Spring 08 Wrap-Up
June 16, 2008
Another post I’ve been meaning to do for a while…
Before the start of this year, I decided to dedicate it to qualifying for the Boston Marathon. This is a daunting goal, as my age group would require me to run a 3:10 marathon. My marathon best was a 3:54::59. I did think I had the potential to reach a 3:10 marathon, however, since I’ve run well at shorter distances, with a PR of 1:10::53 for 10 miles (7:04 pace), faster then the 7:15 pace I’d have to run to qualify. I’ve also looked at race performance calculators and they all predict me running at or close to a 3:10 marathon when I’m capable of running at that PR pace for 10 miles.
After running the JFK 50 miler last November, I knew that I would a) need some time off from running before I could put in a good season, and b) really need to concentrate on speed to get back to my old 1:10 form. Because of the need for rest after the 50 and it being winter, which inevitably means losing some quality training time (say, if the track’s covered in snow and ice…I’ll still run out there, but of course I won’t be able to run as fast), I knew that I wouldn’t be able to put together a qualifying marathon in the Spring. I instead decided to shoot for a qualifying marathon in the Fall, but build for it in the Spring by getting back to 1:10 form, and then running a half marathon, to see where I was at. I would then take a little bit of time off/light 2-3 weeks, but stay in reasonably good shape, and go right into training for the Fall marathon season.
That was my goal, and I sought to achieve it with a modified version of the program I’d use for my BQ attempt. I’ll post that on here soon, but in short, it meant alternating alternating weekends of back-to-back long runs with track work, and having a rest week once every 5 weeks. One of the back-to-back longs runs was a “long tempo run”, and the other was a long run on trail, where I only timed myself, and didn’t worry about pace. I also lifted weights, after I hadn’t been able to with a previous hand injury. I progressed from machine weights to dumbbells to power lifting & plyometrics.
During this training, I incurred two injuries: a relatively minor one (that didn’t keep me from running, but did slow me down) in the left calf region, and a more serious one in the left hamstring, which forced me to curtail my mileage & drop out of the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. The calf injury was definitely caused by weight lifting. I simply did too much weight too soon w/ calf raises. When I was younger, it never seemed to be a problem, I could add & add weight, and if I could lift it, it wouldn’t hurt me. I guess it’s a sign of getting older – I’m a geezerly old 24 
The hamstring injury also could be attributed to weight training, but it’s more complex. Two days after significantly increasing the weight for squats & deadlifts, I did a long tempo run of 10 miles. These runs had been going spectacularly well, with my last 10 mile run coming in at a 1:13::36, and I was consistently improving every 2 weeks. I was foolishly ambitious with this run, and wanted to see if it was possible to break my old racing PR in a training run. I felt some soreness in the glute & hamstring, but nothing usual, just the normal recovery from some hard lifting. I kept pushing throughout the run, and knew that I was coming close to breaking that PR, but in the final miles I knew I wouldn’t reach it. I came in at a 1:11::48. The next day I ran on the Appalachian Trail for 2 hours, 45 mins. I was still pretty sore, so I went particularly easy. A week later, while running on the track, I experienced some hamstring & glute trouble at high speeds, so I went slower. It got worse from there, and I reduced my mileage, speed, and I stopped weight training for my legs. I dropped out of the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, but was able to put enough running in to do the Frederick Half in 1:38::20
In spite of these two injuries, and running the half marathon in a 1:38::20, when I hoping more for a 1:30 (which many race predictors would indicate is where I’d have to be to run a 3:10 marathon) I still consider my Spring 08 season a success. I proved to myself that I could get back to running 10 miles in nearly a 7 min/mile pace. After a couple of years of ultra running, I wasn’t sure I could get back to that speed. While a 1:30 would have given me more confidence, I still feel like I gave myself plenty to build upon for the Fall.
Lessons learned after the break.
Lesson 1: Record weight training workouts
of course, one of the most important aspects about training is injury prevention. During the Spring 08 season, I twice injured myself, largely because of weight training. I still continue to believe that weight training is actually a very good way to prevent injury, but I think it must be monitored closely. I record every run I do, with some significant detail. Going forth, I’m going to do the same with weights. I’m hoping this will keep me honest, keep me from going up too quickly or just doing too much in general. I’ve already started this week, recording reps, weight, and intensity.
Lesson 2: Long Tempo Runs
The Spring 08 season was my first attempt at my new training program, which featured long tempo runs. I incorporated these because I had success with long, fast runs in the past. The problem was when I’d run 23 miles or more at a somewhat fast pace, I’d often injure myself. The common adage about long runs is to just put the miles in, and don’t be too concerned about pace. I knew that if I wanted to get faster over a long distance, I had to have runs that were fast & long. So I decided I’d do runs of 6-16 miles at tempo speed, but only attempting each long tempo run after running the same distance in prior runs enough to be comfortable with it.
I found the long tempo runs paid great dividends, and built my confidence for races. When I did a 12k race at Burke Lake, it was easy for me to think about it as just a little faster then my long tempo runs. During the Frederick Half, I really felt like I was used to a sustained effort.
The long tempo runs may have played a role in my hamstring injury. I still think the root here was lifting, but maybe if I went a little easier when I was feeling sore it would have prevented the injury from really manifesting. I think I’ll perform these at a lower intensity in the future.
Lesson 3: Monitor Body Weight, composition
I was always a skinny twig growing up, so I never really kept track of my weight. Last Fall I was training for an ultra, doing 60-70 miles a week, so I ate a lot. I have a naturally fast metabolism, and with my training load, I wasn’t concerned with watching my weight. This was also after fracturing a bone in my hand, which kept me away from the gym. Even with 54 mile weekends, I packed on a few pounds. My metabolism has slowed down due to age (again, I’m 24…I should get a senior discount at Denny’s) and because I didn’t have as much muscle.
They say that you improve by 2 seconds a mile for every pound you lose. I don’t know if it’s exactly that, but I certainly did feel it began to get easier as I worked down to my normal weight. I ate smaller portions, and I typically didn’t drink anything but water. As I got back into weight lifting & built more muscle, my body composition was far more favorable. I had lost my weight was rolling right along. I know, it’s not a big “lesson” there, but I’m not your typical American with a weight problem, or someone who’s only working out to “keep my weight down” or anything like that. It was a new thing for me to deal with (again, I’m getting old…AARP membership ads should be coming in my mail next week).
So there you have it, a wrap up/lessons learned for Spring 2008. I’m keeping these in mind this Summer, as I get ready for the Fall marathon season.
August 3, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Tahnks for posting