Training
I officially signed up for the Harrisburg Marathon yesterday. I am definitely under-prepared for a hard effort (a single 20 miler, which I did yesterday on the Conewago), but I think if I keep the pace moderate and stay smart with hydration/fueling I should be able to finish OK. I’d like to get a marathon over with and the Harrisburg event is super convenient for me.
I was taking a look at my training for the last 4 months and realized that the vast majority of my runs have been without much purpose. I know I should be mixing up VO2-max, tempo, long runs, and recovery runs, but there have been very few weeks where that actually happened. Most weeks have just been a random collection of mileage. I’ve averaged about 160 miles a month for the last 3 months, but only completed 3 tempo runs and 3 interval workouts. I have been pretty good about getting in long runs on Saturdays or Sundays, but the distance and pace mixes have been a motley collection of 10-20 miles @ 7:4X – 8:4X (with a few in the high 9:XXs), so not much specificity.
I’ve been following Marcus Grimm’s blog and he has been doing really well using the Furman University FIRST program, which boils down to:
- Do 3 really intense running workouts a week (VO2max, tempo, long run@ quick paces)
- Cross-train at least 2 times a week
I ordered the book on the FIRST program from Amazon and read through it last night and this morning. Frankly, I’m intimidated by the paces described for the tempo and long run workouts, but after I’ve recovered from the marathon effort, I’m going to pick a goal race and start using FIRST and see how it works out for me.
Here are sample running workouts for the 1st week of the 18 week half-marathon program, based off a 19:40 5k performance level:
- VO2max 10-20 min warm up, 12*400m @ 85 seconds (5:40 mile pace) w/ 90 seconds rest, 10-20 min cool down
- Tempo 2 miles easy warm up, 3 miles @ 6:37 pace, 1 mile cool down
- Long Run – 8 miles @ 7:18 pace (projected half-marathon pace + 20 seconds)
October 28th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Glad to see you’ve signed up for Harrisburg – should be fun, and I’m hoping for good weather.
You’ll find very quickly on the FIRST plan where your strengths and weaknesses are — personally I was always comfortable with the long run paces but the tempos were rather harsh bordering on impossible for me… in my case I just played to my strengths and eased up on the tempo paces a bit.
For my next plan, I’m going to find out if training to your strengths is better or focusing on your weaknesses
Frankly, the key to getting better is regular tempo/speed workouts, in any form. I like the FIRST set-up because it’s really time efficient and the bike riding makes recovery easier. I really like Fitzgerald’s Brain Training program, but figure the time commitment compared to FIRST is at least 20% more, so that’s a consideration, too.
October 29th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Good luck Bill! I’ll be out there cheering for you as a volunteer.
November 7th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Marcus – thanks for the feedback, I’m interested in your thoughts on the Brain Training program once you’ve given it a chance.
Nathan – I’m glad you’ll be volunteering, it will be nice to see a few friendly faces during the race. I’m planning on coming down to see your 5M race on Saturday in York.