Peter's Team Diabetes Triathlon (and formerly Marathon) Blog

On Friday I looked at my training schedule for this weekend and something that I had overlooked earlier dawned on me. The plan for my LSD was 3 x 90 minute sections. Holy crap - is Mike serious? Does he really expect me to run for 4 1/2 hours ????? That is my target time for the marathon. I think there must be some mistake. Surely he doesn't want me to do a 26 or 27 mile training session. Most marathon training plans only go up to 20 miles prior to race day. Mike has sometimes had typos in the plan that he sent me. Then again, Mike tends to develop plans that are a little unorthodox.

Unfortunately, Coach Mike is incommunicato at the moment because he is in Florida racing. DAMN !! What should I do ??

Rather than push myself beyond what I thought would be a) achievable and b) safe, I decided to modify the session. I reduced it to 3 x 70 minute sections - roughly 6.7 miles each - for a total of 20 miles plus I ran a mile from my house to the start point.

All in all I am pleased with how things went. The first two sections were quite comfortable at 10:30/mile and the first half of the third section also. The last half though was a grind, particularly since it involved a very steep descent and then a mile long uphill grade followed by a mile and a half downhill grade. I ended up completing the first two sections in 69 minutes each and the last section was 71:45 so on average I hit the pace target exactly.

When I reached the finish point my knee was feeling a little tight so instead of aggravating it any further I walked the mile from the finish point back to my house. It was good to give myself some time to work out the lactic acid anyway.

Got home and iced my knee, had a LONG warm shower and then iced the knee a second time. It feels much better now so clearly nothing to worry about.

Feels GREAT to have a 21 miler under my belt and to have done it exactly on target pace over a hilly route.