So I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I've got to after this workout. Today I ran the last "hard" long run of my training for the Autumn Leaves 50K. Due to the 10 Miler road race at the end of September, I cannot run another hard long run and be recovered in time to hopefully PR in that race. My plan is to run two easy runs the next two weekends, one 15 miler and one 20 miler and then race a hard 10 miler, and the following weekend run an easy 28 miler to complete my training before my 3 week taper.These past two week's I've felt like sh*t on my runs. Ever since the hilly 14 miler Kevin and I ran in Seattle three weeks ago, my quads have felt like crap. I spent much of the next two weeks on the trails to ease the pounding pressure on them, but that ended up messing up my arches and I've been dealing with the beginnings of plantar fasciitis. After a rough massage treatment from Kelly, I finally got my feet back under me literally. No more pain when running, but my legs felt sluggish and in a 10x800m repeat workout this past Thursday, my first interval was at 8min pace and my last was only at a 6:37 (to put it in perspective, I did the same workout the Tuesday after the Seattle run and nailed all 10 in a 6:30 pace, with only half the recovery between each).
Saturday evening, Kevin and I began prepping for our long runs. Kevin was planning to run 22 miles and I had 25 on the plate. My workout was something like: 14 mi progression from warm up down to gmp, 6mi fartlek of 1min hard (6:40-45)/1min easy (7:20-30), and finish the last 5mi @ ghmp, or the a.k.a. "Dathan Workout". I asked Kevin what he had planned and he also said the Dathan Workout. I asked him what his intervals were going to be, hoping perhaps we could run together for some of the run. He began rattling off something insane and I said, "that's not the Dathan Workout!" "Yes, it is. It's what you had me do back in 2008 when I was training for my 3 hour marathon." Sure enough he was right, and I realized I have modified the Dathan Workout over the years to accommodate the runners I coach. So I asked him to repeat the insanity again and told him, "Kevin, that's impossible!" "Yeah, I know! But it's what you had me do and it's what I'm going to try to do again." "I want to do it with you," I said. "Are you sure? Well, I guess you can always slow down if you need to." I took this comment as a challenge, but also a realistic compromise. I could attempt this thing, but if my body could not handle it, I could always just slow down.
The "real" Dathan Workout: 3mi warm up
20min @ 7:30
20min @ 7:00
20min @ 6:45
20min @ 6:30
15min @ 7:00
3min @ 7:20
12min @ 6:55
3min @ 7:15
9min @ 6:50
3min @ 7:10
6min @ 6:45
3min @ 7:00
3min @ 6:30 or whatever's left in the tank
2 mile cool down
Sunday morning rolled around and Kevin and I drove to our normal parking spot one mile outside of Minto Brown Park in Salem. We warmed up 3mi @ 8ish min pace, which ended up feeling good (compared to my 9-10min pace warm ups lately). Then we started the workout. The first 20min felt easy, and so did the next 20min. The 3rd set started to burn and the 4th was brutal on the quads especially since we had been running a paved/trail combo, but we held 6:30's the whole time. We looped back to the car at the start of the 15min @ 7's and grabbed full water bottles for the second half of the workout. 7's felt easy and the 3min recovery was pedestrian. Then we went back and forth down the fartlek chain. It was hard to keep track of pace since I had my Garmin calculating average lap pace, but Kevin's Nike watch did a good job filling in the gaps so we didn't speed up or slow down too much. Finally on the 6min @ 6:45 pace we rounded back to the car one more time and my Garmin beeped at 22mi right as we finished the set. Kevin dropped out and decided his legs were fried. I was feeling great. I slowed my 3min recovery to a 7min pace and the blasted the last 3min as hard as I could. My watch showed and average of 6:40 on that mile, but if the first half was at 7min pace, I'm thinking the last 3min had to have been 6:15's or so.
I didn't slow down too much on my 2 miles at the end and the thought briefly crossed my mind to run another 1.2 mi so I could get a marathon PR for the day. Kevin said his watched showed us at a half marathon PR of 1:28 and some change for the first 13.1mi. Anyway, I'm super pumped with how this workout went. I ran 25mi in a 7:05 pace average, making the run under 3 hours with a warm up and a cool down totaling 5 miles. Now I know I'm in 3 hour marathon shape and that was my goal going into this 50K. I need to just maintain at this point and stay healthy! My legs are very tired and my low back is really sore, possibly from my water-belt being strapped so tighly. Anyway, the plan is easy all week, with a short tempo on Thursday. Ahh, it feels so good to have that run behind me!
Link to today's workout: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220869181
