I won't make it there... time for goal setting

On a whim, I decided to check the status of my application for the ING New York City Marathon. International lottery drawings are supposed to take place mid-May, as opposed to U.S. drawings, which happen in June.

This is what I got:

Yum

Kenny

228907

NOT ACCEPTED

M34

Toronto

Ontario

Canada

Oh well, not this time.

Which means I can now firm up my fall marathon plans. I wrote last week about how the Marine Corps Marathon registration closed minutes after I saw that they only had 1,000 spots left? Well, I was in a little panic when I saw that message so I quickly signed up. Minutes later, the window closed.

So that's it. My fall marathon is the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct. 26. Training starts on Jun 22.

Now as for a goal, I'm going to step it up. I've been doing the Pfitzinger 55 mile program (both the 12 and 18 week) but I've been eyeing the 70 mile program. It's a lot of miles but I think I'll have to step it up if I want to get into 3:10 territory. I'm a little worried about 6 days of running a week, which I did in the rampup for Chicago in 2006 and ended up with soreness throughout.

MCM is not really billed as a race where you'll have a good shot at running a PR. It has real hills and parts of DC can be windy. It is a mass race so you have to seed yourself properly or risk the crowds. But that doesn't frighten me. I have to attempt a marathon at BQ pace to get a feel for it so why not try a race you've done before.

Flying Pig Marathon training schedule

Update (05.08.08): Okay, I notice that lots of people are landing on this page from searches of "Flying Pig Marathon." I'm a runner from Toronto, Ontario, training for the marathon with a 12-week schedule, and I'm running the race for the first time who just finished running the 2008 Flying Pig Marathon. It's my third marathon, my first being Chicago in 2006 and the second being the Marine Corps Marathon in 2007. Welcome to my training blog, which i've been doing since December, 2005.

Some useful links
My race report (and pre-race one)
Results from Active.com and from Cincinatti.com.
Photos from the race on Cincinnati.com and from RunPhotos.com.
Want to know your real marathon time? My post and also an update from Cincinatti Enquirer.
Course info, including course description.
Long range forecast for Cincinnati
Course reviews

Other blogs by people who are running the race in 2008, as far as I could tell
Mine, of course.
The Internal Pigdog
A Cystic Fibrosis Patient’s Journey to Completing A Marathon
Vorilee
MileMusings
Miles and Madness

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My spring marathon training, if I was doing an 18-week program, should have began on New Years Day. But I've decided to do the Pfitzinger 12-week program that tops out at 55 miles a week. It's a shorter version of the 18 week schedule I followed last summer.

I'm delaying my training for several reasons, but I do know I need to get accustomed to doing major running in the winter and perhaps buy a month and a half to let the cold weather pass us by a little before doing a lot of quality work. I also have to build a real base mileage before plunging into the training.

My goal for this marathon is to gain more experience, work on keeping my fitness at a high level, improve some aspects of training such as working harder at LTs and doing long runs at faster pace.

So here's the plan. In the next six weeks, I'll do between 30 and 35 miles a week so I can build a strong base. It will be built on running about 15 miles during two or three weekday runs and two weekend runs with a long run starting at 10 miles and working up to 15 miles.

So here's a sample base week from now until the second week of February. I intend to start this now and see if I can keep it up over the next five:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 5 miles (Add strides)
Wednesday: 8 miles (Key weekday run)
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: long run (10 to 15 miles)
Sunday: Recovery of 5 miles.

And below is the Pfitzinger 12 week program beginning on Feb. 12.

2008 goals

In running, we set goals, not resolutions, so here are my 2008 running goals

-Run a spring marathon (Flying Pig in Cincinnati) and a fall marathon (TBD)
-Use a shorter Pfitzinger program for the spring marathon and reassess
-Run the Around the Bay 30K in marathon pace 4:45Ks or 7:37 miles or faster
-Run the spring marathon to get more experience
-Run a marathon in 3:20 or faster in the fall
-Run a half marathon in 1:31 or faster
-Run a 5K in 20 minutes
-Run a 10K in 41 minutes
-Top 1,800 miles for the year
-Keep my weight stable or lighter throughout the winter
-Do marathon training long runs faster
-Keep on blogging (this is my two-year anniversary for run blogging -- woo hoo)

Rest week, looking forward

Staring at a 18 week marathon training program (and a much more advanced one this year) ahead of the Marine Corps Marathon, I basically took a week off. Yep, I ran two times last week, a 10K after work one night and a 6K easy run with R. before Jelly's wedding. I felt like I needed the extra rest and a little bit of a mental break before I launch into The Program..

I did spend a little time going through the book, trying to select the paces for my various runs. The LT (tempo) runs, the medium-long (then long), and the general runs with strides. Not a whole lot of tracks near the waterfront, so i'll have to make my way to one downtown.

I also looked at the schedule and want to start planning my tune up races
Sept. 15 - 8K to 15K race (There's a Burlington race, but there is a 10K island run on Sept. 9)
Sept. 29 - 8K to 15K race (I have the half-marathon this day. In fact, should sign up now)
Oct. 13 8K to 10K race (There is a Zoo 10K run, which i'll do)

Last week's mileage: 16K
Year to date: 888.5K

June 24

That's the day the madness begins. I'm opting for a 18-week marathon training program this year, and I have one month in order to get my mileage up to a point that I can get comfortable with 30+ miles a week. (That's 50K+).

This year, I'm thinking of going with the vaunted Pfitzinger program that a lot of the running bloggers swear by. I know it's tougher, with a lot of focus on LT runs and more intense long runs. I picked up the book Advanced Marathoning in Chicago last year the day after the marathon, and I've been flipping through it over the past few months. I'll give it a good read in the next few weeks as I ramp up.

Ran 12K after work today, trying to establish the 8K to 12K as my weekday usual run. These runs will help me get up to 30K by the weekend, when it's back to 20K+ Saturdays. Last week's mileage was good, a total of 62.5K done in six runs.

Update
Weekly mileage: 62.5K
Time run: 5:21:12
Year to date: 759.5K

Double up

Oy, if only this doesn't seem like work. But to get back into pre-marathon training shape, i'll have to pound out 50K weeks now and ramp it up in June.

Split up my runs today, an 8K in the morning before work, and a 10K after work, both at about 5 min Ks, for a total of 18K today and 23K on the week. So far, so good.

Fran: I checked the water fountain by the baseball diamond. It's working. Also, there's a new one in Tommy Thompson park.

Run with the military...

Well, I'm in. The registration for the Marine Corps. Marathon on Oct. 28 in Washington, DC, opened today and I just registered.


When asked what time I expected, I put a time down. Better than last year's 3:35, but I won't say -- yet -- what time I'm aiming for. My race season is pretty much set.

• June: A 5 miler on the first day of the summer. Or is the last day of spring? All I know is that it's on the longest day of the year
• July: A 10 miler (the inaugural race of its kind in Toronto-proper) a day after a friend's wedding reception
• August: Maybe the 30K nighttime run, but who wants to trip on pebbles and potholes?
• September: The Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon, just because I love the race and the start/finish line is a 10 minute walk from my house
• October 7: Army 10 Miler, to get used to racing in DC
• October 28: MCM.
  

Now, time to look at the calendar and pick the 18-week training program, which will be preceeded by stepping up my running to 30 or 40 mile weeks in the next two months. (And
now I switch to miles from kilometres).

Now the fun begins... and the pain.

Lace em up

Since I've pretty much taken this week off running, I went out there today for a 2K warmup, just to make sure my legs were okay (they were). I'm putting to use my very own personal championchip that JellyP got for my birthday last year (Thanks again!).

Well, it was windy and I got a few short bursts of fast running before giving up.. I'm pretty tired and will hopefully get to bed pretty early tonight.

So far, I'm considering seven races this year, including a marathon, one half marathon, two 10 milers and the shorter distances...

Loot bag

Haven't gotten out there the past few days. Just tired from work and travel and long hours and little sleep. The bright side is that I do have my first race of the season on Saturday. I picked up my race pack today -- T-shirt, brochures, an energy bar and, most importantly, the bib!

2148. It's a huge race this year. I believe it'll have almost double the number of participants compared with two years ago when I ran it on a cold wet snowy/rainy day. It was ugly. And it looks like it'll be a similar day, which will chase away a few people...

It's a hilly course, so it's quite fast at times. They throw in a massive hill at the end that breaks just about everyone.

Now, as for time goals, I wouldn't mind doing better than the 35:46 of two years ago. That race, I got a slow start and was just testing out my legs. This time, I think i'll like to aim for around 35 even, which will call for about 4:22 minute kilometres..

Maybe I need a speed session...

How many hours...

With the new job and commute, I've figured I have to make real tweaks to my running schedule so I can get them in. I now have about four hours of free time after work before I have to go to bed. Which means i'm going to have to be smart if i'm going to be able to match last year's marathon training schedule. My game plan will have to take the following tweaks:

• Run at work once a week -- in March, I'm going to aim for a 8K run midweek in lieu of the non-existent lunch break. When it's spring/summer, i'm just going to run home once in a while, which is about 17K.
  
• Run before work once a week, for now -- this means I'll have to be on the road by 5 a.m. to get a 10K run or so. In the late spring, summer, this will be a breeze
• Starting doing real weekend long runs -- I've been doing wimpy 10Ks and 15Ks. I should build to 20K and beyond to rack up the mileage and build for the long run training.
• Don't be afraid of late night runs -- i usually try to run before dinner, but tonight, i had a quick dinner at 7, then went for a 10K at 8 p.m. It worked out quite well. Must do that more.
  

Hopefully that'll get my running started and back toward a better weekly mileage. I ran a 10K today, and I hope to bring my weekly mileage to 25K before the weekend arrives. Which will let me do one long run in DC.

Or one can only hope I can achieve this.

Signed up

Did 5K after work, finding it hard to find speed in my legs. Spurred on by JellyP, I signed up for two races for the spring, it being cheaper to buy a race pack.

I'm running the Spring Run-Off 8K, (in 64 days) which, as it turns out, my old workplace as a sponsor is fielding a whack of teams, so i'll be bumping into friends. Also doing one of my favourites, the Sporting Life 10K (in 93 days), which I've run in the last two years and, weirdly enough, is presented by my new employer. Odd...

A run will cure it...

For not the first time I've gone out for the run when I was feeling just on the cusp of being unwell. Last night, had a scratchy throat, those clear first signs of a cold. Downed a few Cold-FXs (I still am unsure if they acutally work) and as luck would have it, I had scheduled to work from home today on reports. So I worked and late afternoon, it just looked too nice at -1 with not that bad windchill.

So out for 6.6K (4 miles) during which I could definately feel what was at the back of the throat -- having had to clear it out more than a few times. Odd feeling of having to work out your lungs, heart and feel the blood pump though your slighty weakened body... I think I've fought back this cold...

Time for planning. I have a few races I have to sign up for this spring. Lots to figure out...

Goals...

Last year, on Jan. 9, I signed up for Chicago. I see registration is now open, and now with my time, I see that I can still qualify for the Corral B start (which was the same as the Preferred one I did this year).

But it's not last year. This year, my running schedule will be complicated, because R is moving to DC for work and I'll be flying there quite often to visit. This will mean that weekend long runs may have to be done on Friday in Toronto, or perhaps Saturday morning in Washington. It will be a dizzying attempt at scheduling to fit in races in Toronto and runs in the other city.

There's also the new job. It will keep me very busy as I get into the swing of things, so I think I can only do good maintenance running and aim for a 8K, 10K and maybe a half mary between now and June.

But then there's the marathon, and yes I want to do another. This year, I want to do it better. I want to drop my weight to better racing form, I want to do the Pfitzinger training program and I want to now realistically do better than 3:35. No real target yet, but it'll be conservative.

So just like Jelly and Bob, I have my sights set on the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28. I'm sure i'll get to know the city very well between now and then (I haven't visited yet) and i'll have free accommodations with R. The city also has a 10 miler race in October that I'll consider. In any case, registration doesn't start until May 9. And training would begin in late June.. Just in time for summer...

Sick day...

Actually, I'm not taking a sick day, cause i'm between jobs (i love that!) for another 5 days. I have a creeping cold that i'm trying to whack before it gets me. It's one of those colds that attack your lungs and makes breathing difficult.. So i'm taking it easy. I did run 10K two days ago and forgot to report back on my blog.

For now, i'm doing some small planning for my race schedule next year. I think I have an 8K, a 10K and a marathon picked up. It will be a tricky year for running, which i'll get to in my resolution post, but it'll also mean that i'm going to probably pick another marathon that's not in Toronto, probably not in Chicago, but is a big one...

More on that later...