Here’s a topic that’s perfect for this forum, not least of all because a lot of the people who could be, should be (why aren’t you?) reading this are thinking about it: What will I run at Tokyo? Hoping to unleash a flood of discussion, here’s my take.
My training for Tokyo opened with a determination to run below my 3:11 PB. Until the beginning of this year, I would have said I was edging towards that. A great end of year 30k in Osaka, a better 35k on the first Sunday of January; Wednesday night speed plus distance workouts that exceeded expectations; comfortable tempo runs; consistently rising mileage. Everything was pointing in the right direction and looking good.
But on January 14, I got the unwanted birthday present of the Sunday run from hell. I plodded a lonely course through Yoyogi, watching the pack run away from me, dwindle and disappear, leaving me to run at a pace below that of my Saturday slow (recovery pace) runs. Nothing else I could do! Wednesdays were the same, as both speed and distance slipped away. There was no apparent rhyme or reason for this abrupt and then persistent decline. No pain, no fatigue, no trouble sleeping; and I was sleeping long enough, seven hours a night. I eased off mileage to see if that helped, but it made no apparent difference. Racing a slow leg at Shibuya ekiden only confirmed what I already knew: Bye bye 3:11.
So, here we are. Seventeen days out. I did 98 plus change at Shinjuku half. Way too slow for a 3:11 full marathon. For the moment I’m hoping I’ve settled at this level, that the deterioration will not go on, and that I will manage to finish Tokyo under 3:30. Let us see what we shall see.
Gareth
9 comments:
Worth a try!
Juergen
Have you had a dietician examine what you are eating?Do you keep a food diary? Have you had a blood test?
If you have a 3-11 PB you are a decent runner and in the absence of injury or illness you should be thinking of going sub 3 (in the not too distant future)rather than talking about 3-30 !!
Good Luck/Gambatte
Nice post Gareth. I really encourage others who are running Tokyo to put up some similar posts (not comments to this one) analysing their background and progress towards Tokyo. I will do so shortly.
Jon's suggestions about diet are valid (iron?), but it is hard to be definitive about just what has happened to you through January. I have some theories, but won't speculate here as they could easily be knocked on the head like so many mogura. I just wish you luck old friend and hope that on the day, on fresh legs, you find within yourself a performance that you will be proud of.
With a 98 in the Shinjuku Half you better stay away from a PB attempt but you seem to know that already. Whatever the reasons were, it's probably not worth it getting killed in the 2nd half of the Tokyo race. I'd say even for a 3:25 you'd have to clench teeth. Go out easy and see if you can run a negative split. Good luck! Ingo
When did you start your training for Tokyo?
Obviously, this shows that you should stop running that tiny, boring yoyogi course and get out into the wide world where you can run free.
By the way, Jason will be a 3:30 pacer at Tokyo.
Bob
gareth I think having a sluggish week or so of training does not mean your better training weeks don"t count, they are in the bank and can be drawn upon on the big day, i'd say stick to your guns and go for it peter a
As for my training I have just done enough to be confident of a finish and hopefully be snapping on the heels of the 3.30 pacemaker, I've had 12 weeks averaging 65k's, 4 30-32k runs and one 40k training run. So 5 runs over thirty k's but then it drops down to 10-15 k runs with a sprinkle of 6k's. I know, not eneogh the negatives being virtually no tempo or interval training, during this period i did a 10k race in 43.50 and last week a solid tempo 11k's in 51 minutes. my longer runs are slow b/w 5.30-6.00 minute pace and little running in the crucial 20-30k range.......so the positives i am injury free, not even niggles at the moment other than long run soreness and my training has all been in the 20-30 degree celsius range...my question how much will i gain on marathon day with the temperature likely to be no more than 15 degrees? I hope it gives me some boost, the plan, start slow as i'm sure the number of participants will make sure of that, get to the half as close to 100 minutes as possible probably around 105-110 minutes and either hang on or belt home depending how i feel i'd love to negative split but i've only done that once in a marathon before, my PB run, cheers for now peter a
PS my PB run 3.09, it was so cold, 4 degrees my thighs were numb untill the half point and i wasn"t sore until the last 5 k's hope this happens again!!!!
Gareth,
Maybe you're just tired (mentally as well as physically. You were doing a lot of running before the "slow down." And I concur with Bob, that the smaller the loop, the tougher it is on your psyche. I enjoy running the Imperial Palace course, because the units (5K) are the ideal size for passing the time and chewing up the distance. Also the 5K distance is what you'll likely be breaking your marathon into. What have your recent Palace runs been like? Check out your 5K splits. I bet you are ready to do a 3:20 marathon.
Appropreate tapering makes enormous difference, in my experience. If you done enough mileage during January, regardless what pace it was, you should be more confident! Neve mind about half marahon time before tapering period.
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