Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Let the CIM training begin!

     I'm focusing on running my least slow marathon EVER at the 2013 California International Marathon (CIM).  In order to make that happen, I'm kicking off a 15 week training plan, based heavily on Hal Higdon's "Advanced II" plan (I'm starting on the 4th week).

      I don't feel like I've ever really "nailed" a marathon and I'm hoping to do so this year.  Historically, when I've trained specifically for a marathon race, for some reason or another, I've under-performed on race day.  My 3 fastest marathon times have come during marathons that I was running as training runs for longer races.  For example, my current marathon best is at the 2013 LA Marathon, a race I ran the week after a 60 mile week, 7 days after having run the Way Too Cool 50k.

     So, here it is... key workouts will be speed/hill workouts on Tues/Thurs, goal marathon pace (GMP) runs on the weekends, and of course the staple of any good marathon training plan, the long run.

08/26/2013
Monday - 3 M run w/ Lucy


08/27/2013
Tuesday - 6.3 M run w/ 4 mile tempo.  I felt really good on this run.  I ran on a local trail/fire road, 700+ ft of elevation gain and kept my tempo miles in the low 8 min/mile and high 7 min/mile range.


08/28/2013
Wednesday - 3 M run w/ Lucy


08/29/2013
Thursday - 5.3 M run w/ 4 x ~300m hill repeats on a~7% grade.  Averaged ~6:50 min/mile pace on the hill repeats


08/30/2013
Friday - Rest day, drove to Southern Cal to spend the weekend with family.


08/31/2013
Saturday - 6.6 miles at GMP, w/ Lucy.  I ran this a hair too fast, aiming for 8:30 min/miles and averaged 8:15 (slowest was 8:26).  The Temecular/Wildomar area was experiencing east coast style humidity.  Temps were in the 90's and it was muggy!


09/01/2013
Sunday - 13.1 mile run.  I felt great during the first 5 miles and then the heat caught up with me, resulting in a fairly uncomfortable trudge during the latter half of the run.  :)  Happy birthday, Mom!

Lucy, keeping comfy on the road trip.

She loves the added room that the double cab has to offer.

Happy 70th birthday, Mom and Dad!

Tired after running, swimming, and playing with Mia all day.

Heading home.



2 comments:

Calvin said...

Hi Paul,

I'm signed up for CIM as well. What is your goal time for the race? After doing 1:39 yesterday @ SJ Rock 'n' Roll, I'm thinking sub 3:30 is my goal.

Calvin

GoPaulGo said...

Hey Calvin, nice! Sum 3:30 sounds totally doable. I'm going quite a bit more conservative, aiming for low 3:40's with a 3:3x "A" goal. However, I've hit a hitch, hoping it doesn't throw me off. I strained my calf early last week and haven't run in ~6 days. I just missed my 10 @ GMP and 20 M runs this weekend. :(