Monday (Day 8): Circumstances dictated a treadmill run on Monday. I wasn’t really looking forward to being stuck inside but oddly enough, it turned out to be quite a pleasant change from my usual road routes. Stuck to the McMillan “easy pace” and felt comfortable throughout. Hopefully normal service resumes tomorrow and I’ll be back outside running my intervals….

Plan: 35 to 50 minute easy run
Actual: 6.6 miles in 49 minutes

Tuesday (Day 9): Pretty much the same workout as last Tuesday except for the striders being 25 seconds in duration instead of 20 seconds.

I think yesterday’s treadmill run drained a lot of my energy – the legs definitely felt a little heavy today. Met the required goals though, so all is well on the marathon training front.

Plan: 15 to 30 minute warm up, followed by 8 to 10 times 25 seconds with 1 minute jog recovery, 15 to 30 minute cool down.
Actual: 30 minutes warm up, 8 to 10 x 25 seconds fast (one minute recovery), 30 minutes cool down.
Splits: 7:38 7:24 7:13 7:23 6:48 6:54 7:09 7:17 7:01 7:03

Wednesday (Day 10): Marathon training Day 10 called for 50 to 70 minutes at 7:05 to 7:35 pace. Didn’t look at my Garmin until Mile 4 and by that time I was two minutes faster than planned. I backed off a little in Mile 5, but the slower pace felt awkward so I sped up to a more “natural” rhythm. Then, with about 10 minutes to go I remembered I have a challenging Pace-Booster workout tomorrow, so shut things down and cruised home to the finish. I’ll probably regret this run on Thursday afternoon, but I shouldn’t complain about a solid 10 miler.

Plan: 50 to 70 minute easy run
Splits: 7:12 6:55 6:54 6:50 7:02 6:52 6:45 6:42 6:44 7:11

For the record, the temperature was 88°F at the start and 84°F at the finish. To help with hydration, I carried a handheld full of Melon flavored HEED, popped a couple of Endurolytes midway through the run and had 24oz of Recoverite waiting in the fridge for my return. Loving the Hammer Nutrition on these challenging summer runs….

Day 5: A very enjoyable, controlled easy run. No problems at all meeting goal pace (7:05 to 7:35) and great to have some recovery miles after yesterday’s Pace Booster Run.

Splits: 7:20 7:17 7:15 7:08 7:03

Day 6: In honor of 7-Eleven Day (7/11) I ran past 7 different 7-Eleven’s on my longish run today. The temperature was a balmy 80°F throughout and I treated myself to a free 7.11oz Banana Fanta Slurpee at the last 7-Eleven on my route. Felt absolutely tremendous throughout, and ran faster than the planned 7:05 to 8:05 pace. Oh well.

Splits: 7:09 7:14 7:03 7:03 7:02 7:02 6:58 7:02 7:00 6:56 6:57 6:52

Day 7: Pleasant morning run to finish off the week. Goal was 40 to 60 minutes in the “easy zone”. No problems hitting the target but for some reason it didn’t feel as comfortable as yesterday’s longer run.

Splits: 7:58 7:43 7:37 7:23 7:08 7:02

Summary: 62 miles for the week – most since February or March I believe. All workouts completed as per the plan with no real challenges. 18 weeks/126 days until the Richmond Marathon…

I found it difficult to keep it “easy” at first, but soon got into a nice comfortable groove and clicked off pretty consistent miles. No major issues tonight, although I do seem to have developed some sort of hot spot on my right foot. Weird…

Splits: 7:25 7:20 7:19 7:14 7:20 7:18 7:19 7:07 7:16

Day 4 of the marathon plan called for a 60 to 70 minute run with 30 to 40 minutes at “Steady State Pace” – which, according to the McMillan Calculator, is 6:14 to 6:25 per mile. I must admit, going into the workout I wasn’t totally confident of hitting the goal pace, but as always, decided to give it my best shot.

Greg McMillan describes the Steady-State Run as follows:

The Steady-State Run is one of the most beneficial types of workouts especially as you complete your base training and during the initial parts of your Stamina phase. The appropriate pace range for Steady-State Run Runs is between your 30k and half-marathon race pace. Your heart rate will likely be between 83 and 87% of maximum and the runs should last at least 25 minutes and can go as long as an hour and 15 minutes.

These are pretty tough efforts not because of the pace but because of the duration of running, so be prepared to increase your concentration to stay on pace and to take a good recovery day afterwards in order to reap the full benefits.

As per the workout instructions, I warmed up for a while (2.7 miles) and then proceeded to run 5 miles at steady-state pace:

Splits: 6:22 6:14 6:14 6:19 6:14

Just like Greg stated, it really took a lot of focus and determination to hit the required pace, but as you can see from the splits above, I made it.

I cooled down for just over a mile and to be honest couldn’t have run much more even if I wanted to. I did take a few minutes to do some stretches though…

Easy run tomorrow. I definitely need it!

Last night was a slightly more challenging workout – a 15 to 30 minute warm up, followed by 8 to 10 times 20 seconds with a 1 minute recovery jog between, followed by a 15 to 30 minute cool down. The workout took place at the Norfolk Botanical Garden where the first event in the Tidewater Striders Summer Series was taking place. I arrived early and pretty much had the trails to myself for a very enjoyable run.

I ended up covering 10 miles in about 71 minutes and felt strong throughout. The 10 x 20 second efforts were not flat out sprints, but definitely fast, controlled efforts which should help develop my neuromuscular system. Hopefully, according to McMillan, I will also see a difference in my finishing kick at the races too.

Finally, about an hour after the 10 miles was complete, it was time for the Countdown Four Miler – a great idea for a run race where you pick when you want to start a 4 mile run with the goal of crossing the finish line when the clock strikes zero. This year the clock started at 80 minutes which allowed for walkers hoping to pace at 20 minutes per mile. I chose to start at 28 minutes with the aim of running even 7 minute miles. The one mile marker was located in the wrong place, so in the end my pacing went out the window and I just ran on “feel”. Of course my pace judgment was awful and I finished the four miles about a minute ahead of schedule in just under 27 minutes for an average 6:45 pace.

So, all in all, not a bad evening’s work – 14 miles in the bag at a little under 7 minute mile pace. Just hope I can recover in time for today’s easy run in which I need to remember the following:

Adaptation does not occur during stressful workouts, it occurs during the rest/recovery periods. With optimal stress and optimal rest, we will achieve optimal progress!

With just 19 weeks to go until the 2009 Richmond Marathon, I figured it was time to start adding a little focus to my training and kick off the plan. So, for the next 133 days I’ll be following Greg’s workouts as close as possible and hoping his expertise will pull me through to a new marathon PR – anything under 2 hours 51 minutes will do the trick.

Last year I came oh-so-close, but missed the PR by just 27 seconds. This year, I intend on training just as hard, and coupled with my usual focus and determination, hope that I can put something special together on November 14th.

More as a point of reference than anything else, here are my training paces based on Saturday’s Independence Day 5k (adjusted due to the slightly long course):

Endurance Workouts
Recovery Jogs – 8:05 to 8:35
Long Runs – 7:05 to 8:05
Easy Runs – 7:05 to 7:35

Stamina Workouts
Steady-State Runs – 6:14 to 6:25
Tempo Runs – 5:59 to 6:14
Tempo Intervals – 5:54 to 6:06

I also have optimal training paces worked out for Cruise Intervals and various Speed Workouts, but the figures listed above make up the majority of my training plan.

One thing that stands out (and I need to remember) from Greg McMillan’s training guidelines is that:

Adaptation does not occur during stressful workouts, it occurs during the rest/recovery periods. With optimal stress and optimal rest, we will achieve optimal progress!

So, here’s to the next 19 weeks of training. I’m sure it will be a fun journey and hope you’ll enjoy tagging along….