My fall race in 2012 at Harrisburg did not go as planned (that's a trend for me and the marathon). As a result that made me decide to take a season off from the marathon and work on my running fitness a bit and jump back into the marathon again in the fall at Philadelphia. Used Jack Daniels Running Formula 5k-15k plan using his VDOT methodology to train for 2 half marathons, my favorite race distance and one that I have the best success at.
Started plan in January. Plan is kinda intense and most quality work I've done to date with 3 hard days most weeks with a mix of intervals, speed and tempos. I ran a early 5k in Saginaw, PA as an early test. I had last ran a 5k that previous spring so a PR was attainable at the very least. I didn't really taper much for this one so legs were not as fresh as I like going into a race no matter the distance. Surprised myself with a strong showing and a 20:15 that was good enough for a 32sec PR and 2nd in my AG. Early on in the process I was seeing some good results from all the Daniels quality. #doworkgetfaster
My spring was set-up to do 2 half marathons with first being in my hometown of Chambersburg. I love this race as it was my first race ever and something to be said about rolling out of your bed to go to a race. More often than not it is the home of my PR. Great race day weather and put in a good effort with a 1:36:21 good enough for a 3+ min PR.
Training continued in the spring with the Frederick Half Marathon as my goal race. I was shooting for a 1:32 but be very happy with a sub 1:35 which based on my performance in Chambersburg was a very attainable goal and one I would be very happy with. I ran a solid race early and hung on in the latter miles for a 1:34:40. very successful spring with taking 5+ minutes off my half marathon PR. #doworkgetfaster
I had a little less than 2 months before I jumped back into marathon training again for Philadelphia in July. 2013 was never a year I was targeting to BQ, but with my improved fitness over the spring and the events of the Boston tragedy this year it felt right to go make an attempt at my BQ in Philly. Kept the miles consistent until Philly training began.
Philly training started in July as planned. I wanted to train with a Hanson plan and of course me always think I can handle more than I actually can. I decided on the 20wk plan from their website, but turned out it was more than I could handle not hitting quality runs, PR mileage month in September (300m), and to top it off pretty much by overtraining getting bronchitis and DNS my tune-up half marathon at RnR Philly.
Once well again, I downgraded the plan to the advanced Hanson book plan. That seemed more manageable and hit all my quality runs and felt really strong going into the taper. Confidence was riding high even with a less than stellar tune-up half in Gettysburg. Tough day on a hilly course for another sub 1:40 finish at 1:39:29.
My tune-up at Gettysburg behind me I felt that I still had a good chance of a BQ in Philly. About 2 weeks before Philly found out due to my family schedule I would not be able to stay in Philly nite before and essentially have to drive up to Philly race morning. Not the ideal scenario for race day, but sometimes you got to play the hand your dealt.
Philly was another tough day at the races for this marathoner. Unseasonable warm for November, driving to race early am, and stomach issues to boot. Not my worst marathon effort at 3:50:46 or my best (2nd best actually) but probably my strongest effort of all 6 of my marathons and something that gives me me hope a breakthru race is in the cards for me really soon.
Overall I was really pleased with my running year this year. I really improved my running fitness this year with some PRs along the way even if I did not get that marathon PR I desire or punching my ticket to Boston. Something to build on in 2014. Excited about 2014 though as that was always the year I was putting Boston in my sights anyway. #BQin14
No comments:
Post a Comment