Incredulous, not a Snickers in sight!
After the marathon, at the mercy of Helga
What you can’t see is the massage therapist lady working on my feet. She is rocking my world! Two words: OY VEY! My left foot has just recovered from the marathon. Not because I ran very hard either. I had planed to. But my plan did not exactly work out.
It’s not that I didn’t get the training in, infact, I did (I still have a solid blue toenail on my right foot to show for it). But I made a complete rookie mistake and didn’t rotate my shoes in training nor bother to pick up a new pair for the race. DUH!!!!! I did the same thing for my first 1/2 marathon and ended up with a stress fracture as a result (hobbling around Atlanta on high heels after the race surely didn’t help either). You’d think I’d know better. BUT I blew off getting new shoes, ignoring that voice inside that told me to or I’d be sorry. And sorry I was.
Race day was great save for that lovely 4:30am wake up call. The organization at this race was far and away better than many other larger races I’ve partcipated in. Corral groups were easy to find, pacers were easily identifiable, friendly and accurate. We ran in fog for about the first 8 miles which was great. I got in with a group of friendly guys with whom I shared the common goal of finishing around 3:45. We were having a great time. I felt comfortable and we were on a great pace to meet our goal. Then mile 12 hit. Was the group speeding up or was I slowing down? I look at my Garmin and they were picking up the pace but nothing excessive. By mile 13 my stride gets a bit weird and my left knee and hamstring are hurting. I find it has become really hard to keep up with these guys all of the sudden and I’ve got some kinda stabbing thing going on in the ball of my foot. “Suck it up, this is what it’s all about” I tell myself. By Mile 14 I am left in the dust. By mile 16 I can no longer stand it. I walk. It sucked.
I tried running again but my foot is in bad shape, I’ve been here before and need to be careful. So at around mile 16 I figure I can finish if I take walk breaks but I’ll do what I can to make the best of the experience. Since I am resigned to a lack luster performance in terms of time, I decide this will now be the Tanya Dillard social marathon experience. I decide, since I’m kinda bored and I’m not the least bit winded, I would be a good will ambassador on course, chatting it up with anyone who would respond. On any other day this would have been appreciated but I can tell you if you want to be deemed most unpopular on a marathon course, start striking up conversation with folks around mile 18. I found myself amusing, not sure many others did. Unfortunately for them their looks of agony only made we want to “help” them more (in my mind I’m distracting them with my talking, and therefore helping them. Yet in their minds I think I’m probably just another drain on their energy supply and thus, annoying). I think I was most estatic when I got to the fuel station that was playing Michael Jackson ( “pretty young things repeat after me say na na na”). Mile 22 I think, great for me, bad for everyone else.
Around that time my friend Judith caught me and we finished the race together. As I loped in I was greeted with a finishers medal. What? No Snickers Bar? What the? You have to be kidding me! All that and no chocolate, caramel, peanuts and nougat (we all love NOUGAT!). What. Ever.
Judith and Me after Marathon
Turns out you could load up on Snickers Marathon energy bars all you wanted, they manufacture them in this little town of Albany, Ga (which is in the middle of NOWHERE!) hence they were giving them away right and left and were even given as fuel on the course. But if you wanted a good ol’ fashioned Snickers bar you’d have to hit the 7-11. Or play pretend with your “marathon” bar. Boooooooooooooooooo!
But, I have to say I’d do it again! Not because I felt great at the end, (yes it is an accomplishment to finish, I get that). But because it was a great way to get in a lot of exercsie on a really nice day. If I were to exercsie like that on my own I’d have to take along food, calculate water and bathroom stops. But on a marathon all that is handled for you! It’s great! Binge exercise alone is typically boring but at a race people are cheering, sometimes music is playing (we even had some cheerleaders; “H-U-S-T-L-E!”). I can get my mind around long runs like that. So my advice for any of you considering a marathon is to go for the experience and the exercise, not so much the time goals. Yes, it can be a goal just to complete the race and have a good time!
Tags: Judith Spivey
This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 2:34 pm and is filed under running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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August 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Marathon Specific VO2 Max and Speed Workouts
By john visintainer
At first glance speed training and marathon training don’t seem to go hand in hand. Your marathon pace is much slower than your vVO2 max pace . Marathon pace is slower than your lactate turn point or lactate threshold pace . You marathon pace is even on the very low end of your tempo run paces. So it may appear that VO2 max or speed training is a waste of time when you’re trying to improve your marathon performance. It may appear that way, but in this case appearances are deceiving. VO2 max and speed training are a very important part of marathon training. That is especially true if you are racing your marathon or are attempting to run a new marathon PR.
Speed training and VO2 max runs will develop your neuromuscular conditioning, improve your running economy and increase your running speed. Those are all necessary attributes for improving your marathon performance. When you increase your vVO2 max through speed training, your marathon race pace will be at a lower fractional percentage of your VO2 max. So you are able to run your marathon at a faster pace while still conserving those valuable carbohydrate stores. You will be able to avoid or delay the debilitating effects of hitting the marathon wall . There is a nearly unlimited number of ways to include VO2 max and speed training in your marathon training program. Here are some basic VO2 max/speed workouts are specifically designed for the marathon.
8 x 1200 Meter Repeats
Here is a classic track workout that I have adapted to make it a more specific marathon VO2 max speed workout.
Description: Run 8 x 1200 meter repeats alternating between 800 meters at goal marathon pace and 400 meters at mile pace within each repeat. Take no recovery between the components of the repeat.
Pace: Alternating between 800 meters at marathon pace and 400 meters at mile pace.
Recovery: No recovery within each repeat. Recover with 3 minutes of passive rest between each repeat.
2 x 400/800/2400/800/400 Meter Compound Sets
This is a marathon specific compound set that uses runs of increasing pace followed by runs of increasing pace. This type of compound set is sometimes called a “pyramid” workout.
Description: Run 400 meters at mile pace, 800 meters at 5K pace and 2400 meters at goal marathon pace. Then begin increasing pace with 800 meters at 5K pace and 400 meters at mile pace. Take no recovery between the components of the compound set. Repeat 1 more time for a total of 2 compound sets.
Pace: 300 meters at mile pace, 600 meters at vVO2 max pace and 1600 meters at 10K pace. If you don’t know your vVO2 max pace you can estimate it using your 3K pace or running about 10 seconds per mile faster than your 5K pace.
Recovery: No recovery within each compound set. Recover between each compound set with 3 minutes of passive rest.
Goal Pace Variety Run
This one is a combination of a medium distance goal pace road run and a VO2 max/speed track workout.
Description: Begin with 3 miles at goal marathon pace on the road. Then hit the track for 4 x 400 meter repeats at mile pace. Recover between each 400 meter repeat with 100 meters of easy jogging. Now head back out on the road for 3 miles at goal marathon pace. Next go back to the track for 8 x 200 meters at 800 meter pace. Recover between each 200 meter repeat with 100 meters of easy jogging. Now it’s back out on the road for 3 more miles at goal marathon pace. Finish this workout with 4 x 800 meter repeats at 5K pace. Recover between each 800 meter repeat with 200 meters of easy jogging.
Pace: Do the 3 mile road runs at goal marathon pace, the 400 meter repeats at mile pace, the 200 meter repeats at 800 meter pace and the 800 meter repeats at 5K pace.
Recovery: Recover between each 400 and 200 meter repeat with 100 meters of easy jogging. Recover between each 800 meter repeat with 200 meters of easy jogging. No recovery other than between the track repeats.
Goal Pace Long Run with Surges
Here is a classic goal pace long run with a twist.
Description: Run between 8 and 14 miles alternating between 6 minutes at goal marathon pace and 1 minute at 5K pace.
Pace: Alternating between 6 minutes at goal marathon pace and 1 minute at 5K pace.
Recovery: None
6 to 10 x 1000 Meter vVO2 Max Blasters
Running at your vVO2 max pace has been scientifically proven to be on the most efficient ways to improve your vVO2 max pace. The classic vVO2 max workout has become 5 x 3 minutes at vVO2 max pace. This workout is adapted from that vVO2 max classic and made more specific to the marathon.
Description: Run 6 to 10 x 1000 meter repeats at your vVO2 max pace or about 10 seconds per mile faster than 5K race pace. Begin with 10 repetitions for your first attempt and gradually build up to 10 reps.
Pace: vVO2 max pace or about 10 seconds per mile faster than 5K race pace.
Recovery: Recover between each 1000 meter repeat with 400 meters at goal marathon pace.Marathon Specific VO2 Max and Speed Workouts