11.29.2005

A Break in Training

For the first time in seven weeks I did not follow plan. I did not sleep well last night. I woke up in a sweat at one point then later to contemplative thoughts that led to other thoughts that kept me up too long. When my body woke up at 455 I rolled over and the next thing I knew I did not have time for my one hour run. So I wrote down some notes and went to the garage to do some upper body work.
Now I have to pack and leave early tomorrow for Tampa. I will have to fit a run in tomorrow evening. It'll be almost three days between runs. I am not concerned but feel like I skipped school. There is the half marathon this weekend and the opportunity to run a bunch of miles Sunday too.
Last tidbit from my Sunday running pals: the marathon "wall" can be calculated by dividing your highest training mileage week by seven and multiplying by three. So if you peak at say 50 miles, that's 50/7 = 7.1 x 3 = 21.3. I have to get to 60 (60/7=8.6x3=25.8).

10 comments:

Jack said...

Interesting, this is the first time that I have heard about calculating the "hitting the wall" point. I tried that using my previous marathon training plans, it was pretty darn accurate!

Running Chick said...

Being flexible with the plan is a good thing!

And ditto what Jack said...mine was pretty accurate too. Interesting....

Unknown said...

i am totally with you. don't sweat the missed workout, but at the same time, don't try to make it up on another scheduled rest day.

interesting about the wall calculation. i guess i'm golden if i keep my mileage in the 70's then, eh?

Oldman said...

my last mary i was in the 70's but still cramped at 22 miles... maybe its an elecrolyte problem?

brent d. said...

Good luck on your marathon! That whole calculation is freaking me out! I haven't had a "long" run since my half on 11/5. My longest week since then was last week @ 15.5 (because of vacations, etc)... so, yeah, I'll be hitting the wall at 6.5 miles Sat during my next half m. haha. that's gonna SUCK.

Anonymous said...

Uh-oh. Looks like my wall will be at 17.57 miles. At least I'll be prepared for it... I was expecting it to be a bit later. Dang.

Mia Goddess said...

Oh, I love me some running math!

Have a safe trip, and try to be contemplative when you're running, not when you're sleeping.

Lucky number 7 said...

How do you figure the numbers for calculating the *wall*?? Why multiply by 3?? What is the 3?? Just wondering!!

David said...

Well I have no idea why you multiply by 3; or why you divide by 7. It's a math goddess secret of the universe question.

21st Century Mom said...

That calculation was so spot on! I knew I was sort of undertrained for my last marathon but I hadn't realized by how much. The calculation said I'd hit the wall at 14 and lo and behold, I was in pain at 13 and really struggling by 15. the course went downhill for miles 18-20 but the last 10K was brutal.

I'm going to vow to train better for this next one. I love running blogs - such inspiration and so much great information!

So where are you now on 'the wall' calculation?