We join our hero in the desolate Ohio wasteland. Planes flying overhead went from full to nearly-empty to fewer in number. Bars, restaurants, and breweries have closed. Medical offices have cancelled all routine appointments. Sports are cancelled or postponed. Schools are closed until at least April. Where there was once jokes about traffic congestion, there is no traffic.
At the end of last week’s report we were on DEFCON 1. It’s Wednesday as I’m typing this, and we’ve gone to DEFCON 4. Most of Ohio is closed – all restaurants, bars, and breweries, many medical offices (although not specifically required, they’ve elected to go emergencies-only), malls, and even the Ohio Primary was rescheduled.
The Flying Pig made the decision to postpone their races until October 9-11. This coincides with the Queen Bee Half Marathon. Those of us registered for the Flying Pig have a few options:
- Virtual Race
- Postpone and run in October
- Defer to 2021
- Lose the registration fee and take a 25% discount on a future event
So #4 is out, that makes no sense to me (maybe it does for others, but not me).
I’m leaning towards deferring my marathon entry to 2021 and registering for the 2020 half marathon. This is for a few reasons – one is the training season and the other is how it fits in the calendar and my mental plan for the year. My experience training for the Columbus marathon last year was brutal. Several days were just too hot to perform, and I routinely felt overtrained, dehydrated, and tired. My mental schedule for this year included doing some shorter distances over the summer and fall – I routinely race a 5k and a few 3.2k races during the summer months, and up until last year I would race the Hudy 14k and a half marathon or two in the fall. I still want to do that, since I think part of my success in the Glass City Marathon is because of the fall training before it – and I think that fall training set me up for several PRs. I finished 2018 feeling good and fast. And I have stats to show it – many of my weekly average paces during the in 2018 were below 8:30/mile. Granted, I was doing fewer miles – by 10-20 miles at times, but that speed does translate in all directions. I want to do that again.
The Plan
As of the time this publishes, I’ve suspended my marathon training program. I kept with this final week only because it was a pull-back week. I’m going to be using the Hal Higdon Advanced 5k plan for the runup to the 5k. This plan is an eight-week intensive plan that includes a lot of short intervals, tempo runs, and a “fast” day in addition to the long run and some recovery miles. Since it’s looking like that will be starting in June, I’ll have to fill in. I’ll probably stick with a similar theme to this week – decent run on Monday, recovery on Wednesday and Saturday, intervals on Tuesday, tempo on Thursday, long on Friday.
The Week
Monday: 6 miles. I ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. I felt faster than the time indicates, but didn’t really run hard. 6.07 in 55:51 (9:12/mile pace).
Tuesday: 7 x 0.5 mile intervals. Ran these entirely in the park. I really wanted these to be between 3:15 and 3:25, and the first was at 3:25. The rest were at 3:33, 3:40, 3:49, 3:34, 3:34, and 3:32. Overall, 8.5 miles in 1:12:00 (8:28/mile pace).
Wednesday: Quick five mile stroll around the park. There were other people up there (it looks like they were doing a group fitness workout prior to a few laps around the path. 5.02 miles in 43:47 (8:43/mile pace).
Thursday: 6 miles at M pace. Another M pace run that I didn’t make it to the goal. Ran the M pace portion in 58:49 (8:15/mile pace, the goal is 7:33 – 7:53). Overall run was 8 miles in 1:08:15 (8:32/mile pace).
Friday: 12 miles. Ran in the afternoon because of storm threats in the morning (Weatherbug claimed lightning in the area, I saw none). The park was BUSY so I mostly stayed in the neighboring subdivision. 12.06 miles in 1:43:45 (8:36/mile pace).
Weekend: I was scheduled to do 4 miles, but Saturday was spent going up and down stairs as I modified two desks… I didn’t track it, but I think I made it 4 miles up and down the stairs.
That’s it for the week. Just under 40 miles.