Trail Running Blog

Half Marathon Training: Peaking too Soon?

Each week, as my first ever half marathon comes closer and closer to reality, it seems as if I’m having better and better workouts. On days I need to go hard, I’m able to hit the pace that I’m hoping for and on days where it’s easy or off, I may not have the best workout which I’m OK with. The only thing I’m afraid of now is if I am pushing myself too hard and will peak too early. Back in high school cross country, our coach planned our hard workouts for the entire season in hopes of us peaking at the very optimal moment (league finals for some, and CIF prelims/finals for Varsity). I do feel like the half marathon training program that I was recommended is geared toward peaking exactly when I actually run the half, but I may be pushing the pace too much that I begin to burn out toward the end of the program. I’m happy to say that nothing of that nature has happened yet, but who knows whether or not that will happen next week or the week after. So now I am in a position where I can either do really well and actually hit sub-1:30 for my first half (based off Sunday’s long run) or I will push it too hard to the point where I can’t even finish the race, which would be a huge disappointment. This is something that I have to keep in the front of my mind as I am completing this program.

So as far as runs for the past week, I’m going to try and keep it as short as possible. Tuesday’s intervals was successful, 6x1000m @ 6:40 pace (4:10). Results: 3:49, 3:50, 3:44, 3:41, 3:34, 3:22. It’s weird that this program never asks for mile repeats but I did them ALL the time in high school to train for 3 mile races..Oh well. Friday was a 6 mile tempo run at moderate pace (7:00), which I was a little worried about. But I was able to run it pretty well, splits were a little off though: 6:27, 6:50, 6:39, 6:39, 6:29, 6:09. Sunday was probably one of the best workouts I’ve had so far, it was supposed to be 12 miles, easy. I never ran that many miles before, so I just wanted to go at a pace where I would be able to finish the whole thing in one piece. So I started off pretty slow, but I felt pretty good and my breathing was under control so I started picking up the pace as each mile passed. I ended up running at a pretty quick pace for an easy run and was surprised at the finishing time: 1:26. I just thought to myself, “I know I could run 1.1 more miles, I’m ready to race!” So now that I know I should be able to complete the half, I need to focus on how fast I want to run it. I still don’t want to start off too fast and then die half way through, so I think I should consider the strategy I accidentally did today, which is go out thinking it’s an easy run and just gradually pick up the pace. I know it’s going to be easier said than done since come race day, I’m going to want to hang with all the others out front, but I need to use self control and know that I will catch up later on.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Intervals 6x1000m @ 6:40 min/mile  3.75 mi 00:22 05:51 pace

What better way to start off the running week than with intervals? Was looking forward to these, probably the hardest one to date since it was a lot of intervals at a longer distance. Ran them pretty well and was able to run progressively faster after each interval. Results: 3:49, 3:50, 3:44, 3:41, 3:34, 3:22.

175/187

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The Loop – 5 mi

Post interval run, nothing special. Took it really easy and felt relaxed.

140/151

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Run not logged: 4 miles, easy

Friday, October 9, 2009

6 Mile Tempo Run  6 mi 39:16 06:32 pace

Tempo run for the week, 6 miles at moderate tempo pace (7:00) with mile warmup and cooldown. I was a little nervous about this run since it’s a good amount of miles at a decent pace. Like always, I started off too fast, but toned it down the very next mile to run the next couple of miles very comfortably. Had enough energy at the end to hit a pretty fast last mile. Felt pretty tired after the run, which is expected, might have to take tomorrow off instead of the usual easy/recovery run. Splits: 6:27, 6:50, 6:39, 6:39, 6:29, 6:09

176/193

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Run not logged: easy 25 min run around UCSD campus

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Fastest Long Run to Date  12 mi 01:26 07:10 pace

12 miles is the most I have ever ran so I wasn’t planning on going too hard, just easy enough to actually complete the workout. So I started off pretty slow (8:01) and would have been more than happy running the whole workout at that pace. But I ran the next mile faster and then the next and so on. My breathing was under control the whole time and it was actually cold out so heat was not an issue. It was quite a workout, and I still can’t believe I did it and did it well! I know that I would have been able to run 1.1 miles more, I’m so ready to run my half marathon already!! Too bad I’m only half way through my training! Patience..

Here are the splits, the loop I ran isn’t exactly 5 miles, so each mile within the loop is probably different. But if you compare the splits from loop 1 to loop 2, you can see that they are definitely progressives, nice!

Loop #1: 8:01, 7:43, 7:26, 7:21, 7:12,

Loop #2: 7:21, 7:18, 7:07, 6:46, 6:36,

1st mi of loop: 6:58,

Back: 6:42

161/185

Got some great feedback from that run: http://www.dailymile.com/people/SDrunner/entries/497603

This is the 2nd week of half marathon training and it feels like it’s working. Last week, I did a pretty good job on the intervals and tempo run and ran a pretty good distance in the long run. This week, the interval distance increased, the pace for the tempo run increased, but was shorter and the distance for the long run only went up by one mile. None of the workouts really seemed impossible and should have been pretty manageable.

Intervals

This week’s intervals was supposed to be 5×1000 at 6:40 pace which was supposed to be 4:10 and to get even more specific, :25 per 100 meters. The main reason why I’m keeping track of every 100 meters is because I am terrible at pacing myself. When I ran in high school, I always ran with a teammate who was able to run at the correct pace. And whenever I had to do intervals on my own, I would always be off pace. What would happen is that I would run the beginning of the interval a little slower so I would pick it up (faster than the actual pace) to even up the pace. That just isn’t very consistent. I was able to run each 100 meters at around 21 to 22 seconds feeling pretty comfortable. The last interval or two, I was able to increase some of those to 20-21, and wanted to break 20 for the last 100 m and did it at 19.01! Great run overall, next week’s intervals will be tough too, 7×800 m.

Tempo Run

My Thursday tempo run didn’t really seem that hard, only 20 minutes at the hard tempo pace: 6:45. Last week was supposed to be at moderate pace 7:00 but for 4 miles, which I did and actually hit at the hard tempo pace. But the splits were all over the place, including the first mile which was way too fast, 6:19! So today, I made a conscious effort to not go too fast and run the warmup at an actual warmup pace, not 7:00 which I hit last week. So I did the warmup and the first mile and actually was right on pace, which was very surprising. Second mile was a little slower, but still on pace. Because I actually ran what I was supposed to run, I had a lot more energy throughout the run and had a lot more at the end to finish strong. My last mile today was a 6:19, the same time as the first mile of my tempo run last week, which killed me for the rest of the run. Overall good tempo run.

Long Run

Saturday’s long run did not turn out like I had hoped. The plan was 6 miles easy and then 3 miles at goal race pace plus 20-30 seconds. I woke up a little later than I had hoped that morning, but still got out and actually hit those first 6 miles at a reasonable 8:15-8:20 easy pace. However, by the time I got to the 7th mile (1st mile of the goal race pace), it had gotten super hot and I didn’t get any water or fuel to run any faster. The first mile was pretty much the same pace as the easy 6 I had just ran and the 2nd mile slowed to a jog. I too out of energy and just decided to just call it a day after that. I’m still happy with the miles, but I missed out on the most important part of the workout. This was the first of this type of workout and will be more like it in the next couple of weeks. But I have definitely learned how much the heat can affect someone who runs 5 days out of the week at night, which kind of freaks me out since the half marathon will not be at night. But thinking about it, it will probably start in the early morning so the sun shouldn’t be a big factor. I will just have to get up a little bit earlier next time I have to run this workout.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Intervals: 5×1000 meters

Was very eager to run intervals again. Last week’s was pretty successful and I was able to run faster than my goal pace. Today’s intervals were a little bit harder: 5×1000 meters at 6:40 pace = 4:10. I was able to run faster again today, although I was more tired than last week, which is understandable. I still felt comfortable for most of the intervals, I’m very happy about that. 5x1000m: 3:50, 3:53, 3:44, 3:39, 3:31.

Last interval 100 meter splits:

20.8, 22, 22, 21.6, 21.6, 21.4, 20.9, 21.1, 20.4, 19.01 (broke 20!)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Loop  3 mi

Slow, felt weak. Should have eaten a snack before the run. Glad I didn’t run hard today since today was post-interval day and tomorrow will be tempo run.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Short Tempo Run  3 mi 19:56, 6:38 pace

I sort of ran on pace today, what a surprise! I felt a lot more comfortable than I did last week and didn’t start off too fast, which made the rest of the run a lot easier. Bc of the smarter running, I was able to run the same last mile (6:19) that I ran on the first mile of last week’s tempo run, which got me too tired. Splits: 6:43, 6:52, 6:19

Friday, September 18, 2009

Easy Bike Ride 56:00

Another calf cramp while sleeping last night, wth! Easy bike ride today, didn’t even feel like an hour, it was nice. Biking downhill: exhilarating..not wearing a helmet: dangerous! Long run tomorrow morning, 6 easy, 3 race pace. Should be an interesting run.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Long Run 8 mi

This long run was supposed to be 6 easy and then 3 at goal half marathon pace (+ 20-30 seconds). However, the forecast said it was going to be 90 degrees this weekend! I was able to run the first 6 miles and a very reasonable easy pace (8:15-8:20ish), but once I started those last three miles, I was all out of gas. No water or fuel to help and the sun was just scorching! First mile of the 3 was around the same pace as the easy pace and just jogged out the 2nd mile and called it a day. This is what happens when you run at night 5 days a week and then try and run in the heat..