Houston Marathon: Week 10

Week 10 Primary Focus:         Build
Longest Run To-Date:             12mi

Back in Week 1 I touched on the "Base" phase of marathon training and what it entails. As a reminder, the base period leading up to a race is more focused on strength and endurance. It typically comprises of lower intensity-type workouts: lower heart rate zone runs, weight training, hills, etc. Now that I've had a solid amount of base training, it's time to move on to what we'll refer to as "Build."

The Build phase, as its name implies, starts to ramp up the intensity as each workout builds on the previous. In other words, the intensity (and to some degree the volume) will gradually increase toward race day. And of course, recovery will be incorporated because without it, you never actually get stronger and reap the benefits of the added workload. This is all a part of the broader 'periodization' plan: increase the workload over time, back off and recover so you can come back stronger, repeat.

Dallas Half Marathon

This week was interesting in that it felt like race week. Probably because it was. It was this week that I had planned to run the Dallas Half Marathon on Sunday, December 8th. The plan was to run it fast, and on tired legs. But my training race got cancelled as the Dallas Marathon officials decided the Friday before that it wasn't going to be safe for runners due to weather. Dallas, along with most of the country, got hit hard with winter weather. Freezing rain and temperatures in the 20s provided for slick roads. I expressed my complaints about the race cancellation (primarily aimed at the haste of the decision) but ultimately agree it was the right one.

I had prepared all week for that race. I was being very methodical about all aspects of life: hydration, sleep, stretching, etc. I was hyper-focused as I knew it was going to be a tough run. It's a bummer to have something cancelled like that; it was the first time anything like that had happened to me. But luckily, it was only a training race. So you roll with the punches, adapt, and push forward.

Collapsed tree from the freezing rain

Back to the Houston Marathon home page.