6 days to go
It is 6 days until the Mid-Atlantic Summer Marathon. I had a good training week, although I ended up doing more running than I had originally planned. The majority of it was at a very easy pace (HR average < 135) and I feel pretty strong. My goal for this marathon is to run it as a training run with my friend Jon (his plan too) and not try to push the pace at all. This is mostly about getting some more experience with marathoning before my ‘A’ races in the fall and the fact that a rail-trail marathon seemed neat. I’m predicting a finishing time of around 4 hours, but the biggest variable is likely to be the heat. Weather.com is currently predicting a low of 69 degrees and a high of 90 for Lebanon on Saturday. The race starts at 6 AM and the majority of the course offers some degree of shade, so that should help quite a bit.
I tend to think of rail-trails as generally flat, but that isn’t quite the case for the Lebanon rail trail. While the course doesn’t have any really steep hills, it does have some very long incline and declines. Here is the elevation profile from my attempt at plotting the course on mapmyrun.com ( a handy site when trying to figure out new routes):
Weekly Workout Recap:
Plan: Roughly 40 miles with a 15 mile long-run on Saturday
Mon: Ran two loops of Wildwood with Nate. It was nice to get some hills in. 6.3 miles
Tue: PennDOT/City Island run with Mark and then added on a bit. 8.3 miles. Mark has a 35+ day running streak.
Wed: Camp Hill/Harrisburg run with Jon. 11.1 miles
Thu: Felt like left hamstring was sore while walking up stairs so did 30 mins easy on stationary bike @ LA Fitness
Fri: PennDOT/Greenbelt run with Nate. 4 miles
Sat: Long run with Jon at Lebanon Rail Trail (we ran from Cornwall trail head towards Lebanon until the trail deteriorated and then back towards Colebrook). 15 miles which seemed like a walk in the park after last weekend’s 21 miler.
Sun: York Heritage Trail run with Nate. Thought we were doing 8 miles but Nate switched it to 10. I’ve never been there before, so it was neat to checkout. If you aren’t a fan of urban decay you should not start near the Old Colonial Courthouse in downtown York. It is rail-trail ghetto from there for the first mile or two. Brillhart Station is much more scenic place to start.
Total for the week: 54 miles.
This is definitely my highest mileage week ever, but I think running so many miles at a very low heart-rate doesn’t beat up my body as nearly as much as when I am adding in tempo runs and intervals. I still definitely need to drop back a bit this week to make sure my body is able to handle and recover from the marathon this weekend.
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Nice. 54 Miles rocks man. I like how you try to blame me for the high mileage…like 52 miles is any better! :) (just kidding).
Looking forward to the marathon (watching, not running)!
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Nice… Somehow I didn’t know you were planning an early marathon. That’s cool, good luck!
In regards to the York city part of the rail trail. I’ve run that a couple times and it is pretty darn creepy. I didn’t enjoy it.
August 18th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Bill,
I hope you injury gets better before Harrisburg. I am running the Lehigh Valley in two week and then Harrisburg in six weeks. I will be ready. I had knee problems but just ran through them. I know it is different for every individual but the advil gel caps really helped with the pain along with icing and stretching. Just some thoughts. Hope to see you at Harrisburg.
Tom
August 18th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Hey Tom – my training volume has dropped about 80% (and about 90% of that is cross training) so I am sure there is no way I’ll be making the Harrisburg Marathon. My legs are feeling a little bit better, but still unclear what the problem is. My PT visit is this afternoon, so hopefully he will have a few suggestions. Good luck in your races, I’ll most likely be a volunteer at Harrisburg so I will likely see you there.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Bill,
How are you doing with your injuries? Did you know that Lancaster County is having a marathon in New Holland, PA on APril 4th. You can checkout the link at:
http://www.gardenspotvillagemarathon.org/
Thanks,
Tom
February 8th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Hey Tom -
I’m getting some running in, but still having a few difficulties that are making it tough to get the consistency/volume I’d like. The cause is currently a bit of a mystery. I’m working with some specialists to see if we can figure it out.
The race you linked looks great, but I’ll have to skip it this year since I don’t have the mileage in me now for a marathon.
I saw you did a couple of marathons (including HBG) towards the end of the year, is the Lancaster race the next big one for you?