Here are my workouts for week 2, training for my 3 marathons this Fall:
Sunday 6/23/13 – 11 Miles
Today completes week 2, with 28.65 total miles for the week. We’re underway!
Ran at White Rock Lake, one of my favorite places to complete LSD runs. It was warm and windy. Of course the wind calmed down as soon as I started moving south and could have used a tail wind. Oh well.
Bugs…I’ve never encountered so many bugs out there. At times it felt like a drizzle of rain…but it was bugs. I ate plenty of them. At the moment, I’m still alive.
I had a restroom break around 6 miles, and two water / GU breaks. Picked up the pace a little on the last 2.5 miles. Felt fine when I was done. Average “moving” pace was 10:13; Overall average pace was 10:35.
I had to keep reminding myself that it was OK to go slower. Constant conversation with myself as I’m trying to complete these Fall marathons with better times.
This was a good week. I hit my marks.
Saturday 6/22/13 – 5 Miles
Woke up this morning and tackled my 5-mile run. Got up at 5 and had a little coffee. Always try to get things moving before I start running, if you know what I mean. Walked out and it felt cooler…though it wasn’t. Texas summer is a deceiver. The plan was just to work on form and breathing as always. I’ve not taken anything to listen to up to this point in the week. So today I listened to last week’s This American Life. I decided not to look at my watch until it beeped a mile. When it did, I was somewhere under 10:00, so I decided to just keep that pace and work on form.
When I work on form, I mentally go through and correct each facet. Starting with overall posture – head up, chest proud, arms straight back and forth as opposed to across, then mid-foot strike, then stride speed and finally leaning slightly forward and kind of “falling into” the run while pushing off slightly harder. I repeat that process mentally, taking note of breathing in a 3:2 with my stride.
Today, that work produced (though I wasn’t trying for it to), a beautiful set of negative splits: 9:48, 9:35, 9:29, 9:26, 8:58. Funny thing was that I was not trying to speed up. Not super speedy, but this was not a speed work day. Saturdays are really more like a prep for Sundays.
After running, I rested and then went to boot camp. Then out to breakfast.
Tomorrow is the long slow distance of 11 miles.
Friday 6/21/13
REST DAY! How sweet it is.
Thursday 6/20/13 – 3 Miles Pace
Today was a 3 Miles @ Pace run, meaning marathon pace, or 9:09 per mile. When I started out, the second time I looked at my watch, I was at 9:09 exactly. Then I started going a little faster. I decided to just relax and go with it. Next pace run, though I need to try to discipline myself to the pace I’m trying to run so that my body will readily remember that pace. So I came in under (8:52). Since I felt good and since I can rest tomorrow, I just went with it. Next time, though…
Also did boot camp today. It was just me and Whitney. Jeremy worked lots of pull ups today. I’m getting there, but I still have not done an unassisted pull up. The day I do is going to be a celebration, though. I’ll tell you that. Tomorrow is rest day!
I watched Spirit of the Marathon yesterday. Love that movie. More on that later.
Wednesday 6/19/13 – 3 Miles
Went to boot camp this morning (ran about mile there) and then came home and got right out on the street for this easy 3 miler. Utilized the Valley Ridge hill over I-35 – top of that hill is about halfway. My legs felt heavy for the first mile. I started to get a little discouraged, and then they eased up a bit. Keeping what felt like the same effort, my speed increased a little. Felt good when I was done.
Tuesday, 6/18/13 – 30 Minute Tempo
Thunderstorms this morning meant no boot camp and no run. I didn’t eat very well today. I went for my 30 minute tempo run at about 6 PM. It was 84 degrees, but it felt hot. I also felt bloated, heavy and slow. My speed work on this tempo run was slower than last week, and it was harder. I didn’t feel very inspired. The clock seemed to move very slowly. It wasn’t pretty, but it is done! All 30 minutes of it. And I can hit boot camp tomorrow. followed by an easy 3.
Monday 6/17/13 – 3 Miles
Today was an easy 3 miles. I did not go to boot camp today because I had to drop Lyla off at church for her summer camp at 5:30. So I started out about 6:00. Not much to report. Pretty routine. Thunderstorms were about to roll in, but I got done in plenty of time.
greggorunner 