Musings on MCM and Pfitz 18/55 training plan

[Wines Not Whines]

I thought I'd write a slightly longer post about yesterday's race and my training plan, because there's a lot of interest in the Pfitz plans. This was my third marathon and third MCM. My first was in 2009 (4:39), second in 2012 (4:29) and then 2013 (4:14). I used a Hal Higdon plan for my first two marathons (similar to Novice II, I think). 

The Pfitz plan was definitely much more intense and involved significantly more mileage. I felt very prepared going into this race. I set an ambitious A goal of 4 hours, and I hit most of my goal paces during training, but it didn't come together on race day. My B goal was 4:15, and I made that goal. 4 hours would've been a PR of 30 minutes from last year, and I think it was too much to ask for in one year (for me). My average pace for the race was pretty close to my long training run pace, which seems to be how I roll, even though you're supposed to be able to run faster on race day. Between race crowdedness, taking longer at water stops (due to crowdedness and other factors), and running a total of 26.68 miles instead of 26.2, it adds up.

I feel like the Pfitz plan made me stronger than in past years. Even when I was in pain at the end, I was able to keep running until the end. Personally, I think 18 weeks is a little long for me, and next time I might make a modified 15 week plan that's in between the Pfitz 12 and 18 week plans. 

MCM is a great race and very inspiring. There are a lot of people running with flags, people running to honor marines and other soldiers killed in combat (a lot of them wear/carry signs), wounded warriors who are running or cycling the race with lost limbs, Marines running in full gear with heavy backpacks, etc. I'm guessing this is something you don't see in a lot of other marathons. It's also a huge race and very crowded, especially for the first few miles. I lined up near the 4:00 sign and I still passed a ton of people in the first few miles who were shuffling along at a snail's pace and even walking. It was very frustrating. I understand why a lot of people prefer smaller races. 

Last night DH and I were talking about which marathon(s) we want to run next year, so we obviously had a great experience. (Last year I swore I never wanted to run another marathon!). I may be asking some follow up questions about other races I know some of you have run! 

[cinco]

Thanks for sharing! You have had such impressive time improvements with each one.

I lined up with the 3:30-3:50 crowd and was definitely side eyeing some of the people that put themselves in that crowd. My first two miles were my slowest, but I actually think that might have helped me reign it in a bit. I do have some thoughts on big vs small marathons, but I'll put it in another post.

I used the 12/55 Pfitz plan this time, and the 18/55 is harder. I know I need to amp it back up to get my time down. I think Pfitz plans definitely help you recover faster, if you decide to do the marathon 3 weeks from now. Just take a few days off completely and expect the first couple runs to feel like crap.

Congrats again!

[cinco]

Ps: Garmin twins! I also ran 26.68

[Wines Not Whines]

Oct 28, 2013 7:01:24 GMT -5 cinco said:

Ps: Garmin twins! I also ran 26.68

Woohoo! Congrats again on a great race! I'd love to hear your thoughts on small vs large races. I did way too much weaving in the early miles.

I actually feel pretty good today. My quads are sore, but it's not much worse than after my 22 mile training run. I'm taking most of the day off work, mostly because I'm tired and I don't want to have to sit in a desk chair for 8 hours and use my brain. But I really feel ok. I can even walk up and down stairs!

[kams]

Amazing! Huge PRs every time! Fantastic!

Congrats on a great race, and thanks for the reviews

[lb2006]

I didn't train w/pfitz, but still ran 26.59 miles. Lots of weaving through people

[runaways]

Congrats again on finishing! I was planning to pick up the Pfitz 12/55 (actually, I started it last week) but realized yesterday that I'm just not going to have time to do all the runs this go round. Anyway, I has a question - did you taper as written in the plan, and did you feel like that was sufficient? Because the taper just doesn't look very...tapery to me, but maybe my perception is skewed.

[Wines Not Whines]

Oct 28, 2013 11:40:52 GMT -5 runaways said:

Congrats again on finishing! I was planning to pick up the Pfitz 12/55 (actually, I started it last week) but realized yesterday that I'm just not going to have time to do all the runs this go round. Anyway, I has a question - did you taper as written in the plan, and did you feel like that was sufficient? Because the taper just doesn't look very...tapery to me, but maybe my perception is skewed.

I tapered more than he called for. I was also trying to heal a calf and achilles injury, so I wanted to be conservative. I ran 40 miles the first week and 30 miles the second week. For the last week, I ran 3 times before the marathon: 5, 4, and 3 miles. I felt well rested.

[ebeth]

do you think pfitz was worth it? all the miles, exhaustion, lack of free time? it sounds like you think it was because you are planning on doing it again.

this is the issue that I"m having with pfitz going forward. I'm trying to determine how much of my 'success' in chicago was attributable to the pfitz plan vs. just being a more experienced runner. was a just ready for that 20 min PR so that I would have gotten it with either pfitz or HH?

either way, I think I'll wait until I'm consistently faster before I train for another marathon so my long runs don't take so freaking long!

[Wines Not Whines]

Oct 28, 2013 12:40:12 GMT -5 ebeth said:

do you think pfitz was worth it? all the miles, exhaustion, lack of free time? it sounds like you think it was because you are planning on doing it again.

this is the issue that I"m having with pfitz going forward. I'm trying to determine how much of my 'success' in chicago was attributable to the pfitz plan vs. just being a more experienced runner. was a just ready for that 20 min PR so that I would have gotten it with either pfitz or HH?

either way, I think I'll wait until I'm consistently faster before I train for another marathon so my long runs don't take so freaking long!

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer. I felt like I half-assed my training last year, and I could've done much better, so I wanted to give it all I had this year and really put in a full effort. Now that I have this training experience and I know I can handle it, I feel like I have more confidence. I think the ideal plan for me may be something in between.

I want to keep improving my race times, but I think the best way for me to do that may be to improve my times at shorter distances first. Now that I've done 3 marathons, I can clearly see how my half and full marathon times correlate to each other. I have a half in early January and it will be interesting to see if my half time improves.

[gt7301b]

Great recap and summary of Pfitz's 18/55. I'm amazed at you for putting in all that extra effort.