Week 3: Marathon Training

Happy Monday!

This past week of training went really well. I feel like I’m on track and kind of getting the hang of how things are going. I also have a pretty solid plan for what I’ll be doing for cross training (Gold’s Fit class 1x/wk, Swim at least 1x/week, cycle at least 1x/week – on run days, so I can still have my off day).

AND! I started a journal so that I can better keep track of how my workouts went so I can be a little more detailed for you guys. It’s also been nice to jot things down afterwards and reflect a little bit.

[ week 3 / 27 weeks until 26.2 ]

Sunday – Skyline Half/10K/5K (I did 10K, or about 6 miles), I wrote a bit about this in my previous post. It was really fun! And just a PERFECT day. I kept about an 8:30 pace and, though not really having a “goal time” since this was my first official 10K, finished in 55min (to my surprise pulled 5th in my age group!)

I also did a short swim Sunday after the race – I had all this energy and wanted to use my brand new gym membership. Really loving having access to a pool! I just did 750yds. It felt great. I was definitely ready for a large meal and a nap afterwards.

 

Monday – 30:00min run easy – 3.14miles. Ok, I clearly need to work on my note-taking skills – in my journal I wrote, “felt good.” I think it’s hard to say a lot about a short, easy run. It just kind of either feels good, or doesn’t.

I also did a one-hour Gold’s Fit class (Cross Fit). This was my first class like this. I think it’s just what I need in the mix to help with my strength training. Coach gives me strength training exercises, but it’s nice to have a class to follow – especially when strength training is something you somewhat dread and is like a foreign language to you.

I was definitely sore after this class (good thing!) – we did “challenging new moves,” per my journal, wall balls, squats, chest presses, things of this nature. I did think it would be a little more fast paced than it was, but maybe it just seemed this way because I wasn’t lifting heavy (we had time in between reps, which I could see necessary for those working with heavier weight). I’ll be going again this week, so I’ll keep you updated on how the class changes/doesn’t change or differs by instructor. I think it’ll be really different each time.

Tuesday – Tempo run, 42:21, 4.59 miles, 9:13/mi – this was a really interesting run for me. I had never done anything quite like this. I actually really enjoyed it. I was feeling great that day, the weather was nice, and time FLEW as I focused on my watch and keeping time. Coach listed in Training Peaks: 1 mile easy, 8x(:40 hard, 1:20 easy, continuous), 1 mile easy. I had never focused on time so much – since this run, it’s basically been x miles easy, y miles hard – or something to that extent. So, I enjoyed this challenge. I also took an etirely new route this day – so new things all around! It was a nice change of pace (literally).

Wednesday – EARLY morning run to beat the heat! Alarm went off at 4:30am, then 4:40am, 4:45… it was hard to drag myself out of bed – suddenly that Gold’s Fit class hit me and muscles were sore that I didn’t even know existed. I got up and out the door and did another easy 30:00min jog 10min pace/3 miles easy. I wasn’t SO sore that it was difficult to run or changed my gait or anything like that, in fact – it was mostly my upper body that was sore. Running actually felt good and loosened up those sore muscles. It felt ESPECIALLY good because it was actually CHILLY out (What!??? I live in Texas, y’all). I actually wore my arm sleeves AND they didn’t even come off!!! (?!). It was ah-maze-ing.

I jotted down that I really wanted to do a cycling class after work, but didn’t. With running 6 days/week now, I can’t cycle as much as I’d like to (yet!) or else I’d be, as coach says, “pooped.” Pooped, indeed… my body was content with ending the workout at 3 easy miles today. Hopefully once I adjust to this amount of running I can get more than 1 spin class in per week… plus swim… and Cross Fit… there’s just too much I want to do! I think I genuinely love cross-training just as much as running. I love switching it up.

Thursday – Easy 4 miles – 37:34, 9:23/mile. Woke up early again to beat the heat, and my body was not enjoying the whole “waking up” part… but I did it and got my run in. It was cold again this morning! (Yay!) Waking up early really helped this week – it was chilly in the mornings, but 80+ by mid-day. Today my legs/body/cardio felt GREAT – like I could just keep going and going. I wanted again to cycle after work, but held off as I knew the next day I was waking up at 4:30am (again) to cycle and do a progression run.

Friday – 4:30am alarm! I must be getting used to it, because the alarms didn’t seem as evil today. Today I put in work (or, dare I say, Torque). Spin class early morning (got 1st on the ‘Torq’ board and 1st in all the sprints… I must admit I’m a speedy devil and LOVE the competition of those sprints… my favorite!!! Excited just thinking about it!) Anyway, spin class was over by 6:30am, went home then got ready for my progression run.

Fortunately it was still nice and cool out at this time. I did 5 miles, 44:35, 8:55 avg pace. What is it called when your split time is faster each mile? Well, I did that thing! And I am oober proud of myself. My splits for each of the 5 miles: 9:12, 9:03, 9:00, 8:48, 8:32. Knocked off just a few seconds each mile and am super happy with that. I felt like this was a really productive run – my body/legs/cardio felt great yet I felt challenged. I also knew the next day was rest day!

Saturday – Rest day! My body needed it. I slept about 18 hours Friday night and even took a nap on Saturday. I’d say I nailed recovery day.

Sunday – Long run day! Sunday “RUNday,” as I officially call it. Right now my long run distance is at 7.5 miles (I see Coach is upping it by .5 or 1 mile each time! Next week is 8!) 7.5 feels “long” to me right now, and it felt like what it was – a long run. But it felt good. Nothing was hurting (knees, hamstring, anything like that), so I consider a run with no pain, a good run. For the first hour of this run it was an easy, 10min/mile pace and for the last 15min, I stepped it up bit to get to heavier breathing. The first 3-4 miles went by like THAT! It felt really nice out this morning, too, which helped. The last half mile was a challenge – heavy breathing, heavy legs, but all-over a good run.

So here we are! The start of week FOUR! I have a feeling this training is going to go by so fast. Next thing you know I’ll be in Vegas at that start line…

Thank you, thank you to Andrew Simmons with Lifelong Endurance for coaching me through my journey to 26.2. If you guys have any questions about how coaching is going, feel free to ask! Hopefully you can get an idea from my weekly workouts, but I’m happy to answer any other questions you might have! This is a new experience for me and I’m all for an honest opinion and hope to relate, help, and motivate others through my experience!

Thanks for reading!