Week 9: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Sep 23, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Here is my report for week nine of sixteen of my Outer Banks 2013 marathon training. I am following the 3:25:00 Boston Qualifier plan outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.

To review past weeks, click here.

Short version: Disappointing week. Bad news was I came up short on the track workout and the long run. Good news was it was my fastest twenty miler yet, just a bit short of target.

For the long version, keep reading.

Cross Training. Tuesday and Friday

Successfully completed the two prescribed swim workouts – 10 x (2 laps with 15 seconds rest); 4 kick laps; 10 x (2 laps with 15 seconds rest). I did the laps at a medium effort, I guess.

Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Monday

Yep, Monday track time This week’s workout was 2 x 1600m at 6:31 with 60 seconds rest interval followed by 2 x 800m in 3:08 with 60 seconds rest interval.

Results:

1600 #1: 6:19
1600 #2: 6:20
800 #1: 3:15
800 #2: 3:15

Grade: B-. Not happy with this workout at all. After two really solid weeks to end the first half of the training, I wanted to kick off the second half on a good note. I had two problems here. The first, and probably biggest factor, was I did a terrible job of hydrating and fueling during the day. I sat in a training class at work all day and did not follow my usual eating and drinking routines. Once I went out too fast on the 1600s (problem number 2), the lack of proper preparation showed, as I hit the wall on the 800s and could not make myself go. On the positive, this was a good reminder of the importance of proper nutrition, even for a work out.

Run workout #2. Thursday

A Wednesday cross country meet meant I had to push my tempo run to Thursday. This week’s tempo run was six miles just like last week, but there was one more faster mile. So, after one mile easy, I needed to do four miles at 7:19, then have an easy cool down sixth mile. With Monday’s preparation problems still fresh in my mind, I made sure I did much better during the day Thursday. It showed:

Mile 1: 9:12
Mile 2: 7:13
Mile 3: 7:12
Mile 4: 7:10
Mile 5: 7:03
Mile 6: 9:23

Grade: A. That’s a 7:10 pace for the four hard miles. It was also a negative split and a step down (each mile faster than the previous). The second half had more downhill, but it was still a very good workout.

Run Workout #3. Saturday

This week’s long run called for 20 miles at an 8:19 pace. That’s two miles farther than last week but at the same pace. This was the third of five 20 milers during the training,

Grade: B. This run was a struggle from early on. I knew by mile seven that the last thirteen miles would not be fun. About mile fifteen, with the sky sunny and the temperature around 75 degrees, the wheels started getting pretty wobbly. Then, with three miles to go, I was still on track, but, unfortunately, it was crash and burn time. The last three miles were 8:34, 9:21, and 9:00. I finished in 2:49:06, an 8:26 pace.

Week Nine Summary

Very disappointing week after the last two outstanding weeks. I was reminded of the importance of nutrition and hydration, even in training. I also have some work to do on my long run nutrition planning.

Here’s a graphic showing hit or miss on the workouts over the past eight weeks. For the tempo and long runs, I included mileage and pace targets (not including the easy warm up and cool down miles for the tempo runs). The actual pace result is in parentheses: