Training update: BQ me maybe?

That's a new high for me. About to hit 400km in April.

Hey blogosphere, it struck me today: "What kind of running blogger am I, if I don't talk about workouts and training?!". Well, for a start, a procrastinating one, trying to get out of writer's block for a research paper due way too soon. But also, one that has been training a little harder than before, and finally starting to put some thought in the whole processes. In my case, that usually involves reading -- a lot of running related reading. A lot of that is actually irrelevant for someone training at my paces and intensities, but nevertheless interesting.

But I digress, this was supposed to be about recent training. Well, I finally picked things up starting right after New Years', trying to average 80-100km a week (50-62mi for those insisting on fake American units). "Trying" is the correct term here (as you can see on the graph) -- I slacked off for a week in February after my debacle in Sedona, and then had a lot of fun first with Posterior Tibial Tendonitits (PTT) and then with pneumonia in March.

Setbacks aside, it seems that I'm adapting well to this new (for me) volume, paces are going down, mileages up, and recovery after harder workouts is a tad easier. There is nothing grounbreaking in what I've discovered -- every coaching book would first prescribe building up volume to get aerobic benefits before moving on to more tricky and specific workouts. But this wouldn't be a good post without some bullet points. So, here's how I structure a week's worth of training these days (note that this is just what seems to maybe work for me, I'm just sharing what I'm discovering here, and by no means trying to tell anyone how to do their own training):

Contrary to prior cases, there are long runs! (in the last 60 days)

• The long run [30km]. Go figure, that one is important for marathons. Before picking things up this year, I always found some excuse not to do it. I mean, it takes two, two-and-a-half hours and leaves me in a state where I want to eat my body weight in food. But 9 marathons' worth of hitting the wall reminds me that it's a good idea to teach your body how to burn fat once it runs out of stored energy (glycogen). I pace this one somewhere in the 4:40-4:55 min/km range (my last flat marathon pace being 4:45).

• The lactate run [21km]. This is my favorite workout of the week. I also call it "fast 21" (yeah, I know, original). It pretty much involves running a half at a fairly brisk pace (4:15-4:30 these days) -- probably somewhere near my lactate threshold. If I feel like I'm not working hard enough in the first 2/3-3/4, I throw in a bit of a kick in the last few km -- that might help in the last 10km of a marathon. During one of these, I finally went below 1:30 for the half distance, so things are getting better.

Also, most of my speedwork has been recent. (see that little blip below 4:00?)

• Some speedwork [intervals]. For good measure. From the sound of it, designing a good interval workout is an art of its own. So far, I don't know enough about it, and just bail out with some Yasso 800s. A typical set these days is 5x800 @ 3:50 pace (3:05 each), with 3 minutes of recovery. Later, I'll probably play with adding some shorter sprints, cutting down recovery, and what not.

• Easy recovery runs [8-16km]. Other than the three "structured" workouts above, there is just easy running (somewhere between 4:35-4:55) to stimulate recovery and build up some aerobic base. Nothing special here, just zoning out and "putting in the miles".

 

So, where does that leave me in terms of races and goals? I was about to run the Illinois marathon this weekend, but decided against it because of the whole pneumonia thing last month. I'm signed up for Providence next weekend, and I'll see if I have the discipline to go out very conservatively and pace it as a long training run (as opposed to going out and bonking as usual). The big goal for this spring is Shires of Vermont. Given how things change, I'm not exactly sure how to pace that race. Maybe go out at about 4:30 and shoot for a 3:10 finish? Or, if particularly cocky, 4:20 for a chance of BQ? What do you think, blogosphere, should I finally try to "BQ me maybe"?