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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

I will soon...

...be boarding the plane that will take me to Geneva.  I signed up to run in Berlin more than 5 months ago with one idea: running the fastest marathon of my life.  And here I am, in late July, working hard to achieve my goal.  This has been an incredibly difficult training bloc. First, the weather in New Orleans is not friendly at all during the summer.  I am running in very hot and humid conditions day in and day out. Then, my right knee has given me some problems since I started to increase my weekly mileage (3-4 weeks ago).  But those problems have not stopped me from going out to do my runs.  The hot and humid conditions can only make me stronger as long as I complete the workouts with the required intensity.  It's not about how fast I can run my speed workouts, tempos, or long runs, it's about having the motivation to put together workouts with intensity.  My times do not reflect how fast I really am.  I am slower than normal, but I am not worried about it.  The thinner the air, the faster I will go... and the air in Berlin will be thin... so watch out!  My knee is getting better, I have done two runs without pain this week.  I found out that my lower right train was lacking balance, and I am working to correct this problem.  I also noticed that my stride was not as efficient as it usually is, so I am trying to get a more efficient running form.

I ran 60 miles last week.  Three quality workouts and four easy runs.  The fartlek and tempo runs were good, but I had a hard time to keep the pace up in the 11 mile marathon pace run on Friday.  I ran 7:15 on average, but I need to drop that pace to 6:55.  I am not in panic yet... I have 8 more weeks and I am feeling really strong. 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stamina Phase (2nd week): 53 miles

I am entering the third week of specific training.  Although my right knee is still sore (and bothering me!), I am feeling good overall.  Training last week wasn't easy. I did three hard workouts and 4 easy runs. 53 miles total. In the middle of the week, I noticed that my body was tired and my legs lacked a spark.  Running in hot and humid conditions takes a toll on your body as it dehydrates easily.  In those conditions you need to be very careful about your diet and hydration.  I certainly was not being careful.  after monitoring my weight before and after my runs, I noticed that I was losing 4-6 punds during each run.  I thus decided to monitor what my eating and drinking habits.  I also decided to take vitamins (for the first time in my running life!) because I was feeling very weak after each run, and recovery was taking longer than usual. These changes are paying off so far. I feel muche better and I am able to finish my workouts stronger.  My next marathon is in less than 10 weeks, and I will be strong and ready to run when the day comes.

This is the third week of stamina training.  I ran a solid steady-state 8 miler yesterday.  I felt like a distance runner for the first time in several weeks. I was strong and fast.  I hope I can feel like that in Berlin.  The plan for the rest of this week includes easy runs on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday; a tempo run on Wednesday; and a marathon pace 12 miler on Friday.  My build-up is good so far, and I hope to keep getting better every day.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Training update July 4-10, 2011

The first week of specific training for Berlin is done!  I only did 45 miles, but I really needed to decrease the mileage because my right knee is still bothering me a bit.  My joints are simply reacting to 5 very intensive 12-week training blocs in a row, and I need to be extremely careful if I want to stay healthy in the following weeks.  I have 11 more weeks of training that will be followed by several weeks/months of very easy running.  I also decided that I will only run one marathon all-out in 2012.

In the meantime, training for Berlin is going as expected.  I feel strong physically and mentally despite the horrendous conditions that prevail in New Orleans.  My training last week included three quality workouts and three easy runs.  I ran on a treadmill for three days trying to avoid the heat.  The treadmill is boring, but it gave me the opportunity to try a new workout: hill repeats.  I did 8x400 mts hill repeats (9-12% incline) with 400 mts recovery on Monday; 7 easy miles on Tuesday and 16 miles on Wednesday (fast last 3 miles).  Overall, I felt very good about these workouts.  I noticed that my body had more energy during and after the runs because it was not exposed the the heat and humidity.

I drove to Tallahassee, Fl. on Wednesday afternoon and ran 4 easy miles on Thursday morning and 2 miles on the track.  My legs were tired after the 16 miler the day before, but I was able to run the first mile in 5:35. This is the fastest mile I have ever run as far as I remember.  I took Friday off and did a 5 mile race on Saturday morning with my very good friends Juan Carlos and Camilo Ordonez. I mentioned before that I really wanted to run a race in order to evaluate my fitness level and I didn't resist to the idea of running this race. Since I didn't run a mid-week tempo run, I decided to use the 5 miler as a long tempo.  The weather was not good (hot and humid) and the surface was slow (sandy), so i didn't know what to expect.  I ran the 5 miles in 33 mins. 42 seconds that is roughly equivalent to 6:45 min/mile pace. Overall, I am satisfied with this result.  It shows that I am in very good shape, but there is still room for improvement.  I need more speed and more endurance.  There is nothing to worry about, I have plenty of time to get better before I head over to Europe on September 18th.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

12 more weeks

It is hard to assess how my training is going.  I am doing all the workouts, but the weather is just brutal and my right knee is not 100%.  In addition, I have not raced since May so I don't really know how fast and/or strong I am.  I guess I just have to be extremely careful with my knee and the way I hydrate and things will be fine.  My base training is complete, 4 weeks of 40+ miles (49 this week) are in the books, and I am getting ready to start 12 weeks of very specific, key workouts for Berlin.  This week's training included the following workouts:

Mo- Fartlek (8x1 min, 1 min recovery). 6 miles total. 
Tu-  7 miles, easy.
Wed*- AM: 5x6 min tempo, 2 min recovery, 7 miles total. PM: 4 miles, recovery. 11 miles total.
Th- 6 miles, easy. 
Fr- 2 hr. long run. Brutal in the heat. 
Sat- 4.5 miles, easy run.

* I did a second run after my tempo this week.  The idea behind it is that a short, very easy run in the PM will allow my legs to flush out the excess of lactic acid that accumulates during hard runs. I will add 2 sessions like this next week (after fartlek and tempo sessions).