I have a success story to report using a non-traditional approach that is being talked about on this thread. Thanks to tinman?s help, I rebounded from a vicious slump (during which I could barely break 39 for 10k) to set a seven minute PR in the marathon (259-252).
Before consulting tinman, I was heavily reliant on the heart rate monitor in training for my recent marathon. I had previously run workouts too hard in prior years. This summer I began using the HRM was a way to keep me honest and not race workouts. However, we discovered my slump was largely a product of misleading numbers from the HRM. Instead of running the appropriate paces for my race fitness, I was following some arbitrary reading from the HRM. Things got to the point where I was running easy at
almost ten minutes per mile. Next thing I knew, seven flat felt like I was gunning it all out. I was staring a 3:05 marathon squarely in the face.
After a personal worst 10k on a fast course, we ditched the HRM and went to a velocity approach. I am glad to say it worked. Even better, I was able to tame that final 10k that pummeled me in my previous two efforts at 26.2.
As for the race, it was somewhat of a windy day, especially from mile 16 onward. My strategy was to just go by feel for the first 13.1 and then reevaluate from there. In other words, no obsessing with splits. The half went in 1:27:41 (6:42 pace). I could have pushed a little harder if I set
my own pace but I decided to play the drafting game and settle in behind a couple of guys who looked like seasoned veterans whom I could trust to keep a steady pace. I have learned that when you are fit and tapered, marathon pace feels so easy and it is tempting to get greedy in the early miles. At the half, I was feeling reasonably comfortable and resolved to pick up the tempo, even though it meant fighting the wind by myself. Through the later miles, I passed tons of people as the wind increased. Whereas the opening half was flat and among urban buildings, the second half was more undulating and more exposed to the wind. Nevertheless, I ran a nearly three minute negative splitand
finished in 1:24:39 for the last 13.1 (6:28 pace). This time is only 2 minutes off my half marathon PR. My final 10k was 44 seconds faster than the opening 10k (40 flat vs. 40:44). It was a big victory for me having never broken 47 in the last 10k of a marathon and having finished my
previous marathon with a 10k on the wrong side of 50minutes. Shows what smart pacing will do! I realized that the halfway point of a marathon does not come at 13.1, it comes somewhere between 16-20 miles.
As for the training, I look back and see a lot of things that worked, despite the slump a couple of months ago. I am relatively new to this stuff, but as someone who has been largely self coached, I have tried it all. What worked for me might not work for others and what works for others would not work for me.
1) Long, fast, continuous runs. Early in the training, ?fast? for me was around 6:40 pace, but in early December I was able to run a 12 miler at a controlled 6:30 pace. The lesson for me was to run at the appropriate effort, rather than exact pace, for the given workout. I ended up running my last 13.1 on Sunday faster than any of my marathon paced runs. Other than strides, the fastest I ran in the buildup was a 559 mile and some 200s
in 40-41.
2) Variety of surfaces. I ran all speeds on all surfaces for the past few months. Strides, 10k pace, easy, tempo, etc. on grass, road, dirt, wood chips, and track. I think this variety gave me a ?feel for the road? that allowed me to tweak my stride occasionally in the late miles to recruit different muscles and rest others. In addition, including some light hills in the tempo workouts gave me functional strength to tackle the hills late in the race. I have always done hills in regular runs and used to use fast hill reps religiously, but in my previous two marathons I melted on the late hills. This time I was strong, and I believe it was because running hills
at threshold pace during a long tempo trains the muscles much more specifically than hills at aerobic conditioning pace or 1500-5k paced reps. I guess the best scenario is to train all speeds, but I think I overlooked running hills at the pace I would run them in the race and under similar
conditions (ie, late in a long tempo).
3) Making the fast days long. Instead of one long day (ie. Sunday 16-20 miler), there were two or three per week, thanks to 30-60 minute cool downs.
4) Run workouts at prescribed paces, no faster. Seems obvious, but I had always fallen prey to the attitude that workouts were a place to prove to yourself you could run at ?X? pace. ABefore my previous marathon (2:59), I
ran several ?threshold? workouts where I ran mile repeats as fast as 540 despite having a 10k PR above 37. I have now become wiser and run these workouts where they belong, in the 15k to marathon pace range.
5) I went with a 7-10 day taper, rather than the traditional 21 day approach that many recommend for the marathon. 10 days before the race I ran 6xmile
in 613-11-4-2-3-559. The final week I did a 90 min run 7 days out, a few 45 minute runs (with 8 strides afterward), and 10 x 200 in 40-41 on Wednesday. I feel like 10 days was a good number for me to rest yet maintain aerobic
fitness and general equilibrium.