Hey Ginny, sorry you are feeling rotten. I just got over it myself, so did Charles, and now Rachel is sick. I went to the Dr. 2x and finally got this shot in the buttocks. I felt like they were trying to force a golf ball into my skin , but about 6 hours later, I sure felt a lot better. I guess tis the season!! I had to take a couple of days off cuz my head would pound with every step. Now, I just have the remnants of a cold, which I can deal with a lot easier. Hope you feel better, get some rest, lots of fluids and chicken soup!! (Oh, and a Crank Gel)!! Merry Christmas to you and yours!!!

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Catch you on the run!! Audrey

Busy, Busy, Busy - no time to post lately.

Wed. 26th - sick, walk 30 min.
Thur.- feeling a little better jog 3 miles on treadmill
Fri - first attempt jogging outside on hilly terrain. jog 4 miles, out of breath and legs a little weak.
Sat. - walk 30
Sun - jog 9.5 at Canebrake with Amber.
Monday - walk 40 min with my sister, Linde, who is in town helping with demolition at my house.
Tues. - Steam Whistle 12K I think I ran 1:00 flat. I felt much better than I expected to. I am very pleased with the results considering all of my current circumstances.
Wed. - jog 3 miles on the treadmill.

Thurs - walk 30 on the treadmill
Friday - Yasso's 800's 10 X 800 with equal time recovery. I mile w/u and 1 mile c/d. For my recovery time, roughly 3:45, I walked 1 min., jogged 2 minutes, then walked the remaining time of the 3:45 recovery. I wasn't sure how this final Yasso workout would go. I have been working up to the 10 X 800 throughout the fall. Then I had the marathon, recovery time, and then picked back up with the 800's again. When I ran the 9 X 800, after Stennis, it was tough. I had 4 trying to get my legs, then 2-3 nice ones, then 3 with my legs fatigued. This time with my illness, I wasn't sure that I would be able to run strong. I knew that I felt pretty good for the 12k, but not 100%. I was amazed at the way I felt so strong while doing the 800's and after finishing I felt great. I was very excited. I averaged 3:42 for the 10 800s. My quickest, was my first (dummy) 3:34, and my slowest was 3:47. The goal was to run around 3:45. (Note: I do not believe that Yasso's prediction will pan out for me, but I am thrilled with the 10 X 800 workout.)

Sat. - walk 30 minutes.

Sunday - 10 miles at an average of 8:51 pace. I had intended to do 12-13, but with the remodeling project, time goes by way too fast, energy goes too, so 10 is good for today.

Monday - walk 30 minutes
Tues. - jog 2 miles, walk 1 mile
Wed. - it's 7:40 and I still haven't exercised or finished packing. I will either walk or jog 30 on the treadmill. We leave early on Thurs. for Disney. It will be so nice to get away from it all for a few days.

I am excited about the Disney race. I don't know what to expect with my schedule lately. I am hoping to be able to get some rest the next couple of days and if the weather will be a little cool, I think I may be able to run a good race. If it's hot, o'well, I will finish sometime on Sunday. I am totally confident that I can complete the race by nightfall.

You will do great Ginny! _ You have worked hard and you know how to run a long race! My prediction: 3:55:20

Go Ginny gooooo!!!

Ginny wrote:

Sunday - 10 miles at an average of 8:51 pace. I had intended to do 12-13, but with the remodeling project, time goes by way too fast, energy goes too, so 10 is good for today. Monday - walk 30 minutes Tues. - jog 2 miles, walk 1 mile Wed. - it's 7:40 and I still haven't exercised or finished packing. I will either walk or jog 30 on the treadmill. We leave early on Thurs. for Disney. It will be so nice to get away from it all for a few days. I am excited about the Disney race. I don't know what to expect with my schedule lately. I am hoping to be able to get some rest the next couple of days and if the weather will be a little cool, I think I may be able to run a good race. If it's hot, o'well, I will finish sometime on Sunday. I am totally confident that I can complete the race by nightfall.

I will pray that a cold front heads your way!! Good luck!! You are really enjoying this marathon stuff, you and Kily will have to battle to see who can do the most marathons in one year. Can't wait to hear your report!!

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Catch you on the run!! Audrey

Thanks Audrey and Raul - Audrey, your prayers were answered for the cool weather, unfortunately it arrived 1 day too late. When I got up at 4:00 on race morning, I looked at the weather channel and it said 63 degrees and 100% humidity. "O' MY" - not good for me. We started the race at 6 am. At Disney there are so many people that you can't get on your goal pace immediately, in fact, I wasn't able to get on pace until mile 4. From mile 5-19 I was on pace and then typically, at mile 20 I started to slow down and never got back on pace. 20-26 went like this: 9:41, 9:39, 9:52, 10:11, 10:00, 10:03, and 10:17. My goal pace was 9:07 or under. I finished with a time of 4:08 which is my second fastest marathon time. Considering my "life" leading up to the marathon and the weather, I am VERY pleased with this time. Also, my Garmin had 26:48 for the mileage. I know that the course is measured for the shortest distance a runner can take, and with all of the people you are not able to run exactly how you want to (I always try to run the tangents) but this is a big difference. Not sure if the course was off, or my Garmin is off, o'well, close enough anyway, just wanted to add the note to this post. I am pleased with the effort. My goal now will be to figure out some way to improve my last 6 miles in the marathons. Any ideas????

Sun - 26.48 miles running plus lots of walking before and after the race.
Monday - walk 30 minutes - feeling pretty good, a few sore spots but overall in good shape.
Tues - walk 30 minutes on treadmill

My upcoming plan is to do no running for 2 weeks, Yikes!
Then I am going to focus my speed work on the 5K and 10K. I am still tempted with the Mardi Gras Marathon, or at least the half marathon, so I will keep my distance days up, after the 2 week rest period. I would not run the full, unless we get a COLD front in the week of the marathon(doubtful in New Orleans in late Feb). I will likely run the half regardless of what the weather is on race day.

My goal for the spring and early summer and fall is to really work on the 5K and 10K. Unfortunately, I turn the big 40 this year and I want to try to run new PR's at the age of 40. I am looking forward to this year of running.

Great run given race and weather conditions. I think big races are always extra hard and extra stressful, so being that close to your PR is really an excellent result, especially if the distance was off!

I keep thinking and telling myself that the key is longer long runs. (Training runs of at least 26 miles.) I run 15 to get ready for a half, but the idea of running 25-27 for a full is really daunting. But I honestly think it may help. 18 - 22 seems to be where people have problems with marathons, so I think that running those extra miles a few times in training must make some difference. However, given that I haven't run or trained for a marathon since April of 2006, I'm only guessing. I plan to test this theory one of these days - I believe I will run one in 2009 but not certain where or when.

The strategy I did use in my last marathon was to go into a complicated interval pattern at mile 18 (6 sets of 30 secs fast with 90 secs easier; 6 sets of 1 min fast with 2 mins easier; 6 set of 1 min fast with 1 min easier, etc.) so I basically confused myself with counting until I was done. The faster parts weren't that fast but it kept me from going into the gradual decline as I had in two of the prior three marathons. It wasn't as ideal as holding a steady pace, but it did result in my holding a fairly steady average pace for almost the entire race.

No running for two weeks, IMO, is one of the best things you can do after one (or more) big events. Recharge, re-energize, relax!

40 is a good age to set PRs. As is 45, 50, 55, etc., etc.

Congrats, again, on a great race!!!

sheryl c.

Great run. Running a marathon in that kind of heat/humidity is really tough.

I agree with Sheryl about the longer runs. However, you have to be able to cover the distance without getting hurt or having to have an extensive recovery period. To do that, I think you need to have the proper mileage base. This is my hope anyway. In my training plan to prepare for Boston, I am going to focus on getting my base mileage up to about 65 miles/week. Right now, I do about 50 (with some recovery weeks that are less) and I can't seem to get much beyond that mileage on any consistant basis. That is why I think I need to ease up on the hard stuff for a little while.

For instance, my long run may be just 15 miles, with a weekly mileage of 65 (over 6 days). That means I will have to average 10 miles/day for the remainder of my runs - I may do 1 or 2 two-a-days to get the mileage. Once my body has adequately adapted to the mileage, I will increase my long runs, but keep the weekly mileage the same. My hope is that the mileage increase will allow my body to adapt to a higher mileage routine. Then, when I can easily handle the mileage, I will alter the long runs to get some runs in that exceed 22 miles - maybe up to 28. Then, if I still have adequate time before the race, I will add tempo work to my training.

For me, I don't need more speed to get better times, I need better endurance and stamina. It looks like that is where you are also. You don't need to run faster miles, you just need 5 or 6 more miles at the pace you can run the first 18 to 20 at. I think the key to that is a better mileage base. The down side to this strategy is that my other race times will probably suffer. I can't imagine I will be able to keep my 5k times as fast while I focus on base building. That is okay for me - my goal is faster marathon times. Once I get the mileage base up and re-introduce tempo/speed work, those times should be even faster than they are now.

And one last thing - welcome to the Masters category later this year. When I turned 40 I was stoked about hitting that threshold. I don't really know why, I just was. Probably because I was running well, but felt I could do even better.

Terry

Back in the olden days, when I actually raced marathons, I did include runs of 22-24 miles. One time I inadvertently ran 26 miles. I just felt that 20 milers were not enough to prepare me mentally or physically for the marathon distance.

I also used a strategy similar to what Sheryl described, although mine was not as structured. I would just pick out a person who was ahead of me and I'd pick up the pace until I caught them. Then I'd back off the pace until I was recovered enough to do that again.

I think this dows three things:

1. It takes your mind off that pain that you are probably feeling.
2. It allows you to use different muscles.
3. It keeps you from slowing down significantly.

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Becky Ryder
hryder29@comcast.net
Hattiesburg, MS

Picking off runners wouldn't necessarily work well for me in the type of marathons I've ended up running in (264 in Duke City, Albuquerque 2005; 147 when I did the MS marathon in 2006; and 70 marathon finishers in the Andrew Jackson Marathon in 2006 although the half had bigger crowd).

sheryl c.

Yes, with you being so far up front in such small marathons, there would be few targets for you.

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Becky Ryder
hryder29@comcast.net
Hattiesburg, MS

Great info guys, thanks. The longer mileage is exactly what I have been contemplating. It's really funny because the first time I overheard some of you talking about 26 plus training runs, I thought the idea was crazy. Now, especially after Stennis and Disney, I think it is what I, personally, will need to do. I normally do a 22 miler for mental reasons but feel that I need the further distance to "get in shape." Maybe even 27-28 miles. I currently feel that I could handle the load, but we will see as I get older (master's runner - scary). To date, I am lucky in that I am not very injury prone. That's partially inherited I think, and partially training style (being sure to get the recovery in the schedule). For me, it's just fun to have something to keep striving for, and trying different things to keep it interesting. Haven't really figured out my marathon schedule for 2008. This is weird for me, normally, I have 2-3 marathons mapped out ahead of time.

Chad also recommended some type of hard workout am, followed by a long run in the evening, or a long run am, and a hard workout in the evening. To get accustomed to running on tired legs. I did some of this last summer with my long runs am and then running the mud runs pm. I do like the philosophy behind this too. Keep the input coming, I love this stuff.

One more (a few) word from me on this - I also am a fan of the two run workouts although I don't do them all year. I still recall reading advice from several years ago that stated that your body doesn't really recover in a 24 hour time period - so multiple workouts work similarly to one long one (the particular article I read advocated doing three 8 mile runs in 24 hours to train for marathons for a person who didn't have time for one long run.) I don't remember the source of that but I also recall that Eddie Hellebuyck (a great masters' marathon runner living in ABQ who had problems with a blood test a few years ago) ran multiple 8 milers daily when he was in the deep part of training for marathons (but, being essentially a professional runner, he could spend his time, based on his description, just running and resting).

I'm not so certain hat the 3 x 8 is the same as 1 x 24; however, I do keep in mind hours (and not just days) between workouts, i.e., I don't necessarily want to follow late afternoon speed work on my bike with speed work in an a.m. run the following day (or if I do, I try to be aware that the efforts of one may dilute the results of the other).

Given your general focus on the 3 day a week running plan, I think that twice a day runs are a good alternative. I've done them as two speed or two fartlek sessions, usually the second one is shorter. It is a good way for me to keep a good pace for more miles than I would in one longer workout.

I will be very interested to see how others (and me one of these days) do after incorporating longer training runs. Maybe we will gather enough information to write our own marathon training book!!!

sheryl c.

Hello Strangers,

Just wanted to let you know that I am still around. I have been WALKING my 30 minutes everyday since the marathon on Jan 13th. I have been so busy that it seemed to be a good time for a break, but now 1 week of my 2 week running break, and I am starting to REALLY feel the need for a run, physically and mentally. This MAJOR remodel is getting me, and I need to run. I am going to try to stick with my walking for this week and by next week, when it is time to run, I will be too fat and lazy to run. Ha HA I know, I know, this is good for me.