Top of Utah Marathon - 9 wks

I thought I would share this week's training for the Top of Utah Marathon that will arrive quickly, no doubt.  I will run this evening with Audrey, to finish my week at 53 miles.  The training is going very well.

Mon - July 9th - 5 miles easy and 1 mile of lunges, skipping, squats, etc.  I generally do a set followed by some recovery walking,  and then start with the next set with something different.  I alternate through various exercises until I have completed a mile.  Basically, no rules and not structured but it's a good plyometric type workout.

Tues. - 9.5 miles - Terri and i ran a hilly loop from my house.  My plan called for the last 10 minutes to be at half marathon pace.  We averaged 9:07 pace, with the last 10 minutes at 8:07 pace.

Wed. - Missy and I have been meeting on Wednesday's to walk 5 miles,  and then we both rush home and make it to yoga mid-morning.  This works out well for a recovery day for me.

Thurs. - 12 miles - 3 mile w/u, 8 X 800 at cruise interval pace with a 200 recovery, and then 3 X 200 with 200 recovery, followed with a 3 mile c/d.

I'm using the McMillan calculator to get my cruise interval paces.  I'm using my most recent, Moon Pie 10 mile race time and my goal marathon time at TOU.    The Moon Pie race was in June so my thought in using this time is not only that it's my most recent race, but also because it's a "heat adjusted" time for our current heat & humidity.  At the same time, I want to work toward my TOU goal times.  My goal time assumes good weather so I think the times are slightly unrealistic for the current weather.  The McMillan chart gives a range of times so I'm using the low end of the Moon Pie prediction times, and the high end of the TOU goal times.

For example, my predicted cruise interval,  800 times look like this:
Moon Pie 10 mile, cruise interval "optimal training paces" calculates out to - 3:48-4:04
My goal time at TOU, cruise interval "optimal training paces" calculates out to - 3:45-3:50

So I decided my goal for the Thurs workout would be 3:48 for the 800s, and between 45-50 seconds for the 200s.  Terri's goal for the 800s was 3:45 so we were able to run them together.  At the end of the workout we had "nailed" our times.  I averaged 3:48 for the 8 X 800 and Terri ended with an average of 3:45.  After the 800s, I had mentally checked-out and was preparing for the 3 mile c/d when Terri reminded me we had the 200s left.  EEEEKKKK!  Thankfully, we only had 3 to do, but it was hard to get back on the track for speed when I had mentally prepared for the cool down run.  I averaged 48 seconds for the 3 X 200.  Terri has much more speed than I do.  Not sure what she averaged but she finished each of the 200s well ahead of me.   The last mile of the 3 mile c/d was challenging.  We ended with an excellent workout.

This workout is leading up to Yasso 800s in a couple of weeks.  As mentioned before, the Yasso's prediction hasn't worked for me as theorized, but it's absolutely one of my favorite marathon workouts.   If you are not familiar with Yasso's 800s, it basically states the following:

 if you can "work up to" 10 X 800 with equal recovery time, in theory, you should be able to run the marathon at that predicted time.  For example, for a 4:00 marathon, if you can work up to 10 X 800 at 4  minutes, with 4 minutes recovery, you should be able to run a 4 hour marathon.  Of course,  the prediction is assuming you have completed a total marathon plan including long runs, etc.  I'm sure it also assumes ideal conditions on race day. 

My last test of Yasso's 800s was in the fall of 2010.  I worked up to 10 X 800 at 3:42 avg. but then ran 3:56 at the Rocket City Marathon.   I have tested the Yasso several times.  I didn't look back at the earlier results, but I do think some of the earlier times were closer than this example at Rocket City.   While the prediction hasn't worked for me yet, it's still a challenging and fun workout to complete. 

I should also say, that it's generally recommended that you work up to the 10 X 800 workout to be timed, roughly 14 days before your marathon.  I'm currently using a personalized McMillan plan that
 has the yasso integrated a little earlier in the program followed later by various ladder workouts, mile repeats, etc.  I will update later with the Yasso workouts and results of this latest trial.

Fri - I had 6 miles EASY (should be around 9:30ish pace) planned for Fri. but a friend sent a text asking about running with her for her long run.  She had 18 miles, which I couldn't do after the track workout, but I told her I would meet her for her final 6 miles.  She is fast!  We ended up running 6 @ 8:47 avg. which is fast for me the day after the 12 and track workout.  In addition, I had 16 miles to run on Sat. for my long run.    Fri. afternoon I made sure to get some EXTRA rest, and Sat. AM,  I was surprised that I felt READY to run. 

Sat. - 16 miles - we had a small group to run the first 8 miles on the flat Longleaf, asphalt trail.  Terri, Kily and I finished the last 8 miles on the hills at Canebrake (no large hills, but steady rolling hills)  I averaged 9:16 for the 16, Kily and Terri both finished ahead of me, but we ran the majority of the run together.  Good Times!   Happy with it! 

Sun. - this evening I will run 5 recovery miles with Audrey. 

Another great week of training checked off.   This completes my 7th wk of TOU training.
For the upcoming week,  my training plan calls for a mild recovery week with the suggestion of running the lower range of the mileage, but I'm adjusting the plan to cut the mileage,  and the speed work this week.  I feel it's a good time in the plan to take a "step back" week and let my body absorb some of the recent weeks of training. 

I hope your summer training is going well and that you have adjusted to the heat.