Second Wind

Great run Jeff. How many more long runs do you have before the marathon?

I'm running the Grand Slam next year. I'll be interesting to see how I hold up until the end.

Hey Jeff, when I saw the "8" for recovery day, I thought: "what in the world?" But then I realized you're building to peak.

I know the feeling well after coming off a marathon, then building back up for another one. There were 26 days between Boston and Ogden for me this year and it wasn't too bad. The build up between Ogden and DesNews was a bit taxing. By the end of the Slam year, with 2 weeks b/w TOU and SGM I was in recovery and maintenance mode. I learned (and I should credit this to Pron8r) that it's better to run less miles, concentrate more on the quality than quantity. His reasoning is: "you know you can cover the distance. You've already run a marathon and have the endurance. You don't need to run a ton to beat up your body." Does it make sense? Anyway, you don't need my advice. I'm just thinking out loud.

Smooth..thanks for the advice...and no I don't know what I am doing. My idea of a recovery run has become more about slowing down than the miles. I know I can cover the distance of a marathon but I am trying to push the fatigue factor "The Wall" back as far as possible so I can maintain my speed closer to the finish of the marathon. I figure the added miles will build more endurance, so I keep pounding out the miles, some days fast, some days slow. I'm not following a training plan per se, I am just going with what my body will give me and try to incorporate runs from all the training plans I have looked at, Tempo, Marathon Pace, Intervals, Long Run, and Recovery. I hate the stress of sticking to a plan and feeling that I have to push my body beyond what I think I can do on a given day. I feel like in the past that has contributed to some of my injuries. So bottom line, I go by feel and by what I think I know (which ain't much). Then I hope for the best on race day.

Jeff -- I'm wondering about the theory of "pushing the wall" back as far as possible too. I totally agree with you about blindly following a training plan. We HAVE to listen to our bodies, go by feel. Afterall who knows your body better than yourself. There is such a fine line between training to our fullest potential and pushing over the limit. With that said, you KNOW more than you think. You are doing so well. You're running faster and staying injury-free. And that's the bottom line of a successful training.

I think my problem with this year's Slam was I just run myself to the ground. I didn't give myself time to fully recover. For the grace of God, I was lucky that I didn't have any major injury, just my speed has suffered. I'm still trying to figure out the quality vs quantity thing. Sorry for rambling. Keep up the good work. I am most interested in following your training. I have SO MUCH to learn. Gotta go pack now. Have a GREAT weekend.