#pfitzinger

[davekjaer]

On The Road Back To Boston

On The Road Back To Boston

I recently posted about my experience running the 2017 Boston Marathon and how much I enjoyed the experience. In a nutshell, it was tough but it allowed me to see first-hand how the Boston crowd suddenly transforms into an experienced running coach at the sight of a runner having trouble. In addition to that, I loved the feeling of being in a major city overflowing with people who are passionate…

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[therunningboffin]

P&D 18/55 Week 6 and 7

Double post because I'm lame and missed one. 

Snow! - that pretty much sums up the last 2 weeks, that and arrrgghh

As usual I'm keeping this updated

Week 6

This was a lower mileage week dip for recovering a little from last week. I enjoyed the reduced mileage "treat" but in the back of my mind I knew the next week would be huge! 

Mon - Rest as usual

Tue - 13 km GA + 10 x 100m strides. I kind of hate strides but I got them in.

Wed - Recovery 8 km

Thu - 14 km aerobic - Head torch lit forest run in the snow - very nice run with a new running friend I've met.

Fri - Swam 1.5 km - yes I swam! I like the idea of a weekly swim to put a little cross training in. I've not committed to it but this week seemed a good one to fit one in.

Sat - 6 km recovery

Sun - 26 km (slightly shorter) long run. Again from the higher (18/85 plan). I gave it a little welly because it was shorter. Not sure thats the point but it felt ok.  Average pace - 4:56 min/km

Total mileage - 67.5 km (and thats a low mileage week !)

Week 7 

Mileage step up again this week !

Mon - Rest as usual

Tue - 8 km LT 16 km total. Longest LT run to date and averaged 4:13 - quite a bit quicker than normal (4:17). Felt ok

Wed - Recovery 6 km

Thu - 18 km Medium long run - the first of the plans longer mid week runs. These are one pfitzinger plans USPs. I've being doing 16 km mid week a few time but they ramp up now and peak at 23 km. I did this along the canal and on the roads and it was a little icy.  (5:10 min/km av pace)

Fri - I did Saturdays scheduled GA run but skipped the strides. It had snowed a lot last night so strides seemed crazy. This was really a tough run on deep snow

Sat - Rested

Sun - 32 km Long run. Second 20 miler and perhaps gave this a little too much welly. It was late at night, freezing and I was doing laps - I just wanted it over ! - I averaged 5:03 min/km. My plan says start around 5:24 min/km and then decrease to finish at 4:57 min/km max. I'm only saying this because my legs ached a lot on mon and tues after so maybe a touch too hard on this run. 

Toral mileage - 83.7 km - a personal record but almost every week is at the moment ! 

Next up - another big week !

[therunningboffin]

P&D 18/55 Week 5

Bit lat on this one! A pretty uneventful week but I'm beginning to feel the relentlessness of marathon training. At the moment it all feels like a management exercise - time management and injury management. Finding times to fit the runs in around the family and work without abandoning both is tricky and when I'm not running I feel I'm always stretching ! Its also so grim at the moment - a lot of dark runs where the best I can hope for is its only freezing (as appose to freezing and raining/ snowing). Hoping for some lighter evenings soon !!!! 

18 week plan ?! - what was I thinking lol

Updates here

Mon - Rest

Tues - A longer one than last time - 14km with 8km at 4:20 (actual did 4:17). Found this ok actually.

Wed - 8km Recovery  - I did this at work and did 3km of it with a friend starting couch to 5km, really enjoyed the plod

Thu - A rare morning run - 16km aerobic - really struggled - I might have to get a bit ore practise running early because the marathon is at 9am!

Fri - Ran Saturdays recovery to get a days rest on Sat before my long run

Sat - Rest

Sun - Abandoned the MP run because it was really snowy and slippery. Did 30km instead of the planned 29km (again from the higher plan)

[therunningboffin]

P&D 18/55 Week 3.

A week of niggles. After last weeks Sunday long MP run I went into this week feeling sore - hamstrings tight and arches and calves hurting. I then ran longer and faster than I should on Thursday which gave me further problems so it was a week of stretching and rolling but glad to say I made it through and I'm feeling better now.

Plan updated here

Mon - Rest

Tues - A slower than normal (5:23 min/km av) general aerobic run with very tight hamstrings

Wed - A gentle recovery run (5:36 pace)

Thu - Double (!) parkrun + the bit in-between. Parkrun allows times (and days) other than just 9am on Saturday on Christmas day and New Years day. This allows the possibility of the parkrun double. Finding 2 parkruns 10km and 1hrs 30 apart meant only one thing - double parkruns running between them! A crafty car swapping plan between myself and Chris and it was on !! I had a 6km LT run in the plan so I ran both parkruns to LT effort (ish). So instead of 13km with 6km LT it was more like 20km with 10km tempo. (av 4:31, 4:28 - on mud and hills)

Double parkrun

Blaming the weird gait on the mud ;)

Fri - Rest - My calves were very sore from Thursday so a lot of stretching

Sat - Recovery - I ran a parkrun as a recovery so 5km instead of 6km. I had lots of miles in the bank from thursday so no harm. A LOT MORE STRETCHING !! (av 5:35 min/km)

Sun - Long run - 26km - A cold one ! Progressed to just under 5 min/km (av 5:07) - again taking the long run from the 18/8 plan

A big week this week - >73 km - my longest ever ! 

[therunningboffin]

P&D 18/55 Week 1.

1 week down ! 

Following on from my post on the marathon plan I’m doing. Here’s a summary for the first week!  I’ve been filling in my plan as I’ve gone along with average paces and such.

It felt a bit weird kicking off 18 weeks of training that I’ve been thinking about for weeks with a rest day but I guess I’ll get used to resting on Mondays with the look of those long runs ! 

Mon - Rest

Tues - LT run - Lactate threshold (somewhere between 15k and HM race pace). I was aiming for 4:20 pace approximately and it came out at 4:18 so I was pretty pleased with that. I’m still having HR monitor issues which have been fixed a bit with gel but the rain isn’t helping but my target HR was coming out roughly right too - 180 bpm-ish. Really enjoyed this run though I can see that when I’m tired from training and these get longer I will come to dread them !

Wed - Ran Thursday’s general-aerobic run today instead. Got absolutely soaked but was worth it to have Thurs off for drinks! Target for GA is marathon pace + 15-25% so 5:11 to 5:38 pace - I averaged 5:12. This is a bit slower than I’d typically do them. but I think it was around the 150-160 bpm mark so that seems ok.

Thu - Rest and a few drinks :)

Fri  - I did Saturday's scheduled recovery run today - really easy

Sat - Long run - as mentioned before I'm starting these further than planned. The schedule had me down for 19km but I did 27km. I stuck to Pfitzinger's paces though - starting around 5:15 /km and decreasing to around 5:00 /km during the last 10km or so. I then did some quicker ones - 4:40 ish for the last 2 km. These weren't called for but I like practising for kicking near the end of a race. Overall it was typically slower than I'd usually run my long runs - averaging 5:07 rather than 4:4x but my heart rate seemed about right - 150ish to 165ish near the end. I enjoyed it a lot too :)

Sun - Rest

Mileage completion - 113 %

Sessions completed - 4/4

Still faffing with my hrm. I've going to carry on with it a bit longer but I might need a new strap.

Might have set myself a bit of a target with this much write up on 1 week ! -but at least I've started it off well !

[therunningboffin]

Training plan until December

After back to back to back PBs in the 10k, HM and 5k, I’m more convinced than ever that I progress best from a large training block that is uninterrupted by racing. Therefore, I’ve decided to try and resist doing any more races until my next one in december, the Stockport 10 miler. This will give me 6 more full weeks of training before a slightly easier week (shorter long run) and then a taper week. 

Next year I am doing the Manchester marathon and planning to use the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan so over these 6 weeks I’m going to try a few of the sessions out to see how I find them. I’ll also try a few of the earlier weeks by the book to see how recovering from one session into the next pans out. The plan I’m using doesn’t have any hill work and I’ve heard Pfitzinger himself say that he would change that. I’m not sure I want to tinker with the plan so I’m also going to get some in now before I start the plan. Finally if all goes well I’ll keep my weekly long sunday run at around 25k - possibly pushing it further (and slower) to get more time on the feet.

So thats the plan. Hopefully this means I’ll be in good shape for a 10 mile  race and confident when I start marathon training that it won’t break me! 

I’m planning to do a post with my marathon training plan just before I start it and then hopefully weekly updates throughout.

[fatman2fitman]

I think I've got a new running plan for my spring marathon

I used Hal Higdon's advanced 1 plan this past year and I was considering going with his advanced 2 plan, but I felt some of the mileage wasn't challenging enough.

Chris mentioned the Pfitzinger plans and I looked into them. They seem pretty much perfect for my needs. My big issue is endurance. I can run decently fast, but at 20 miles things fall apart. The Pfitzinger plans are all about building endurance. Each week has a mid-week medium-long run of anywhere between 11 and 15 miles in addition to the usual Sunday long run. It also has five Sunday long runs of 20 miles or more while HH tops out at 20 miles and only for three runs.

I think Hal Higdon's plans are great for the right people, but I don't think that they will help me get to where I want to be. 

If anyone is curious, here's a peak at the program. I'm going to pick up a copy of Pfitzinger's book for more detail. If anyone has used his plans I'd love to know what you think.