Week 2: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Aug 4, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Here is my report for week two 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 week one, click here.

Short version: Week two went well, and I hit all the workout numbers & time goals, but the long run was much tougher than I expected.  So, after two weeks, I’m still on track.  For the long version, keep reading.

Cross Training. Tuesday and Thursday

Successfully completed the two prescribed swim workouts. This week’s swims called for doing 12 sets of 1 length free and 1 length kick. I also added a second workout on Thursday evening, a 1000 meter freestyle swim.  On Saturday went for a slow (lower heart rate) 40 mile bike ride.

Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Monday

At the high school track.  This workout called for four 800m runs in 3:08 with a 2 minute rest interval. 800m is two laps around the track. Results:

• 800 #1: 3:00
• 800 #2: 3:05
• 800 #3: 3:10
• 800 #4: 3:06

Grade: A-. Again, another after work day workout.  Arrived at the track about 6:30pm.  Since I drove the car this time, I was not warmed up.  So, I took a bit and completed about a mile and a half walk/easy run warm up.  Thunderstorms earlier in the day had knocked the temperature down to about 83, but it was very muggy.  Went out too fast on #1, as usual, as I was getting my feel for pace.  Eased up too much on #3 at the end, and just missed the 3:08 target.  Overall, good solid workout.

Run workout #2. Wednesday

Run #2 called for a seven mile run: one easy mile warm up, then five miles at a 7:49 pace, then one mile easy cool down. Last week I said this was the run I was most worried out.  When Wednesday night rolled around, I was pretty tired and not really interested in running hard.  I knew I had to suck it up, though, and give it 100%.   Told you this plan would be as taxing mentally as physically. I walked about a mile before I started my easy mile 1 run.  Here are the results:

• Mile 1: 9:24
• Mile 2: 7:36
• Mile 3: 7:44
• Mile 4: 7:47
• Mile 5: 7:32
• Mile 6: 7:36
• Mile 7: 9:36

Grade: A. As you can see, miles two through six were faster than target. Again, I befitted from afternoon thunderstorms in the area that cooled the temperature to about 82 degrees.  I was very happy with this.

Run Workout #3. Friday

The last run for the week called for 15 miles at an 8:34/mile pace. I had more confidence in my ability for this pace and distance after last weeks successful 13 miler.  However, some poor planning on my part had me scheduled for a doctor’s appointment at 8:30am.  I could have waited until Saturday, but I wanted to go on a group bike ride then.  So, it was up at zero dark thirty again to beat the heat.

Walking out the door on Friday morning, I knew I was in for a challenge.  It wasn’t terribly hot at 75 degrees, but heavy rain the night before had left a muggy morning.  Can humidity be 110%?  Technically, no, but it sure felt like it.

Though the workout called for an 8:34/mile pace, I wanted to hit about 8:30.  After ten miles, I was right on track, and my son joined me at the entrance to our neighborhood as a I passed.  The plan was for him to pace me the last five miles.  We made it about three, then my wheels came off.  I started having some serious stomach troubles and slowed considerably.  Despite my last two mile splits being 8:52 and 9:02, I made the goal and finished in 2:08:27,  an 8:32/mile pace.

Grade: A

Week Two Summary

A good solid week, probably thanks to cooler than usual weather this summer.  I feel like I’m still on track.  The body feels pretty good, and I’m not sensing any early signs of  trouble.

I didn’t expect the troubles on the long run, but it was a good learning experience.  I was using electrolyte tablets in my water that I’ve used in the past without trouble, so I’m not going to blame them 100% for my stomach problems.  However, I will likely go back to plain water and sodium tablets for this week’s long run.  I consumed 48 ounces of fluid on that long run and still lost over four pounds.

Up Next

Here’s what is in store for week three:

Run #1: Track work. 1200m in 4:47, 1000m in 3:56, 800m in 3:08, 600m in 2:20, 400m in 1:32 with 200m rest intervals between each distance. Yuck.  Too much to keep up with!
Run #2: 1 mile easy, 5 miles @ 7:34/mile, 1 mile easy
Run #3: 17 miles @ 8:34/mile

Cross Training: Swim  of 20 x (kick  one length, rest 20 sec)

Runs #2 and 3 worry me this week.  Not only is the intensity stepping up, I am finding that I am more tired later in the week.  My long run is going to have to be on Saturday this week, so I may take Friday off from any cross training.  The temperature forecast right now looks OK, too, but it is August in central South Carolina, so we should have plenty of humidity.

Stay tuned and POFIFOTO!

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Week1: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Jul 28, 2013 by Greg Fowler

As promised in last week’s post, Madness and Methods, here is my scorecard for week one of marathon training.

In case you missed last week’s post, here’s the basic background:  I am using the training methods described in the book Run Less Run Faster to train for the 2013 Outer Banks Marathon on November 10.  Despite not quite meeting the authors’ suggested speed for a baseline, I am attempting to train for the Boston Qualifier time for my age group and break 3:25:00.  In this program, each week I will attempt three runs at the prescribed lengths and paces and complete at least 2 cross training workouts.

In the book, the authors actually refer to week one as week  sixteen, since we are sixteen weeks out from race day.  I will reverse the sequence, though, and call it week one.  Here’s how I did.  I’ll grade cross training on a pass/fail and I’ll give the run workouts a letter grade.

Cross Training. Tuesday and Thursday

Successfully completed two swim workouts.  This week’s swims called for doing 20 lengths of the pool with a kick board and resting thirty seconds between each length.  I also added an easy (low heart rate) 18 mile bike ride on Sunday to shake out Friday’s hard run.  Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Monday

This called for 3 x 1600m at 6:31/mile with a 400m rest interval.    I did this at the local high school track.  You probably know 1600m is four laps around the track (1 mile). So do this three times, with a one lap break in between the sets. Results:

• Mile 1: 6:13
• Mile 2: 6:35
• Mile 3: 6:40

Grade: B+ .  Started after work at almost 7pm. Temperature was close to 90 degrees and muggy.  Not terrible for South Carolina in July, though.  I did take an Accel Gel at the house, then rode my bike very easy to the high school for my warm up – almost 5 miles taking about 22 minutes.  I went way too fast on the first mile (don’t recall ever running a mile that fast), which cost me on the third.  The last 1/2 mile really hurt.  Need to be more consistent on the splits.  Tough to do on the track, though.  For cool down, I rode my bike back home.

Run workout #2. Wednesday

Run #2 called for a six mile run: two easy miles warming up, then two miles at a 7:03 pace, then two miles easy cool down. Results:

• Mile 1: 10:07
• Mile 2: 9:04
• Mile 3: 6:56
• Mile 4: 6:55
• Mile 5: 9:45
• Mile 6: 9:37

Grade: A.  As you can see, miles 3 and 4 were faster than target.  Afternoon thunderstorms in the area cooled the temperature to about 82 degrees.

Run Workout #3. Friday

The last run for the week called for 13 miles at an 8:19/mile pace.  Can’t say that I was too optimistic about this one. I was tired, and, unfortunately, Friday morning at 6am was the only time I was going to have to run in the coolest weather.  So at 5:55am Friday, I hit the road.  At this time of morning, it was still pretty dark, so I stayed in the safer roads of my neighborhood for the first few miles.  This meant some bigger hills than I’d like, but  I just looked at it as an opportunity for a negative split.  Sure enough, I had a really great second half of my run and completed it in 1:47:29, an 8:14/mile pace. Surprised myself on this one.

Grade: A

Week One Summary

Overall, week one went very well, and I’m off to a good start.  Physically,  I have some muscles talking that haven’t spoken up for a while, but I feel pretty good. If week one is any indication, though, this is going to be as tough mentally as physically.  Work, family schedules, and weather all add to the stress of hitting the workouts.

In addition to the workouts, I worked hard on hydration, drinking plenty of water each day and cutting back my soft drink and intake significantly.  I’m working on eating better, too, but that’s pretty tough.  I did manage to cut out my morning drive-thru hash browns.  Baby steps, I guess.  I’ve also made sure to ice down my troublesome left foot in the evenings after runs, even if it feels fine.

Up Next

Here’s what is in store for week two:

Run #1:4x800m in 3:08 (2 minute rest interval)
Run #2: 1 mile easy, 5 @ 7:49, 1 mile easy
Run #3:15 miles @ 8:34/mile
Cross training swims: 12 x (swim 1 length, rest 15, kick 1, rest 20)

Run #2 worries me the most this week.

Stay tuned and POFIFOTO!

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Madness and Methods

Jul 21, 2013 by Greg Fowler

If you wake up and don’t want to smile,
If it takes just a little while,
Open your eyes and look at the day,
You’ll see things in a different way.

Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.

–Don’t Stop, Fleetwood Mac

It wasn’t long after my disappointing second half collapse in the 2013 Columbia Marathon, that I told my friend and training partner, Craig, that I was going to shoot for a Boston Marathon qualifying time (BQ) in my next marathon.  “You mean you haven’t been?” he replied.  Ha, ha.  Amateur night is Thursday down at the comedy club, my friend.

He was right, though.  I hadn’t been holding anything back in my marathon efforts.  However, my best wasn’t good enough.  As a matter of fact, it was not even been close.

If you don’t know, to run the  Boston marathon, you must qualify in your age group by beating a certain time in a certified marathon.  This year, I moved up an age group, shaving 10 minutes off my time needed just by getting older.  Still, the time to beat for my 45-49 age group is 3:25:00.  That’s three hours twenty-five minutes, a 7:49/mile pace.

How far away am I?  My best marathon so far was 3:47:40 at Myrtle Beach in 2011.  So, my best is twenty-two minutes short of where I need to be, about 40 seconds per mile too slow.  That may not sound like much, but over the course of 26.2 miles, it is.

How do I plan to do this? I am returning to the “method” or training plan/philosophy I used in that best time at Myrtle Beach in 2011.  For the next 16 weeks, I will be following the Run Less Run Faster (RLRF) plan for beating 3:25:00.  The authors of RLRF say 3:25:00 is realistic if your 5K time is 21:06 or better.  My best recently was 21:26. That puts me a bit short but I’m just dumb enough to try.

During the week, I will do three quality runs.  The first will be a speed work session at the track.  The second will be a tempo run, slightly slower and usually longer than the speed work.  The final will be a long run, ranging from 13-20 miles. The workouts are a bit more intense than I have done in a while.  I will have a tough time meeting the run workouts, especially in the summer heat.  That’s part of the plan, too, though.  Suffer in the heat, and hope a November race is nice and cool.  That is much better than training in the cold and having an unusually warm race.

How does one run less and yet run faster?   By substituting “junk” mile recovery runs with cross training that works the aerobic system while resting the legs.  My cross training will consist of swim and cycling workouts, and I will do these between run days, not running two days in a row.  When I first attempted to follow this plan in 2011, I did no swimming, and my cycling was done on a low end exercise bike I bought for the house.  This time, I have access to a gym pool, and I plan on doing mostly swim cross training.  I also have a road bicycle now, so I may add an additional sixth workout on days after my long run, an easy recovery bike ride.

So, can I accomplish 3:24:59 or better?  We’ll see. Another source, The Runner’s World race predictor calculator, says I can do 3:25:34 with a 5K time of 21:26.  Should be interesting.

Final Puzzle Piece

In addition to following a more structured plan again, I have one other strategy for this race.   Since my last three road marathons were fairly hilly courses, I plan to return to the coast for this effort.   I have signed up for the Outer Banks Marathon in North Carolina on November 10, 2013.  Apparently there is only one hill, a bridge about the 23 mile mark.

That’s it for now.  Each week leading up to the marathon, I will post my scorecard for the week.  In the scorecard, I will list what the workouts were and how close I came to completing them in the appropriate time.

POFIFOTO!

 

 

 

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Change of (Training) Plans

Nov 16, 2011 by Greg Fowler

Nick Faldo.  Ever heard of him?  Nick was one of the best, if not the best, golfers in the world in the late 80’s and early ’90s.  Before Nick was the best in the world, he was mediocre in the early ’80’s.  Oh, he was good enough to win some tournaments, but he was not satisfied with his game, so he went back to square one.  He teamed up with a little known teacher named David Leadbetter, and together they rebuilt Nick’s golf game from the ground up. Nick dominated golf for a period of years, winning 6 major tournaments.

So, what does this have to do with my running?  In my last post, I hinted at not being totally satisfied with my Governor’s Cup performance, despite setting a personal best in a half marathon. Well, next week, I was planning on starting my 16 week training schedule to get ready for the Columbia, SC Marathon in March 2012.  My plan was to follow the schedule in my Run Less Run Faster
book that I have used primarily over the last two years to guide my training.   The Run Less Run Faster system is called the 3 plus 2 program.  This training system works and has allowed me to complete a marathon and a few half marathons despite fighting foot injuries.  To briefly summarize this program, you have 3 quality runs a week (a speed work run, a tempo run, and a long slow run) combined with two cross training aerobic workouts.  Your workout intensities are based on your current 5K ability.  This system allows your body to recover between runs while maintaining aerobic fitness with the cross training.  I have a recumbent exercise  bike that I use for the majority of my cross training. Like, I said,  this program works, but to be honest, I was dreading the exercise bike again.  Even with TV in the room, 45 minutes on the bike twice a week is boring.

So, what to do?   Back to square one, like Nick Faldo.  For this training cycle, I am abandoning Run Less Run Faster and going to use a training method called heart rate monitor training.  In this training, I will abandon speed work, which gets the heart rate high, and instead run while keeping my heart rate under 140 beats per minute?  Why?  According to what I have been researching, this keeps my body in the aerobic zone, burning fat as a fuel, instead of glycogen (sugars).  Since people have much more fat stored in their bodies than glycogen, as my body learns to burn fat as its primary fuel source,  I should be able to run faster for longer.  I will work on building this aerobic base over the next three months, and then add speed work to the mix the last month before the marathon.

This training will have a couple of other benefits, too.  First, it is new to me, so I am excited about trying something different.  This will help with motivation.  Second, the slower pace of the training will be easier on my body.  I hope this helps my nagging foot problems to clear up.

There’s a bunch of science behind this training but I won’t go into it here. Instead here are the links to a few of the sites that convinced me to try this:

Natural Running Center

Freedom’s Run Training

Mark Allen Online

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

 

 

 

 

POFIFOTO!

 

 

 

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