1/2 Marathon Training - Shelby Park 9 a.m.

This week we will still be meeting at Shelby Park outside of the nature center. (Which is a good reminder to download the training schedule.  It has all the workouts outlined of course, but it also lists our Sunday morning meeting locations.)

This week's workout is not completely straight forward, so please take a moment to read below.

Last week we ran a 3-mile time trial. Time trials / races are essential workouts because that pace is a benchmark that will determine our training paces. To begin, divide your three mile time by three to get your mile per pace, and we'll go from there. (As I explain the workout, I am going to use a hypothetical intermediate runner, "Bob", who ran 23:00 for the time trial last week.  Which is 7:40 per mile.)

The run is split into three parts: the warm-up, the workout, and the extra mileage. The first two parts will be the same for everybody (run at different paces of course), the last part will be different for the novice, intermediate and advanced groups.

We will run at two paces this week: our long/easy pace and tempo pace.

Our long run pace is 1:30 - 2:30 minutes per mile slower than our time trial pace. That pace for Bob would be 9:10 - 10:10. In terms of heart rate, that pace is under 75% of your max heart rate. (Another good estimate is 180 - your age.) Tempo pace is 20-45 seconds per mile slower than your time trial pace. In terms of heart rate, tempo pace is between 88-92% of your max.   Since we are doing tempo intervals rather than a steady state run, our tempo pace will be on the faster end of that range: 20-25 seconds slower than our 3-mile pace or about 90% max HR.

Part 1 - the warm-up  (everyone) 20 minutes at about 2 - 2:30 minutes slower per mile than their 3-mile pace.

Bob would start at 10:10 pace and speed up to 9:40 pace during the warm up.

Part 2 - The workout  (everyone) 5 x (5 minutes tempo pace +  1 minute easy)  - 30 minutes total.

Bob would run 5 minutes at 8:00 - 8:05  pace, then jog easy for 1 minute. He would do this sequence  five times.

Part 3 - Extra mileage novice adds 20 minutes, intermediate 30 minutes and advanced will add 45 minutes. This pace should be about 1:30 slower than 3-mile pace.

Bob would run at 9:10 pace for 30 minutes.

We're also going to move off the greenway, and run 5k loops of the park. Why? To prepare for the race by adding a little bit of rolling terrain. (The Country Music 1/2 marathon is hilly, the greenway is not...) Here is the loop that we will use. I am going to try and mark the miles on the ground tomorrow - no promises, so make a mental note of the mile marks.

Dubai Marathon

Yesterday at the Dubai marathon, Deressa Chisma Edae ran 2:05:42 (4:48 pace)...and finished 8th. Wow. The race was won by a 21-year old Ethiopian, Ayele Absharo, in his debut marathon. (He earned a cool $250,000 for his efforts.) Even more amazing was the fact that his last 2 miles were run in about 9:04. (Once again emphasizing negative splitting:  1:02:22 first half, 1:02:01 second half.) He broke the lead pack apart by running the 39th kilometer in 2:46 - for you track guys, a 2:46 kilometer is 66.4 seconds per lap! For more check out the race coverage here.

No Brunch

Last week was amazing! Belgian waffles, pancakes, bacon... Outstanding! Many thanks to our gracious host Sara Spencer. This week, you're on your own. My post-run East Nashville food suggestions are Mitchell Deli and Marche. A third option would be Bongo Java East. Of course they make great coffee, but they also have some fantastic bagel sandwiches.

See you on Sunday.

Mark