Just call me coach

OutForARunAdmin — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:23:00 +0000

Shamrock Marathon – Virginia Beach, VA March 16, 2013

This will be Lindsey’s return to racing. By the time this marathon gets here it will be nearly two years since she has had the opportunity to fully race a marathon. I am excited for her to get that opportunity again.

Over the last couple of weeks, really ever since Marshall got here, we had been discussing what her training would like. The consistent theme that I heard was “I want to challenge myself.”

Hearing and saying all that is one thing the important step is how to execute on that goal. A key to making that happen is a plan for how to get there.

Here is that plan:

You will notice in the second week of training Lindsey is going to run a marathon. Probably not ideal but we can make that work. She will be heading out to Delaware for a long weekend with her sisters which will include a “nice and easy” marathon. It will be a good trip. Lindsey being an experienced marathon runner can handle this stress on her body and we just need to modify the first couple of weeks with some additional rest days coming into and out of the marathon and then nothing but easy runs for the remainder of week 3 and all of week 4 to allow her body to recover.

Starting in Week 5 again we will return to a 5 days a week with Easy, Easy, Tempo/Speed, Easy, Long being the pattern of the weeks. This will continue throughout the cycle. You will notice that on all the ‘Easy’ or ‘Long’ days I have given Lindsey a range to stay within. This will help provide her with the mental reassurance that if she is not feeling it one day there is no harm in slowing down a little.

With Lindsey not having raced in slow long it has been sort of a challenge to determine an appropriate pace for some of the Tempo and Speed work but based off the Half Marathon see ran 6 weeks after returning to running and the BQ she ran at the Indy Monumental in early November I am comfortable that we have found the appropriate pace to push her while still providing the needed stimulus to make the “jump”.

You will notice in Week 10 that the long run is calling for a ‘Progression Run’. This is where the first 10 miles or so are ran toward the low end of the Long Run pace and then the second half is run at almost race pace. It approaches race pace but not completely there. These sorts of session are great for mental training and building efficiency and strength your running.

The final block of her training will see another ‘Progression Run’ but at a much shorter distance as to wear her down too much.This block will also begin with the highest mileage week she will see in the entire cycle. Four weeks out will be hard on the body but will provide the needed stimulus to ride that wave to race day while at the same day being far enough out as to not ‘break her ‘before the marathon.

Given everything that has been lied out above and knowing Lindsey’s mental toughness I have full belief that come March 16^th it will be a great day to race and she will see that big break through PR. 3:15:00 will be the easy part…all the work will have already been done.

-Be Consistent.

Glenn

To Garmin or not to Garmin?

OutForARunAdmin — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 01:16:00 +0000

For real, I’ve never liked running with a watch. I hate being a clock watcher as much as I hate being a mileage watcher on the treadmill. If I’m running more than three miles on a treadmill, you better believe it’s covered up with a shirt. I can’t be staring at the distance, it ticks by too slow.

BUT, during my last few long and longish runs, I gave the fancy watch a try. I have to admit, I loved looking down at my mile pace as each mile rolled over. It encouraged me to pick it up when I felt like I was slowing down for no good reason.

Ever since Glenn became super competitive with his running and challenging himself more, he has decided to have an opinion about most things running related. He researches everything and has a reason for every workout. I get it, I like running fast and training to get faster too, but sometimes it’s too much for me.

My point, recently he likes to drop a line here or there about how if I want to get faster, I need to garmin it up so I can measure what I’m doing. Ok, I get that, but I’ve always loved just running based on how I feel and have had decent success at that.

Since 2008, I’ve ran nine marathons, they weren’t all fast. Four of the nine I went out for a fast time and or PR and three of the four I found success. The other five I ran purely for the fun of running with friends or just because.

Here are the four I went for a PR:

San Diego- First Marathon

Original Goal- break 4 hours, changed to a BQ goal night before race

Success with a 3:39:52

Boston

Goal 3:30

Miserable fail, ran 3:54:37

St. Louis

Goal was to PR

Success with a 3:34:34

Piney Point

Goal PR and go sub 3:30

Success with a 3:24:05

For all of those races, the only one I followed a training plan to a T was the first- and by following it to a T, I mean distance…. kind of. I didn’t even think about pace, I just ran. In fact, I would run just based on time. We’d have a 20 miler scheduled and just go out and run three hours, assuming that we were doing around 20. Pretty simple right? And it worked, so why fix it if it’s not broken?

It might not have necessarily been broken, but Glenn thinks… and I suppose I do to…. that it could be so much better.

While Glenn went off and got all fancy on me with his watch and specific calculations about how to run this pace or that, I went off and got all pregnant and my body made me forgot about racing for awhile. While I grew a human, my husband taught himself how to really run. All the while I’m screaming, when’s it gonna be my turn again?

In the old days (you know, I was the one who got him into running…), I would have devised a training plan for him. I was always the “better” runner. I beat him in our first marathon by almost 10 minutes (he’ll never live that down) and I would always place higher for the females than he would for males. (that can be argued though, because it does seem that there are many more competitive males out there in general than females)

Aside from all that, seeing as how he has managed to take a 3:47 marathon down to a 2:56, I might be wise let him take charge and whip me into shape. I’ve always said, if you want to be a good runner and run fast times, you have to be willing to HURT when it gets hard. I’ve certainly gone there, there was nothing easy about the last 6 miles of running that 3:24, but I know I can go deeper. Why can’t I?

Alright husband- I wore your watch. I understand how it holds you accountable. I’m ready to be accountable and wear the stinking garmin. What do you have for me? I’m ready to rock a PR hugely in the spring- give me a plan. #bringiton

This picture was taken the morning before we ran our first marathon. When once upon a time, Glenn’s wife was faster than him.

Challenge

Just call me coach

To Garmin or not to Garmin?