Feed the Beast

Time to Feed the Beast

Me:  “I ran 6 days last week, new all time high mileage.”

Friend:  “That’s how you Feed the Beast!”

Now I have a new phrase.  I used it teaching math class today.  Feed the Beast…the Beast is You.  The Beast eats quadratics.  Time to Feast.

But for me, The Beast Eats Miles.  Time to Feed the Beast! 

How’s that motto sound?

Yet, I’m like a dog with two bones, see.  I want to keep both, and that makes it difficult to enjoy either.  I want to run my first marathon this winter, but it is just three tiny weeks on the heels of a century ride I’d like to do.  My options are:

1.       Reschedule the ride

2.       Reschedule the marathon

3.       Take it easy on the ride

4.       Take it easy on the marathon

None of those are Beastly.  They’re all milk-toast. 

I’ve done google searches over-and-again and found a few threads started on message boards, but nothing really showing how people perform events like this.  Guess I’ll be blazing my own trail.

My goal on the century ride (Probably 112 miles) will be a sub-5 hour time.  My goal on the marathon will be 3:30. 

The tricky part will be getting enough quality running in, without too much down time devoted to riding.  I am leaning towards the idea of alternating weeks of focus.  So, odd numbered weeks would be a running focus and have a long run on the weekend.  Even numbered weeks would be cycling focus with a long ride on the weekend. 

One down side is the length of the training schedule.  I want to keep it 20 weeks or less (because I’m pretty busy otherwise). 

One up side is that breaking apart each week into a particular focus might limit some of the hum-drum of “I’m spending 6 hours on the bike Saturday, again!”  We’ll see.

Here’s a snap shot of what I’m developing.  It’s the final month stretch including the two races.

In particular, I'm concerned that 5 weeks is too long of a time between the longest training run and the marathon.  

Any way I go about it, I'll definitely be Feeding the Beast!