Slow Running
Early this morning I was out for a 16 mile run and was running much slower than I was expecting. It wasn't that really felt tired, but I just didn't feel like running any harder. And with no one along to urge me to run faster, I just settled in to whatever felt comfortable.
When I got home, I started looking through my running log to see what my training pace was over the past several years.
One of the things that I noticed is when I switched my training to more of a marathon type training schedule, my overall pace started to slow.
The biggest switch that I have made was adopting a mid week long run. After I made this switch, my progressive long run became a lot more difficult. Mostly because I was not recovering fast enough.
Also I noticed that when I started through my taper period and post marathon recovery, my training pace picked back up.
So the question, I am raised to myself; should I change my weekly marathon training schedule to run faster across more days or keep it the same – run hard on the hard days and run easy on the days.
I cannot see that it is hurting my race performance so I am on the fence about making a major change.
Tales from the Cool Down Runner.
Comments
Running easy on your easy days is great, exactly what they are there for but be careful of the "65% rule". This states that extended running at slower than 65% of vVO2 Max can cause us to develop bad biomechanical habits. For you that probably translates to about 8:00 per mile. As long as you are running at that pace or faster on your easy/recovery days then you should be fine.
Also, as we get older it takes our bodies longer to recover from harder workouts or long runs. Many Masters runners find they eventually must do one of two things 1) decrease the quantity or intensity of their hard workouts or 2) decrease the frequency of their hard workouts.
With your huge base of miles and years behind you, you can probably get away with either and continue to run very strong. But if your goal is the marathon, then I'd suggest the second option - same quantity/intensity just done less frequency.
I also love your tabada workouts, keeping those in the mix a couple of days a week is a great way to keep the speed/economy in the legs.
Keep on truckin,
Mark H.
And, I agree, with each passing year I am pushing the edge of the envelope.
Something will break sooner or later.
After MBM, I probably step back and take a hard look at my marathon training plan.