Last Saturday started the 1-month countdown to the Paavo
Nurmi Marathon that Sandi and I are running.
Normally this is the point in time when I’m thinking about getting my
last quality long run in before the taper starts. 99% of the work has been done so I usually am
just looking to get in a 2.5-3 hour run where I’m consistently hitting my
paces. This is more of a mental benefit
and confidence booster than anything else.
Unfortunately I will have to change my normal routine considering that I started my training plan yesterday with a breath-taking
run in San Francisco.
Breath-taking…not because of the views, but
because 1,300+ feet of elevation (including stairs and sand) made it almost impossible
to breath. The 18 miles I logged
yesterday was more than most of my weekly mileage totals since the Oakland
Marathon in March. Next weekend I will try
to get another long run in before the “taper” that I don’t feel like I really
earned in the first place.
I think this comparison shows nicely the difference between
finishing a hard training plan and trying to play catch-up after spending 4
months in Lazyville. The left splits are
my last long run before CIM and the right splits are yesterday’s long run.
I will have to do better before Santa Barbara in November.
Will
Well you could use Paavo as the beginning of an awesome training cycle for Santa Barbara. You know, let the focus of this mesocycle be base building :p. And yes, I do plan to use all the running terms I learned from the RRCA Coaching Class :D.
ReplyDelete-Sandi
Don't worry - most of my weekly running totals for the past 8 weeks or so have hovered around the 10-15 mile mark, and I have a full 'thon in less than 2 weeks. It should go really well. I'll be sure to report back.
ReplyDelete(Awesome post).
I agree, awesome post. You can't directly compare those two runs because of the elevation, but you also can't expect to run all pre-CIM-like without training :p I think the solution here is pretty easy, Will and Chen- stop signing up for so many marathons :p
ReplyDelete