These last two weeks have gone quickly and I meant to get out a recap last week but then it turned into halfway through this week and I gave up. So two weeks in one post it is. I’ll try to keep it brief (which we all know I’m bad at).
In general, these last two weeks have been great. I ran 6 days a week both weeks, which I think is a lifetime first for me, and I came out of them feeling really good. I think the heart rate training is REALLY doing me well, especially since one run a week is in Zone 1 thanks to a standing run date with a friend who is pregnant. It has been CRAZY hot in San Diego – it was literally 90 degrees with heavy humidity for my track workout last week (which I did at 6:30 PM)! Overall my paces are a bit slower than average but I’m focusing on effort, not pace, so I feel like these weeks have been a big success. I’m still in the base building phase with 11 weeks to go until the marathon at the end of Week 5.
Week 4
Monday: 7 miles (Zone 2) with Mike. I actually felt pretty crappy on this run after some rest over the weekend at the wedding. A good reminder that resting from running doesn’t necessarily mean you’re actually resting. Socializing, traveling and partying is not recovery!
Tuesday: Pilates Level 2 & Hill Repeats – 5.6 miles . These hill repeats were pretty awesome. Again, Brooke, Mike and also my friend Amy and I met at Torrey Pines for hill repeats. Mike and Amy ran ahead on their own but Brooke stayed back and ran with me. I wore my heart rate monitor and made sure each repeat was in Zone 4 – I was really huffing and puffing and my legs were burning. But, on the 3rd and 4th intervals Brooke could sense I was starting to fade and she really encouraged me to go harder and make it farther up the hill for those final 2 repeats. She kept telling me I could make it to this sign at the top. In the final stretch of the last two intervals I kicked it up and sprinted (which equals a 9 min /mile while you’re running up 8-10% grade) to the sign. After looking at my data later, the 1st, 5th and 6th intervals were significantly faster than the 2nd-4th. It was a good reminder that I’ll need to FOCUS during the middle miles of the marathon.
Wednesday: P90X3 Yoga.
Thursday: 8.4 Threshold Run (2 x 15 min with 3 min recovery). I saved this run for the evening which usually means I’m fresher but in this case, also meant it was much hotter. After slightly disappointing paces on the same run last week, I was hoping to squeak out something closer to a 7:30 average on the 15 minute segments. When I started the run, my legs felt a bit heavy but as soon as I started the intervals, they felt better. Overall, I felt really good on this run. It felt good to push it and I felt like I was flying. I kept seeing low 7s on my watch and I was feeling optimistic. However, a few times I had to stop dead in my tracks to avoid hitting someone or a car on the 101, which definitely impacted my paces. When I looked back on the average, I was happy that I had squeaked out a slightly faster pace than the previous week, although not sub 7:30 as I had hoped.
Friday: 4.2 miles easy, Zone 1 with Allison, Pilates Level 2.5 at lunch (hard as usual)
Saturday: 15.3 miles, with 2 x 10 min @ goal pace, Zone 2 for remainder. Fellow Oiselle runner Laurel, who I originally met in Eugene when I was there for the marathon last year and then reunited with at Bird Camp, was in town for a wedding and we made plans to meet up for a run. Laurel didn’t want to run more than 10 and was staying down south, so I arranged for us to meet at 9 a.m. in Mission Bay so that I could run 5 miles beforehand.
My plan called for a mix of fartlek intervals and some hard miles toward the end, but I modified by taking a workout that I used to do with my first coach (who I used for Eugene/OC). The workout includes 2 intervals at tempo pace toward the beginning of the run so that the entire run “feels” longer than it is. Due to the heat (it was already 80 by 8 a.m.) and the fact that I had a pretty intense week with the hill repeats AND the tempo run, I decided for the “tempo” portion, I’d just try to run it at marathon goal pace. So I warmed up with 2 miles and then I ran 2 x 10 minutes between 8-8:10 and then recovered until I met up with Laurel. I was happy when I looked at my averages and they were right on goal pace – 8:06 and 8:07.
I led Laurel through a 10 mile loop through the beautiful Mission Bay and along Mission Beach and we had a great time learning more about each other and talking all things running. After our run (temps creeping toward 90 at this point) we went out to breakfast with her husband at one of my favorite breakfast places in San Diego, the Mission. It was really fun being down in Mission Bay – it was the first time I have been down there since our wedding last year! So many great memories!
Sunday: 6 miles easy, Zone 1/Low 2 . Another run with a friend – Asia! I ran 6 times this week and only once alone! This one was also really hot – this was the hottest day of the week. As soon as we finished running I got in my swim suit and went down to the beach to get in the ocea
- Total Miles: 46.5
- Total Strengthening/Stretching: 2.25 hours
- Total Time: 8.5 hours
Week 5
Monday: Moderate 4.2 mile run , Zone 2.Thanks to Mike, I did not skip this run despite a later night at work and I felt better for having done it!
Tuesday: Pilates Level 2 & Track Workout – 2 mile warm-up, 3 x 1 mile repeats with 1 lap recovery, cool-down (total 6.6 miles). I was actually surprised that none of the 4 of us (Brooke, Mike and Amy) canceled this run. It was literally 90 degrees in San Diego at 6:30 PM and a freak thunderstorm had just come through and dumped water all over the track. It literally felt like I was in a hot yoga class. But we all showed up and we all ran our intervals. My goal originally was a 7 minute mile but I reminded myself that due to the heat, that probably wouldn’t happen. Instead, I focused on pace. I was happy that I ended up pretty close – 7:10, 7:16 and 7:09 but I was NOT happy that my Garmin was WAY off the mile markers!
I learned a valuable lesson about track workouts and Garmins that night – DO NOT trust the Garmin! Due to the way it calculates your pace, it somehow told me that I ran 1.1 mile for every mile I ran (I stayed in Lane 1 so I know it was a mile). My Garmin was telling me I was running 6:40 average (or less!) for the entire mile and then I’d actually run 7:10. Lesson learned: stay in lane 1 and trust the Garmin at the track! (I’ve done other workouts where I run outside of Lane 1 so I just stop my watch at the 1 mile mark but clearly this is not accurate).
Wednesday: 2.75 miles, Zone 1 with Allison. She’s into the third trimester now so she asked to cut back some of the mileage. Since this was my 7th day in a row running and I had a race coming up that weekend, I decided just to run with her and not add on any miles.
Thursday: Easy/Moderate 7 miles, Zone 1-2 . I ran this one with Asia first thing in the morning and felt pretty good. We ran slow but the miles went by quickly thanks to the company!
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 2 mile warm-up + 10k trail race (which ended up being nearly 6.55 miles) – Recap here! 8.53 miles total.
Sunday: 8.4 miles moderate – Zone 2. I ran with Brooke and Mike and kept it easy. My calves, shins, glutes and ankles were the most sore from the trail race the day before. Trail running really works different muscles! The race really wiped me out and I took a really deep 2 hour nap on Sunday afternoon. In general, I spent the weekend resting, eating healthy food and keeping it low key. It was SO nice to finally relax after quite a crazy summer of being constantly on the go. I really need to make sure I get more weekends like this in over the next few months as training ramps up! I had wanted to do yoga in the afternoon but when I woke up from the nap so groggy, I just really had no desire!
- Total Miles: 37.5
- Total Strengthening/Stretching: 50 minutes
- Total Time: ~7 hours
When you do a track workout, do you stay in lane 1 and count the number of laps, or do you use your Garmin distance? How many days a week do you usually run during marathon training?
Fun with laurel! 🙂 oh, garmins… In the words of a friend, ” So powerful and yet can’t figure out ovals!”