What Training Have You Done Today?

[Dangerscouse]

Huge thanks for the warm welcome from Sakly , P_b82 and Dangerscouse - your responses make me super glad I decided to start posting! Lots of great experience and thoughts for me to consider and incorporate! I'll be sure to continue to update my approach and read through past threads.

I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll offer just some quick responses here - I'll be certain to post in other threads as more questions come up.

Re: the three halfs being non-stop -> yes. The first and third were both one go - no stops/no fueling/no hydration. During the second one I had Clif Bloks within arms reach and ate a few but similarly otherwise no rest/no hydration (clearly this is not optimal...).

Muscular fatigue requiring different preparation is giving me lots to think about. Overall your responses helped me think more about what I want out of the marathon and I think the honest answer is that I see it as a mix of accomplishing a mini milestone (first FM on rower) with a self imposed challenge/punishment(?) for being inconsistent and putting on weight over the holidays. I don't see it as me trying to get the absolute best out of myself.
Maybe to put it another way - I realize I'd rather go for the marathon as soon as I'm back at lightweight (8 pounds to go) even if the experience of the marathon ends up being way more of a challenge than I'm prepared for.. Right now my thinking is that I'll try to pull a 1:59.9 (I know that number shouldn't matter but I have to admit that it does to me...) and if I end up falling short b/c of being underprepared that's ok because I'll have one in the logbook and then I'll be ready to move on to what I actually want to be doing -> specific training aimed at goals for the 30 min / 60 min efforts. I might do a 30k+ before the effort - maybe Friday instead of those 4k intervals I'd thrown out.

FWIW, I have never had any drink / carbs in any distance under 20 miles and I've never felt like it hindered me either. Admittedly, this might be quite subjective but don't think that you have to refuel / rehydrate for a HM.

With regards to the target pace, I do understand your thoughts and it's does have a better ring to it than it being over 2:00, but be careful that you don't define your success by this. It's a careful balancing act between it being motivational and detrimental, as you probably already know. Having said that, with a 80 min HM already done, a sub 2:00 pace FM is definitely possible.

[Sakly]

Huge thanks for the warm welcome from Sakly , P_b82 and Dangerscouse - your responses make me super glad I decided to start posting! Lots of great experience and thoughts for me to consider and incorporate! I'll be sure to continue to update my approach and read through past threads.

I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll offer just some quick responses here - I'll be certain to post in other threads as more questions come up.

Re: the three halfs being non-stop -> yes. The first and third were both one go - no stops/no fueling/no hydration. During the second one I had Clif Bloks within arms reach and ate a few but similarly otherwise no rest/no hydration (clearly this is not optimal...).

Muscular fatigue requiring different preparation is giving me lots to think about. Overall your responses helped me think more about what I want out of the marathon and I think the honest answer is that I see it as a mix of accomplishing a mini milestone (first FM on rower) with a self imposed challenge/punishment(?) for being inconsistent and putting on weight over the holidays. I don't see it as me trying to get the absolute best out of myself.
Maybe to put it another way - I realize I'd rather go for the marathon as soon as I'm back at lightweight (8 pounds to go) even if the experience of the marathon ends up being way more of a challenge than I'm prepared for.. Right now my thinking is that I'll try to pull a 1:59.9 (I know that number shouldn't matter but I have to admit that it does to me...) and if I end up falling short b/c of being underprepared that's ok because I'll have one in the logbook and then I'll be ready to move on to what I actually want to be doing -> specific training aimed at goals for the 30 min / 60 min efforts. I might do a 30k+ before the effort - maybe Friday instead of those 4k intervals I'd thrown out.

Thanks again - I'll keep thinking and reading. I'll post an update in the personal best thread once I have a result since even if it goes poorly it'll be a PB hahaha.

Agree to Stu, never had any hydration or food for a half. This is a standard training session for me and even on more challenging paces (PB pace is 1:52) this is absolutely no problem.
I did my first full marathon in '23 to get a feel for the distance, so it was at steady state pace and also had no food or hydration whatsoever. No idea if that will work for my next marathon, when I try to hit a specific target with an ambitious pace, but I will find out
Looking forward to see your progress and results!

[Dangerscouse]

1:21:49.9 21,097m 1:56.3 222 1064 22 148
12:00.0 3,000m 2:00.0 203 997 20 132
11:09.0 6,000m 1:51.5 252 1168 25 149
11:59.9 9,000m 1:59.9 203 997 20 144
11:08.3 12,000m 1:51.3 253 1171 25 154
11:58.9 15,000m 1:59.8 203 1000 20 147
11:07.5 18,000m 1:51.2 254 1174 26 162
12:03.5 21,000m 2:00.5 200 987 20 151
0:22.8 21,097m 1:57.5 216 1042 18 153

We had an unplanned night out last night, so i was a bit hungover and tired but from somewhere I managed to convince myself that I'd be capable of more as long as it was an on/off type of session

That last r26 interval almost wiped me out as I wasn't close to neg splitting near the end, so it was a massive long shot that paid off. I definitely paid for it in the last 3k

[petererg]

1hr at target of 2:14.

Time Meters Pace Watts Cal/Hr S/M
1:00:00.0 13,480m 2:13.5 147 805 20 126
10:00.0 2,240m 2:13.9 146 801 20 121
20:00.0 2,246m 2:13.5 147 805 20 124
30:00.0 2,252m 2:13.2 148 809 20 127
40:00.0 2,272m 2:12.0 152 823 19 132
50:00.0 2,231m 2:14.4 144 795 20 126
1:00:00.0 2,241m 2:13.8 146 802 21 129

[alex9026]

12:40.8 4,000m 1:35.1 407 1700 33
0:45.0 250m 1:30.0 480 1952 39
r: 1:30 24m
1:31.3 500m 1:31.3 460 1882 36
r: 3:00 21m
2:22.4 750m 1:34.9 409 1707 32
r: 4:30 112m
3:15.9 1,000m 1:37.9 372 1581 31
r: 6:00 209m
2:26.1 750m 1:37.4 379 1603 31
r: 4:30 272m
1:35.0 500m 1:35.0 408 1704 35
r: 3:00 76m
0:45.0 250m 1:30.0 480 1952 37
r: 1:30 17m

Few days off the Erg involved a run and strength session. I always found this one a mental battle. The pieces are short enough and rest periods long enough to encourage you to push the pace a little, but go off too hard and you'll pay the price on the 'descent'. I'll pace this the same next time out, with a view to the pace of second 750m and 500m getting closer to the first.

40:39.0 10,000m 2:01.9 193 964 21
8:15.8 2,000m 2:03.9 184 932 22
8:11.4 4,000m. 2:02.8 189 949 21
8:07.4 6,000m. 2:01.8 193 965 21
8:05.2 8,000m. 2:01.3 196 974 21
7:59.0 10,000m 1:59.7 204 1001 20

Followed by a 10k c/d

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks again - I'll keep thinking and reading.

One other thing that has just occurred to me. As you're aiming for a specific pace, make sure that you only drink / eat when you're at least halfway through your chosen interval. I row one handed to do it, but, as an example, of you do it at the start of a 5k interval, your pace will drop significantly and you'll then (probably) be desperate to get it back on track, and inevitably waste energy.

If you do it at, say 4k into the 5k the difference to your pace will be a lot less due to the way that the monitor calculates the data, especially if you come to a complete stop rather than row one handed.

It's a small thing, but it definitely helps keep your mind on track, especially when you're starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and emotional.