Big River Racing TeamBig River Racing TeamBig River Racing TeamBig River Racing Team
  • About the Team
    • About the Team
    • Meet the Team
      • Men
      • Women
    • Joining the Team
    • Team Store
    • Big River Racing Team News
  • Schedules
    • Calendar
    • Training Schedule
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us

Middling Training

    Home Racing Team News Matt Lawder Middling Training
    NextPrevious

    Middling Training

    By admin | Matt Lawder | Comments are Closed | 19 September, 2014 | 0

    I’m finally into the last phase of training for my upcoming marathon in Twin Cities. But the middle section of training was tough to get through. The heat wave that struck St. Louis coincided with the part of my training where I was trying to increase my mileage and hit some of my bigger workouts. Through most of this section it was difficult to go 100% in the workouts and even my regular runs were wiping me out because of the heat.

    Often that middle segment of training can feel like a slog (even without high heat and humidity mixed in!). Training segments for a big race can feel somewhat like the phases of the race itself. Earlier on in training you’re usually getting back into shape and don’t have a lot of big expectations. You start to feel fit again just by getting in your regular runs and feel good because you’re making progress. As you get to the end of your training (last final couple of weeks before raceday), you can sense the end is near and you know that you have a couple months of training packed into your body. The runs get shorter and easier and the workout are mostly just tune ups and confidence builders.

    But that middle segment once you’ve tapped out all the easy workouts and have the bulk of heavy lifting ahead of you can seem to drag. Conflicting desires can create confusion in a training plan because often you want to increase mileage, but you also want to increase your hard workout load and try to knock out some faster times. This can be the toughest time of training, but that’s typically because this segment is where you’re getting the most benefits and really expanding your fitness.

    I definitely felt like I was slogging through my middle segment with a couple of hot and slow long runs and heat adjusted fartlek workouts. Now that the weather has cooled off, hopefully that grinding will have paid off. Only a few weeks to go until the marathon. Then we will now for sure.

    Recent Workouts

    Nothing too exciting lately its been some big tempos and shorter fartleks. Hit a 12 mile tempo averaging 5:25 solo around a three mile road loop in forest park a few weeks back. Went 16:26/16:20/16:12/16:05 for the four loops. Was real even, hitting a 8 of the miles between 5:23 and 5:27. 16 mile tempo coming up as the next and final big workout.

    Training Segments

    admin

    This information box about the author only appears if the author has biographical information. Otherwise there is not author box shown. Follow YOOtheme on Twitter or read the blog.

    More posts by admin

    Related Post

    • Tapering for NYC

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      Written by Matt Lawder I’m trying to get back to writing some regular updates from my training to post to the website. I don’t think I’ve written anything for a little over a year. SinceRead more

    • Twin Cities Pre-Race

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      Only two days left until Twin Cities! At this point, I just can’t wait for the race to get here. The workouts have gone well, the taper has gone well, and the legs are feelingRead more

    • Back to Training

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      After a couple of fun summer races, it’s back to regular training for me. It’s amazing how quickly the fall season sneaks up on you, but I’ve only got around 12 weeks until the nextRead more

    • Dam to Dam

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      I’ve been dreading having to put up this post a little bit. I raced in the Dam to Dam half marathon on Saturday in Des Moines, IA. However the race did not go as IRead more

    • One Week to Go

      By admin | Comments are Closed

      It’s one week until my upcoming half marathon. And that means it time for the taper. As the Hall of Fame high school coach Jim Linhares used to tell us towards the end of theRead more

    NextPrevious

    Recent Posts

    • Frostbite Fun & Winter Wins
    • November Recap
    • October Recap
    • Women Finish 1-2-3 at Spewak Cross Country Race
    • MO’ Cowbell & September Recap

    Archives

    • February 2023
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • June 2020
    • March 2020
    • January 2020
    • January 2019
    • April 2017
    • May 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014

    Recent Posts

    • Frostbite Fun & Winter Wins

      Big River Racing Team members have racked up some strong performances the

      16 February, 2023
    • November Recap

      Big River Racing athletes continued to impress in November! On November 5,

      30 November, 2022
    • October Recap

      After strong performances in September and the beginning of October, the Big

      2 November, 2022
    Big River Racing

    Big River Racing is about running in its purest form. We encompass racing and pushing one’s limits, accepting anyone who shares our passion for running. The team is a dedicated group of like-minded individuals who train, race and socialize with the goal of improving the St. Louis running community through advocacy, openness and volunteerism. The team exists to support runners from post-collegiate athletes to those relatively new to the sport and anyone in between.
    Copyright © 2022 Big River Racing Team
    • About the Team
      • About the Team
      • Meet the Team
        • Men
        • Women
      • Joining the Team
      • Team Store
      • Big River Racing Team News
    • Schedules
      • Calendar
      • Training Schedule
    • Sponsors
    • Contact Us
    Big River Racing Team
    Manage Cookie Consent
    To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}