21 Posts

My blogging tool informs me that this is my 21st post. 21 is my lucky number. And speaking of numbers, I got my confirmation email from the Dublin Marathon Organizers; I'm bib number 759. A goodly number. I don't know why. At least it's not 666, or 0, or 13 or anything. I digress...

In recent weeks, I feel like I have been lacking a signature workout that gives me a sense of security going in to the race. For the most part, I've done all the work. But none of my recent workouts have really knocked it out of the park. I did a 20 miler with 15 of those miles at marathon pace, but I really had to work for some of those miles. My tempo runs were going well, but at only 7 miles of tempo, they're not exactly world class (Ryan Hall runs 15 mile tempo runs!). When planning out my workouts for this week, I remembered an old favorite called Yasso 800s. I read about them way back when I first started training for marathons. If you check out the date of the article, it was published before I started running. It's a great article but, since you don't even read this blog, I'll give you the Cliffs Notes. A man named Bart Yasso figured out by pure dumb luck that it just so happens that there is one particular workout that is a great indicator of marathon fitness. It is both training tool and planning tool in one. The math, though, is the magical part. Basically, the goal is to run 10 times 800 meters at the pace that corresponds to your goal time in the marathon. That is, if my goal is to run a 3-hour 10-minute marathon, then I run my 800s in 3 minutes and 10 seconds. I know! It really is cool! ...and pretty hard to believe. But study after study has backed it up.

Quick calculations brought me to the fact that 10x800m = 5 miles. Add a few for warm up and cool down and it's exactly what I was looking to run. The workout was an unexpected success. Not only did I comfortably complete the workout (which I've never actually done before), but I paced with an avg below 3:00! Check out the splits from my watch.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not waltzing to the start line or anything. But, man, I really needed this. I needed something to bolster my fickle confidence. The hay was already in the barn. But there was nothing really satisfying in the way of indicators of fitness. My ambitious resting heart rate goals are way off the mark. My weight is still at an immovable 150. But this, this is meaty. Maybe most importantly, it's solid enough that I wont be stupid and push myself any more before race day. All easy stuff from now on.

The weather is looking like it's gonna be colder than expected. Maybe even some 30s. This is an entirely new ball of wax. There are still 11 days until the race, so I'm sure it will change about 11 more times. But I need to start thinking about being prepared for the chill. Confidence is high, anxiety is lower. Crunch time is here. Can't wait to get it done!

The Hay is in the Barn

Alright faithful non-audience, the hay is in the barn. From this point on out, I will not tax my body in any new way. I will not perform any harder workout. I won't increase distance. I will do no full-intensity workouts. That's not to say that I can take the next 19 days off. (19 days, that's it!) Just that for the remaining 3 weeks, the goal is to repair and maintain.

Repair

Starting with the massage I endured (yes, endured, details to follow) yesterday, my legs, joints, connective tissues and psyche will have 19 days to repair and refresh themselves before I put them to the test on Oct 27th. I have been continuously introducing my body to new stressors for the last 21 weeks (or 4 years, one might say) in the hopes that my body would adapt to each new stress and be able to handle the progressively tougher load. There have been 'micro'-cycles of tearing down and repairing stronger at least 2 times per week, every week (the so-called "quality" workouts of the week's training). In each of these cycles, I broke down my muscles and subsequently slept and fed and stayed off my legs giving my body time to repair all of the damage and make them stronger. All of these cycles add up to the 'macro'-cycle that is my 24-week training plan. The macro-cycle starts with all of the micro-cycles of the first 21 weeks and, mirroring the microcycle, finishes wth a final 3 weeks of sleeping and feeding and "staying off" my legs to let them repair.
To kick off the repair process, I elected to get a massage. The masseur was the former massage therapist of the Hungarian National Team. Both of my hands could fit loosely into one of his and two of his fingers could crush my bones without much effort. I have several very stubborn muscles, so a strong therapist sounded like a good idea. As I write this, I am bruised and sore as if I have just played a game of tackle football. The massage could be described as ... punishing. tolerable. exhausting. Not words usually associated with massage. I left the office tired and beaten, wondering if I had made the right decision. Only time will tell, but he was able to work out all but one of my major issues. The remaining issue, I believe, is caused my my seated position at work. Today I modified my desk, chair, keyboard/mouse configuration and have hopes that will do the trick.

Maintain

As I mentioned, I can not just take the final three weeks off. Just as during the micro-cycles, I didn't simply run the two quality workouts and call it a week, I ran 3-4 more times during the week to maintain the levels of fitness that I was achieving. To stop now would allow my body to start using all of the resources I have been using to repair (i.e. get stronger) for other things. That is to say, I'd lose muscle strength and fitness. So, for the next 3 weeks, I will run similar workouts to those I've already run. Workouts to which my body has already adapted. That way, my body knows that it still needs to be able to do all the things that it has been doing - with the added benefit of not stressing it further. There is, of course, a fine line to this tapering business. The jury is still out as to the extent of benefit from tapering. But all agree that some form of tapering is absolutely essential for peak performance. I'll do my best with the information I've gathered and hopefully that will bring me the desired result.

So there you have it. The hay is in the barn. All of the hardest physical work is done and now I need to just relax, prepare mentally, and allow my body to do what it does. 19 days, folks. 19.