Marathon Training Update: Feeling the Heat

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Marathon Training Update: Feeling the Heat

I'm about one month away from my rematch with the Vermont City Marathon, and the training has so far been going quite well. My long run max is now at 17 miles, and I'm planning two 20-milers before about a two week taper leading into marathon weekend. If all goes well, I hope to be able to shave at least a few minutes off of my 3:43 time from last year. I realize full-well that a Boston Qualifying time is not going to happen in this race, and hopefully that will allow me to sit back and enjoy the experience a bit more than last year (when I went out way too fast).

The one major challenge I've faced in the past week is that it's been incredibly hot here in New Hampshire. Now, I'm used to the unpredictable Spring weather up here, but 90+ degrees in April - that's ridiculous! Anyway, I forced myself out for 4 miles today in the heat with the hope that my body will acclimate a bit to the warmer weather before I run the marathon. Last year, marathon day in Vermont was one of the warmest days that I had run in to that point, and I think that contributed quite a bit to my crash in the last 10 miles of the race. Today, the first 2 miles went well, but the last 2 were brutal, and I was definitely feeling the heat. It's easy to forget what running in 90 degree weather can do to your body, but I'm still glad that I did it.

One other major change from this time last year is that I have yet to run any local 5k races. My only 5k so far was the Royal Family 5k in Epcot Center in early March (~20:10), and I have no idea how far I've improved since then. Thus, I'm planning on doing my first local 5k this weekend so that I can gauge roughly where I'm at fitness-wise. I'm not sure quite what to expect, but I'll be happy with anything under 20:00 at this point. My thinking is that by not tiring myself out by racing excessively like I did last Spring, I can put in more good-quality long runs - I'll let you know if this pays off in about a month....

	SALE: 25% or more off on select running shoes at Amazon.com
	Save 10% on GPS watches, fitness electronics, and more at Clever Training! Use CODE: RUNBLOGXJT at checkout.

Shares are like energy gels for bloggers - they power our writing!
We greatly appreciate your support!

About Runblogger
Runblogger is edited and authored by Peter Larson. Pete is an anatomy professor, writer, and a fanatical runner with a bit of a shoe obsession. He is co-author of the book Tread Lightly. Follow Pete on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and via email.