Hanson's Marathon Plan

I have a good friend, Cherl, who has been through a lot with me in marathon training over the years. We met on a running forum when we discovered we had identical first marathon times- 5:11. Both of us knew we were capable of better than that. We have gone our own ways but now I believe we have similar PRs and have run a similar number of marathons. We even ran one marathon "together" at St George, but didn't find each other at the beginning. This was too bad because we finished just a few minutes apart. It would have been nice to have her to keep me going even when the race wasn't what I wanted. :-)

So, this brings us to now. Cherl's PR is a 3:52 and she needs a 3:45 to qualify. My PR is a 3:48 and  I need a 3:40. She is much faster than me on normal runs. She found a marathon plan that has worked for some of her friends called Hanson's Marathon training. It intrigued me enough that I am going to "experiment" with it.

It has a day of speedwork, a day of marathon pace running, 3 days of slow runs and a long run. The long runs don't get longer than 16 miles. That seems crazy, but the idea is that you are running tired from the other runs, but you can recover faster for the quality speed miles. We will see how it goes. I ran 41 miles last week and this week was my first attempt at the schedule. I am somewhere between their beginner schedule and their advanced schedule so that makes it a little tricky to plan. Here is my week so far.

Monday- 12x400s at 5k or 10k pace. I ran them all between 1:44 and 1:50. It was tough, but I did it!
Tuesday- short recovery run on the treadmill- 3.5 miles
Wednesday- today was a 6 mile pace run. I was hoping it would go really well, but it was tough and I couldn't hit the paces. I am not sure what this means. I felt a little light headed so I don't know if I had enough in my system. I need to make sure I eat more carbs. With nursing still, I am sure I need to be extra careful.

My heart rate got too high too soon. I ran 8:20, 8:19, 8:22, 8:48, 8:48, 8:47. I am glad I hung in there even when I wasn't feeling great. I was thinking about giving up and then I went home and actually signed up for the marathon. So, now I am stuck!! I am hoping this keeps me working hard. I may not be ready to BQ, but I am ready to get racing again. I love having a goal, I just need to accept where my body is.

Okay, the baby is crying hard. I thought he would go to sleep.

I will keep updating. I am running Yakima River Canyon Marathon on April 5th and no matter what it will be an amazing experience!

Race Report and BQ Thoughts

I had a fantastic race last week! I am really proud of myself for hanging in there even when it was tough. I will admit that I was hoping the pace would feel easier. I still have a ways to go. The short story is that I made my #2 goal. :-) I ran a 1:52:41. That is an 8:37 pace overall. I started a little faster than I planned, running an 8:34, but I had tried really really hard to slow down and just couldn't go any slower. So, I just went with it. :-) My heart rate got into the 190's a little earlier than I would have liked but I just gutted it out. I didn't have any mile slower than a 9, and my last kick was at 7:55 pace. I was 4th in my age group out of 15. I only had to run a little slower for a couple of miles because of the wind.  Overall, I am very pleased.

So, how does this make me feel going into marathon training? Not quite as confident as I would like. BUT, I know I have time still. I am considering another marathon- the Wenatchee Marathon. I am going to stick with Yakima after studying the 2 different marathons. I just want a strong marathon. :-)

Eugene Half Marathon Plan

I am on my way down to Eugene so I thought I would process my thoughts here.
Recent Runs: I had a great 12 miler. I averaged 8:53 overall, but if I kept going at the 8:30 pace I was currently running, I would finish a half in 1:53.
I ran 4x800 at around 3:32 overall. It felt good to run that fast. Ibwas tired for my Tuesday and Wed runs, so I rested Thurs and Fri. I did play a little soccer last night. Not sore today.

My goal:
1. Finish under 1:50
2. Finish under 1:55
3. Finish under 2 hours
4. Finish strong. :-)

Heart rate plan:
I haven't had my strap for a few runs, so this will be interesting.
First 2 miles- run in the low 9's, heart rate under 175
Miles 3-10 - average 8:20's to 8:30's, stay under 190. Aim for low 180's
Last 3,1- bust out the 8's! Finish strong! Can run in the 190's.

It will be interesting to report how it goes! Wish me luck!

Week 2 of Yakima Marathon Training

It is crazy that I have really started. :-)
Monday, Dec 9th- Did not run, awful night of sleep
Tues, Dec 10th- Ran with Heather, On a time schedule- 4.87 miles 8:59 pace, ave hr-164, max-182
Wed, Dec 11th- Tempo run-
Warmup (no hr monitor)- 9:30
Mile 2- 7:55 (couldn't get my shuffle to work, had to stop)
Mile 3- 7:32
Mile 4- 7:43
Mile 5- 9:39
Pretty good tempo. It was cold, so my lungs were burning pretty good. Tougher to do a workout without a hr strap.
Thursday- 4.7 miles, 11:02 pace, pushed a stroller
Friday- watch died, normal 5 miles
Saturday- Long run, still no hr strap 11.91 miles, 8:54 pace
Mile 1- 9:28
Mile 2- 9:22
Mile 3- 9:15
Mile 4- 8:51
Mile 5- 9:00
Mile 6- 8:34
Mile 7- 8:36
Mile 8- 8:40
Mile 9-8:47
Mile 10-8:37
Mile 11- 8:42
Mile 12- 8:52 pace

I felt great this workout.

18 weeks to go

Well, here we go. Let's see what happens. I am going to just see where my body takes me. I will work hard and do my best. I have a half marathon in a couple of weeks so that will give me a better idea of my fitness level.

December 2- Low hr- avg 143, max 157  5.19 miles at 11:10 pace
Thursday, December 4- 4.27 miles 9:36 pace
Dec. 5- low hr, 4.96, 10:55 pace, ave 147, max- 189
Dec 6- 5 mile pace run- 8:48 ave 7.0 miles, hr ave- 179, max- 196
mile 1-8:27  hr ave-168
mile 2- 8:26, hr ave- 175
mile 3- 8:17, hr ave-183
mile 4- 8:26, hr ave- 189
mile 5- 8:12, hr ave-190

Dec 7th- long run, 10.55 miles, 1:38:55- 9:23 pace
hr ave- 161, max-181

Total miles- 32 ish (I missed Monday's run)

Last Week before Marathon Training starts- woo hoo!

This is my last week before the 18 week schedule starts. I am not sure how closely I will follow it, but I definitely want to be ready when the 12 week schedule starts so I need to do some speedwork.

Monday- not low hr, but pretty conversational. 5 miles in 48:18, 9:40 pace, ave hr- 156, max hr- 181
Tuesday- at the gym, wanted to get a tempo run in
warmup- 5 minutes- ave hr- 146, .50 miles
speedup-  37 seconds, 166 ave hr .06 miles
Mile 1 of tempo- 7:55, ave hr- 172
Mile 2 of tempo- 7:35, ave hr- 177
Mile 3 of tempo- 7:06, ave hr- 188
Mile.1 of tempo- :41 sec, ave hr- 197

Total 5k- 23:16, so still faster than last week. My legs are getting tired, but my heart rate seems to be doing well. My max hr was 198. I really need to work on strength training and core training!

Wed- Traveled to Utah
Thurs- Thanksgiving! Did my own Turkey Trot
I did a warmup and then did the first mile at exactly 7:00. I still have yet to see a mile in the 6's. I will have to do that one of these days. :-) The next mile was 7:47 and the last mile was 9:37. I definitely started too fast!

Fri-met up with Annie Ballard from Sherwood and ran 10 miles at 8:38 pace! I was so surprised by this. My last mile I even ran at 7:50. This gave me such hope.

This was a good week!

Catch up Time! November

It is amazing how time seems to fly. :-) I really want to document this training cycle so I will do my best to catch up. My usual running schedule is:

Monday morning- slow heart rate run with Kirsten
Monday night- Couch to 5k class
Tuesday- rest
Wed- slow hr run with Kirsten
Thurs-Tempo run
Fri- rest or run with Sarah
Saturday- run 6-8 miles with running group (not low hr!) and then couch to 5k for 3.1 miles.

My memorable runs have been my tempo runs.

On Thursday, November 14
Mile 1- warmup 9:42 hr-147
Mile 2- 8:16- hr- 177
Mile 3- 8:04 hr-190
 I was just feeling like junk, so I decided to slow down and call it good.
Mile 4- 10:52
Mile 5- 10:26

I had done the Dr. Oz 48 hour cleanse and I just think my body didn't have enough carbs to fuel me.

On Friday, November 15- I wanted to try a pace run.

Mile .5- warmup- 9:45
Mile 1.5-8:23- hr- 171
Mile 2.5- 8:18- hr- 185
Mile 3.5- 8:20- hr- 188
Mile4.0-10:33 pace

Still didn't have the energy I wanted. But a good start. I want to see these pace runs get better.

On Thursday, November 21- Tried a tempo run again. I was a little nervous after the last one. I drank gatorade and had a banana and toast. :-)

Mile 1- warmup- 9:49, hr- 142
Mile 2- 8:03- hr- 173
Mile 3- 7:30- hr- 187- what?!! 7:30!! :-)
Mile 4- 7:32- hr- 191- awesome!!
Mile .1- 45 seconds
Mile 5- 10:26

So, my 5k time was- 23:51- that is an amazing 5k time for me right now. This gave me such confidence! It was tough, but so rewarding and shocking!

Long run November 23

I decided I wanted to try the hilly run Kruger. I asked my friend Annie to join me. I was a little nervous because she is an amazing runner and I didn't want to slow her down too much. I thought it went very well and it was gorgeous! The view was amazing and I felt like a million bucks!!

It is a 7 mile run and we averaged 9:24 pace. The slowest mile uphill was 10:37 and the fastest mile downhill was 8:10. I would like to run this once a week and see how I get stronger.

I am feeling really good about my running right now.

I got in almost 30 miles this week. I have 4 more weeks until the half marathon. That will tell me a lot about where my fitness level is. I am excited!