Up to Speed - Slowly, but Surely

Tuesday was the first day of marathon training. There was a lot of food consumed this weekend, a belated birthday dinner at Harry Carays’s, Memorial Day barbeque…. So, I was feeling sluggish. I chose the Tempo Run – 2 miles warmup, 2 miles at 7:14, and a 2 mile cooldown. My approach to the FIRST program is to pay attention to the “meat” of the run, like the tempo run, or the speedwork, and not be concerned about the warmup and cooldown. This is probably okay when it comes to paces, or running vs. jogging or walking during rest intervals. But I wonder I also sometimes make a 1 mile warmup run, like 0.5, or 0.75, and the same for a 1 mileor “10-20 minute” cooldown run. The distances in this program are already so short, I wonder if I am shortchanging myself by skimping on the warmups and cool-downs? Around mile 19-21 in my fall marathon, my legs felt like they had no more strength. This program does recommend doing more leg strengthening exercises to make up for the lower volume of running.


The FIRST program has speedwork in metric units. Today is 3 x 1600 meters with 1minute rest intervals. I ran about a ¾ mile warmup, and then started. My goal was a 6:41, but I think I made the mistake of programming the Pace Alert in my Garmin in statue miles. That means it would expect I would run 1609 meters (1 mile) in 6:41. But I really wanted to run 1600 m in 6:41. This morning was pretty cool, but the wind was strong. I could hear the beep of my pace alert constantly during my run, but I resisted the urge to look at it. When I finished , I saw 6:23. That was good to know I could run that pace, but I was afraid I burnt myself out, and would see 7 minute paces for the last 2. My next two miles, I concentrated on form. I only heard the watch beep a few times, but I felt a lot better. I was expecting it to be over 6:45, but it was actually 6:40, so still under pace.

My street has quarter-mile intervals marked out over a 1-mile loop, with only 4 turns, thanks to my neighbor “Shorty”, an accomplished age group runner from the old Palos Road Runners club. I can gauge my progress both by the watch and the markers, and I can leave a water bottle on one of our family vehicles parked on the street.

I take generous swigs of Gatorade between sets. My last set does not feel slow, but I can feel my form deteriorating. I timed it so I would finish before my house and the fluids left there. These last 200 meters, I feel awkward, bu I still keep that wathc beeping. When I am done – 6:37 - all three intervals under the pace. Not bad for a 50 year old running the workouts for Boston Qualifying times for 45—49 year olds!

Easy Rider

I took advantage of the nice weather today, and went biking with my wife for the second day in a row. Last week, I took ownership of my birthday present that my wonderful wife Laura agreed to bestow upon me for my 50th birthday. I got a Giant Defy 1 Road Bike. I had an Iron Horse Road bike, for around 10 years, so maybe she got me that for my 40th birthday. My friend John that I am riding the RAGBRAI with is a handy bike mechanic, so he offered to tune the bike up for me. He noticed that the fork was loose. When he took a look at it he reminded me that it had earlier issues some years back where the threading nut had very few threads. He said it would hundreds to replace it as well as other maintenance like a new chain. That’s when I pitched the Birthday Bike idea to Laura.


Apparently, she had some big-ticket present in mind for me, because she did not flinch when I mentioned a bike in the $1-1.5K price range. Now you know why I love her!

So, on Friday, I took the bike out for the first time. It’s about a 7 mile ride to my friend John M’s house. He keeps a refrigerator in his garage stocked with craft beer, so we christened my new bike with Three Floyds Dead Guy Ale.

The rides on Sunday and Saturday were a little less casual, because I was riding with my wife, Laura. Plus we were fighting wind on the way back on Sunday.

My non-running routine was : 15 miles Friday; 24.5 miles Sunday; 36 miles Monday. The average speed for all those days was between 15-16 mph. I don’t think I have logged 75 miles on the bike in a 4 day period before. Maybe I will turn into a bike rider yet!

Not the Last FIRST

This summer I will be using the FIRST Marathon training for the seventh time. I also used it for the Palos Half Marathon in May. The FIRST program advocates less running volume, but higher intensity in each of your three running workouts: Speed; Tempo; Distance. By running 3 days a week, with non-weight-bearing cross-training between running days, you can run these harder workouts with the active recovery for your legs. You can read more about it on one of my earlier blogs:


I had not initially planned to run a marathon this fall. I had already run 11 marathons at the rate of 2 a year, and I had given myself this year when I turned 50 to take stock and see if I would continue to run marathons. My son is entering college in the fall, and I did not want my running to interfere with getting him to college, or being able to go see his football games. But a friend that I was training with for a half-marathon wants to qualify for Boston, and he picked the Fox Valley Marathon in suburban St. Charles. So, I decided to support him, and train this summer, and try to qualify for Boston alongside him. So, I am signed up for the 2nd Annual Fox Valley Marathon on September 18, 2011. That is 16 weeks away from the last Sunday in May, so this week is the start of my 16 week training program.

Even though I only need a 3:35 to qualify for Boston because I am 50 years old, I am using the 3:30 training program I have used in my previous marathons. They just changed the qualifying standards for Boston, and within your age group, the faster times get first in line for entrance spots, at least for the first week or two of registration.

The other thing about my training progam is that it will be interrupted at the end of July by a week-long bike ride across Iowa – the famous RAGBRA (Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). A good friend of mine has done it for about 10 years, and has invited me to join him repeatedly, so I finally decided to join him. So in addition to training for a marathon that includes five 20 mile long runs, I am also trying to build up “time in the saddle” by biking 3-4 times a week, with a rides from 30-75 miles.

So this summer’s blog will be a mix of stories about my running training and my biking – true to the cross-training spirit of FIRST.