FIRST training plan

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 12 Recap

August 23, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

8/23/11
7 miles speed
*10 x 400m. The last time I did this workout (12 x 400m) I averaged 1:36 and ended with up with a sore hamstring for the remainder of the week (due to overstriding). I held back today and averaged 1:50. Much slower but I have a happy hamstring! Although I did run the last repeat in 1:34 just to make sure I still had it in me 😉

Let’s recap week 12…

MON: 7 miles easy
TUE: 11 miles tempo
WED: 7 miles speed
THU: 6 3 miles easy (thunderstorm)
FRI: 9 miles easy
SAT: rest/HLS
SUN: 15 miles long

A total of 52 miles for the week. After Thursday’s derailed run, I was hell-bent on getting my 55 miles in. That feeling faded quickly when life and the weekend got in the way. So I maxed out at 52/53 miles this training cycle. My intention was to max out at 60 but my legs had other plans. There is a reason why the FIRST training plan focuses on low mileage. It’s difficult to run hard 3 days, add in 2 easy 8-milers, and repeat week after week.

But my legs feel rested and ready for my 22-miler on Friday. I can’t wait. I always treat the last “long” run of a training cycle like a dress rehearsal for race day. I’ll wear the same clothes…and maybe even the same socks and hair bands if I have a particularly good run. I guess I’m superstitious?!

Question – do you treat your last long run (before the taper) like a dress rehearsal for the big day? Or do you just go with the flow?

An Ugly Tempo

August 8, 2011 by Kristy 14 Comments

8/8/11
6 miles easy / 57:50 / 9:38 avg pace

Sunday’s tempo run was downright ugly. I was supposed to do 1 mile easy and 10 miles at MP (8:35). I’ve been doing my tempo runs each week on a trail since my marathon has 12 miles of towpath. All week I kept thinking how good of a practice tempo this would be…really mimicking race day terrain and pace.

The result? An ugly tempo. I ended up with 10 miles total – 1 mile warm-up, 6 miles at MP, and 3 miles cool-down. The only highlight was my MP miles – a complete disaster in terms of consistency – but all at or under MP: 8:09, 8:17, 8:27, 8:09, 8:32, 8:33.

How did this run go from having great potential to ugly? It makes total sense now…

It was ungodly humid…repeat ungodly humid.
I was dehydrated. Matt and I were out and about all day Saturday and I wasn’t drinking enough water. Then we went to dinner and I had a few beers 🙂 The beers tasted especially good, since I was so thirsty!
I didn’t bring any salt caps with me.
I didn’t sleep much on Saturday night. We finally watched Paranormal Activity and I was terrified. I slept with one eye opened.
So…I was tired. And mentally I just wasn’t there. I really wanted to be back in bed sleeping.

I can’t be too upset. My long run was pretty much done at MP pace on Friday. So I know I cando it. I’m dropping back a few miles this week so I can rest up for my final 2 weeks before taper time!Let’s end on a positive note. We ended up going out for Matt’s birthday on Saturday night. We went to a very causal place so we could sit outside with Hawk.

DSCN1514 — Put me down and let me get back to my ice cubes

Do you like scary movies? I like them and then regret watching them all the time. Paranormal Activity was scary but still doesn’t top The Exorcist. That is hands-down the most terrifying movie I have ever seen.

Changing Things Up

May 31, 2011 by Kristy 13 Comments

5/31/11
8 miles (4 at tempo) / 1:09 / 8:37 avg pace
2 miles @ 7:44 — 8:02, 7:39
2 miles @ MP — 8:42, 8:32

*****************************************************************************************************************

“If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll get the same results”. So very true when it comes to training for a marathon. So what will I do differently with this training cycle? For starters, it’ll be more challenging. I’m still using the FIRST training plan with the following modifications:

Increase overall mileage
Since NJM was only a month ago I still have a good base built up and plan to build on top of that (starting at ~40 miles per week and going from there). I’d like to max out at 60 mpw, but not sure if that is possible. We’ll see. So in addition to 3 hard runs (speed, tempo, long), I’ll be adding 2 easy runs to get my miles in.

Switching between hill repeats and track workouts
When I trained for Steamtown, I did lots of hilly runs and I felt so strong. For NJM, I concentrated on flat and fast. Both worked well for me but I want to combine the two for the Leigh Valley Marathon. I need speed in order to BQ and I need hill repeats so I can maintain my marathon pace over hills. So one week I’ll hit the track for intervals and the next week I’ll hit the hills for repeats.

Trail running
Since 12 miles of the Leigh Valley Marathon will be on a trail, I need to be able to maintain a fast pace on gravely terrain. I’m going to try and do my tempo runs on a trail.

Cross-train
Still aiming for yoga at least once a week and maybe (gasp!) some strength training.

Long runs – some fast and some slow
Usually I do my long runs pretty close to my goal marathon pace. I still plan on doing some of them but I also plan on slowing down my pace every now and then.

Hopefully all of this will lead me to a BQ in September!

Review of the FIRST Training Plan

May 4, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

I never mentioned the actual name of the marathon I’m running on 9/11. It’s the Leigh Valley Marathon (or Via Marathon). It’s a point-to-point course starting in Allentown, PA and ending in Easton, PA. The course was designed by the wonderful Bart Yasso! I love Bart!

I wanted to do a review of the FIRST training plan, which I used for the NJ Marathon. For a description of the plan and the modifications I made, please see this post. Overall, I really liked it and will be using it again (with modifications) for the LVM.

What I liked:
1. The FIRST program has specific Boston qualifying plans. For NJM, I used the 3:50 plan and I liked that all my workouts were focused on getting me to run a 3:50 marathon.

2. Nothing but quality workouts. There are 3 key runs per week: speed, tempo, and long. I added a 4^th run each week (an easy run) to increase my overall mileage. These key runs were hard but since my overall mileage was lower, my body could handle them.

3. The speed workouts each week nearly killed me; but they absolutely without a doubt made me faster.

4. The tempo runs were manageable and I was able to do them without too much difficultly.

5. I felt the long runs were a little easy. I often ran faster than I was supposed to but I generally do that anyway (see this post for an explanation). My endurance is much greater than my speed and this training plan made that very apparent as I was sucking wind at the track!

6. I only had 1 case of “brick legs”. Usually when I train for a marathon, this happens a few times. Again, I attribute this to less overall mileage.

7. Running 4 days a week allowed more time for yoga, which I desperately needed during this training cycle.

What I did not like:

1. Even though running 4 days a week was a plus, I had to get over feeling like a lazy slug. I have always run 5 days a week, with 2 rest days. But I really wanted to make yoga a top priority so I kept to the 4-days-a-week running regime. With 3 tough runs a week and 1 easy run, I don’t think running a 5^thday would have any added value.

2. My overall mileage was low. I had to get over this too. I maxed out at 43 miles per week! My body doesn’t thrive well on high mileage (I consider that to be 60s and 70s) but in previous training cycles I was getting into the 50s. It was hard to not see those numbers climb higher than 43 but I think my legs were thankful.

3. This wasn’t an issue for me but I want to give warning to anyone thinking of using this plan. There is no base building phase. Most plans have you build mileage first (slowly and safely) before you do speed work. With the FIRST plan, you literally “hit the ground running” (pun intended) with speed work. I wouldn’t recommend this plan for beginners. If you don’t have a strong base of 30 miles per week established add about 6 weeks onto this training plan to get your base building time in. You’ll be less likely to get injured.

What training plan are you currently using? Or are you winging it? I love seeing what plans people use to train. It’s such a matter of preference.

Taper Time + Week 14 Recap

April 11, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

4/11/11

7 miles easy

1:06

9:26 avg pace

I’m officially tapering…the hard work is done; now it’s time to rest and prepare for the big race. I’m aiming to keep my overall mileage in the low 30s this week and the mid-20s next week, since my training cycle stressed low mileage. Unfortunately, I still have 2 speed workouts to do 🙁

This Sunday I’ll be running the Penn Relays Distance Classic 20K (about 12.4 miles). I won’t be racing it though. I’m using it as a goal marathon pace run, which is exactly what my training plan calls for anyway. I love when it all comes together!

Week 14 Recap of NJ Marathon training:
MON: rest
TUE: 8 tempo
WED: 7 easy
THU: rest
FRI: 6 easy
SAT: 22 looong
SUN: rest

43 miles for the week with no speed work. My legs were more sore than I thought they would be after the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. I’m glad I took another easy day so I could get in a good 22-miler! Missing too? Yoga. I was leery of taking a class this week since I tweaked something in last Friday’s class. Usually I leave yoga feeling better but not that time. I was worried it would affect my race last week, but I was OK.

I’m going to show all of you just how weird I am…every time I say “taper time” I think of MC Hammer’s song “U Can’t Touch This”. You know…”stop, hammer time” kinda sounds like “stop, taper time?” Riiiight? Well if you never thought of it before, I bet you will now!

We saw this sign in Australia (if you look closely it says hammer time). I thought it was hysterical...and how appropriate?!

Run The Long Road is on Facebook! Click here to “like me”…please!

20 Miles – Take 3

March 12, 2011 by Kristy 5 Comments

3/12/11

20 miles

3:00

9:00 avg pace

The FIRST plan called for 20 miles at 9:16 pace today. My plan was to slow down and follow the 9:16 pace for 15 miles and, if I did, I could run the last 5 miles at GMP. I felt good, the weather was beautiful (windy but nice), and I’m glad I held back and was able to speed up during the last few miles.

Splits, shall we?
M1: 9:16
M2: 9:07
M3: 9:24
M4: 9:21 –> Shot Blok #1
M5: 9:10
M6: 9:08
M7: 8:58
M8: 9:02 –> Shot Blok #2
M9: 9:05
M10: 8:52
M11: 9:00
M12: 9:14 –> Shot Blok #3
M13: 9:11
M14: 8:57
M15: 8:54
M16: 8:47 –> Shot Blok #4
M17: 8:42
M18: 8:37
M19: 8:51
M20: 9:14 (suddenly got tired)

I saw a sea of green and beads while running past the train station; lots of 20somethings waiting to the train to Philly for the Erin Express. The EE is an Irish bar crawl in Philly that takes place on the first 2 Saturdays in March. I used to frequent the EE for many years and it was a blast, as long as you don’t mind super crowded bars, beer being spilled on you constantly, and long lines for the bathroom (with no toilet paper). I didn’t mind those things in my 20s but you couldn’t pay me to do it now! Funny how things change without you even realizing it. Today I plan on watching St. Joe’s (hopefully) beat Dayton and advance to the finals of the A-10 tournament (all from the comfort of my couch). Then I’ll take Hawk for a walk and check out our St. Patty’s Day parade (sans solo cup of beer). Very different from past St. Patty’s Day celebrations.

027 — I did love those beads. Wore them for many years.

These pictures were not even taken on St. Patty’s Day, they were taken at Irish Weekend in Wildwood, NJ (every September). Yeah, I used to celebrate my Irish-ness twice each year – in March and September. Ah, the good old days 🙂