Today's Run and a Note to Dan

Another absolutely terrible run today. Once again, I was extremely tired and just could not move. I did 5 outside, and then 6 on the mill. At least those were a bit faster.

Here's a note I wrote to Dan Fox based on a question from him:

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Horvath [mailto:runhorvathrun@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 5:14 PM
To: luminastudio@sbcglobal.net
Subject: RE: marathon stuff


Dan:

Nice goin!! You must've come in before it started getting warm. I think you probably had a decently cool start. I've always liked the Columbus thon.

Here's what you need to do to run Inland trail:

1) rest and recover
2) train hard
3) taper

Not so bad, but a bit tough to do in 2 weeks. Not impossible; just tough.

When I've done thons 2 weeks apart, I've run ok at the second one, but I don't think I've ever done it quite as fast as the first one - even when I've tried. But that's me. YMMV, of course, and I do know of folks who've made it happen.

Perhaps my problem is number 2. No, not that number 2 - I mean the one above. Maybe it's better if you skip it and just do 1 and 3.

As far as Mr. Wall goes, it sounds like you just met him. Dan, meet Mr. Wall. Mr. Wall, meet Dan. I think the best way to avoid Mr. Wall is to run some of your long runs progressively harder, such that you're running at marathon pace for the last 3 or so. That's what some of the elites do, and when I'm running well, that's what I do, and I think it helps.

In a small voice: About 10-20% of the time. But otherwise I think I've got about 0% chance of finishing strong. And there's *almost* no better feeling than finishing strong at a marathon.

Good luck and hope to see you there.

Dan

Dan Horvath
runhorvathrun@hotmail.com




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: runhorvathrun@hotmail.com
From: luminastudio@sbcglobal.net
Subject: marathon stuff
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:04:09 -0400

Hi Dan,


Would you entertain a couple questions about training? The gist of this is that
I ran 3:37 in Columbus yesterday, which surprised me because I've been REAL
slow all year what with the ultra events. So for me this was the fastest marathon this year,
and about 3.5 mins. slower than my PR from '05. The idea that I could set a PR this year has
insidiously wormed it's way into my thinking!


The questions:


1. I passed through mile 24 at 3:12, and then blew up to the point of actually walking for a minute
or two a mile later. Do you have any idea what the heck happened? Was that "the Wall"? How do
you, yourself, train to finish strongly?


2. Do you think running the Inland Trail marathon on two weeks "rest" would be taking advantage
of whatever shape I'm in, or an exercise in futility because I would still be recovering from Columbus?


That's it. Any random thoughts would be welcome. Maybe I'll see ya in a couple weeks in Elyria.


DanF