Monday, April 23, 2007

Getting Into Gear

Well it's starting kids. The training is starting. The planning is starting. The early to bed early to rise 7 days a week instead of 5 days a week is starting.

This summer will be the first summer where so far the only commitments I have are training for the marathon. With my parents gone, there are no family barbeques to attend and with no shifts like last summer (or the summer from hell) I should be able to be very consistant with my training.

The Goal : Alright, I'm just going to say it. I would like to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I ran a 3:45 last year and so will need to drop 5 minutes. Given the fact that I missed several workouts last year and had no kind of sleeping or eating schedule that would benefit training I am hoping that I can find that 5 minutes. In fact I am hoping that I can find ... 10 minutes. I would like to train for a 3:35 marathon. I have been looking through the McMillian training guide and the paces for all the types of runs (Long runs, Lactate Threshold, Easy runs....etc) are exactly what we have been doing. 8:43-9:43 for long runs, 9:43-10:13 for easy runs and 7:28-7:47 for Lactate Threshold (Tempo Runs on the McMillian site, if someone knows the difference between Tempo Runs and Tempo Intervals please let me know as the times are slightly different). It's an 8:13 min/mile pace....which although terrifies me to my very core at the moment.....with training I think it's attainable. With that pace in mind for the marathon, McMillian states that my half marathon time should be about 1:42 which I will go after at the Chicago Distance Classic.

So that's my state of mind these days. I'm already nervous....which of course is ridiculous...but it should be fun summer! Let's get our Training on.

Today is no running, but we do have volleyball (booooo). This week will have 25 miles on the schedule with 4 tomorrow with the Kansas kids.

17 comments:

Laurie said...

I have no doubt that you will qualify for Boston. You came close last year even with all of your struggles during training.

I can't wait to follow your journey!

LeahC said...

thanks laurie :-)

Thomas said...

Good luck with the training. I think you'll do it this time. You were pretty close last year.

Remember, you can't just force the pace of the training runs to coincide with your marathon goals. But if your "natural" pace matches the pace from the calculator, that's a very good sign.

LeahC said...

hi thomas-

the last few weeks i have been running at a pace that feels ok. With no goals except to get up to 35 miles a week by the start of june, it's been nice to not have a rigid training schedule. That being said, what seems to be a comfortable pace is in the 8:30-8:50 range which is really exciting. I picked 3:35 to give me a bit of a buffer zone and then checked out the paces. I was worried that it would show long run paces and LT paces much to fast for me, but it looks like the training will be doable.

Thanks for the tip!

Joe said...

Good luck with the Boston quest. Five minutes should be doable.

Anonymous said...

Good luck on the training. Don't start stressing yourself out yet! I have a feeling that if you go in with the right mindset and dedication, you'll see the results.
In response to your question, I'm fairly certain the tempo run should be the whole run at that pace but tempo intervals should be your fast speed when you are doing a fartlek run.

LeahC said...

thanks boston! that is kind of what I thought about the tempo times.

Ms. Jones said...

speed-work!! :) oh how fun.

Ryan said...

Over the course of 5 years, I dropped 1:06 from Pittsbugh '01 to Chicago
'06. I'm going to drop 5-10 more this year. Five minutes is well within your reach!

Colleen said...

Hey thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm really excited and nervous about starting the Pfitz plan this year.

If you don't mind I might have some questions for you this summer since it's my first time following this plan.

It sounds like you had great success with it last year and I think Boston is definitely within your reach. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

I think a BQ is well within your reach. And Boston Road Runner is right about the tempo vs tempo interval thingy.

MNFirefly said...

Leah, YOU CAN DO IT! Feel that BQ!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Leah, you ran a 3:45? That's great. You'll definitely qualify this time. But I would just like to say, not fair! I have to run a 3:10 to get in. I'll be seeing you guys in Chicago this year.

- Jonathan

LeahC said...

jonathan!

I am assuming this is jonathan from indiana? So exciting to have you joining us in Chicago this year! I was pretty excited about the 3:45 so even more excited to work on bring it lower. Yeah a 3:10 for men is crazy....are you close to that?

L

mouse said...

dude. a BQ is so within reach for you. no problem.

and we can SOOOOOO have LT run parties this summer! where we all get together and get psyched up for our LT runs! because LT runs are sooooooo fun that they are practically an EVENT! right? right?

[this is me mentally getting ready for the suckers. god do I hate them.]

LeahC said...

mouse-

they are the worst for sure! more people = better! it's going to be one big LT party!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Jonathan from Indiana here. You don't have far to go. You'll make it for sure, especially if you're already trainging. I ran 3:27 in Houston in January. I only need to take 35 seconds off per mile. Yikes.