maryland Double" -- register for and complete the Frederick and Baltimore marathons in 2008 and get a discount on the entry fee and also a special double-finisher medal. So that seemed like a reasonable thing to do. I was planning to run something in the fall, and I think the Marine Corp is just too big.

So I had two. And then I started remembering how much I loved the B&A marathon, which was my first one (spring 2007). I couldn't resist. And, since I'm a member of the Annapolis Striders anyway, it's pretty much a requirement to run that race, isn't it?

So let the training begin...