Monday, August 21, 2006

Week 1 - Days 1 and 2: A New Plan

Finally, I have a plan.

Yesterday (Sunday, Aug20), marked the beginning of my 16 week training program for the Las Vegas Marathon. I am going to use the FIRST TO FINISH program from the Furman Insitute of Running. I chose this program because it involves 3 - 4 runs a week with cross training in between and 1 - 2 days of rest. I love the idea of cross training because I want keep working on my cycling and swimming for triathlon season, but I also want to be able to follow a training plan for the marathon. The Vegas Marathon is December 10th, so my plan is to train for it the next 16 weeks, using the bike and swim as my cross training activities. I'll take some rest time during Christmas, since it will come right after the marathon, and then after the new year I'll try to get into some more specific triathlon training. I still have one more tri this year - The Music City Triathlon
. It's an Olympic Distance, so I am excited about doing my 2nd ever Oly. I think it will fall around week 4 of my marathon training, so I will substitute my long run that week with the tri. I also have the Old Timers Day 5k this Saturday - I am just going to do it instead of a cross training day, and run my first long run of 13 miles the next day. Hopefully soon I'll have a more detailed schedule of what I'll be doing, and I'll post a link to it.

As for what I've been doing lately, I ran 10 miles Friday to make sure I could still do some distance. It went fairly well, and I ended up with an average pace of 9:31. Briar and I jogged the Old Timer's Day 5k course at high noon Saturday (I know, I should be ashamed to do that to him). Sunday was the first day of my Marathon Training and was supposed to be cross training. I did the loop around Normandy on my bike - 19.34 miles in 1:03:18. It was like 6:30 p.m., I was well rested and it felt great outside. It's those kinds of rides that remind me why I do this stuff.

This morning I did my first interval session at the track. The plan was as follows:

Warmup: 10:00 - 20:00 min warmup
3 x 1600m with 1:00 min rest between each
Target Interval Pace = 7:16/mile (5k race pace/mile minus 15 seconds)
Cooldown: 10:00 min

Here are the actual numbers, according to my new Garmin:

2.05 mile warmup: 20:41

3 x 1600 w/1:00 m rest:
1. 7:12
2. 7:19
3. 7:13

1.02 mile cooldown: 9:33

Obviously, I am pretty happy with those numbers...except for one thing...I had set up the workout in my Garmin beforehand, so it automatically took the lap times at 1 mile and started the 1:00 min rest...then started timing the second interval after the rest period, and so on...but when I got close to the end of the 4th lap on the track, the Garmin beeped for me to stop and showed "1 mile" about 30 yards short of where I started. I went ahead and stopped, since I didn't want to negotiate the whopping 1:00 minute of rest time I had, but I have to say I am a little disappointed that Garmin would be that far off on such a short distance. Granted, there are bleachers sitting on one side of the track that I have to go around, but I don't think it would make a 30 yard difference. Michele was running her intervals as well, and her Garmin actually made her run a little FARTHER than the starting point. The second interval seemed to hit pretty well dead on with the distance, and the time also reflects that. The third one had me stop short again. I may try the "workouts" feature again next week, and hope that it is more accurate than this time. If not, I will just use the lap button manually from now on with my intervals. It would be differen if I was out doing them on the road where I didn't have the distance marked off...but it feels a little funny to be running 1600 m intervals on a track and stop 30 yards shy of where you started.

12 comments:

Rice said...

Its good if it works in your favor eh, but if you have to run an extra 30 yards I would be pissed.

It always helps to have a plan. That sounds good to have that many cross training days too. I will have to look at that for the winter months here.

Cheers.

Rice.

Anonymous said...

I believe that is the plan that Runner's World touted as the "3 day-a-week" training plan. There is an article on the Cool Running web site about the plan by a couple of guys to tried it out (http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_1/tabloid-training.shtml). Thought you might find it interesting.

Garou said...

That's a tough plan - I'm a little surprised that it puts you through 5 20-mile runs - most of the other intermediate/advanced plans that I have seen max out at 3 or so. Good luck with it, and keep us posted on how it is going.

Backofpack said...

Good luck on the marathon! The cross training ideas sound perfect for you. Good deal.

Lance Notstrong said...

Glad to hear you decided to do the marathon. Good luck :-)

Cliff said...

Is this your first marathon? It will be a lot of fun. Every weekend I look forward for those 3 hr long runs.

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Garou - I'll keep you posted on how it goes. The 5 20 milers did raise my eyebrows...we'll see how it turns out!

Lance - Thanks! You are doing Dallas the same day, right? That's awesome!

Cliff - This will be my second marathon. I did the Country Music Marathon in April. I'm hoping to beat my previous time of 4:17:17!!

Papa Louie said...

Lana, I hope the very best in your marathon training using the FIRST schedule. I am in week 8 of the same program. The schedule is tough because they calculate workout times with your best 5K time. Some days my run times are on schedule but others I fall off. I'll be doing my 3rd 20 miler this Saturday. The first 2 my times were according to schedule. The cross training days are hard effort workouts. I bike and swim with the same intensity as the runs. I also try to lift, yoga, or pilates 2 days a week.

Brooke said...

I'm going to have to check out that program. New programs always interest me.

Lance Notstrong said...

Yes....I'll be doing Run the Rock in Dallas and it will be my first. It's nice to know you will be out on the same day "suffering" in spirit :-)

:) said...

Hey Lana,

What lane were you running in? The farther out the lane, the longer the lap, so over the course of 4 laps, you could have added some distance...therefore making your mile stop short of the starting point?

lane 1 - 400.00m
lane 2 - 407.85m
lane 3 - 415.71m
lane 4 - 423.56m
lane 5 - 431.42m

etc....

:) said...

See here for explanation:

http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/tracklane.htm