A 141K boost to running confidence

Luka's help in a post-run stretch

I have just finished my biggest week of running—ever as well as the biggest I have in my 18-week build-up for the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 6. It's been an awesome week, with the key sessions boosting my confidence.

Monday had two workouts, with a 10K in the morning and a 6K in the afternoon, both at recovery pace. My energy levels were low, and I even managed to bonk in the little afternoon run. The good news was that it reminded me to lift my game in terms of nutrition and hydration, and to pay extra attention to my pacing.

The devil is always in the details.

Tuesday I did 13K at a pace faster than recovery pace, but slower than what I am aiming for in my medium- and long runs. I averaged 5:21/K. My frame of mind wasn't great before the run; "I hope I can sustain this program. V. tired this morning (7am). The past few days I have also noticed my knees—not pain but was just aware of strain," the notes in my running diary say.

My single-biggest fear is injury, and I am continually paranoid for any signs that might indicate something unusual. After Tuesday's run, during which I stayed on soft trails as much as possible, I took a hot bath with Epsom salts, which always eases tight muscles.

Wednesday had 24K. Snow tested my resolve but I ended up having a fantastic run, with a 4:55/K average, covering the first half at 5:03 pace and the second at 4:46. "So glad to have an energized run," my notes say.

Thursday was this week's second day with two runs, 10K in the morning and 6K in the afternoon. Both were at recovery pace, and I felt good. That night I ate two dinners, both vegetarian.

Friday had 19K in total, including 11K at 15K-half marathon race pace. I decided to head for the track to run 27 laps (10.8K) as it is the perfect way to stay on pace undisturbed by traffic. Tim and Gord agreed to join me—it was awesome to have company.

Surprisingly, because the forecast had called for wet snow, the weather turned out quite nice, a stark contrast from the previous session similar to this one (which we did in wet snow). The gravel track was just a touch damp but in superb shape compared to that last time. We warmed up with 2.25K of easy running on a trail nearby.

We started the 11K hit just after 4:30pm. My 87:27 half marathon PB translates to 1:39.5 per lap (of 400 metres), which works out to 1:37 per lap for 15K pace; so I was aiming to keep my lap times between 1:37 and 1:40.

My plan was to ease into the session, and when I ran 1:37 for the first lap, I eased to do the 2nd lap in 1:40. Two done, 25 to go. I felt good and loved the rhythm of running around the track, which allows the perfect feedback on times.

I enjoyed the beginnning of the session. Having company, even though the three of us ran at different paces, made it even better. It seemed my legs had settled into the pace and the laps went by in the range I was supposed to run them at; my fastest was 1:36 and slowest was 1:41. Most were 1:39.

Since I felt good, I decided to run an extra lap—28 in total—for a distance of 11.2K in a time of 46:06, or an average of 1:38.8 per lap. That's 4:07 per K, and a 41:10 10K. A great session indeed. Afterward, Tim and I did an easy 5K cooldown on the trails.

Saturday had 13K. The Garmin took a few hundred metres to warm up, so I ended up running a total of 14.7K. I felt absolutely fantastic and had to continually hold myself back as it was an easy pace session. I ended up with 5:14/K average pace.

That brought the six-day total to 102K and left only Sunday's 39K. Never had I done a single training session of that distance. My goal was to take it easy at the start, as I considered it more important to finish strong, i.e. run the second half quicker than the first, than to stay within my 4:41 to 5:08 long-run pace range.

The day started out with light snow and rain but had cleared up by mid-morning when we started. Tim ran with me for the first 14.64K, which we covered at an average 5:20/K. By then I had taken two of the six gels I had brought. As Tim turned around to run back home, I settled in for the remaining 5K until my halfway point. (Tim ran 30.5K, his longest since the Whistler 50 in early November.)

I didn't feel great as I had the previous day, but didn't feel too bad either. The next 4:86K I covered at an average 4:58/K while my heart rate was an average 131 beats per minute. In the meantime I had had another gel, and took the 4th as I turned around to head back the same 19.5K. I had taken 1hr 42 to run the first half.

On the home stretch, my legs stuck with a nice rhythm and I went along with it; still, I knew from experience that these long runs can feel very different once you get past 2hr 45. Many of my 3-hour runs were a struggle in the those final 15 minutes.

Still, for now my heart rate stayed where it needed to be, so I decided to stick with the pace I was running, which now stayed mostly below 5:00/K.

With about 11K to go, I had my final gel and finished the remainder of the 600ml of water I had brought; no fuel left and I had no intention to stop until I got home. While I clearly felt the fatigue, I also seemed to have no trouble sticking with the pace. By now, my pace was 4:45/K or faster most of the time. Could this last, I wondered.

By 35K I was even more tired but kept churning out the right pace, at or below 4:45. "Crazy, crazy!" I was muttering to myself as I hit 36K.

I took a split with 2K to go, as the final stretch has a 1K hill and I expected my pace to drop there for sure. From 19.5K until 37K, I ran an average 4:48/K at an average heart rate of 140 bpm.

Still feeling strong despite the fatigue, I covered the final hilly 2K faster than expected, in 10:09, so an average 5:05/K at 152 bpm.   

I ran the second half of today's 39K in 1hr 34, 8 minutes quicker than the first. 

Overall the 39K took me 3hr 16, an average pace of 5:02/k at 137 bpm. While of course very tired, I was also very happy with the negative split—exactly what I wanted for today.

With that, I end my total for the week at 141K. Looking forward to next week's 108-115K.

Seven weeks of training left until the big day!

Looking back to stay on track

Checking the route

It's good to remind yourself at times about the progress you have made, even if it is less than you had hoped. Before getting ready for today's 19K run that includes 27 laps (10.8K) on the track at between 1:37 to 1:40 per 400 metres, I was digging up some training programs and results from the year that lead to my first Sub-3:15 marathon.

In July 2005, I decided to focus on training as a pure runner; the previous 4-1/2 years I had been training as a triathlete, completing five Ironmans, three of which I did between April 2004 and March 2005. 

Following that fifth Ironman, Tim and I had taken a three-month break from structured training, travelling around New Zealand and hiking some of the country's South Island's stunning trails.

We had hiked the remote North West Circuit, a 125K (78 miles) trail on Stewart Island, or the Maori name: Rakiura, that will test even the most optimistic and fit hikers over 11 days. There is one town on the island, called Oban, with a population of about 400. The ferry crossing over the Foveaux Strait can be rough, as we experienced on the way back.

NZ's North West Circuit

Muddy? An understatement

More mud...

The North West Circuit is muddy, and slippery, and there's no backing out of this one except by retracing your steps. It's tough; Tim and I both were Ironman-fit, yet we needed far more than the estimated times for each section. The spectacular scenery and the experience were well worth it.

Moving ahead - tramping in NZ

We also did the Routeburn, Kepler, and Abel Tasman Coastal tracks, as well as a part of the Travers-Sabine Circuit to Angelus Hut, an overnight hike to Mueller Hut near Mt Cook, and many other beautiful day hikes. So it's not like I wasn't active between finishing Ironman New Zealand in March, and starting on a running program in July. 

Running 43-minute 10Ks were a challenge in those first six months on Pat Carroll's conservative program; initially he gave me four sessions a week, totalling no more than four hours all up. There were two fast sessions, and two easy ones in the first two months. Then he gave me five sessions a week.

At first I was skeptical: how would such a low-volume program possibly get me faster? Remember I just came off Ironman training, where one regular bike ride would take more time than my entire week as a runner. But by January 2006, after six months on the program, I noticed progress with a 15:30 for a 4K.

And in May 2006, I was surprised to suddenly run 41:38 for a 10K, an improvement of 59 seconds from the only time I had run under 43 minutes three years earlier (both certified 10K events organized by the Sydney Striders).

Two weeks later I ran a 30-second half marathon PB of 91:38, and two months later, in July 2006, I finished my first Sub-3:15 marathon by running the Gold Coast Marathon in 3:13:02, a PB by more than 11 minutes. Two months later again, I did my first Sub-90 half marathon, running 89:31.

These breakthroughs all happened in 2006. And there were more the following year: I improved my marathon time by another whopping 5 minutes in April 2007, to 3:08, and ran 40:24 for 10K in December. In January 2008, I ran Sub-40 and repeated that in March, before lowering my half marathon time to 88:13 in April.

You can only imagine how pumped I was for the Vancouver Marathon in May 2008. And how disappointed I was with 3:12. Luckily, the Victoria Marathon in October that year brought a 3:07:10 PB, one I have had to make do with until Victoria 2011.

And it took almost four years to improve that 2008 half marathon best, which I did - somewhat to my surprise - in the First Half in February to 87:27. 

My 10K PB from January 2008, at 39:51, still stands. And having sped up by 2 minutes and 42 seconds in 5-1/2 years over the marathon distance might make one wonder about my expectations to improve by more than 6 minutes over six months, as I expect to do for this year's Vancouver Marathon.

I wonder too some days, but I also think it's possible.

At the start of 2006, a Sub-3:15 marathon seemed just as far away, as did a Sub-90 half marathon, while a Sub-40 10K was next to impossible to imagine. But they all happened. It just took a little time, a little work and a little belief.

After I ran that 41:38 10K in May 2006, my then-coach Carroll told me, "Sub-40 will happen Margreet, it's a matter of being patient and allowing your body to become stronger and fitter." 

He was right, and I believe that the same goes for a  Sub-3 marathon. On that note, I am heading for the track for the next session of this 140K week, my biggest ever.

Plenty of energy on today's 24K run

As mentioned in my previous post, I monitor closely whether the fatigue I am feeling (on Monday I needed a nap after a 10K recovery run) is persistent to the point where it hurts my ability to do my workouts as I should. To top it off, I bonked on the second run of Monday, a measly 6K at recovery pace, and dragged myself home on the final 1500 metres that seeemed to take f o r e v e r.

Bizarre perhaps but true.

It was a good reminder to take it easy on easy days, and to be more cautious with hydration and nutrition, both during and after the sessions. I always have a good appetite but was simply ravenous on Monday evening and ate accordingly. Tuesday, yesterday, I also made very sure to stick to the pace called for in the 13K run, averaging about 5:20 per K, and felt much better.

Sure enough the weather decided to question my determination, too. After a mild winter I had not anticipated that we'd have snow in mid-March. But Wednesday morning provided a steady stream of big white flakes and it didn't seem it was going to let up any time soon. While the snow didn't stick to the roads, I made sure to dress for the conditions.

I wore a waterproof hat (to also protect my eyes from the snow and avoid inhaling it too, as I clearly remembered struggling with in January runs) with a fleece headband to keep my ears warm. I also donned a fleece neckwarmer. On top, I added three layers over a running bra: a thin dry-fit tanktop, then the awesome 2012 Victoria Marathon finishers' shirt and a windproof sleeveless vest. If this sounds a little OTT, I enjoyed every part of the outfit today.

The ultra-awesome UnderArmour HeatGear capri tights and knee-high compression socks finished off today's look. Of course I wore gloves as well.

As fuel I brought a 500-ml bottle filled with water and topped with a good squirt of Hammer Espresso gel.

My iPod shuffle came along too with the same mix of 32 songs I've been using so far this year; most are from Linkin Park's albums Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns. The others are from Adele, Pink, Hedley and covers by Walk Off the Earth. Depending on my pace, it usually takes about 17K to cycle through the selection.

I find that at the moment I am very much enjoying an almost groundhog day routine in my sessions including for the routes I am taking. Listening to the same music while following the same routes allow me to focus on running or to let my mind wander. There is plenty of variety in my mood, the way my body is feeling, the weather, as well as of course the sessions themselves.  

A superb 24K done

Somewhat to my surprise, I felt fantastic once I was warmed up, getting stronger throughout the run. With a total of 24K, I covered  the first half at an average 5:03 per K and ran the second half, purposely picking up speed while staying in a comfortable rhythm, at a 4:46 per K average.

Feeling strong and light, my body clearly signalled that, despite the fatigue, I am coping well with the training. Overall average for the 24K was 4:55 per K, perfect.

A marathon runner's resolve is tested

After 10-1/2 weeks of daily running (with the exception of one day on January 14 when I resisted the temptation to do the scheduled 10K as planned, and instead recovered from an Active Release Techniques session), fatigue is a constant companion. 

He's especially present in the morning. A plunger of coffee usually scares him away for a while. The distance runner trains to resist fatigue. Not just in training itself, but also in life that happens outside workouts.

Tiredness is something an endurance athlete has to get used to, as it is part of how training works. Then again, everyone deals with fatigue—a busy job, hectic family life, a challenging study or keeping up with the party circuit all require energy and cut into the time we have, or make, available for sleeping or resting.

We often think there is one more important chore or errand to do, one more item we can strike off the to-do list, one more friend we can catch up with or one more work task we should perform. Taking the rest we need is usually at the bottom of our priority list, if it makes the list at all.

Life's short, we are not going to spend it hanging on the couch. Yet sufficient rest is what is going to get a runner through her training. Fatigue builds up over time. Typically a build-up for a marathon takes between 12 and 18 weeks. Mind you, this is not from scratch of course. 

After spending the first six weeks on building Endurance (with weekly volumes between 102K and 129.5K), I am now in the final week of a five-week period aimed at Lactate Threshold & Endurance; this week is the biggest with 140K (my biggest ever and also the biggest in my 18-week preparation for the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 6). 

Fatigue doesn't mean exhaustion. But I am tired and that tiredness keeps progressively building, even as I get at least eight hours of sleep each night; usually it's closer to nine, or even 9-1/2 as it was last night. I will also more often than not have a catnap during the day. My legs, and overall energy, have so far bounced back. 

In other words, while I experience a sense of fatigue all the time, I am also able to complete my training sessions. The fact that I am sleeping like a log at night is also a good sign (a key clue to overtraining is trouble with sleeping). Knock wood, I have also remained healthy, staving off illness and injury which are both clear warning signs that an athlete is pushing herself too hard. 

Despite that, I am still tired and that can weaken mental resolve. If I am not careful, I can allow little things to get to me. A tiny mental voice that looks for the easy way out, the lazy option when there are small challenges that are really no big deal at all. Such as the steady stream of white stuff that has been falling from the sky since the start of the day when my schedule calls for a 24K run. 

It doesn't look like there will be a break in the weather (as there miraculously was in the previous two days during my runs), so it's time to dress accordingly and head out the door before I allow the tired me to come up with excuses good enough to stay inside. 

A marathon runner needs to pace herself well, not just in the daily workouts but also over the three or four months she takes to prepare herself for race day. No one struggles in the first month of a marathon training program (if you do, you're in trouble so choose a different program). The second month is usually not too bad either. 

But the third and fourth months of training are where we risk running out of steam, literally and figuratively, if we don't take care of ourselves with rest and recovery so we can steel ourselves for the extra challenges that are thrown our way and might loom larger than they really are.

Great day in March for a 24K run

You always need to reserve that little bit of extra mental gas in the tank so you can pick yourself up and push a reluctant body out the door for a midweek medium-long run when it snows on March 14; 52 days until race day.