Couple of half marathon scheduling and pacing questions...
Hey all,
I'm currently in week 7 of the Jan OS (bike focus). I'm planning to run the Santa Cruz Half Marathon next Sunday (March 1) as a testing race, as I'll be transitioning from OS to the HIM plan the following week. This is definitely a "C" race for me, but I'd still like to show up fresh enough that the results are meaningful from a testing perspective, so I'd love some input on how to tweak the schedule (if at all) in order to show up at least somewhat fresh. Here's a snapshot of my training plan for the next couple of weeks. Since I'm a stay-at-home dad I've shifted the plan by two days to put the big Sat/Sun workouts on Thurs/Fri when the kids are in school. This puts the rest day on Saturday. Should I just execute the plan as shown, take Saturday off (maybe a swim and core WO) and then run the HM on Sunday, or should I consider moving the Thurs/Fri big WO's earlier by a day?
I also have a question on pacing with power for a HM. I've never run a stand-alone HM with power before. I looked to see what Stryd recommends, and they're suggesting something like ~94.6% of CP as HM pace. I ran 8 mi. at that pace yesterday as a test, and felt like there was no way I could run 5 more mi. at that pace, but I'm on pretty tired legs at the moment. It's also possible that my estimated CP is just off right now, as it's not based on a recent test. For those Stryd users out there, what's your target power and pacing strategy for a stand-alone HM?
Thanks,
John
Comments
@John Katsoudas - First question to ask yourself is how recovered/strong have you felt the past 2-3 Sundays during your Sunday VO2 bike and run workouts?
Since this is a C race, I'd do Sunday's 40 min run on Friday in place of the 1:20 hr run. Based on your answer to the above, I would keep the bike and other run workouts as scheduled or reduce Thursday's bike volume. Rest up Saturday and crush the race on Sunday. Good luck!
@John Katsoudas So glad you posted this! Mostly for selfish reasons since I, too, (1) am in the January OS (bike focus), (2) have a half marathon scheduled on March 1 (in Atlanta), and (3) have a 70.3 on May 9 (Gulf Coast). I was too timid to post something about this, despite wondering how best to still get the OS training in between now and the HM next weekend. It helps to see what you have planned, since I've also been wrestling with arriving at the start line of the HM somewhat fresh. It isn't my "A" race this year by any stretch, but I do want to see how I've progressed in the two years since I've completed a stand-alone HM.
I have time constraints that won't permit me to move those long bikes to mid-week, but you have motivated me to get up early and see how much I can get done Friday morning before work. And I've been debating what to do Saturday: stick to the plan, rest, or an easy 60 minute bike. Or wander out and spectate the Olympic marathon trials being held in town that day...
Thanks @Derrek Sanks! I paid particular attention to how I felt in yesterday's Bike VO2 WO and brick run. I felt good enough to be able to execute the workouts as planned, but there was definitely residual fatigue in the legs from the Thurs/Fri bike/run workouts. Based on that, I think I'll pull in the big bike/run workouts by a day this week, then do a light TRP run on Friday and swim/weights o Saturday and hopefully have some fresher legs for the HM on Sunday.
On another note, I hadn't downloaded all the runs from my Stryd in to Powercenter in a few weeks (I'm more a Training Peaks user) but when I did that and it auto-calculated my CP it confirmed what I suspected... that I'd been overestimating my threshold power a bit. For a pacing strategy for the HM I'm going to shoot for a negative split with the first 6.5 miles at 95% of CP (Stryd's recommended pace) and then see if I can pick it up 5-10 watts on the way in. Unless, of course, someone thinks this is a really bad idea ;-)