Training For The Last Two Weeks - January 16th-January 29th, 2012

It has really helped with the unusually warm winter we have had in Chicago to make it more enjoyable putting in all these miles. Over these last couple of weeks I have put in back-to-back 100 mile weeks. My long run is now up to 17 miles and other than the normal ware and tear of running lots of miles I am healthy and injury free. I am definitely at the point wear my muscles are tighter than usual and I will be getting a massage from my guy, Craig White of IHP, in Deerfield, which will help lessen the chance of injury from muscle tightness.

For this post I'll just concentrate on the highlights and give you my workouts for the last two weeks:
January 16th-22nd:
Tuesday - Treadmill workout. 8 x 3 minutes with 2:30 rest. This basically was simulating doing 1000's. All of my intervals got faster starting from sub 5:30 mile pace down to 4:30 mile pace.
Thursday - Treadmill workout. 3 sets of 1 min hard x 1 min jog. Great workout to simulate quick 400's. I got the treadmill down on the last few to as fast as it could go @ 4:16 mile pace.
Sunday - 17 mile long run through Palatine and Arlington Heights @ 6:10-6:11 mile pace.

January 23rd-29th:
Monday - Treadmill workout. 4 x 5:30 with 3:00 rest. I started again at sub-5:30 pace and got down to sub 4:40 pace.
Wednesday - Hill workout and tempo at Reimer Resevoir in Palatine. 8 x 300m steep hills with 300 m jog rest & then 1.60 mile tempo @ 5:20 mile pace.
Sunday - 17 mile long run in Naperville with many hills and 15-20mph wind.


***All week day workouts have been with the Harper College distance guys***


As always, thank you for reading!

Eric Wallor

Training For The Week of January 9-15, 2012 With Review of Last Week

Last week I did 90 miles. My second workout of the week was on Friday morning and I did a 5 mile tempo. I ran it on my own and ran 26:45 (5:21 pace). Good workout for my first tempo of the season. I did my 16 mile long run Saturday. Typically, I don't like running a workout and then my long run the next day since it's like running back to back workouts. The weather was great last week. Several days where I ran in shorts and  a t-shirt. Fricking awesome for January in Chicago!

January 9 - January 15, 2012
Monday - 10 miles in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.
Miles = 14

Tuesday - Fartlek/800m workout. 8 x 800m with 90 second jog rest (typically running about 300-350 meters) + 1 x 400m @ 1:13.. My intervals: 2:26, 2:27, 2:26, 2:29, 2:32, 2:34, 2:32, 2:28. Considering this was a workout I did on my own on the roads and not on the track it was solid. Two weeks earlier I did 10 x 800m workout with Pat Rizzo on the track and ran between 2:19-2:24 with 90 seconds rest.
Miles = 15

Wednesday - 8 miles in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. recovering from yesterday's workout. The afternoon run felt better than the morning run.
Miles = 14

Thursday - Hill workout in the morning. 10 x 350 meter hill (in the snow) with 350 jog rest. 10 miles in the morning. 3 miles in the afternoon (Lots of snow so footing was bad and it was super windy.
Miles = 13

Friday - 8 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon.
Miles = 13

Saturday - 16 mile long run

Sunday - 10 mile recovery run

Mileage for the week = 95


Eric Wallor

The Marathon Man Blog is Back for 2012!

 Hi All,

I am back writing and doing video blog posts about my marathon/race training for 2012. I won't be writing or video blogging everyday, but you can expect more than once a week from me. As always I will give you a little bit of information from each day. Could be the weather, how my body is feeling, what else is going on in my life, etc. Since we are in the first week of January as of this writing let me give you my training schedule for this week (January 2-January 8).

Monday - Coldest day of the winter so far. Windchill of 6 degrees for the day. This was a shorter day than I wanted but ran 7 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. 12 mile day.

Tuesday - Still cold, but not as bad as yesterday. 10 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. 15 miles total.

Wednesday - AM Fartlek workout. 2 mile warm up. Then 1 min hard x 1 min jog, 2 min hard x 90 sec jog, 3 min hard x 2 min jog, 4 min hard x 2:30 jog, 3 min hard x 2 min jog, 2 min hard x 90 sec jog, 90 sec hard x 1 min jog, 1 min hard x 1 min jog, 1 min hard x 30 sec jog, 1 min hard x 30 sec jog, 30 sec hard x 30 sec jog, 30 sec hard x 15 sec jog, 30 sec hard x 15 sec rest x 15 sec hard. 2 mile cool down. Total miles = 10. Total time = 59:04 (5:59 average for all 10 miles). This is a good hard workout and the goal is to go hard, but on the jog keep a good enough pace going so the body learns to recover while still going a good pace. I try to keep my 'jog' intervals under 6:30 mile pace. My hard paces right now are anywhere from 4:45-5:15 mile pace.

PM - 6 miles easy and weights.

16 mile day.

Thursday - 13 mile day. 8 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon.

Friday - 10 miles total. Tempo run. Still figuring out actual distance. Will be 5-6 miles most likely. Weight lifting day #2 of the week.

Saturday - 16 mile long run.

Sunday - 8 mile easy run.

Week = 90 miles

Stay tuned for future posts as on my racing schedule and different things I am doing to supplement my running.

Thanks for reading! Please comment to this post or on Facebook or Twitter. Also, feel free to share this blog with others.

Take care,

Eric Wallor

Day 167-207 – 2012 United States Olympic Marathon Trials Journey

United States Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifying Standard – 2:19:00 or under

My goal – 2:18:59 or under

Current PR – 2:30:03

Goal race to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials – Half-marathon in late August/early September 2011 still to be determined.

Current Week’s Mileage Goal – 100 miles with 20 mile long run.

Next Race – 5k Road race in South Bend, Indiana on Saturday, June 4, 2011.

Saturday, April 16, 2011 - Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Eric Wallor
http://ericwallor.com/

Day 159-166 - 2012 United States Olympic Marathon Trials Journey

United States Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifying Standard – 2:19:00 or under

My goal – 2:18:59 or under

Current PR – 2:30:03

Goal race to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials - Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota on Saturday, June 18, 2011

Current Week’s Mileage Goal – 75 miles, 55 miles on Land/20 miles in the Pool

Next Race – Race to Wrigley 5k on Saturday, April 16, 2011

Friday, April 8, 2011 - Friday, April 15, 2011

Take care,

Eric Wallor

Day 142-158 - 2012 United States Olympic Marathon Trials Journey

United States Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifying Standard – 2:19:00 or under

My goal – 2:18:59 or under

Current PR – 2:30:03

Goal race to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials - Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota on Saturday, June 18, 2011

Current Week’s Mileage Goal – 45 miles on Land/60 miles in the Pool = 105 miles total

Next Race – Race to Wrigley 5k on Saturday, April 16th, 2011.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011- Thursday, April 7, 2011

Okay, so it's been a couple of weeks since I have done a blog entry.  I wanted to keep everyone updated and will be getting back to doing the video blogging very soon.  Between working on getting the new website ready for Marathon Books and working out in the pool so much these last few weeks it has been tough to find the time.

So, while my hip has gotten better, I had an issue with my left side of my lower back.  There has been lots of icing, stretching, and drills to get both of them fully healed.  I am getting better and am slowly doing more miles on dry land, which is great.  I have maintained my shape which is also great.  I have a big test workout on the outdoor track in two days when I do 3 x 2000m.  The workout isn't terribly fast, but the main thing is to see how feel afterwards and hopefully there will little to know pain in the hip and back.  Hopefully that goes well and then my first race in over two months will be a 5k road race to Wrigley Field. 

I have been doing all the normal workouts you would be doing on the track.  Mile repeats, 1200's, 800's, 400's and 200's.  In some respects the workouts have been harder because you are going by feel and you don't know how far you are going so the pace you are moving your legs in the water (aqua-jogging/running) is faster than you would be on the track.

So again, the blog entries will more frequent as they were before and hopefully I will be telling you how am I running on dry land more and more.

Take care,

Eric Wallor

Day 131-141 – 2012 United States Olympic Marathon Trials Journey

United States Olympic Trials Marathon Qualifying Standard – 2:19:00 or under

My goal – 2:18:59 or under

Current PR – 2:30:03

Goal race to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials - Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota on Saturday, June 18, 2011

Current Week’s Mileage Goal – 60 miles on Land/40 miles in the Pool

Next Race – To be determined

Friday, March 11, 2011 -

AM - 5 miles @ 6:25 mile pace.

PM - 4 mile @ 6:20 mile pace.

Saturday, March 12, 2011 -

AM - 8 mile tempo run ran like this:

First 2 miles @ 6:15/mile

Mile 3 - 5:30

Mile 4 - 5:20

Mile 5 - 5:20

Mile 6 - 5:10

Last 2 miles @ 6:18/mile

PM - 20 minutes on the stationary bike.

Sunday, March 13, 2011 - 17 mile long run.  13 miles of dry land @ 6:19 mile pace and then 25 minutes of aqua jogging in the pool.

Monday, March 14, 2011 -

AM - 5 miles @ 6:25 mile pace.

PM - 6 miles @ 6:17 mile pace (final 4 miles @ 6:15 mile pace).

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 -

AM - 50 minutes of hard steady aqua-jogging in the pool (Simulating 6:10 mile pace).

PM - 2 mile warm up @ 12:24 (6:12 mile pace).

Workout - 6 x 1200m @ 3:45 (5:00 mile pace).  My repeats were: 3:47, 3:48, 3:47, 3:49, 3:48, 3:45.  Felt flat and lower left back was a little sore after workout.

2 mile cool down @ 14:00 (7:00 mile pace)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 -

AM - 5 miles @ 6:30 mile pace.

PM - 5 miles @ 6:30 mile pace and drills.

Thursday, March 17, 2011 -

AM - 8 miles @ 6:03 mile pace (Final seven miles were at 5:59/mile pace).

PM - Pool workout - 15 minute warm up w/ 5 x 20 seconds bursts

8 x 300m (50 seconds near all-out) w/ 30 seconds jog rest then 200m (30 seconds all-out) w/ 60 seconds jog rest.

15 minute cool down.

Friday, March 18, 2011 -

AM - 4 miles @ 6:25 mile pace.

PM - 4 miles @ 6:19 mile pace.

Saturday, March 19, 2011 -

AM - 2 mile warm-up.

Workout - 3x 2000m @ 5:08 mile pace, 5:00 mile pace and 4:52 mile pace.  My lower left back side was bothering me and caused me to run this workout 'flat'.  My paces were, 5:18, 5:15 and 5:12.

2 mile cool down.

PM - 20 minutes of stationary bike.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 - Long run. 10 miles of dry land at 6:25 mile pace.  1 mile of aqua-jogging in the pool before lightning closed the indoor pool and cancelled the rest of the run.  Left lower back was still very tight/sore.

Monday, March 21, 2011 - 

AM - 45 minutes of aqua jogging in the pool.

PM -  45 minutes of aqua jogging in the pool.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Eric Wallor