Tag Archives: marathon training

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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Marathon training week five was a mix of good and bad. The good – I got to do most of my runs in warmth and sunshine since I spent Christmas down in Florida with my family! It felt so great to run in shorts and a tank again. The bad – while I’m getting my miles in my paces just aren’t where I want them to be. I’m hoping that changes once I completely shake this cold, but I’m definitely not there yet. I also missed one of my runs this Sunday. All together I put in just under 40 miles for last week and am looking forward to working on pushing the pace this week.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: I used all of my motivation to run 6 easy miles after work in the cold, freezing rain and dark. It wasn’t pleasant, but was one of my best runs of the week.

Tuesday: Rest day. I spent most of Tuesday traveling – thank goodness for Gogo internet!

Wednesday: I headed out in the heat and humidity Wednesday afternoon and loved every bit of it! I had planned to run to the track and get my interval run in, but it was all locked up. Instead I explored the streets and put in a little over 6 miles.

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Thursday: I put in 7 Christmas miles sticking close to the neighborhood we were staying in.

Friday: Even though the track was locked up, I made my way over to the high school here and put in five 1000 meter repeats on the empty roads around the school. Phew, that is a long way to go when pushing the pace. I’m not exactly looking forward to this week’s 1200s, but I felt so pumped when I completed the workout!

Saturday: After a bit too much to eat and drink on Friday night I was not super excited for my long run, but knew I had to get it in. Luckily I packed my Nathan Hydration vest for the trip as it was another hot and humid one. It was a bit slower than I would have liked, but I got all 12 miles in and took in some great views when I ventured down to the Boardwalk by a marina.

Sunday: I ran out of motivation today after stacking all of my hard runs at the end of the week and ended up passing on today’s tempo run. I’m hoping to get it in on Monday morning though!

Footprints: Monday Morning Recap

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And just like that, week 2 of marathon training is done! Other than coming down with a cold at the end of the week it was a great week and I felt especially good about my first speed workout in a while. All told, I tallied just more than 40 miles last week.

Here’s the day-by-day breakdown:

Monday: I got 6 miles in on a beautiful day before heading back to D.C.

Tuesday: Rest day.

Wednesday: I had a speed workout on tap for Wednesday that had me pretty nervous since I hadn’t done one in quite some time and knew this would be a true test of where I was at. I decided to start just after work and end at my apartment. I put in about a 2 mile warm-up before kicking off my 12 X 400 meter repeats with a 400 recovery jog between each, followed by a 2-mile cool down for a total of 10 miles. I set my Garmin up for the workout so I wouldn’t have to look at my watch at all and could just run by feel. This worked out great and when I checked my paces after the run I had kept each repeat between a 6:35 and 7-minute pace. Ideally I would have hit them all around the 6:35 pace, but given it was my first speed work in awhile and that it wasn’t a flat course, I felt really great about it.

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Thursday: After a tough speed day, I put in 6 easy miles along the Mt. Vernon Trail after work getting to bust out my head lamp and light-up vest for the second day in a row.

Friday: The snooze button got the best of me Friday morning so it was another 6-miler post work. I was really starting to come down with a cold at this point so I almost bailed on the run, but it ended up feeling great!

Saturday: I woke up feeling awful and it was 40’s and rainy so I knew the only way I was going to get my run in was if I went right away. If I let myself sit on the couch and start watching TV – it would not happen. Once I was out the door the rest just flowed and I put in a nice and easy 8.5 miles along the W&OD and Custis trails. I then promptly spent the rest of my day on the couch!

Sunday: I had the Jingle Bell 5k race in D.C. on tap for Sunday. It was a little slower than I hoped, but a pretty good effort. Full recap coming soon, but I crossed the line in 24:58. I also got to see and meet some fellow Oiselle Birds, which is always fun!

jinglealltheway5k

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and is able to enjoy it with family and friends.

I have so many things to be thankful for this year…mostly this amazing family that I have!

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Today is also the official start of my marathon training plan – although I added Monday and Tuesday runs this week to kick things off. I’m thankful to be healthy, able and motivated to run and train.

As my act of giving back for the holiday season, I donated more than 10 inches of hair yesterday to help children with medically-related hair loss. This is something I have done 3-4 times over the last seven years or so. It’s a pretty easy thing to do on my part, but helps out a kid in need.

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Now it’s time for turkey! (Well after a 6-mile run that is!)

Have a great one!

20 Treadmill Miles Later…It’s Taper Time

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My weekend long run got bumped to Monday and lack of daylight hours after work plus major storm warnings for the D.C. area meant I was going to have to take my long run to the dreadmill. I’ve done 20 miles on a treadmill before, but it’s been awhile and there is just something daunting about having to run in place for that long.

My hopes of getting the one treadmill in front of the TV were instantly dashed when I walked into my little apartment gym and saw someone already running on it. Instead I opted for one with a window view, which sounds much nicer than it is. Since the gym is in the basement, the window has a bit of light sneaking through, but the view is of a concrete wall. This was going to be a mental challenge for sure.

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I had an idea in my head based on my plan of how this run would work out and it was going to include 8 miles at a faster pace. The first 6 were early in the run and wouldn’t be an issue, but I was a bit worried about the two I had planned for later in the run.

I got myself set-up with a water bottle in the right cup holder, a towel draped over the top of the treadmill and a bunch of baggies filled with Honey Stinger bites in the left cup holder. There was no turning back now. While I no longer listen to music for outdoor runs, I still depend on the tunes for most treadmill runs, so I popped my ear buds in and hit play on my old standby long-run playlist. Here goes nothing I thought!

I set the incline to 1.0 and started out with 2 miles at an easy 8:57 pace. I bumped it up to 7:53 for the next six miles and felt really strong all the way through them. It still felt easy. I let myself smile for a minute, but remembered I still had a long way to go.

I settled back into my easy 8:57 pace, which now felt even easier and grinded that out for the next 7 miles. My calves, which have been bothering me lately, started to tighten up and feel a little pain around mile 13 or so, but nothing that really hurt or made me want to stop. I bumped the pace up to 7:53 again for mile 16 before hopping off the treadmill for a quick minute to refill my water.

For mile 17 and 18 I dropped back down to my 8:57 pace before adding in one more speedy 7:53 mile and ending with a final cool down mile back at 8:57. This time I didn’t stop myself from grinning. I felt good. Really good. Like I could have kept running good.

I’ve had a really tough training cycle and have been lacking in confidence lately, so I needed this big time. Now I head into my taper and can focus on race day with a bit more confidence and a bit less doubt.

It’s hard to believe Marine Corps Marathon will be here so soon, but I can’t wait! In just a few weeks I’ll be at the start line and will probably think to myself – here goes nothing!

How did all of your weekend long runs go? Any races coming up soon?

Footprints: Monday Recap

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Wow, so this is my 200th post! It’s hard to believe I’ve written that many since starting. Hope you’re enjoying reading along with my journey. Let me know what types of posts you enjoy and what you’d like me to write more about!

Now, on to the recap! Last week was another strong week along the way to training for Marine Corps Marathon. I had to make up a couple of the previous week’s workouts at the beginning of last week, so I again pushed some of last week’s into this morning, which worked out well since I had the day off and plenty of time to work out. More on that in next week’s recap though.

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class – Real Ride at Revolve. Core Workout

Tuesday: I split my longer mid-week run from the previous week between an easy 3.5 miler in the AM and a tougher 6.6 miles after work. I also got in a morning track workout, which felt great. My goal was 5X1000 with a 4-minute jog recovery at 4:16 each. I was tight on time so I cut the recovery jogs down to 3-3:30 each and still nailed all my splits: 4:13, 4:16, 4:11, 4:12, 4:12.

Wednesday: Rest day for my team bocce playoffs. They did not go well. Fun season, but lets just say, I will not be missing a workout next week for round 2.

Shopping Spree! So much new Oiselle goodness arrived this week!

Shopping Spree! So much new Oiselle goodness arrived this week!

Thursday: Rest day today because I hit snooze one too many times meaning I had to hit the track early the following Monday before spin to make it up.

Friday: I was out of work early, so I met up with new friend/Oiselle teammate Stephanie on Friday afternoon so we could get our long run out of the way before the weekend really started. We put in a great 18 miles despite the heat and humidity.

Saturday: I tried out a new yoga studio for a 75-minute hot yoga class. I really loved this class and boy was it challenging.

Sunday: I again set out in the midday heat and humidity (I’ll never learn) and slogged along for 10.1 miles along the Custis and W&OD trails. I stopped at a water fountain to fill my bottle at one point with another 4-5 miles to go still and found myself so sweaty I couldn’t grip the bottle well enough to open it. Thankfully a biker on his way by was able to help me out, so I didn’t have to go without water for the second half of my run!! I always appreciate when random people are kind.

Footprints: Monday Recap

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Last week felt great. I didn’t get all of my workouts in that I wanted to, but did a pretty good job of playing catch up after putting in a lot of miles Friday through Sunday the previous week when I was struggling and recovering from a cold. Talk about a turnaround when it came to my long run. Last Sunday I set out in the rain sore and tired and struggled through 17 slow miles in 2 hours and 50 minutes. This week’s run was the same time but a couple miles further!

Here’s the day by day breakdown…

Monday: Spin Class – Real Ride at Revolve.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 7 hilly miles in an hour on the Custis Trail after work.

Thursday: Today was a track workout fail. I didn’t heed my running coach’s advice to avoid W&L in the fall as there are too many events and halfway through a great workout where I was nailing my splits I got kicked off the track for a football game. I’m planning to make up all of the reps next week!

Friday: I got in two pretty speedy treadmill runs today – 4 in the morning and 6 at night, plus a strength workout! Great way to kick off the weekend!

Saturday: I felt a million times better on my long run this week which took me 19.2 miles along the Custis, W&OD and Mt. Vernon Trails plus along Hains Point and over both the 14th Street and Memorial Bridges before tackling the hill back up to Court House. I even attacked the final hill of the MCM course at mile 18 to get some practice in there! I’m hoping to continue to improve on these as marathon day gets closer!

Sunday: I ran out of energy Sunday and took a rest day to give my aching muscles a break.