Marathon Training - Tempo Run - 12.75 miles
I am a little over two weeks away from the Las Vegas Marathon, where I hope to run a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. I feel like my training has been going very well, and my running coach continues to tell me that I am progressing on or ahead of plan. I know I can finish the distance, and I know I can run much faster than my race pace (7:29/mile) for short and mid-distance runs. But I have a nagging concern that I won’t be able to run the distance at the race pace.
After discussing this concern with my coach, she encouraged me to trade out some of my planned speed sessions for some more race pace or slightly faster than race pace (say tempo pace) longer distance runs. Today was one of those runs.
Another nagging little annoyance I’ve been “running into” lately is stop lights. When I go out on runs from my house along a popular pedestrian and bicycle trail here in Seattle called the Burke Gilman trail, I’ve been hitting stop lights that require me to stop my run and stand around for up to a minute or 90 seconds.
This is more than enough time for my body to get a significant recovery and have my heart rate drop to as low as 50-60% max heart rate. My concern has been that these rests have given me a false sense of progress, and that my 7 mile tempo run at sub-7:00/miles is skewed by the fact that I got caught at 4 stop lights.
So today, I decided to run a different route. I decided I would run around Green Lake, a local lake and park which has a paved walkway around the entire perimeter of the small lake. Around the beautiful lake, surrounding park, and small in-city forest, there’s a gravel path that measures almost exactly 5K. The park is about 1.75 miles from my house.
My plan was to run from my house, to the park, and then do 3 laps of the lake. From my house to the park, I can’t avoid stop lights, and sure enough I got stopped at pretty much every light. I decided to go ahead and consider this part of the workout a warm up. I’d run it at “warm up pace” 8:00/mile, and when I got caught by a light, I’d stop my watch and stretch while I wait. Then I’d run 3 non-stop laps for 9 miles of tempo. Then I’d run home as a cool down with the same procedure I used to run to the lake.
The result was as follows:
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 11/16/2007
- Time: 15:52:08
- Total Time: 1:33:08.00
- Average Heart rate: 163
- Max Heart rate: 173
- Calories: 1460
- Distance: 12.75 miles
- Average Pace: 7:18.49/mile
- Max Pace: 7:00.07/mile
My warm up course to the lake included splits of 7:51, and then a ridiculously fast mile of 6:59.92. Part of that second mile included the start of me running around the lake, and I probably was speeding up throughout the whole mile because of my insane competitive spirit not liking the idea of having run the first mile at 8:00/mile. It’s going to be critical for me to keep myself in check on race day for those first couple miles.
I tried hard to keep my splits while running around the lake more consistent with my tempo goal of 7:15/mile. My splits ended up being: 7:08, 7:10, 7:09, 7:08, 7:09, 7:10, 7:20, 7:13, 7:26.
Miles four (7:08), seven (7:20), and nine (7:26) included short walk breaks to sip some fuel and water. Clearly I was fading a little bit toward the end of the 9 miles. Which tells me that I really can’t run 7:10 miles and expect to make it the whole marathon. The problem remains that I really felt pretty comfortable and easy during the first 9 miles of the effort, and even in the last 3.75 miles, I didn’t feel as though I’d hit the wall physically. But my splits tell a different story.
The run home from the lake included one mile at 7:57/mile, and .75 miles at 7:15/mile pace. The run home was kind of tricky as it included many stop lights, lots of traffic, and apparently occurred right as the local high school was getting out for the day, so the sidewalks were packed with teenagers who had no desire to get out of the way of some old guy running down the sidewalk.
All in all, 12.75 miles at a 7:18/mile pace feels pretty good. And the fact that 9 miles of it, was all out, no stops, and averaged 7:13/mile pace also feels pretty good. Hopefully it will translate well to race day.
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3 Comments: :
Marathon Training - Tempo Run - 12.75 miles
November 16th, 2007 9:31 pm
Sean says:
Brad, I’ve run into a similar problem with stoplights (and traffic) and the only solution I’ve found (which admittably, not everyone likes…) is to run very early in the morning. Like 4-4:30 AM. At that time it’s pre-rush hour and I can avoid waiting for lights since there is no traffic.
Now granted, I’m a morning person, so this works for me but probably won’t work for everyone.
But I find it really “jump starts” my day and I have tons of energy throughout the day. It also beats the heat so I tend to get a better workout than later in the day when the heat and humidity have set in.
I know people who do the opposite and workout late at night but that’s never worked for me. If I do that I can’t get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning…
November 17th, 2007 10:38 am
riddenwords says:
Given your competitive streak, if you’re serious about qualifying for Boston, I’d have your splits for the marathon mapped out and in your head and make sure you’ve got the first 3-5 miles locked down so you control those race jitters and don’t go out too fast.
I’d also pay good attention to those non-run related training things: Nutrition, Sleep, Hydration, and Recovery.
Remember, you know you can finish. You probably can finish with a PB since your other marathon included and injury or was part of an Ironman. You’re going for time and that’s a serious step up that should be taken seriously.
November 18th, 2007 6:07 am
kipdogg says:
That is a real good run. To reply to your comment on mine…the fact that there is always someone faster is what’s great about this sport…it keeps you grounded and helps you realize that you don’t race against other people but against yourself (and the clock). Best of luck at Vegas.