Marathon Plan

[boldwarrior]

Sat, 7km in 32:50.
Recovery run, avg hr 70% or 129
avg speed, 12.8km/hr
running index 82 - this is by and far the highest index i have ever achieved. The cooler weather is certainly helping. The higher the Index the better.

Sun
Day off, very fatigued day.

Monday Was a rather hot afternoon
Recovery run with a hard 1km towards the end as i got caught up chasing some dude who was doing intervals, just to see what sort of pace he was doing..... (about 3min per km)
6km
avg hr 143 max hr 166 avg speed 14km/hr
running index 69

[boldwarrior]

Tue
Ended up being a super HOT day (a heat wave it seems has hit a lot of Australia) but they do recon a cold front is on it's way!???

Plan was for a 10km run to a park, do a few 200's until the guys turn up, then do an Hr of running circuits.
After only 3km of run, i was struggling due to heat, after 5km the sun was smashing me!
AFter the 10km run, that was it - game over for the day.

But - I do have some Q's for myself and You guys
1st Reason for doing Marathon - It's part of an Aerobic Base building for some Fast 3km - 10km races later in the year.
1st Marathon = Gold Coast (one of the biggest marathons in Aust) Date = 1st July - Making the top 10 would be insane, making the top 50 should be well within what i could do. A top 10 would be possible at some stage - but it's hard to say. It's a very Flat course, and Fast.

2nd Marathon = 5th August - A brisbane based run, that potentially may not have a full marathon - they are asking for those interested before committing. From what i have seen Brisbane based guys, or Qld based guys for that matter, also being only 1 month from Gold Coast, then really Top guys wont go hard in this or wont do it. It will include hills, so will be slower than Gold Coast. But it is One month later

3rd Marathon = August 26th - Sunshine Coast - A good chance of Being in the top few - Course will be dead flat in areas, and Very hilly in other areas. So wont be as fast as Gold Coast.

There doesn't appear any prize moneys for Brisbane or Sunshine coast, if they do, it'll be small. A Top 10 at Gold coast wont get any $$ either - So racing for Cash in these events is useless - But a good time and the Aerobic endurance will be used for fast times for shorter events that attract Cash.

The shorter events

6th May - Half marathon with Prize $$.

11th June - 18.5km, race the Rattler (it's an old steam train) Avg pace is about 17km/hr for the train - but it is hilly. Not sure about $$ but would be a good run race.

22nd July - Pomona king of the mountain - It's been won by a guy like 6 times in a row. And the winner gets a paid trip to New Zealand to run a mountain race over there! That's pretty cool

5th Aug - a 15km run with decent price $$ - attracts a decent field as a result.

19th Aug - a 3 or a 8km race with decent prize $$ - the 8km winner is pretty fast over the last 2yrs, and i can 2nd in the 3km by 3sec last year. The winner of the 3km gets more than 3rd in the 8km. Plus i would like to smash out a really fast 3km time (it does have a big hill in the middle, the hill is where i lost it last year)

27 Oct - the mountain race in New zealand, Kawera - the prize event if one wins the race on 22nd July

31-4th Nov - a 5km road race that is the Fastest road race in Aust. Plus maybe a 10km run the next day as part of a Triathlon team.

I think the 2nd and 3rd marathons are out of the Q - too close to other better events that attract Cash prizes.
I could do the Half marathon in May then the Full marathon in end of June - but then i wouldnt do the Race against the Train on the 11th June.

If i wanted to race the Train - I would do the Half marathon as my Longest race for the year and Not do a full Marathon.

Thoughts?

[John]

1st Reason for doing Marathon - It's part of an Aerobic Base building for some Fast 3km - 10km races later in the year. hmm ok, but why a full and not 1/2?

1st Marathon = Gold Coast (one of the biggest marathons in Aust) Date = 1st July - Making the top 10 would be insane, making the top 50 should be well within what i could do. A top 10 would be possible at some stage - but it's hard to say. It's a very Flat course, and Fast. Aiming for top 10 first time up is a BIG call. The perils of marathons even for the experienced are well known. Maybe finish and see what happens may be a better, even if more conservative option.

I think the 2nd and 3rd marathons are out of the Q - too close to other better events that attract Cash prizes. agree

how important is racing the train to you?

[boldwarrior]

Thanks John
Re- racing the train - You're right. I might just use the 1/2 Marathons as a training session. I have done 29km in training this year - might as well do it in a race eh?

Last week
Thurs - off

Fri - 53min of running circuits (easy)

Sat - 4km easy - then a 5km Hard hit out in 17min (not time trail pace) - then 3km easy

Sun - Off

Mon - 5km easy recovery run

Tue - off

[boldwarrior]

Wed -
3km Time trail - in training joggers - into a strong 20-30km/hr head wind on the road.
Tried to keep it even without going out too hard.
9min 51sec
Heart rate only got to 167

Max heart rate recorded in the last 3 yrs is 183 - and that was 3yrs ago.
I have had it to 174 over the last couple of weeks - Im sure it can go somewhat higher

I'm sure it can go sub 9min min soon.

Also ran another 2km to wind down, then another 30min of running circuits at the park.

Just did a google seach, and found that 1mile handicapt race - it's in 3.5wks time. Or 2 weeks after my 10km - the 5th of May - this is the day before a Half Marathon - so i think it's out of the Q.

[boldwarrior]

Just realized, that 3km TT - was 17sec quicker in same shoes (same type - heavy trainers) than in Aug last year.
With a max HR of 175 and Avg of 166

If i also remember - i was swimming in a pool of La+ and H+ ions real bad... Whereas this time, it just hurt (esp the cooler drier air in the lungs, seemed to burn?)

[boldwarrior]

Thur - off - foamrolled

Fri - 10min on the spin bike, then 42min of running circuits, 7.2km all up. Nothing too hard.

Sat - 1hr Time trial - 15.9km. Hr avg, 158 - max 168 (max was in the last 500m) typically avg 162ish after the 1st 10min
Lungs were hurting after 12km till about 14km - sort of felt cramping?? weird. Otherwise, the pace was pretty consistent the entire way, 8km in 29:50 and the 2nd 7.9km in 30:10.
Even though it's cooled off - there was rain about and therefore high humidity, so still lost 1.5kg of sweat in the HR.

1week to go before 1st 10km race of the season.

[John]

apologies as we have discussed this before, but do you us HR as a fitness monitor (compare afterwards) or pace monitor (during session), or both?

I know that lung thing, bloody sore and in my case more lower throat. Can't believe you haven't had it before, often it is cold weather related.

[boldwarrior]

apologies as we have discussed this before, but do you us HR as a fitness monitor (compare afterwards) or pace monitor (during session), or both?

I know that lung thing, bloody sore and in my case more lower throat. Can't believe you haven't had it before, often it is cold weather related.

Depends on what the Plan calls for.
That run, was trying to keep to 16/km/hr - and just see what the heart does.

Other runs, esp recovery runs, are to keep the HR down.
Runs that are for base training, are to keep the HR UNDER La+ at all times (a couple of sec here and there due to road conditions....) But yeah, there are deff runs that are done watching the HR instead of speed or whatever else. This makes training easier to recover from, and allows for more volume.

Re- lung thing - I have had the burning throat thing from cold - i think i have had the crampy lung thing before, but - not for such a long period of time (in terms of time eg months or yrs, and in terms of time eg During a 1hr run, or Time Trial - if it was during a normal training run, i would have stopped for a minute or two....)

Sunday -
21min easy recovery run or 3.8km
then 35min of Running Circuits - 4.2km

Total for the week - 4hrs 11min
2 x time trails
2 x days off

[boldwarrior]

Mon - off - lots of foamrolling, legs very stiff
Tue - 20min of easy jogging, more foamrolling, legs still very stiff (new areas, not same as yesterday)
Wed - warm up, then 3km of run at race pace (18km/hr) then jog (12-14km/hr) around a park, North/South runs were Race pace, East/West were Jogs. Felt really good at the end.
Thurs - Off

New mattress arrived Wed - for when i'm away from home working (typically 2 nights a week). The old one was very bad....
Two nights in a row i have used it, and this morning, woke up feeling Awake! First time in ages, Months, maybe 6 months.

1st race of the season is this Sunday. 10km as part of a team Triathlon.