Wow, what a difference a week makes. This time last week, I was punching away at the computer trying to make sense of a poor half marathon that I just ran. I know I have been fairly negative about everything the past month. Basically, since I have been training outdoors. Well, this finally will be a positive post. I had a great week of training this week. The weather here in Ohio finally creeped above freezing and I was able to do my full training. My plan going into the marathon was to do my runs, then ride to build additional endurance. I did this late last year and improved my half marathon time by 14 minutes in a 6 week period. Going into 2011, I was eager to see if I could parlay this type of training to the marathon. Well, it has been a massive fail. As it has been a horrible Spring here. The good news is I have 2 1/2 weeks till taper to put the final touches on my training. My long run this week was 22 miles. I spent the past week pondering how I was going to survive it. It almost felt like I had a giant 22 following me, every where I went. I did the 22 miler this past Saturday and I broke it done like this. A four mile easy run and then a 10 mile race, followed by a 8 mile survival. As I started I felt pretty good on the 4 miler and slowed my self down repeatedly. I then moved on to the 10 mile race and ran faster than I have since I ever have. Without trying, I ran a faster 13.1 than I ran the week prior. After the race I said goodbye some running friends as they all said I was crazy for running another 8, but I took off and ended up keeping a solid pace between 9-10 minutes per mile. I couldn't believe it. I was finally running over 20 miles without wishing for death. I even finished the 22 mile run 9 minutes faster than the 20 miles I ran 2 weeks before. So, how did I celebrate? I quickly drove home stopping at Chipotle (needed to refuel). Snarfed a burrito and headed out for a 22 bike ride to Kent and back. I was shocked as I felt about 80% on the bike, even keeping a 18-20 mph pace. I quickly dubbed the workout the double deuce. It took a total of 4 1/2 hours and I burned over 4,900 calories. I needed that day as it was the first time I told myself I can do 26.2.
Total miles: 114 (all outside)
Running: 34
Cycling: 80
Avg run pace: 9:13
Cals burned: 9,078
Time training: 10 hours 3 minutes.
BEAL
3 comments:
Awesome progress! Any running on the Towpath is great.
Your body is rewarding you for your hard work now :)
Great numbers man. Just wait for the rest of the summer now too :) Don't waste your running fitness either, keep your summer speckled with other road races to maintain the run fitness!
GREAT JOB!
Nice run, I cant do that, thats for sure
Post a Comment