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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Training Update



I'm training for the Los Angeles Marathon, my first marathon in six and a half years. Even though I'm a few years older, I'm going to finish faster by training smarter. My goal is to run the marathon in 4:30-4:45. If I can maintain the 10:30 per mile pace from the City of Angels Half Marathon, then I can do it.

Part of my training is running with others, which is something I've never really done before. I've joined the Los Feliz Flyers, a group that does weekly track workouts. The group has all sorts. There are some rather hardcore members, and then there are the "TOG's" -- The Other Group. The TOGs are a little slower than the hardcore group, and we run a total of three miles for a workout. Last week, we did 800 m at 5k pace, then 1200 m at 10k pace, 800, 1200, and 800. It's a good group, not competitive, and I find myself somewhere in the middle of the TOGs pack.

Next, I'm joining a group for my longer runs, the LA Leggers. They have several pace groups and meet early on Saturday mornings. This morning I tried them out for the first time, joining the twenty or so members of the 10:30/mile pace group -- I wasn't sure whether to run with the 11 minute/mile group or the 10:30's, but I think I chose well.

The group's training is modeled after the Galloway program -- they run for 8 minutes, then walk for one minute. We run in a line, two by two, with two group "mentors". It was a nice run, starting near the Santa Monica Pier and heading north to San Vincente Boulevard through Brentwood. I enjoyed it-- it breaks up the monotony of a long run, and it's helpful to be in a group keeping a consistent pace.

Photo from www.kidprintables.com

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the training. It sounds like you have a great plan set up.

Rachel said...

Great blog! I love your goals for your upcoming marathon (couldn't find a place to comment on that post for some reason). You will surely PR. I love the information you post. I'm a postdoc studying atherosclerosis so I love teaching people how to beat obesity and its related diseases. Nice work.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

wishing you the best of luck with training for the marathon!

Anonymous said...

Good luck training. That's smart that you're joining a couple of running clubs. I've never really run with a group or joined a club, but I've heard from an out of state marathon runner friend of mine that that is really the way to improve and train. I like how the slower group is called 'the other group'- I think I would be in that group too!

Are you going to be training with GU or some other energy gel type thing? If I ever do run another full marathon I think it would be smart to train with them. My first marathon I totally ran out of gas around mile 20 and I think some GU would've really helped!