3/14/12: Ready to KATN

The hard work is all done. Now I just need to accomplish the difficult task of not doing much of anything the rest of the week.

I’ve had some key workouts over the past few weeks that line up exactly with how I like things to go leading up to a major focus race:


  • 27 days before: George Washington Birthday Marathon in 3:04. Very hard effort for a “training run” to help get the mind / body ready for racing. I like to do something like this about a month out. 4 weeks before running 2:55 in 2008 at Philly I did a 23 mile run at 7:05 pace. This was a bit of a faster pace and a longer run on a tougher course.

  • 13 days before: 25 miles at 7:48. If I taper too much and back off the long runs, I seem to lose some of the late race endurance, so 2 weeks out is an ideal time for a long effort. The goal in this run is to get in the miles and endurance without getting worn out. Mission accomplished.

  • 10 days before: 8 x 800 @ 2:44. Last major speed workout to build confidence and focus on leg turnover. This should be a hard workout but should not be a 100% effort. I felt great in this workout and was really comfortable. Hit the last 800 in 2:36 no problem. I was tempted to do 2 more repeats but held off to keep the legs fresher.

  • 7 days before: 13 miles with 10mi @ 6:27 pace. Medium length run to maintain endurance and get comfortable at marathon pace. The pace felt pretty doable, which is good I since I’ll need to hold that pace for an awfully long time on Saturday!

  • 4 days before: 6 miles with 1 x 1mi @ 5:45 and 1 x 800 @ 2:49. Short and easy speed workout to maintain the leg turnover but not get tired. Felt pretty good but was not yet 100% rested. This is just about right, as I still have 3 more very easy days to rest up and don’t want to be over-tapered

Training was certainly not perfect, but I think a lot of key pieces came into place. I’m hoping to run a PR and go sub 2:55 and think I should be in shape to do so.


Now I just have to get in the KATN mindset and get ready to unleash the beast on Saturday!

Comments

Barbara said…
Hope you have a great race tomorrow!
Dad L. said…
Good luck tomorrow!