Is this going to go my way?

After a long, icy winter here we are at last - week 23 of the 23 week breaking-3 (hour) marathon training plan.

It all comes down to this.

Or perhaps it's better said that it all comes together this Sunday.

That's the hope anyway - that the work that I've put in at the guidance of my coach Mike MacInnes will pay its dividends when I toe the line at the 15th annual Mississauga Marathon.  It's been a season of new training tactics - from regular strength workouts to fewer 'rest/recovery days' to greater overall weekly mileage - all in an attempt to become faster, more durable and anti-fragile.  Even though I'm still reasonably new to the running scene I do count myself as being an aging runner and the approach that coach Mike has had me take over the last few months has definitely stretched my limits.

How do I feel during this last week of tapering?  My friend Lewis asked me that exact question this past weekend and my answer to him was "honestly, I'm not sure how I'm feeling".  The reasons for that are because I've run two 'tune-up' races this season (the Chilly Half-Marathon and the Around The Bay 30k) which both resulted in disappointing chip-times, and many of the prescribed race-pace (or faster) workouts have seen me fail to come close to the speeds that I was asked to hit.  I also feel as if I've done that precarious dance on the overtraining line wondering at various times whether or not I'd actually crossed over into the dark side.

That all being said one of the refrains that has constantly run through my head during a long and dreary-ish winter has been "trust the training plan, trust your coach".  I know that Mike is a stellar athlete himself and intelligent when it comes to the ways of exercise physiology, and he has clearly told me that the entire plan is designed to culminate on marathon race day ... that the final stage of supercompensation is focused on presenting the best version of myself on May 6.

He's also been a big proponent of the mental training aspect, having recommended that I read "How Bad Do You Want It?" by Matt Fitzgerald.  I also received a recommendation from my pal Steve to read "Endure" by Alex Hutchinson - alas, being a reluctant reader I've not had an opportunity to benefit from either of these sport psychology-focused texts, but I have kept visualizing the huge smile on the face of my running icon Yuki Kawauchi as he crossed the line as this year's Boston Marathon male champion.

So I can say with confidence that I've put the work in - I'm still riding a bit of a high having completed my first 100+ mile training week just over a week ago and believing that that is going to be a big contributor to how good I will feel especially in the later stages on the marathon.  I'll also be wearing a new pair of racing flats (the Salming Race 5) which I did not have available to me for my previous two races this spring and which feel much better and lighter than the Salming Speed 6 for posting fast times (at least in my humble opinion).  And one other intangible - for which I can take absolutely no credit whatsoever but is nonetheless a mental boost for me - is that my friend Jeroen Hendrikx wore the singlet that I had in my drawer for the last year to a 19th place finish in yesterday's Hamburg Marathon, crossing the line in 2:20:45.  

Yep, that's my old race kit blazing through Germany in 2:20!

There it is - I've done my part to control what I can control.  The rest is up to the weather, how much rest I can get this week, the germs that I can manage to avoid and how smartly I control my pace out on course.  Regardless of what my official finish time will be I'll know that I stretched beyond my comfort zone in preparing for this race and am grateful to coach Mike for his guidance and support and to my RunNinjas clubmates for all of their outstanding encouragement and companionship on this journey!

#nononsense #runSwedish #teamTap #fuelsimply #werunthistown #breaking3

Is this going to go my way?

race report - 2014 mississauga marathon

two words really sum up the key variables that affected the experience and outcome of this year's mississauga marathon for me.

pacer.

wind.

pre-race
i was genuinely excited to visit the expo this year - in previous years it was a pretty utilitarian visit, getting my kit and a few gels (at the normal 'expo special pricing') in record time and heading back home.  the expo is straightforward enough but nothing at which to particularly linger around.

what was different this year was the Skechers sponsor booth.  i was eager to meet some of my contacts with whom i gotten acquainted vis-à-vis the Skechers Performance Division brand ambassador program.  it was well worth the visit - Skechers had two exhibitor locations - one just past the t-shirt pick-up table and one at the end of the first exhibitor row.  both were high-visibility high-traffic locations, so they were really featured in a way like no other sponsor at the expo.  i was able to meet several Skechers staffers, plus the national manager for Skechers Canada - who when introduced to me by the marketing manager said "oh, you're that patrick?" and then proceeded to show me that he had the rendezvoo point blogpost why not skechers ...? bookmarked on his phone.  how cool is that?

photo from Skechers Performance Canada

apart from the meet-and-greet with Team Skechers, i didn't pick up my usual complement of gels as the next day i would be stopping by our local Running Free store to pick up my team kit gear which had arrived, so i figured that i would also take advantage of my team member discount to get the gels there.  instead i spun the Subway Commit To Fit wheel and had to run 30s on the spot for a prize - and took home a cool Subway water bottle.

race day

with a usual 4:00 am rise-and-shine alarm i started off my day with a peanut butter/honey/chia bagel, a bowl of quinoa-oatmeal and some gatorade-beet juice mix.  apart from the juice combo, i'd never tried this kind of breakfast before (note to kids and first-time marathoners:  don't do this).

i arrived at the start line area about an hour before the gun would go off, providing me ample time to suit up, grab a couple of selfies, get in and out of the porta-potty as well as squeeze in a warm-up jog.

putting the GOMeb Speed 2 to work again!

it didn't take long to realize that the wind would play a factor on this day ... with reported gusts up to 50 km/h it wouldn't matter whether it was coming at us from behind, the side or in front because running on a windy day is always going to require more effort than a non-windy day.

as i proceeded into the starting chute there were three key people that i ran into:

1. stan ong - my pal who was targeting a sub-1:25 HM time, but at that moment was scurrying around looking for another friend who was to meet him with his bib for the day!
2. cris from Skechers Performance Division (Canada) - he was there photodocumenting the event for Skechers, who was a first-time sponsor of the Mississauga Marathon.  he also snapped a quick pic of me in my newly acquired (yep, never wore this shirt for any run before - again, don't try this at home) Skechers technical tee.
   
   
3. peter, the 3:20 pace rabbit - the strategy which i'd clearly laid out in my mind since the hamilton marathon last november was to run with the 3:15 pacer until about 35k, and then race through the finish.  in the chute i looked for that pacer, but could only find a 3:20 pacer whom i'd recognized as peter - a guy who paced for 3:15 the last couple of years at the same race.  when i asked him whether or not there would be a 3:15 pacer this year he said no, and essentially i took away that he thought that it would be better for him to pace a 3:20 race.  this of course bunged up my plans to not only follow a pacer but also to take advantage of running with a group.

kms 1-5:  22:34

i wanted to start off conservatively, not expending extra energy weaving through the crowd and getting a rush from passing slower runners.  i'd read that starting out too fast and surging past runners uses up exponentially more glycogen than running at the same paces in the latter stages of the race - so the game plan was to play it nice and easy.

which worked until after km 2 when the 3:20 pacer went flying by me, easily clocking a 4:00 min/km pace.

what was he doing?  was my garmin giving me a misread?  and how would i ever hope to finish in 3:15 if the 3:20 guy was ahead of me?

enter cardinal mistake #1 - i pushed it to try to keep up with him.  i definitely felt the increased effort, and was hoping to God that i wouldn't pay dearly for it after 30k.

kms 6-10:  21:55

at km 8 i once again did something that i've never done before in a race - i made a quick dash into the bushes for some bladder relief.  it didn't actually feel too too urgent a call to nature, but i figured that i needed to slow down anyway and that i would feel better without the pressure at my waist.  

kms 11-15:  21:59

a fairly uneventful block of 5k - i felt like i was in a good rhythm and was running alongside someone from the brampton benders running club.

kms 16-25:  45:07

just after 15k a funny thing happened ... i caught the 3:20 pacer!  i asked peter whether or not he had gone out faster than required and he answered yes, but that now the toughest part of the course was behind us and that they would ease back on the gas at that point.  i didn't check, but i think that if he did have any aspiring 3:20 racers with him they would have been already sucking wind if not left trailing somewhere behind him.

after this i also felt the burn from going out hard, and wanted to cruise for a stretch in the hope of having something still left for a kick at 35k.

kms 26-35:  46:25

toughest stretch - not only because this covered the section where most runners experience 'the wall', but also because the wind was at its most active as we ran out toward the lake and made the u-turn dead into it.  the 29th km was my second slowest at 5:00 min. because there were times that i was leaning forward so much to counteract the wind's effect.  

kms 35-42:  38:21

at the 35k mark i mentally switched gears into racing mode - i pitched the gloves that i'd been wearing (and at the same time inadvertently threw away the boston marathon-coloured rainbow loom bracelet that my daughter had made for me) and started to activate my glutes for a stronger push-off.  three steps into racing mode and my right hamstring started to spasm and threatened to seize up altogether if i didn't put an end to all this nonsense ... so looking at my watch and recognizing that at this point i could cover the remaining distance at 5:00 min/km and still hit the BQ mark i decided to stick with the simple cruising pace that i'd maintained to this point.

discretion is the better part of valour, they say.

as i hit the finishing straight i took off the bandana that i'd been wearing and started whipping it around in the same fashion that tsegaye kebede had done as he approached the finish line in the 2013 NYC marathon.  that guy is so much fun to watch, and reminds me that you can compete at the highest level and still let everyone know that you're having a blast.

as i crossed the timing mats i could see that my gun time was pretty much 3:15:00 bang on, and simply trusted that my chip time provided me with the slightest bit of buffer to come within Boston Qualifying time.

gun time:  3:14:59 / chip time:  3:14:43 / garmin time:  3:14:52 (42.7 km)

post-race
as i didn't have any one travel down to the race with me, the first person to greet and congratulate me when i crossed the finish line was nick from Skechers ... they really are my family, already!

aside from a calf cramp that ambushed me while wandering in the post-event picnic area, i was feeling really quite good after putting out a PB effort - but the chill in the wind was especially noticeable after i'd stopped running, so i headed immediately for the shuttle buses back to the start line parking lots.  

while in transit i wound up chatting with a guy named george who'd finished a few minutes ahead of me - i recognized his shirt because i was drafting off of him for a bit, and found out that while he's run marathons in places like boston, san francisco and even sydney (australia), he's not even what he would consider a runner.  he's a cross-country skier, which just serves as a reminder that when it comes to running endurance events the key to a great performance might just be more the 'endurance' part than the 'running' part. 

all in all, i'm very pleased with my effort to finally attain a BQ time - and while a trip to the boston marathon in 2015 is still by no means a given (the registration process may just weed me out because i cut it so close - 17 sec. under my qualification standard), i know that i've outdone my old self and claimed the title of boston qualifier ... and no one can take that away from me.

many thanks to all those who helped me to reach this milestone in my running career:

• my family, for putting up with loads of running-only laundry and days and nights spent wondering if i'd gotten lost or run over in polar vortex weather
• my former coach, rick ball, for invaluable lessons and insisting that i get a garmin
• stan ong - age grouper extraordinaire, top-rate blogger and huge cheering section
• Skechers Performance Division (Canada) for not only great equipment but also outstanding support!
• the barrie roadrunners for pushing the pace on me during our wednesday night outings
• the MEC barrie running ninjas for helping me to tackle 32+ km days on my scheduled training off-day!
• Team Running Free - it was great to see so many Team RF representatives at the race
• my pal mike st. john - my first running partner and inspiration to go hard no matter what the elements might bring.

next stop is the limberlost challenge on july 12 - my 'A' race and the next new title to adorn ... ultrarunner!

#GOlikeneverbefore!

race report - 2014 mississauga marathon

changing it all up for race week - the checklist

with just a few days to go before the 2014 mississauga marathon, i'm running through my checklist of things to bring/do:

• gatorade, beet juice and clif bars:  i've actually decided to tackle carbo-loading a bit differently this week compared to previous marathons.  i'd read that while most distance runners have a sense of the advantages of carboloading, most do not do it enough - so this time around i'm going to try a three-day carboload after having come off of a two-day carbodepletion mini-cycle.  honestly i feel as fit as i have ever been in my life, and am ready to start the fueling process for this race.
  
  
  
• Skechers GOMeb Speed 2:  none of my previous marathons have been run in a racing flat - and in fact, the only time that i've raced any distance in a racing flat was my last 10k event in which i also wore the GOMeb Speed 2.   a review on these is still to come, but at this point i can say that the fit is better than i had expected, and the pop on these shoes (courtesy of the Dupont Hytrel™ stability shank/plate) makes the propulsive phase of the running gait cycle seem that much more dynamic.  besides being a Skechers Performance Division ambassador, i would have had no questions about using these for the race this weekend - especially after Meb's iconic win at boston last month.
  
  
  
• garmin 305:  i contemplated running this marathon naked (get your minds out of the gutter people!) but i have essentially been doing that this week with my tapering schedule.  normally i would have included a couple of speed intervals and hill repeats in this final taper week, but after some reflection and paying attention to how my body is feeling i decided instead to forego intensity and pick up a few additional miles.  this is different from any of my previous training plans, but i do feel very good about it.


• blue-and-yellow rainbow loom bracelet:  one of my daughters made this for me last december - she'd asked me what colours i might like to have for a bracelet, and i requested blue and yellow (boston marathon colours) so that i could wear it during this upcoming marathon as a reminder that i'm just trying to hit my qualifying time.  in both of the last two marathons that i ran i felt that i had all the conditioning pieces that i needed to hit my BQ time - but in both instances i feel that i went out much too fast and bonked.  this time i feel even more confident than before (having run more miles in this training cycle than any previous, as well as pushing out race-pace runs geared toward a faster-than-BQ finish) and will be planning to run a very controlled race through 35km.  the bracelet is to remind me that i need to stay with the 3:15 pacer until we cross through the proverbial - and in the mississauga race it's a visual - wall.
  
  picture courtesy http://marleneontherun.blogspot.ca/2011/05/mississauga-marathon-bq-race-report.html

at this point i feel more than ready - the 'madness' of the taper really hasn't struck in the same way as in previous pre-race periods ... it's more of a sense of expectation of success.  

see you at the finish line!

changing it all up for race week - the checklist

mississauga marathon 2013 - race report

i simply can't start out this race report without a series of thank-yous.

• to my family, who have been full of understanding (for this madness called training) and my biggest cheering squad
• to my intentional motivators and training partners:  trevor morgan, mike st. john and stan ong
• to the hansons marathon training plan
• to my friend sarah flemming who got me onto this running thing in the first place (back in 2010)
• to all my facebook friends who have encouraged and rooted for me throughout this particular leg of the journey.

now to the bottom line - two little letters summarize this race experience:  

PB.

perhaps not the two letters that i would like to have headline this report (and for those who would otherwise not know, those preferred letters would be BQ), but i will gladly take them.

now for a quick rundown of the weekend's happenings ...

the expo
kind of a non-report here, as the expo for the mississauga marathon is, well, functional.  it serves its purpose as the point for the race kit pick-up, various sponsor and vendor booths, and opportunities for promo teams from other races to try to pique some interest.

that said, the three times that i've attended it it has been staffed very well (kudos to who knows how many volunteers) and run quite efficiently.  i managed to get in, pick up my kit and trevor's (without any hassle whatsoever), purchase some gels on 'race-special' deal, and clear out in a matter of 12 minutes.  the only negative comment to share was the distinctly vomit-like smell hovering around the end of the directional pathway through the expo. 

race morning
trevor and i were commuting down to the race together (about a 60 min. drive), and it takes about 25 min. to get to his place so i woke up at 4am after a fitful night's sleep (which was to be expected).  after a quick shower, breakfast ensued - peanut butter and chia seed bagel, banana, and water.  i loaded up an extra banana for the ride, as well as the complimentary nutrition bar from the expo goody bag and my powerade-beet juice concoction.  bib was pinned on the singlet - headband, gloves, and throwaway sweatshirt were packed - timing chip affixed to my skechers gobionics.  green light go.

trevor and i made it to the start area close to 6:30am - exactly according to plan, giving us a good hour to make full use of the facilities (at least twice) and settle into the chute before the 7:30am start.  i find that the hour before is perfect for me to get into the right zone - enough but not too much nervous energy, wander around and try to pick out the triathletes, the first-timers, the (obvious this year) boston runners, and the odd person that i would know but not have anticipated seeing at the race.

in the chute, i managed to locate and introduce myself to the 3:15 pacer (peter - or as he happily announced, "peter rabbit") with my usual "i'll try to stick with you as long as i can".  during this time trevor was warming up with strides alongside the chute but on the other side of the barricade, and as all the racers started to cram in shoulder-to-shoulder i feared that we'd become lost to one another and would somehow have to try to relocate during the first kilometre, but he found me just prior to the national anthem.

a quick point here - i'd noted to trevor that one of my favourite moments of the race start was the singing of the national anthem by a local celebrity, actor michael burgess.  he'd starred as jean valjean in the long-running toronto production of les miserables.  having seen him in that performance four times in the 1990s, his voice still sends shivers up and down my spine.  well, this year for reasons unknown to me they had a youth choir sing the national anthem - and while they did an excellent job, it just wasn't michael burgess.  modest letdown.

first half
trevor had mapped out a pacing strategy that accounted for the overall time goal, congestion at the start, and major elevation changes along the course.  trusting his detail-oriented mind, i watched 'peter rabbit' chug on into the distance over the first km wondering if we'd ever make up that ground.  but consistently through the first stretch i heard trevor say "we're right on target", which gave me confidence.

i took nearly the same approach to aid stations as in previous marathons - choosing to walk for a 5-8 second break at each of them. the difference this time was that i decided to grab my drink on the run and then slow down once past the tables to avoid causing any bang ups.  this was my first opportunity to practice this technique for nabbing drink cups on the run, which seemed to work well.

it only took about 6km for trevor and i catch back up to the 3:15 pack, and without any real noticeable increase in effort.  the pace was well within the comfortable range, trevor was consistently telling me "we're 45/60/90 sec. ahead" and regularly reminding when to take a gel.  the plan was working out marvelously.

second half
all the way up to the 31km point trevor and i were consistently ahead of the target 3:15 mark.  i was pleased as punch to have had trevor stick with me through to this distance, as he'd not trained intentionally for a marathon and only surmised being able to pace me through the first half.  but at 31k he knew that it was time to separate, and so he left me with these parting words:  "keep at this pace and you'll have your BQ".

it must have been a curse of sorts.

let me just reiterate what a great job of prep trevor did for me.  from scoping out all the details to gel intake intervals to printing off a paceband, he'd set me up to win.

did you read that?

printing off a paceband.

the one that i left in my sweatshirt pocket.

the sweatshirt that i took off and left in the starting chute.

so from 31k onward, i tried to 'go by feel' at keeping the pace that i'd so comfortably held up to that point.  except that i didn't have the benefit of trevor's consistent reassurance that we were on track.  and what's worse is that when i checked my watch at 35k and saw 2:42, i figured that i could still run 5 min. kilometres and finish well within my 3:15 goal.

math was never my strong suit.  but here, it was made worse by a form of mental bonking.

panic set in when i checked my watch again at 41k and read 3:12.  clearly my calculations originated in the nether realms and now i had to somehow try to bust out 1200m in 3 min. - which was plainly not going to happen.  still, i tried to channel my inner yuki kawauchi and just turned on whatever afterburners i had, grit my teeth and went for it.

i knew that i'd stepped up my output because all the blood was rushing away from my brain and toward the larger muscle groups.  my face was all tingly and a lightheadedness seeped in, but my stride was stretching out and my leg turnover increasing.  it was a good way to finish.

final result:  3:18:30 (gun), 3:18:05 (chip)

post race
i felt quite good crossing the finish line - physically i was spent but upright with no muscles seizing.  while still missing my BQ by about 3 min., i'd posted a personal best by 10 seconds and improved over the same race last year by 6 min.

trevor crossed the line at 3:34:35 - a great job considering he really hadn't trained for the marathon, and had blisters at 5k and muscle spasms for the final 10k.  we spent a good half hour at the medical tent making sure that he got patched up to walk to the shuttle buses back to the car.

when i got home, there was a congratulatory banner waiting for me (although the wind had taken it off of its original location on the garage door):

final thoughts

• i think that i had it in me to hit the 3:15, and i almost ran to my potential at this race.   i was modestly impressed with the results of the hansons marathon training plan, but am considering going back to a modified 'ryan hall' plan for the erie marathon in september.
• jury's out as to whether or not the beet juice had any real impact - but it certainly didn't hurt me none!
• very pleased with the skechers gobionic as a race day shoe!  they did exactly what they should have done - i never had to think about my feet once, and i did not notice them the entire race long.  i will say though that i feel like i enjoyed wearing the merrell road gloves (v1) more during the hamilton road2hope marathon, and probably still hold them up as my favourite shoe in which to train.

so it's recovery time - no running this week until saturday, and then easing back into things before firing it up in two weeks' time to start getting ready for the next race.  as much as i need the time off, this not running thing is driving me crazy.

mississauga marathon 2013 - race report

'twas the night before mississauga ...

the training cycle is complete.  six days a week since dec. 27, 2012 courtesy of the hansons marathon training plan.

no missed runs.

no shortened mileage.

no reduced intensities.

no regrets.

see you at the finish line.

'twas the night before mississauga ...

a running film to watch for: tRANscend

i'm suspecting that taper madness has set in ... so i'm trying to distract myself from all things running.

um, impossible.

so let's indulge.

my friend, training partner and volunteer pacer at this weekend's mississauga marathon trevor told me about a film that his friend is making.  it involves documenting some of the greatest distance runners in the world today and providing insight into what motivates them and inspires them to test the limits of human endurance and performance.

when he noted that his friend got to interview ryan hall recently, i definitely perked up to pay attention.

so the film is called tRANscend (find it on Facebook too), and the who's who list of appearances in the movie is quite impressive:

• Wesley Korir 
• Zane Robertson 
• Jake Robertson 
• Alicia Shay 
• Mo Farah 
• Haile Gebrselassie 
• Kenenisa Bekele 
• Tirunesh Dibaba 
• Tiki Gelana 
• Reid Coolsaet 
• Scott Overall 
• Cam Levins 
• Ryan Hall
• Malcolm Gladwell (author) 
• Brother Colm O’Connell (coach) 
• Renato Canova (coach)

there are definitely some great running documentaries out there already - and i'm already looking forward to the release of Spirit of the Marathon II (slated for initial showing this june), but tRANscend will be a terrific window into the mind, heart and soul of some of the world's finest marathoning talents.

whether you're a runner, someone looking for inspiration or a supporter of independent filmmaking, i encourage you to check out and support tRANscend.  i'm confident that it is worth your while.

a running film to watch for: tRANscend

skechers gobionic - road review

after logging a couple of shorter road runs in the skechers gobionic, i thought that i would let you know what my impressions are of these shoes:

you can also read my 'unboxing' review of them in an earlier post.

gotta say that i love my gobionics at this point, and unless some other pair of shoes surprises me these will be my go-to race day kicks for the mississauga marathon.

cry havoc, and let loose the (hot pink) gobionics of war!

skechers gobionic - road review

fail to plan, plan to fail

never having run (for all intents and purposes) prior to the spring of 2009, i can safely say that i didn't know what i was doing when i agreed to a friend's challenge to run a half-marathon on labour day that year.

up until that point, all that i'd managed to do was to make it through a music video or two (from the 1980s of course) while on the treadmill.

since then, i've managed to complete three half-marathons, one 30k race and three full marathon distances - and generally speaking, i've been progressively getting better/stronger/faster ... (cue Six Million Dollar Man music)

i'm sure that part of this has been a result of now a couple of years of conditioning myself as a runner.  last week marked a milestone as i completed my first 60+ mile week of training, and today my mileage in 2013 has eclipsed 1000 km.

but i'm also confident that part of my steady improvement in racing is attributable to the training plans that i've followed.  i find this area of conversation very interesting, as it forces me to assimilate all sorts of things that i've heard and observed about training and coaching. for instance:

• various elite distance athletes train without a coach (e.g. jason hartmann, and until recently ryan hall)
• the kenyans and japanese distance runners tend to run and train in groups (whereas i tend to run and train alone - maybe it's because i'm such an introvert)
• the great haile gebrselassie once said in an interview that racers should not be nervous standing at the start line, because at that point it's just about showing off all the work that you have already done in training
• it was said about patrick makau (current world record-holder in the marathon - 2:03:38) that he "trains to race fast, not to train fast"
• i had the privilege of meeting and getting to know paul hefferon, who finished 2:16:46 in his debut marathon at the 2012 olympic trials in houston running with the hansons brooks distance project
• my friend (and planned pacer at the 2013 mississauga marathon) stan ong is a sub-3 hour marathoner who trains by feel
• if it's been said once it's been said a million times ... when it comes to race day, you have to trust your training

to date i've tried to followed three different race preparation schedules.  for my first two half-marathons, it was a training plan for the disney half-marathon that was sent over to me by a co-worker who had raced at disney world.  then for the 30k and first full marathons, i used a version of the runner's world intermediate marathon plan.  for the last two marathons, i worked with the 'ryan hall marathon training plan' as published by nissan's innovation for endurance program.  and now, spurred on by mostly positive reviews and my friend paul's association with the hansons brooks distance project, i've been using a modified form of the advanced hansons marathon method plan.

this plan that i'm currently using has (in my mind) two distinctives about it: 

1. the principle of cumulative fatigue - the idea that every run is pretty much executed on tired legs.  this is the first program that i've tackled that has me running six days out of the week, and the premise is that training within a maintained level of fatigue simulates the final 15k or more of the marathon, thereby acclimatizing you to pushing beyond 'the wall'.
2. the 16 miler - most programs will include a 16 mile run, just not as the longest run in the schedule.  the hanson brothers and their teams have found that making sure that the longest run in any given week is not disproportionate to the total number of miles logged in the week (e.g. not more than about 25%) emphasizes the importance of each training run (and type).

so far, so good.  i'm pleasantly surprised at how i've managed to sustain the 6-days-per-week schedule, and while i'm not clearly seeing gains in pace, i have to admit that this is really the first go at training where i've given myself specific times in which to try and complete specific distances.

i'm always curious to hear about what other training plans have worked for other people - feel free to weigh in on my experiences or your own.  for now, i'll finish out the hansons marathon method and bring the definitive update after may 5 in mississauga.

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fail to plan, plan to fail