Long run. Nailed it. Did the first 12 miles outside, but the weather was overwhelming, so I had to bring it in to finish. Held 142-144 HR for the first 18 miles, then 148-150 HR through the finish. Very good run, legs felt strong, pace felt easy, and motivation was excellent.
Felt really strong at the 2:15 mark, but I've been lacking consistency, so I cut the run ten minutes earlier than last week. This should result in a shorter recovery from the Friday/Saturday double, and allow me to build up over consecutive weeks, instead of the good week/bad week rollercoaster I've been on since mid-December.
Since I described the weather as 'overwhelming', I suppose I'd better explain. Air temp was -20F with a 7mph wind, which calculates to a -36F windchill. Whoop-dee-doo. Running into that slight 7mph wind for three minutes froze my right eye shut. I've never had that happen in 21 years of running in North Dakota. I turned back out of the wind and headed for the home loop, for a measure of safety as well as a means of avoiding the breeze. By ten miles, my facemask was solid, I couldn't see through the breath-formed frost and snow that covered my eyes, and my arms and legs were getting cold despite the fact that I was generating a lot of heat. When I finally called it and went inside, I took off my gear and had another first--frost on the inside of my clothes. I've occasionally had snow form between layers and collect inside sleeves and pant legs before. That's fairly common in January. However, I've never seen a uniform layer of frost covering the inside of my jacket and pants after a run.
Someone asked me last year at this time, "how cold does it have to be for you to not run outside?". At the time, I guessed -20F, not having run outside in those temps.
I guessed right.
5 comments:
Well done on the run. You’re well on your way to building a solid base with the race 4+ months away.
If you don’t mind sharing, what is your approach (at a high level) going to be for the marathon? Do you believe on marco/micro cycles re: periodization (I tend to do a 2 week build followed by a recovery week)? Will you be competing in any other races prior to Fargo?
Great run.
I found this article today on the NYT and it reminded me of your post:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/health/nutrition/17BEST.htmlem&ex=1200891600&en=55574d6663b38a3e&ei=5087%0A
or try this shorter link:
http://tinyurl.com/ywpdft
Thanks for the comments. Great link, Lawrence. I agree with most of what was said, although there are some limitations of gear that they didn't address. I guess they probably weren't considering someone staying out exercising for over an hour in those conditions. Nice to see them address the myths about 'freezing your lungs', etc.
Hmmm...my high level approach. It goes something like this:
Execute Mystery Coach's plan.
That's 1% joke and 99% truth. The plan as it exists now is to run base mileage, somewhere between 9-11 hours a week, no faster than 6:40 pace for easy runs, and no more than about an hour a week of 150+HR miles. Evaluations every two weeks to check progress. There are about five more weeks of this phase before transitioning to 'marathon-specific' training. The goal is to come out of this phase tough, mentally fresh, and fit.
The transition is kind of the 'hill' phase from Lydiard. This is about a month of preliminary speedwork and the beginnings of the back-to-back efforts.
Following this is the peak phase, which is five weeks of increasing mileage and intensity, typically volume speed (1000s were popular last time) and back-to-back MP and long run + MP efforts.
A three week taper, including some elements that could be considered Lydiard's 'coordination', finishes off the plan.
It's Lydiard fundamentals, disguised mysteriously.
As far as racing, I will only be competing in one--the Fargo Marathon. I will run a half marathon in April, about 3 weeks out, but that is currently scheduled be a pacing effort following an MP run the day prior.
I personally don't think racing during marathon training is helpful, so I don't. Everything done from today to May is geared toward running the goal marathon as fast as possible.
Cheers!
Extreme is the right word. Only once have I turned around and bailed on a run when the WC was below -30C. Even running with my back to the wind was bad that day. Glad to hear you survived with no missing pieces!
I promise never to describe -5C with a 30kph wind blowing out of the south as overwhelming again.
Good post Eric (and reply to Michael). Thanks.
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