Week 7 Recap - SUCCESS: 50 Mile Week Complete
I'm pleased to report that I have recorded my first "genuine" 50-mile week ever.
I say "genuine" because I did complete 56-mile week during Tampa training early on this year, as my January 21, 2006 post would explain. However, put an asterik next to that one. That was because we had a blizzard the weekend before and my long run was forced to Monday. I did 56 after a week of a measley 21 miles the week before, which had no long run.
This week, however, was genuine since I followed the plan. I scaled back last week to 37. Week before was 46. And this week... the half-century mark!
Thursday - Rested like a champ.
Friday - Knocked out 7 miles with 10x100 strides. Great stuff. Beautifully cool weather. Guessing mileage here.
Saturday - 18 miles: CARA Group - Wheaton - Ran 16 with the group. We headed east on the Prairie Path. Added 2 on my own - Total time: 2:21:00 - 7:50 pace. Felt great.
Nice pre-long run dinner on Friday night:
Spinach Salad with tomato, onion, pepper, raisins, almonds and light rasp vingarette dressing
Grilled chicken sandwich
Rice-a-Roni Pilaif - plenty of it!
I wanted to write down this dinner so I could remember it. It worked well. No upset stomach. Had a Quaker granola bar this morning with some Gatorade. I am steering clear of Clif Bars, as I am theorizing that the 4g of insoluble fiber is sending me to the porta-cans on my run.
NEXT WEEKEND: The Chicago Distance Classic
I need to tweek next week's schedule, as the Chicago Distance Classic Half-Marathon is set for Sunday, Aug 13th. If the weather is like today way, I'm going to go for broke and test my speed. I've wishful thinking for around 1:31, but it scares me to think about the pain I may need to endure to run this kind of race.
Two questions I have:
1. Cross training for me has been virtually non-existent. However, I am getting in ALL the miles and getting them in with good tempo and pace. Will lack of cross-training hurt me on race day?
2. The group long runs have several breaks (2-4 min at a time for Gatorade, etc) . My concern is that my heartrate has a chance to recover. I am fine with this in training, but do these interruptions reduce the effectiveness of the runs? We won't breaking on Marathon day!
I'll post the week #8 plan tomorrow.
8 comments:
I guess we're all in the same boat as I haven't been doing any cross training either. In regards to your second question, it shouldn't effect your training. The odd 5 minute break in the middle of a 2-3 hour run isn't going to effect you since once you start running again, your HR will return to its training level quite quickly. Though I'm not a big fan of it, Galloway recommends inserting recovery periods in the form of walkling breaks throughout the long runs and a lot of people swear by it, so there's some evidence that it's beneficial.
Way to go!! I hope to get that high someday.
I totally recommend the cross-training. I have been doing it 2-3 times a week and has been a big help with my speed.
excellent cross-training question, i was wondering the exact same thing today. i concluded it's in the training program for a reason, so yes it probably will hurt you... as in you may have done better if you had included cross... just mho
Nice run Ryan, mine was a success as well. With this mileage it's just hard to cross train. Don't beat yourself up I don't think it will kill you on race day.
I don't know the answer about cross-training...but I do know that when I swim I gain arm muscle which I imagine isn't great to carry around when you're trying to run. I was lighter when I stopped swimming while I traveled and moved and I plan to stop swimming again in November before my marathon.
As for lower body cross-training-you run so much I don't think you're missing anything. My mileage is low so it would be nice for ME to supplement-but I think you're fine.
Good luck!
Ryan, I think cross-training is nice, if you feel like it. If it's a struggle, and you worry about whether you do it or not, then I think it can have a negative impact on your training - at least psychologically.
Right now I'd say be happy with getting in the added miles.
As for the breaks, I don't think they're a big deal either. If you're getting in distance/duration, I think that's the most important thing.
I ran with a bunch of older studs this weekend for the first time and they were stopping every 30 minutes or so for water and bathroom breaks. It hasn't seemed to hurt their race times.
You're not the only one ignoring cross training, that's for sure. However, to improve your time that little bit extra at this level, you might need some cross training. You probably gain more from a couple of hours cross training than from adding another couple of hours of running. If you need any further advice, then I recommend that you visit Marathon Training.
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