Monday, July 26, 2010

Last week before Marathon Training - full disclosure.

After my time off and the 15k trail race, I decided I needed one "base" week of "real" mileage before starting my marathon training program. 14 full weeks before, so somewhat close to the often-mentioned 16-week plans out there.
GOAL: 3 early morning runs during the week: 6.0, 5.1, and 4 (hilly) miles and one long run, hoping for 12 miles.
Monday - 5:50am, ~75°. 6.0 miles, Oak Grove Lake Loop (Seven, 0.85 loops, pretty flat). Felt pretty winded throughout. Legs actually felt fresh, but very weak (if that makes any sense at all). Time was 54:56. Trying to blame my slow pace (compared to what I have been able to run this in the past) on the heat/humidity, but afraid that is just where I am these days.
Wednesday - 6:00am, ~74. 5.1 miles. Oak Grove Lake Loop (Six loops). Still getting winded. Legs began feeling it after 3 miles. Didn't I just run 31 miles straight only 6 weeks ago??? Time: 45:53.
Thursday - 6:15am, 76°. ~4 miles. ICAR campus (where I work, Hubbell, to Innovation Drive, turn around at Laurens Rd, back to the traffic circle on Millennium Blvd, that out to Laurens Rd, turn around and back to work. Mostly hills). Been VERY WARM/HOT all week and excessively humid. Ok, really for a few weeks now. I used to think 70° at 5am was bad...now I'm looking forward to low 70's. This run was all right, only slighly off my normal pace for this course. Time: 35:05
Friday - lunchtime yoga. 30 minutes. Beginner stuff still after 2+ years of 1-2x a week. Wishing to become more flexible, or at least flexible in some manner of my imagination.
Long run was planned for Saturday, but after another week of little sleep and a late night Friday with a cranky 20 month old, decided to sleep in Saturday morning. One decent night of sleep would better prepare me. Still up at 7, but that's an improvement.
Sunday - going to bed early the night before didn't happen. Oh well. 5:20am, 80°. Yep, 80 degrees. In my head I was going to do 12 miles. First few laps, was counting down from 12, until I realized 12 laps would only equal 10.2 miles. I'll just see how I feel - even 25 total miles for the week would be a positive for me. Wore my heartrate monitor just for kicks. Have worn my orthotics every moment sicne the trail run with no real issues. Foot seems to be getting better, but still not 100%. Some moments, I'd say it's better, other moments - ouch. Consistent pacing - 10 laps between 7:50 and 8:02, and six of those between 8:00 and 8:02. 2 other laps a bit over due to refilling my water bottle and pushed the last lap down to 7:24.
Consistent heartrate - After 3 laps, it was at 139 and evened off at 144. Overall avg = 140. I'd walk for 1 minute or so each lap, my HR would hit 1:48 about every lap. Felt good, even with feeling my thighs/quads about halfway thru the run. That subsided after a lap or two and could have gone further if I had more water or Needed to. But I didn't. I got in my 11.9 miles in 1:55:34 (which includes a 4+ minute stop to chat with a dog-walker I see often). Had a slight blister on the tip of my 2nd toe (rt foot) after the 15k, but gave it no though until after my long run - it was back. I blame the orthotics, but expect it will be fine.
27 miles for the week! SUCCESS!
On tap this week - my First speedwork (tomorrow) since January. Will use my 4x800's to determine what my marathon goal and training times will be for the Marine Corps - using the FIRST plan again, 3 days a week (but I'm adding a 4mile easy hills run each week for extra mileage.) 

1 comment:

Psyche said...

The Guz is keepin' it honest. Really looking forward to watching your progression over the next 3-4 months:)