I'm back. To running and blogging again. I took almost two years off of running for any races (AFCEA 5K - 5/8/2014 - time: 22:26) and I haven't run a marathon since the Marine Corps Marathon 2013. Well I have registered for and received a lottery entry for the MCM 2016 race and I don't plan on wasting it. Yesterday I scraped together a 30 week training plan that will be mostly based on Hal Higdon's Personal Best Training Plan. I am 40+ now and haven't been training to run hard for quite some time. I will need to assess my fitness over a longer period of time. I hope for an improvement on my last marathon's personal best time of 3:33:5, but my 'A goal' is to run that elusive Boston Qualifier of 3:15:00. Definitely a stretch but I am aiming for it.
So... today's run was scheduled for an easy pace workout. Three miles at a little bit over 9 min/mi pace. I hit my marks: 3 miles exactly in 26:59, I wore my heart rate monitor and foot pod so I had my HR (avg 155 bpm) and Cadence (89 spm) data. I set out at around 5:30 AM with no breakfast or snack just about 8 oz of water and had to spend a good 15 minutes acquiring a satellite signal for my Garmin. Good run. I intentionally worked on my running form to have a fairly high cadence and upright, balanced running form. I noticed that I had a tendency to land heavy on my left leg and flare my right knee. When I ran lighter (read: more rapid cadence with a more elongated spine) this straighten out, but I did feel a bit of weirdness in my right hip. Probably nothing, but I'll watch it. I didn't stretch after the run - I forgot to do it. I'll stretch after weight lifting tonight.
Interesting story of this morning. While pacing to get a Garmin signal and looking up at the sky a lady jogger passed by me removed her headphone and said Good Morning. I greeted her back but honestly I felt awkward because I didn't want to scare her or make her uncomfortable. See encountering an unfamiliar 6'4" black man in dark clothing (with a hoodie) in the pre-morning light while running alone as a petite white lady must be scary if you are worried about such things. I assume she wasn't because she just kept running and minding her business, but I thought it was wise of her to remove her headphones until she had gotten well away from me. Obviously I have no ill intentions, but the optics on the scenario wasn't good. I had not yet started running and was pacing in the neck of my cul-de-sac wearing a dark blue cotton sweatsuit which doesn't say runner at all. I didn't want to make her nervous so I walked to the street-lighted area across the street rather than walk down the street as I intended because it would've meant following her down her running path that was a kind of dead end. I would've thought that was creepy. No worries though, she probably didn't think more than a second about it I probably overthinking how I was perceived. If she's a regular runner we'll see each other regularly on the streets of the neighborhood.
Showing posts with label Marine Corps Marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marine Corps Marathon. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
MCM 13 Race Friday
Hi! I have had writer’s block for most of this year, but since I have been scouring the InterWebs for blog entries about the Marine Corps Marathon I thought I should contribute to the pages out there. Blog entries give me a virtual community to relate to when I need a little extra support.
I took today off to rest, relax, get my race bib without having to face rush hour traffic and to take care little chores. This week was my taper week. It looked like this:
This is what my build up to the marathon looked like by week.
Training went really well. I hit every workout I planned to. I had planned four 20 mile training runs but had to cut one of them short (19.23 mi). I also did hill repeats, tempo runs, fartleks, intervals and race efforts (the Annapolis 10 miler and a self supported half marathon). Though I did more miles and faster paces running in my MCM 10 build up, I did do a fair amount of cross training in my 18 week build (bike riding, swimming and one gym/weight workout). I feel like I am ready.
I am going to try and avoid the pacing mistakes I made for MCM 10 and run at the 8:11 pace up to mile 18 and try to hold the sub-eight minute paces from then on. I will take a gel while walking through every rest stop around my 45 minute mark and every 30 minutes after. I will walk and drink my water through the stop so that I can get my nutrition in and hopefully avoid the debilitating cramping that plague my marathon races. I trained this way and feel like I can return to race pace without sacrificing too much time.
Well I am going to head off to the expo now. Have a great race. I be back to write the race report.
UPDATE: The expo and packet pickup was absolutely packed Friday. I went down at around 11:00 and had to wait in serpentine lines for about a half an hour in the pavilion across the street from the armory to get my bib. I was drinking water constantly and there were no port-a-potties. I just had to tough it out. Once I got my bib I had to go to the Armory to enter the expo and get my tech shirt. The security had a line and another 20 minute wait prevented me from bladder relief. I did however have a nice conversation with a sweet couple from Michigan. So, my warning to marathon packet pickup people is to not bring a bag going to the Expo, it will cause you to wait in an extra line. Don't drink water while in line you may not have time to get to the rest rooms past security in the Armory. And, the bags for your bib and the tech shirt pick up is in the left rear corner once you enter. Good Luck!
I took today off to rest, relax, get my race bib without having to face rush hour traffic and to take care little chores. This week was my taper week. It looked like this:
- Monday: no activity
- Tuesday: 10 x 400m repeats at 10k pace with 200m rest (includes 1 mi warmup and cool down)
- Wednesday: 4 mi easy pace
- Thursday: no activity
Friday: swimming – 10 x 50m - Saturday: 2 mi easy pace
- Sunday: RACE!
This is what my build up to the marathon looked like by week.
Training went really well. I hit every workout I planned to. I had planned four 20 mile training runs but had to cut one of them short (19.23 mi). I also did hill repeats, tempo runs, fartleks, intervals and race efforts (the Annapolis 10 miler and a self supported half marathon). Though I did more miles and faster paces running in my MCM 10 build up, I did do a fair amount of cross training in my 18 week build (bike riding, swimming and one gym/weight workout). I feel like I am ready.
I am going to try and avoid the pacing mistakes I made for MCM 10 and run at the 8:11 pace up to mile 18 and try to hold the sub-eight minute paces from then on. I will take a gel while walking through every rest stop around my 45 minute mark and every 30 minutes after. I will walk and drink my water through the stop so that I can get my nutrition in and hopefully avoid the debilitating cramping that plague my marathon races. I trained this way and feel like I can return to race pace without sacrificing too much time.
Well I am going to head off to the expo now. Have a great race. I be back to write the race report.
UPDATE: The expo and packet pickup was absolutely packed Friday. I went down at around 11:00 and had to wait in serpentine lines for about a half an hour in the pavilion across the street from the armory to get my bib. I was drinking water constantly and there were no port-a-potties. I just had to tough it out. Once I got my bib I had to go to the Armory to enter the expo and get my tech shirt. The security had a line and another 20 minute wait prevented me from bladder relief. I did however have a nice conversation with a sweet couple from Michigan. So, my warning to marathon packet pickup people is to not bring a bag going to the Expo, it will cause you to wait in an extra line. Don't drink water while in line you may not have time to get to the rest rooms past security in the Armory. And, the bags for your bib and the tech shirt pick up is in the left rear corner once you enter. Good Luck!
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