{week 4} Run Love

Nani loves running & showing his #flystyle

Prior to starting my current training plan, I stated multiple times that I enjoy training for marathons {just not racing marathons}. At the time it meant that I enjoyed the once-a-week progressively longer runs and running in general  the other days of the week. I started adding speed and track workouts late last year and I discovered I enjoyed the challenges those entail too.

Now that I have completed 3 weeks of a marathon-specific training plan, I can whole-heartedly state that I freakin' love training for marathons {still not sure about racing one}. 

• A 10-mile mid-week regular run to increase endurance? No problem. My alarm goes off at 4:45 am, I lace up my shoes and I'm out the door. No big deal. 
• Tempo miles? Okay. I'm still a bit nervous about those, but I face the challenge, put aside my fears and feel great once I'm done. Queen of the World! 
• Fast-finish or marathon-pace long runs, yes please. 
• Of course, I still enjoy the bread-and-butter of marathon training, the long slow distance run. Ones with a more leisurely pace and ones I tend to tackle hills. Lots of hills. Like yesterday with over 1,000 feet elevation gain.

The Lab Rats conquer hills! #hillsforbreakfast

I am missing my track workouts, but I will see some of those as I finish the endurance building cycle of my plan and get into the lactate threshold and race preparation cycles in the coming weeks. 

This week, I'm on the road. First to Sacramento for two nights for work and second to Irvine as the coach's wife for a soccer tournament. While I'm in Sacramento I plan on running miles 16-21 of the California International Marathon course as practice (Thursday) to my race in December. I'm excited about this.

Week 4 (14 weeks until CIM)

Goal Mileage: 42 miles

Monday: Rest or cross-training: cycle class
Tuesday: 8 mile general aerobic run with 10 x 100m strides (Travel to Sacramento pm)
Wednesday: 5 mile recovery run (in Sacramento)
Thursday: 10 mile general aerobic run (in Sacramento)
Friday: Rest or cross-training: 1 mile warm-up jog + tabata + TRX (Travel to Irvine pm)
Saturday: 4 mile recovery run (in Irvine)
Sunday: 15 mile medium long-run (in Irvine)