Wow! I can't believe it is already the end of 2007. I just went on my last run for the year. My YTD mileage is a grand 2112.6 miles. I was hoping for a bit more, but it is a vast improvement over the 1462 miles I logged last year and the wimpy 689 miles I logged in 2005! I have admittedly been a complete slacker this month (77 miles), but it has been a much needed rest time for me.I met many goals this year and saw a lot of improvement in my running. Most notably was my 3:26 marathon and my 5:58 mile. There were a lot of races I didn't quite run right, but boy it was a fun ride.
I am in the process of trying to come up with a spring schedule. Since I will be starting working soon, I will not be able to log 60-70 mile weeks. So, I am going to try to come up with a lower mileage/high quality schedule. Any suggestions for this approach are greatly appreciated. I am shooting for a local mid May marathon. Probably Green Bay, but I may do Madison.
I also want to thank everyone for their well wishes regarding my new job. You guys rock. You have added much to my running and have given me just one more reason to love our sport.
Have a great last day of 2007.
6 comments:
For high quality, low mileage training suggestions, you may want to check out "Run Less Run Faster" by Pierce, Murr & Moss (ISBN 1-59486-649-X). They emphasize 3 quality runs/week (long, tempo, speed) with filler being cross training or easy runs. Personally, I'd include/substitute hills too, probably because that's my biggest weakness ;)
Mindi,
Looks like our running history is very similar! This is only my opinion (which is worth very little) but marathon training on low mileage and high quality is frightening. Best of luck whatever you choose, I'm sure you'll do well.
Thanks, kel. I will definitely check that out.
Aharmer, yeah, I am struggling with the low mileage concept a bit too. I cannot imagine doing low miles and settling for a sub-par time. The other thought is to focus on my 5K, 10K and half which just quite aren't where they should be. Frankly, I know more about marathon training so it is just easier and I figured that may be the ticket I need for the next 6 months. We'll see. I appreciate the feedback.
Happy Happy! The boys are at Grandma and Grandpa's for the night so we are off momentarily to play!
Mindi, congratulations on a great 2007 and best wishes for 2008 with your new job.
On low mileage, there was a guy, "Tchuck" on coolrunning who was trying to tackle this problem and used Tinman as a coach. I believe his approach was two big workouts a week. One was a long run at a pretty good pace (and maybe some faster stuff in there) and another day of "Critical Velocity" intervals which for you and me would be about 10K pace. This is from memory though. You might ask on therunzone -- Tchuck hung out there as well.
Personally, whenever I've increased the fraction of faster stuff, I've been more on the edge of injury. It's something to be careful with.
Enjoy your night without the kids!
Congrats on a great year, and especially on the new job. That has to feel awesome.
2212.6 miles...it's great to have such a big number at the end of the year to gape at...guessing at your average pace, that comes out to 13 full days of running. Your progression over the last 3 years is really nice.
I sort of know Tchuck, actually, and he ran low mileage because of some wicked injuries from childhood. That said, I don't think he was a marathoner.
To be your best at the marathon, you've got to put in the miles. There's just no way around that. Often--myself included in this--we totally outrun our fitness levels, but with that said, you've got to be able to handle the volume to put in a good effort.
Anyhow, congrats on the progression, Mindi. Very impressive!
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