Progression Run Archives - Lindsey Hein

A Frozen Progression Run

OutForARunAdmin — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:17:00 +0000

I woke up on Friday feeling a cold coming on. I figured it was coming sooner than later, because Marshall had one and I’m always all up in his grill like eating his face everyday. Day 2 of a cold is much worse than day 1 and I started thinking about how hard my 20 on Saturday would feel if I was in full blown cold mode.

Then I looked at the temperature….. 6 degrees, feels like -10. It was cold. The temperature on Saturday would be much more desirable to run in (around 21), but I didn’t think I’d be feeling it as much.

My mom agreed to be on Marshall duty for 20 miles worth of time. She thought I was crazy for running outside, said she’d suffer through it on the old treadmill if she were me. Then I called Glenn and he also thought I was crazy.You don’t hear that from him much, so I was a little concerned.

His text right before I left: “Be smart out there. It is really cold. Do you have something for your face? Your water bottles are going to freeze.” My response- “I’ll be fine.” (I wasn’t taking water… it was cold enough and I could stop somewhere and grab a drink if I needed) I think he might have just been acting concerned, because I always tell him I don’t think he gets worried about when I could be in danger. Like one time I said I was going to get my run in at 3am and he had no arguments with me out running in the dark, basically in the middle of the night in some so so neighborhoods. He also always tells me I’m silly for thinking it’s dangerous to run on the shadiest parts of the monon by myself.

ANYWAY- since I do most of my weekday runs on the treadmill, I try to always do my weekend long runs outside no matter what. Glenn says putting the work in is putting the work in… and he has a point. While he was bouncing off Ironman WI, he did nearly all of his training for the Monumental Half on the treadmill. And he majorly PRed.

There are a few reasons I like to keep the long ones outside though, one being the wind- Shamrock could possibly have a strong headwind. I need to be used to that as much as I can. I’ve definitely done some serious stroller runs into a headwind, which is great practice. (that was more last fall though) I also think the mind battle is totally different on a treadmill than it is outside. In my mind, the miles seem to go by faster outside but the distance seems more daunting.

Heading out the door. Scared my fingers might fall off.

What I wore:

The only two pairs of long running tights I own. Both are too thin by themselves for weather under 15ish. I should probably invest in a thicker pair. I don’t like to spend money on running clothes though. Babies are like really expensive.
Black wife beater tank (always start my layers with one, don’t ask me why)
Super thick Under Armour long sleeved shirt
Puma Rain Jacket thing
Monumental Marathon toboggan hat (should have worn a hat that was tighter and didn’t let air come in the bottom… or a skimask)
Super thick socks
Two pairs of gloves (and kept my hands balled up in a loose fist inside the outer pair. Was too cold to have them out in the fingers)

How many other crazies I saw out running in those temps:

Fuel:

One Huckleberry Hammer Gel (not my fav, but what we had on hand) & One Glass of water at mile 14. (Shout out to my dad, who was home when I needed a pee/hammer/water break- I hardly looked at him though, in and out. I knew if I engaged, I’d want to stay and I still had 6 hard miles to hammer out)

When I started the run– I was heading west, making my way toward Pennsylvania St., where I planned to run south to downtown. The wind felt brutal and my face hurt it was so cold. I really needed a skimask.

At that point, a half a mile in, I thought I might go ahead and do the 8 I was scheduled for, because it was so ridiculously cold. I turned south on Penn, the wind didn’t feel as bad heading south and I got into a little groove. At mile 2 I decided I was in for the long haul. I knew I would be so pissed if I woke up Saturday morning having to do the 20.

This run was a scheduled 14 mile progression run. Progression runs are hard. They are supposed to be hard. This is how you run faster, you work harder in training. (DUH) 14 out of 20 miles of progression sounded scary in my lacking self confidence head. The idea was to slowly make my way to marathon pace- 7:26.

At mile 7 when I was supposed to get started on the progression, I was aimlessly wondering the streets downtown and I wasn’t ready. So I told myself just hang out where I was and wait for it, I still had a lot of work to do.

Ideally, I would speed up by 5 seconds or so every couple of miles, but instead as you’ll see below, at mile 9, I just kind of kicked up the speed to 7:30ish and hung out around there for the rest of the run. It’s not technically a progression run, Glenn says I did it wrong. I don’t care.

I’m perfectly happy with it. My watch doesn’t give me automatic pace updates so I never know the exact pace I’m running at that time. (It’s like 20 seconds behind or something) I have a pretty good internal gauge of my pace though and was a little afraid if I lingered around 7:40s, which felt pretty decent at that time- that I wouldn’t get my butt to kick it up faster as the run progressed. Afraid my legs would say no. So I thought at least I’ll be better off if I run as much of it as I can at 7:30s.

I was feeling pretty bad at miles 16 and 18. Funny, these also happened to be my fastest miles at 7:19 and 7:15. Fear instills the pressure to work hard- I was nervous I was going to slow down and so I kicked her up a notch. Couldn’t hold on to that 7:15 through 20 though. I was more than happy with a 7:30 finish though.

Splits:

Mile 1– 8:17
Mile 2– 7:51
Mile 3– 7:42
Mile 4– 7:48
Mile 5– 7:48
Mile 6– 7:54
Mile 7– 7:43
Mile 8– 7:49
Mile 9– 7:31
Mile 10– 7:33
Mile 11– 7:23
Mile 12– 7:29
Mile 13– 7:32
Mile 14– 7:27
Mile 15– 7:32
Mile 16– 7:19
Mile 17– 7:28
Mile 18– 7:15
Mile 19– 7:25
Mile 20-7:29

Usually on a 20 miler, there is some sort of note worthy side story-

On Friday, it was the guy running toward me who looked like he just stole something. (go ahead and picture him in your mind, you can stereotype yep that’s it, that’s what he looked like) I was in a somewhat shady area, that I run in often and am never scared. I am always on the lookout and very aware of my surroundings. He wouldn’t have been able to catch me if he wanted to anyway.

I speed up so his run wasn’t heading straight toward me. Then he flags me down. I turn and kind of listen, but can’t really hear him. Then I think maybe he is warning me about whatever it is he is running from. So I stop my watch jog a little closer so I can hear him and he asks me if I want to buy a brand new laptop. I give him a dirty look, say, “what… no” in an annoyed voice I’m sure and off I go. For the love of God- do not stop a girl on mile 15 of a 20 mile run to ask her to buy your stolen laptop. Especially when she looks like she should probably be scared of you… running toward her. Hope he found someone to buy his laptop.

Once I got home, it took me at least 30 minutes to get back to normal. My face was frozen, I literally couldn’t talk right because I couldn’t really open my mouth all the way. And the old legs were tight. Like, I just ran a marathon tight. Some hot chocolate and oatmeal warmed me up pretty quick and then Marshall and I headed out to run some errands.

And in case you forgot- Marshall is still really cute:

He was cracking me up in this little seat at the store. His little nose is roughed up from his cold.

Turns out I was smart to get the 20 in Friday, because Saturday night I slept probably 4 hours total. I finished off the weekend though with an easy 8 on Saturday and 13 today. 41 miles in 3 days… that’s a lot of running. I’m ready for my rest day tomorrow!

Anyone else get a 20 miler in this weekend?

What’s your favorite part of the long run? (Mine is finishing)

What is the longest run you do for marathon training? (I stick to the good old 20)

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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

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938

GlennHein — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:44:00 +0000

938 miles is all that stands between me and a 2:45 marathon in the spring at the Carmel Marathon.

Coming off of the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon last week I found myself with some extra time on my hands as I have entered a self imposed rest/recharge period that will take me through Thanksgiving and the end of November.

It is not that I necessarily feel fatigued or worn out but following a pretty intense 12 month cycle of various training plans for Miami 70.3, Mercedes Marathon, Boston Marathon, Indy Mini, having a son, Ironman Wisconsin, and finally the IMM Half last week I feel it is best to take some time off before that fatigue or burn out sets in.

With that extra time, I have put together the skeleton for my training plan for Carmel. I want to make a big jump with this race and with a big jump comes big sacrifice,commitment , and consistency. In my past couple of dedicated cycles for a marathon I have used a condensed schedule usually between 12-14 weeks. With a renewed focus on running I believe I will benefit greatly from a full 16 week cycle.

The basic outline is below. I use the Smart Coach function from Runner’s World to make all my plans. It is free, very accurate and detailed depending on what you want to do. I have been able to go from a 3:49 first marathon to a 2:56 using it…so it works if you work! The way that the week is structured and the pace suggestions it falls in line with a McMillan or Pfitzinger type plan…but for free.

On a side note, if you have never visited the McMillan Running Calculator Page I highly recommend it. All you do is enter your current race time (distance option exist) and it spits out your appropriate training paces. It covers everything from 100M sprints for 5K work all the way to Long Run pace for marathons.

Carmel Marathon Training Plan

The only changes that I think I am going to make is at week 12 or 13 I am going to sub out the Saturday long run for the Hanson’s Running ‘Simulator’. The Simulator is a 26.2K workout at race pace. It is long enough to be a mental and physical test but not so long that it is like running the marathon before the marathon. The other change that I would like to make is turning 2 or 3 of the long runs into Progression Runs.

I guess the last thing that is up in the air right now around the plan is the taper length. It currently has me set for a three week taper…at first glance that seems a little long to me but it has been a long time since I have done a 16 week cycle (really the 1st time for the type of intensity I am bringing to it.) so we will just have to play the taper by ear and see how I feel towards the end.

My current plan like I said is to rest and recover up through Thanksgiving. I am working out 2-3 days a week. Nothing stressful or structured. Just sweating a little to keep the brain clear. Like today, I am playing basketball with a bunch of guys from work at lunch…stuff like that is the extent of my November.

Come December 1st, I am going to begin ramping up my mileage so I am ready physically to tackle the marathon plan. You don’t want to be building your mileage in the middle of training cycle. The time to add mileage to your body is in the month or two before the cycle starts. Now granted, I will hit one of my highest mileage weeks during this cycle but you don’t want to go from 0-60 in the first couple weeks of a plan. Build before. Optimize during.

I am excited to tackle this. It is an ambitious plan but one that I believe I am ready to own. I look forward to the challenge.

Come New Year’s Eve 2012 it’s on!

Question: Thoughts on my training plan? Do you guys see anything that is missing?

Glenn

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