Our cross country team utilizes a weekly LSD workout as well, but it is closer to 6-9 miles depending on the ability of the athlete and will last roughly 60-75 minutes. This serves as a tremendous stimulus for our athletes that only race 2.5 miles (4km) in meets. For the girls, they receive a huge bump in the aerobic fitness from this weekly long run, but it often takes them four-six weeks to fully see that benefit. Prior to that, they are playing a game of catch up with their recovery.
The Pfitzinger plan has a very steady diet of long runs, often two a week. Yet, few if any of them are prescribed to be ran under the definition of LSD. Instead, it is encouraged to run them closer to just a minute over goal marathon pace. When training for my ultra-marathon of 50 miles, I did all my long runs exactly on goal pace, so this plan really fits me well. To add to the stimulus, Pfitz also calls for about one long run every third week to end with an extended tempo effort at goal marathon pace. This is to train your body to run hard after already being tired. This workout was exactly what I did on Tuesday of last week’s training.
Eventually, this plan works up to a long run of 24 miles. This run will have me on the roads for more time than my actual marathon race and it will serve as a great opportunity to practice my nutrition plan, which really should come in to play anytime one runs beyond 90 minutes. There is also a long-tempo run that is 20 miles, with 14 at goal marathon pace. This run comes about 6 weeks before the marathon and will serve as a tremendous confidence building opportunity. The one this week also did a great job of convincing me I have already made gains through my training program.
Here is my training for the past week.
Sunday, I paced a track workout of 8x400. The goal was each 400 in about 77 seconds to predict a 4:48 1500m race. The result was an average of low-76, with three reps in the 75s and just one in the 77s. Adding in warmup, cooldown, and an extra two miles that I pushed pretty hard on. My workout was considered an aerobic day. Total: 10 miles – 1:12:59 (7:18 pace)
Monday was a recovery run. We did a couple loops on the upland gravel route at Ada Hayden. It still amazes me to be able to run that route in mid-January. Normally, it is snow and ice-covered. Instead, I was treated to soft gravel for a nice recovery run with a little bit of hill resistance. Total: 7 miles – 54:59 (7:51 pace)
On Tuesday, I set out for my hardest workout. The plan was an 18-mile long run, with the last 10 miles ran at goal marathon pace (5:55-6:05). In my most recent marathon, my first ten miles average 6:01/mi, so I was nervous, but at the same time very optimistic I could do it. Unfortunately, I had to run the workout on a 3-lane indoor track with 5.5 laps per mile (99 total laps). The first 8 miles went well and were at an easy pace of 7:36/mile. I stopped at six miles to put in some carbs and Gatorade because I did not want to crash during the tempo effort.
Then, began the work. I had calculated what I needed to run each lap in so that I would average six minutes per mile pace. I attempted to match that time and kept track of each lap through six miles. At that point, I was 13 seconds total under and stopped for a quick drink of Gatorade. When I checked my watch, though, I was 48 seconds under (5:52 pace). My memory on lap times was off by 1 second, so I had been pushing harder than I needed to. Miles 7+8 took 12:07 and miles 9+10 took 12:00. Maybe I would have been better off not knowing that I had such a large cushion or maybe that was all I had left. In the end, it was only the third time I have ran 10 miles under an hour. The other two times taking place in half-marathon races. The tempo part took 59:16 or 5:55.5/mile. Total: 18 miles – 2:00:07 (6:40 pace)
Wednesday was clearly a recovery day. Again, I was fortunate to have gotten outside and ran a fairly easy route out past Sawyer Elementary and back. There are a couple hills, but it would be a far stretch to call it a hill session. Total: 7 miles – 54:30 (7:47 pace)
Thursday’s workout was another mid-distance aerobic session. It was back to the indoor rec center. Overall, it was pretty uneventful, just putting in the miles. 10 miles – 1:08:48 (6:53 pace)
Friday was my second long run of the week. We were again at ISU’s rec center and sadly there was a track meet going on. I would have loved to race the 5k as several of my running friends competed unattached. I’m trying to stick with the plan as best as possible, though, so that will have to wait. I ran the first five miles with Courtney then we split so I could get my last 8 miles done while she finished her remaining 6 miles. Through 5 miles, we were a little slow at 7:59 pace. I ran the final 8 miles in 6:29 pace. The pace felt smooth and easy. For the whole week, really, I felt very fresh. Total: 13 miles – 1:31:46 (7:03 pace)
Saturday was another recovery run. Again it was at the rec center and it was day two of the track meet, which meant I had to watch the mile races from the upstairs track. That was even more painful that missing out on the 5k the day before. I love the mile. There were 3 of my former high school athletes competing in the meet that day, though, so it was fun to bump into them. Total: 7 miles – 56:39 (8:06 pace)
For the week (Sun-Sat), I hit 72 miles in 8:39:48 or 7:13/mile.
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