Rest day today but checked my wakeup HR

My wakeup HR this morning was 52, another indication that my tiredness yesterday isn't serious (I still need to give my body rest to avoid my tiredness becoming a precursor to a cold).

Training Graphs

Tired so only did 6

I could tell, when I got up, that I was tired; I didn't have that "spark" of energy that I usually have. My wakeup HR, though, was 51, indicating my tiredness probably isn't serious, i.e. not another cold coming on. I left on my run, but at 3 miles I turned around and came home. Best that I let my body rest. Hopefully, I'll feel better on Wednesday.

The weather was cloudy with a 5-7 mph headwind, and the temperature was about 30F.

Training Graphs

Recovery after flu: 6 miler

I just returned from a great 6 miler. A lot of the snow has melted, and I ran the canal trail. The snow that was left was crusty and easy to run in. My wakeup HR was 53, and I felt great, both before and after the run. The temperature was in the mid 20s (F) when I left, and there was a 10 mph headwind with 20 mph gusts. During the first mile, my face was really cold, and I was tempted to return home and get my ski mask. But, after that first mile, my body warmed up and I was fine. It was nice coming back with a tailwind. I had to hold back to keep from going faster on the way back.

There must be a lot of stray cats living outside. I saw a lot of cat tracks in the snow. Some dog tracks, too. I didn't notice any bird tracks in the snow, though. We had a dusting of snow yesterday, so the tracks I saw this morning were made recently.

This has been a great recovery week. If I feel fine on Monday, I'll do 8 miles and will level off at that for 2-3 weeks to give my body some time to adjust.

Training Graphs

Announcing a Marathon Training Plan

I've added to my site a training plan for those who want to run a marathon or a half marathon and enjoy that experience by not suffering pain or extreme tiredness during and after the race. Many training plans are designed to get a runner ready in just a few weeks to run a marathon, and in meeting that goal of a short training period, those plans require that the runner endure relatively high stress during the training. In contrast, my plan involves less stress and less risk of injury because it uses a longer training period.

For example, one popular plan will get a person ready for a marathon with just 18 weeks of training. That particular plan involves high stress during the first month of training (16%, 14%, and 12% increases in long-run distance during the first three weeks), and the plan also has high stress during the remainder of the training due to fall-back weeks of reduced distance to give ones body a rest but then subsequent big jumps in distance to get to the point where the runner would have been if the fall-back weeks weren't performed. The increase after the first fall-back, for example, is an 80% jump in distance from the fall-back position, which translates to a 28% increase from the distance before the fall-back!

My plan is based on the 10% and heavy/light rules of running, and my increases in distance are 10% or less. In addition, after my fall-back weeks, my plan has the runner returning to the distance just before the fall-back instead of jumping to a new distance.

In order to provide marathon training with less stress and less risk of injury, my plan has a longer training period. It requires a minimum of 25 weeks for a marathon and 17 weeks for a half marathon. The plan is at

http://www.leigh.org/running/marathonplan.html

Training Graphs

Recovery after flu: 4 miler

I just returned from my 4 mile run. I enjoyed it and feel fine. I ran my "normal" comfortable pace of about 12 1/2 seconds/mile.

The canal road has too much snow, so I ran nearby city streets like I did a year ago and looked at some new homes being built nearby. It was a sunny, mid 30s morning and a beautiful time to be out. I've been sleeping well, and that really helps!

My wakeup HR was 51. So far my recovery week has gone well. If I continue to feel fine, I'll do 6 miles on Saturday.

Training Graphs

Recovery after flu: 2 miler

I've been down with a stomach flu for the past week. I'm pretty much over it, and this week is my recovery week. Rather than go back to 10 miles, I'm going to level off at 8 miles for a month and let my body build strength for that distance.

My wakeup HR was 54 this morning, and I felt pretty good. I ran a slow 2 miles and felt fine at the end. If I recover from this ok, I'll run 4 miles on Wednesday.

Training Graphs

Another great 10 miler

I had a really great 10 mile run this morning -- better than on Saturday! My wakeup HR was 52, I felt great and completed the run in 2 hours 9 minutes, compared to 2 hours 17 minutes on Saturday. I didn't try to go faster, that was just my "comfortable" pace. That pace extrapolated for 13.1 miles would be 2 hours 49 minutes to complete a half marathon. I hope to run a half in August, and by then I will have been running a weekly 15 mile long-run for about 4 months. My other runs will be two 10 milers and probably one 5 miler as a rest run (right now, the rest "run" is a day of rest, i.e. I'm running three days a week. Starting with July I'll add a fourth day and later a fifth day as rest runs. I should be comfortable with the 13.1 miles, and my "comfortable" pace should be faster than it is now. I hope to complete the half in 2 hours 15 minutes or so.

The temperature was in the mid 30s, but the sky was sunny, and it was a nice day for running!

Training Graphs

Great 10 miler

I had a great 10 mile run this morning. I felt fine and did no walking -- quite a change from earlier in the week. When I left there was a 15-20 mph head wind, but it didn't last long, and most of the run was with no wind. Now, if I can have a good recovery over the weekend, I may have another great run on Monday... I'm glad I cut the run short on Wednesday to give my body extra rest.

I didn't check my wakeup HR this morning.

Training Graphs

4 mile rest run

My wakeup HR was 65 today, a bit higher than on Monday. I felt ok but not super energetic. I went out running, but after two miles, I was starting to get tired, and I turned around and came home, a total of 4 miles. I could have pushed myself to keep on going, and maybe reached 6 miles total, but my body would have had significantly higher stress. I turned around to give my body more rest. My next run is on Saturday, and I should do better then that I would have if I had kept on going this morning.

Training Graphs

10 miles but tired

I ran my 10 miles today but walked most of the last two miles. My wakeup HR was 53, and I felt pretty good. I still have my cold, but it is in the thick mucus stage. My cough is mostly gone but not quite. I didn't run at all last week, and I should have limited today to eight miles as a way of getting back in to it.

Training Graphs

Rest day today

I slept well over the weekend, but my wakeup HR was 60 this morning, and I didn't run. I still have my cough but the sore throat is gone. Today is a holiday from work, so I'm just resting during the day and not doing much but napping and some reading.