How to Test Your Marathon Fitness

Here’s the dilemma.  You want to test your fitness from all that training, but to do so properly, requires its own taper and you do not have time nor interest in that.  I have been training hard, perhaps too hard for months.  At every turn, I seem to hit a small snag.  A muscle here, a tendon there, a toe, a hip, now my lower back is feeling some pain.  It’s all connected, but I am just two weeks away from Chicago and my planned for 3:30 run where I will lop off nearly 14 minutes from my previous Personal Record (PR).   You need to do some tune-up races.  One long one (a half or 15K) is good along with a couple of 5K’s or maybe a 10K.  These can substitute for any hard day and you can count them as a VOMax day for the purpose of planning.  Should you taper for these?  My conclusion is that anything more than a 1 day rest before, just get’s in the way.  The problem with this is that you can’t assess your fitness accurately.  The advantage is that you might execute a PR despite the non-taper. 

Today was a great example of this.  Yesterday was a 15 mile marathon pace run.  This was a hard run.  Normally, I would not do a hard 5K the next day.  My plan was to do a recovery run while pacing my 14 year old son. Nice, easy, a little male bonding.  I could not wake my son, so I was on my own.  I did a good warm up, appreciated the relatively cool morning (about 70 degrees) and decided I would try to run hard.  I came in more than 30 seconds better than my previous PR (20:06).  The psychological boost was just what I needed going into Chicago.  The cooler weather and good competition got me going, but the benefit for the big event leaves me riding high.

Now that I am into my taper, my next blog is my critique of Arthur Lydiard, a true visionary and coach that changed how we all train.

The 15K as a Warm-up for a Marathon

I ran in the Fort worth Running Club’s Labor Day 15K Run this morning.  A humid day, but what a great run.  A 15K is a great warm-up for a marathon.  Last year, my warm-up run for the Dallas White Rock was the Dallas Half.  Either distance is good, but what I like about a 15K is that it approximates a hard quality running day.  While the pace is faster than a long tempo run, it is not so long that you need an extended recovery nor a taper before the race unless this is your big race.  After running 20 miles on Saturday and 4 miles at the track yesterday, I could have been more rested.  My plan was to go out at 7:30, pump it up to 7:10 at mile 4 and then finish strong at a 6:50 pace for the final 3.3 miles.  All was according to schedule for the first 7 miles, but I Had trouble holding pace for the final leg, but still came in at a respectable 1:07:48.  Daniel’s VDOT levels put me at 46.4.  You can use this to predict you other races.  Based on this race, I could be looking at 3:22:58.  My goal is 3:30.  I am hopeful.

VDOT 46.4 - Predicted Finish Times
Distance	Time	min/km	min/mile
1500 m	5:46.1	3:50.7	6:11.4
1 mile	6:14.0	3:52.4	6:14.0
3000 m	12:19.9	4:06.6	6:36.9
2 miles	13:18.2	4:08.0	6:39.1
5K	21:15.1	4:15.0	6:50.4
8K	34:49.4	4:21.2	7:00.3
10K	44:03.9	4:24.4	7:05.5
10 miles	1:13:04.9	4:32.5	7:18.5
20K	1:32:11.9	4:36.6	7:25.1
Half marathon	1:37:36.7	4:37.6	7:26.8
30K	2:21:58.5	4:43.9	7:37.0
Marathon	3:22:58.7	4:48.6	7:44.5
Calculations are based on data from Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels PhD.

Race Calculators are fun to play with and here is one I like and my results are depicted above using it based on my 15K at 1:07:48:

http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html

Running Longer and Harder - a 20 Mile Hydration Test

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I thought my slow down on long runs at about 16 miles was partially due to dehydration.  I was not drinking enough along the way.  As you get dehydrated, your blood thickens forcing your heart to work harder just to pump the blood at an adequate level.  So, yesterday I set out on my 20 mile run with 32 oz. of water in my stomach and loaded with about 60 oz. of Gatorade.  It was gone before I finished.  I started off slow and brought it up to marathon pace by the end averaging 8:32/mile.  I had more left at the end.  Unfortunately, the heart rate monitor battery went dead, so the real test will be on my 22 mile run next weekend.

Now to be fair, I can’t say hydration alone made my performance and comfort level better on this long run.  Let me share a few of the other I things I did that anyone else could do to help their comfort and performance on long runs: (1) I was up 2 hours before the run and loaded up on oatmeal, a yogurt, and 16 oz. of water.  Just before leaving, I downed another 16 oz. of water and a banana.  Then I left for the run.  After starting our easy for a couple of miles, I bumped it up to 8:40, 6 miles later to 8:20, and then finished the last 6 miles at about 8:00 except when I ran into a friend and jogged a bit while chatting it up.  I felt strong at the finish and know I could have gone longer and even harder.  Next week, we can test 22 mile.

Let’s not forget about recovery.  I finished with kicking in the pool for about 5 minutes and another 5 minutes of stretching.  I would have done more, but a couple of bad calf cramps (something I rarely suffer from) hit me hard.  To replenish I added a protein shake, some Gatorade, a banana, and a bagel.  A couple of Motrin rounded out my routine.  Compared to other 20 mile runs, I felt good.  I could have napped for a couple of hours but did sleep for an unusually long 10 hours last night.  This morning I went for an easy 4 mile run with 6 stride-outs at the track.  My only pain seems to be residual pain from the calf cramps.

Tomorrow is my first 15K race.  While I could have used 2 light days before this race, I feel pretty good.  My goal is 67 minutes.   

A Balanced Prescription for Light Recovery

It’s been an interesting week of recovery & training.  It’s been a light week in terms of miles.  On Sunday I tested myself on an 8 mile tempo run.  The leg felt better, but still tight.  On Monday, water running again.  Tuesday was a day at the track and 6 x 800 intervals.  It was a good hard run.  Wednesday I was back at the track and light sprints.  Unfortunately, the leg felt tight again.  A little water running in the evening seemed to do the trick.  Thursday, I was back in Fort Worth and ready for a hill run with my normal group.  While I felt slow, it turned out the group was booking it at 30 sec./mi faster tan their normally quick pace.  The leg is really tight now and so Friday is a day off with just 40 minutes of water running.  The big test is today, Saturday with a 20 mile run.  Chicago is just a month away.  Phase IV, coordination, starts tomorrow and the 15K is Monday. It’s time to stay healthy and fine tune.  Whatever speed I have for Chicago, I have today.