Today was a rare mid-week long run. 10 days after the Indy Mini I was feeling ansty and ready to get back into things. So my coach gave me a Race Simulation workout focused very much on prepping for the June marathon.
The workout was run 12M at regular easy pace and then roll right into a 5M run at marathon pace (5:16-5:18) and then a 2-mile cool down. With the way my work and personal schedule was shaping up, the only time to do this was at 5:30 in the morning. Not exactly my favorite time to do a workout, but at least it wasn't raining. It was chilly, but no rain.
The idea behind a race sim is much more than just hitting marathon pace times. It's about trying to make as much of the workout exactly like a race as possible.
So I wore the shoes I am going to wear. Same shorts. I didn't wear a singlet because it was so cold. The biggest thing, for me anyway, is simulating the hydration. This is always an issue for me and it will likely be the make or break factor in Duluth in five weeks. So I did the 5 miles around the track so I could have two water stations within those five miles. I drank at Mile 1 and Mile 4. Drinking is hard at that pace especially when your fingers are frozen and you have to unscrew a lid. But I managed to get some good fluids down which was probably the most important part of the race sim for me.
Something else about the race sim is it trains you to run hard miles deep in to a run. While 12 miles at easy pace (6:45) isn't exactly exhausting, it's amazing how challenging it is to (a) change speeds after doing so many miles at one pace; and (b) run at marathon pace after 12 miles at a slower pace.
The concept of "cutdowns" teaches a similar thing.
My times were 5:20, 5:17; 5:16; 5:17; 5:17. That first mlie was by far the hardest. It's really hard to rachet down after humming along at 6:45s for 80 minutes.
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