Have you voted for me for the ZOOMA blogger contest? You can do it every day.
I suppose there's no wrong way to train for a marathon (save not training at all), but I have not been following the FIRST training plan protocol as it was intended. The FIRST method, for the uninitiated, is a three-run per week marathon training plan consisting of an interval run, a tempo run and a long run, all of which should be performed at very specific paces. The pace is determined by a recent 10K race. I PRed my 10K time at the Gobbler Hobbler in November and used this as the basis for my training.Except, I suck at math. As I learned from the generous comments on yesterday's post, I'm supposed to be doing my interval runs at a pace that feels hard enough that one more round would completely exhaust me. And I should be able to do each interval at the same level of effort.
Derp.
I've been doing the intervals on the treadmill at the gym and I usually have to slow down the pace in the later intervals or break it into smaller chunks (like three .10 intervals instead of a single .25-mile interval at the end).
So when Kim suggested the pace should be attainable, I went back and read the instructions for the interval runs. I've been doing my tempos at 8-minute miles and intervals at 7-minute miles. Except according to my 10K pace, I should be doing my intervals at 7:11 and my tempo 8:11 to 8:26.
Woops.
No wonder these things were feeling impossible. I'm not sure if 11 seconds makes a huge difference, but now I know and will adjust accordingly.
What training mistakes have you made?
6 comments:
I am happy we were able to help! I will be curious to hear if those 11 seconds do make a difference. You never know... they might! And it it continues to feel so hard you have to slow it down/break it up, I bet it would be okay to add a few more seconds on!
Go, Kim, go! 11 seconds, I think, can make a difference. I did my first tempo in ages today. Since I was on the treadmill, I decided to start at the slower end of the range and bump up every quarter-mile. The difference between 8:27 pace and 8:20 was crazy. It was like going from "this isn't too bad" to "kill me now."
I know nothing about training plans. Every year, I say I am going to incorporate speedwork, etc - and then I just log miles. Ugh. I need a coach.
Which marathon are you training for???
Easing up on the pace probably will make a difference. Today I was doing intervals on a treadmill and I didn't have my HR strap so I was just winging it. A 7:15ish pace felt too hard, but 7:30 was attainable.
It totally made a difference in my morning run today! Thanks, interweb peeps, for helping me out.
I'm training for the circular logic marathon on March 29.
Ugh I feel even more lost than you with all these paces/tempos/etc. But reading this definitely helps...I think I'm going to really slow down intentionally once I can start running again.
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