And the weekdays get a little longer

I've run 28 miles in three days. Such is the type of program I'm in for, and the mileage is about to get longer. Here's what I've done so far this week

Tuesday: 11 miles past Humber Bridge on the waterfront. I was a little overzealous, doing the thing in 1:23:44 with average pace of 7:37 (my old marathon pace) and heart rate average of 158.

Wednesday: 8 miles in the early morning eastward, toward Leslie St. That was done in 1:05:11 in a slightly slower pace of 8:10 miles with average heart rate of 146.

Thursday: Absolutely beautiful outside. Sun was warm and it was a little windy. Not so much that I was worried about. Ran into the wind for the first half then it pushed me back. Total run done in 1:12:11 with pace of 8:01 and rate of 157.

So I'm going through a testing out process of my various paces. I know that my normal aerobic runs should be a little faster than I'm used to. Also, my mid-to-long runs need to be paced a little faster, maybe under the 8 minute mile. Maybe even closer to the 7:37 marathon pace. I have to do recovery at a slow pace cause don't want to overtrain.

It's so weird adjusting to these new paces because I've been training at a 3:20 marathon pace since the summer of 2006. Running just got a little bit more interesting! (Any advice on various training paces would be much welcome).

Ideas (and flowers) planted

Still taking a tiny breather from daily blogging but getting my schedule firmed up for the coming season.

I planted my annuals (flowers and two basil plants) a few days ago. Also a few seeds of running ideas are now - in the real sense - flowering.

I've started my marathon training early. Almost a month earlier than planned. I'm signed up to do the half at Scotiabank waterfront marathon in Toronto on Sept 28 but I'm now starting training for the full. I still have the right to pull out of that race and concentrate on Marine Corps Marathon in late October. (I will still do MCM but more as a 'fun run'. Ya, we'll see.)

I plan to make my first attempt at 3:10 and I think that since Scotia is essentially on my home turf, a route I run almost every day, iit would give me few advantages. A few worries beyond my control. First is a totallt flat marathon - I do like a course that doesn't tire just one group of muscles. Second is the quality of pace setters. Fran's 3:10 went out way fast (let's put it this way, I ran a 1:31 half and they were ahead of me for a good 4 miles. Third is weather (wind and heat).

So I started Pfitzinger 70 a few days ago. Yesterday did 11 miles at around 7:40ish pace. Today, 8 miles but skipped the strides. Let's see how I take the extra mileage. 

Breather on the blog while ramping up the run

I have a few blog posts rattling in my head but it's been pretty busy the last little while. R. is also in town so we've been doing family stuff.

Here's the mileage breakdown over the past week

Monday: 10 miles (16.4K) in DC, average pace of 4:51
Wednesday: 7.7 miles (12.5K) in Toronto, 5:03 pace
Thursday AM: 3 miles (5K) average pace of 5:29
Thursday PM: 5 miles (8K) pace of 5:05
Saturday: 5 miles (8K) in Burlington, did hills of the Around the Bay course pace of 4:45
Sunday: 9.3 miles (15K) in Toronto, ramped up pace throughout for average 4:42

Weekly mileage: 40.5 miles or 65K
Total mileage year to date: 840.5 miles or 1352K

Three weeks out from marathon day, i'm back up to 40 miles. I'm going to try for 45 next week then 50 for a few weeks in June. Then it's time to launch into training...

Many miles run (800), many to go

Another weekly catchup post on mileage.

I ran the following this past week.

Tuesday: 4 miles (at, ugh, 5:40 a.m.!)
Wednesday: 5 miles (5:40 a.m.)
Thursday: 8 miles with 4x1000 (5:36 a.m.)
Friday: 3.5 miles (7:13 a.m.)
Saturday: 4.5 miles (10:10 a.m.)
Sunday: 7.5 miles (10K race plus 2.2K warmup)

Weekly mileage: 32.5 miles (52K)
Year to date: 800 miles (1287.5K)

In the next week, I want to ramp up to 40 miles, then keep on building miles to slowly make my way back up to 50 miles by mid-June. This should have me primed to hit the Pfitzinger 70 mile program on June 22. A big gulp....

I ran a 10 miler this morning in DC, happy because I started it at around 8 minute miles and worked down to an average pace of 7:48. I'm really trying to test myself by running a little faster on non-recovery days if my marathon pace is going to have to be in the 7:15 range.

Ted McClelland's marathon

Edward 'Ted' McClelland kindly wrote a comment at the bottom of this post this evening giving an update on his first marathon since 1996, the Rockford Marathon:

Well, my friend, I'll save you another Internet search. I ran 3:52. Not as fast as I'd hoped, or promised, but it was a hilly, windy course (the winning time was 2:45) and frankly, I ran a little conservatively, to avoid a repeat of the meltdown in my first marathon. I went to the line thinking I could do 3:40. With some experience at the distance, I think I'll feel more confident about pushing myself next time.

On the plus side, my 41-year-old self beat my 29-year-old self by 24 minutes -- on a tougher course -- and I never stopped to walk, so I feel I competed honorably. This really was the first marathon I've "run," since I had to walk in 1996. Also, as opposed to last time, I'm eager to run another, and set another PR. I'm already looking at the Detroit Free Press International Marathon in October. (Detroit is a flat city, like Chicago.) Considering I couldn't run more than 3 miles at a time from 1998 to 2001, I was amazed to be out there. I guess time heals all knees.

One thing I'm not going to do is write an article about it! One of the worst articles I've ever written, and it got the most attention. I was asked to appear on NPR's Talk of the Nation to discuss marathoning, and I said, "Uh, I'd rather not revisit that topic." I've written a lot of articles for Salon since then, and fortunately, no one has mentioned it.

If I hadn't written that article, though, I wouldn't have challenged myself to run the Rockford Marathon. The months of training, and this morning's race, were a wonderful journey.

Ted

"Let us run with perseverance the race set out for us." -- Hebrews 12:1.

Thanks for writing, Ted. I'm glad to see you've got bitten by the marathoning bug again.

I think as you know runners, while being defensive of our sport, are also supportive of all who embrace it. So welcome back. And as for journalistic regret, I can identify...