Sunday, August 8, 2010

16 Weeks to Go

I finished week two of my marathon training this morning with an 11 mile run with WVR on the Gemini Springs Trail. The club has quite a few members training for marathons this fall, mostly New York and the Space Coast Marathons, so there were a lot of people putting in 10-15 mile long runs this morning, despite the heat.

I finished the run just within my target time range at about a 10:25 pace. I even got a burst of energy late in the run, around miles 7 and 9. It came a little late in the run, and didn’t last very long, but it was appreciated just the same.

I’m still trying to tweak my hydration. I lost 4 pounds this morning even while drinking 32 oz during and immediately after the run. I was a little nauseous for about an hour after finishing. It could have been due to dehydration, or it might have been the Nuun tab I dissolved in my first bottle of water. I’m hoping it was the former but this is the second time I experienced nausea while using Nuun and this time I can’t blame eating a gel at the same time. The nausea wasn’t severe, it just made me uncomfortable. I do prefer Nuun to Gatorade so I will try it again and increase my fluid intake for my next long run and cross my fingers.

I have this feeling that by the time I get my summer hydration figured out the weather will cool and I will have to start over again.

I finally picked the marathon plan I will be using, Hal Higdon’s Intermediate II. I have been going over plans for the past two months and had a hard time deciding. I had good results using Hal Higdon for my half marathon training and I basically completed one of his novice marathon plans in the spring, so that was the deciding factor. This plan has three 20 milers and two 50 mile weeks. If things go well, I may extend one of those runs to 22 miles. If they go poorly I have room to cut back a bit and still be adequately prepared for the race. I will be running 5 days per week including two short recovery runs, a hard workout (alternating speed work, hills and a tempo run), a medium distance race pace run, and a long run. I’ve also got two races planned between now and the marathon on November 28 – the Miracle Miles 15k next month in Orlando and the Daytona Beach Half Marathon on Halloween.  My plan for each race is not to run full out, but to try to run them at my planned marathon race pace, close to a 9 minute mile, which would still mean PR's.  I have a feeling though that once the starting gun fires that plan will be completely forgotten.

I’m starting to get used to early morning hours. On weekdays I’m up at 4 for a 5 am run. On weekends it’s up at 5 for a 6 am run. I said I’m getting used to them, that doesn’t mean I like them. You can rest assured that I will be sleeping in on November 29 and for many mornings thereafter

4 comments:

  1. When you said you did 11 miles over the weekend my first thought was that you're doing Hal Higdon's novice II plan, because that's what I'm following and I also did 11 this weekend!
    The naucious feeling you got, I experience when it's awfully humid out. You might want to think of that as a probably cause too.
    Sounds like you're doing great in your training, good for you, keep at it!

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  2. It was certainly steamy out this morning. The rain came a few hours later. Looks like your a a little more than month ahead of me in your training for Chicago - Good Luck!

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  3. Wow! Impressive....four pounds in one run. I think that's a woman's dream come true. Ha! Not so great for you though, I know. I am glad to hear you used Hal Higdon's program for your half. I just switched to that plan for my first half coming up in November.

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  4. It's too bad the weight loss only lasts until you take a drink. I'm usually back to normal within 24 hours. I have had great success with HH's plans. Good luck with your half marathon.

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