Ok, so it's a bit lame, but I spent the better part of last week shepherding 250+ 8th graders around Washington, DC, so you'll have to forgive the atrophied state of my brain......
So instead of "whole hog", it's "whole Higdon"...... as in Hal Higdon. As I'm beginning my training schedule for the ING Hartford Marathon, I'm going to utilize the Intermediate 1 Marathon Training Schedule from the Hal Higdon website. After having major weather-related issues with my 2 previous marathons, I'm looking for what I'll call a "corrective marathon experience" this coming October in Hartford. As I feel I've got a decent base to start with, I'm going to ramp up my training a bit, running more/longer, as well as paying better attention to pace. In the past, I feel that I ran my training runs a bit too fast, which left myself either injured or prone to injury. This time, I'm going to strictly follow the advice of the aforementioned Mr. Higdon, and run the long runs SLOWLY.......45 to 90 seconds slower than marathon pace. As I'm hoping to run 10's, that puts my long runs at somewhere between a 10:45 and 11:30 pace. That's going to be REALLY challenging for me, but I'm interested to see how that works out compared to my previous training experiences. In the past, it was merely focused on getting the miles in....now I'm going to be focused more on getting them in SLOWLY. I'm not doing any speedwork, but the schedule does call for intermediate distances (4-8 miles) at marathon pace, so there will be opportunities to work on my race day pacing.
Now that I'm back from D.C., and with the school year ending soon (next Monday is my last day....THANK GOD!!!!), my summer is wide open........a quick trip to New York with Barb to celebrate my (impending!) 50th birthday........then off to Portland, OR to compete with my chorus at our annual Convention........a week down on Cape Cod........and undoubtably several day trips as well, but that's about it. Mostly, I'll be training for my marathon, and planning for my next school year (I'll be switching from 8th grade to a "split" team teaching both 7th and 8th grade, so I've got A LOT to do to get ready for that!). I've got 2 half-marathons planned for the summer....the United Healthcare Jamestown (RI) Half Marathon on July 14th, and the Cape Ann YuKanRun.com Half Marathon (Rockport, MA) on August 5th, as well as a final tune-up half marathon (The Surftown (Westerly, RI) Half Marathon) scheduled for September 16th, so I'll get some good indicators of my training along the way. All in all, I can't wait for summer to begin!
The nice thing is that I'm going to be back to blogging regularly again, as I'll be back on a schedule and should have LOTS to write about.........so stay tuned, loyal readers and hopefully, you'll be rewarded....maybe even entertained? Well, I certainly hope so!
Yay! I am doing the hal higdon intermediate as well. Or at least trying - i usually just end up running whatever i want, but if anything, its usually more mile then fewer, so i do alright. I feel like its going to be a hot summer, so i shouldn't have any problems keeping my long runs slow!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish I lived North in order to have the option of a half in the middle of summer but then again, it is getting HOT everywhere anyway. Sounds like a full summer you have planned. Glad to see you're back running & blogging!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading your updates and your journey along the way. Sounds like you have a full summer ahead with those halfs spread out evenly along the way. I'm more than a bit "challenged" at slowing down for the longer efforts, so I'll need to take some pages from your book and study them.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the training plan. Great about the slower long runs, they are soooo important. I didn't even train with speed sessions until I as training for my 5th marathon. You'll find huge benefit if you can keep the long runs slow.
ReplyDeleteThe more I read, the more I realize the importance of the SLOW long run. I hope you have an amazing training cycle!
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