March 24, 2012

26.2K "Simulator" - Dialing it in

Trying to dial in the hydration / fueling strategy
I haven't really been posting a ton about training like we were doing in the fall buildup towards Philadelphia. No re-inventing the wheel - I've been averaging about 135 miles/week with several quality sessions and a long run every week. You can check out my day by day training log entries here: January - February - March. I've done a lot more miles at marathon pace and threshold pace that I did last fall - my fitness is at an all-time high level.

A new wrinkle that I've added in has been double workout days. I always run twice a day, but during this training cycle I've been (every week or 10 days) doing a marathon-paced (or faster) tempo run in the morning followed by speedwork on the track that afternoon. This has allowed me to sneak in an extra workout without losing a recovery day. I'm going to write a more detailed blog about why I'm doing this in the next week.

Anyways, this weekend I did my "big" tempo run of the training cycle. Last fall Andrea and I did a 13.1 mile tempo at race pace (Video) and that was the longest race-pace effort of the cycle. Since I'm feeling even stronger this time around, I decide to do a true Hanson's style simulator this time around: 26.2 Kilometers (16.3 miles) at marathon pace. The idea is that you do this without cutting back the workouts or mileage at all, and its therefore hopefully simulating the last 16 miles of the marathon. Since I  ran 150 miles last week, and had double workout days on Tues/Thur of this week, I definitely went into this without fresh legs on Saturday.

The workout went well - I ran the tempo right at 5:20/mile pace despite the windy conditions. It didn't feel that hard physically (it was more challenging mentally to be out there running at that kind of effort level, SOLO, for that long). If sea-level and tapering bring out a little more magic, I'm ready for a good one in Boston. Its good to practice running at a strong pace for that long, and it feels good afterwards not only to know you can do it, but to have the feeling that you could easily have kept it going.

This workout gave me a chance to try out a new hydration / fueling strategy for the marathon as well. I don't like taking gels, and they are not easy to choke down at 5:15 pace. I'd rather drink my calories, so I got some real mountain dew, let the carbonation out, then dissolved some electrolyte tablets in the drink. It was a delicious explosion of sugar/caffeine/salt! This might end up being my drink of choice for Boston, depending on how many bottles I'm allowed to have out on the course.

I use nalgene wash bottles (250mL) - easy to drink out of on the run!
Since Andrea is in Brazil I had to get creative with stashing bottles along the road.
I make a big loop out of chicken wire and then can grab the bottles while running without breaking stride.
Post-tempo, in the jeep because the bugs are starting to hatch.
It was 70 degrees this weekend - at least I'll be ready if its warm in Boston.
Some random photos...
Added the Saucony logo to the White Wolf
New Kroger flavor! First impression - delicious!!!

1 comment:

  1. You are in such great shape! So so very exciting.

    I am headed to Smiths right after work today to get my hands on that new flavor. Birthday cake is my all time favorite icecream flavor so I have a feeling this is right up my alley. :)

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