This was a glorious week of training. For the past two weeks, I’ve been running eight mile long runs. I’ve hit just under a 12-minute mile pace in the end on each, and feel I could go still faster! However, I still have a tendency to go out too fast, particularly when surrounded by sub-10 rabbits. Running 12-minute miles feels actively slow, making me concentrate unduly on the weight of my feet and ankles. In contrast, 10-minute miles make me feel like I’m flying. This past weekend I ran the first four miles at a 10-minute pace because that’s what the group was doing, and I was impressed that I stuck with them for so long.
Unfortunately, working at too high an intensity does trigger my asthma, and once my lungs have been set off, it’s hard to run at any speed. I don’t know if that’s something that will improve drastically with further speed training or is just a particular obstacle of mine. So I’ll be strategically switching between a run and a fast walk during the marathon. Fortunately, water stops during most marathons are every two miles. I can run at a faster clip for the majority of the two miles, then walk quickly through the water stops to keep my lungs happy. Apparently this is a common strategy. I’m a fast walker with a long stride, so the walking doesn’t hit me with a tremendous time penalty.
What matters is that I’ve felt GREAT after my long runs, and I’m running them at what I feel is a respectable pace. I can do this!!
The other after-effect I am noticing, is that I hit a fatigue wall hard at about 3PM after my long runs. I’ve taken a two-hour nap for the past two Saturdays, without intending it. I will simply stop by the couch to watch something vaguely intriguing on the television, and am out like a light within five minutes. I suppose this can’t be a bad thing, as rest and recovery are important. But it’s pretty dramatic behavior for someone like me, who hasn’t taken a nap since the age of four. Googling suggests either that I need to better electrolyte replacement, or that I am running my long runs too fast. I will work on the former, but I suspect the latter. Don’t see any reason to slow down though, as I still feel great at the end of the long runs, and I’m a noob. Of course my body is going to take some adjusting.
What matters is that I wake up from the naps feeling FANTASTIC.
Next week is hills training! Since I’m a week behind the group’s schedule right now, I won’t be running the full 12 miles on the schedule. Hills are intense and it’s clearly the wrong week to catch up with them. Instead, I’ll be running the 6-mile hills course once, then returning home to run 4 miles on my own later in the day. My coach told us last week that the benefits of the long run are achieved as long as the mileage is covered within a 10-hour period, which is a handy factoid. I can imagine that it would be very useful on a busy Saturday when I’m having trouble finding the time to run — no excuses!