Question:
I want to up my speed for my next
marathon. I'm 48, hard speed work
one day a week leaves me tired for
several days, and cuts down on my
speed for weekly runs. I tried the
Yazzie program of running a warmup
mile, then alternating intervals
of 1/2 mile of target pace, then
1/2 mile of slow pace.
This program
only goes to 6 miles and really
doesn't tell you what to do after
that. A friend of mine does the
Galloway suggestion of running a
mile, walking one minute, then running
another mile at race pace. But then,
I really don't want to teach my
body to stop so much. I'm really
confused as hell about where to
go from here. My last marathon was
4:03, and I know that I can eventually
do a 3:30, but I'm not sure who
to listen to, or where to go with
my training.
Answer:
This is what has help me:
1) I do speed work, but not track,
part of some of my runs(I use the
Timex Ironman100, and set the timmer
to something like :2 repeats of(15'(warmup),4x(1'sprint
1'slow)) I had the same with 5 minutes
medium/5 min slow.
2) I DID
the Galloway suggestion for the
first time in Austin this spring.
It worked. I did my best time ever
(3:28:54 !). I had run in Houston
(3:43) 5 weeks earlier with bad
weather (30dF, drizzle (ice on trees
and some on the road)). So I used
the Galloway advice on the long
runs (only 15 milers) between the
two runs. And I convinced myself
to do it on the day of the marathon.
It is hard to do in the first miles
but this is when it matters. I had
less than a minute spread between
my fastest and slowest mile over
the course.
I was in
better shape than the 3 other marathons
I run before. My wife could not
belive how I little I suffered in
this one. I even drove the car (automatic)
part way back home ! These are the
two things that I think made it
for me. The watch might sound like
a gadget, but it really made a huge
difference for me. My goal is now
to go to Boston (and run ;-)). That
means 3:15 for me. I have decided
to improve my speed on 5 and 10
K first by doing mostly speed work
and lower milage (I am doing about
130 a month now) and scale up the
distance with less speed work when
I get closer to the race.
I think I
might even try to reach the 3:15
with run/walk method by increased
running speed and only 30 sec walks.
I have in mind San Antonio in November,
Dallas in December, Houston in January,
and Austin in Feb. My dream is to
use San Antonio as a warmup/confidence
building run/walk and then try less
than 3:15 in Dallas, Houston or
Austin depending on weather and
my condition.
What speed
work do you do ? Do you do it on
track ? How many miles do yo do
a week ? When I was training for
Houston/Austin, I was doing about
50 a week for a couple of weeks,
not a lot more.
