Week 1 Recap:The first week of training was fun! It included a track workout which I always enjoy. Well, maybe not at the time, but after I'm finished I bask in my sense of accomplishment. Last week's track workout was different. I enjoyed it while I was running it. The goal was to run 10 x 1000 meters at cruise interval pace with a 2 minute recovery jog. These are not all out speed intervals. The goal of the workout is to improve stamina. It's best to be conservative with pace the first few intervals because as your legs get tired the intervals will feel harder. The goal for me per the McMillan pace calculator was to run intervals between 5:02-5:12 minute pace, which works out to an 8:06-8:19 minute/mile pace.
With all that said, I ended up running all my intervals too fast. Even after I made sure to tell Dani and Dana not to run them fast. It's super important to stay in pace zones. Even with the short recovery, I was always ready to go and the intervals didn't feel hard. I ran them comfortably relaxed at paces I could clearly maintain. I even tried to run slower! My glutes wouldn't let me! {hee} I was able to kick it and push the pace on the very last interval (which I like to do on the track). This may be because, for me, my current 1/2 marathon time is based on my comeback-from-injury half-marathon time which is a bit slow {for me}. With the exception of my first and last intervals, all others were within appropriate cruise interval pace range for my pre-injury 1/2 marathon times. *shrug* I asked the Oiselle Volée coordinator, Heather Stephens, about proper pacing for training workouts and she said you are supposed to run at your current pace and ability, not your goal pace. Pacing is confusing sometimes and I still have lot to learn.
- 4:28 min (7:11/mile)
- 4:50 min (7:47/mile)
- 4:53 min (7:52/mile)
- 4:57 min (7:58/mile)
- 4:55 min (7:55/mile)
- 4:53 min (7:52/mile)
- 4:54 min (7:53/mile)
- 4:49 min (7:45/mile)
- 4:49 min (7:45/mile)
- 4:15 min (6:50/mile)
The rest of week was good. I ran a total of 37.5 miles. I'm slowly building my weekly base mileage back up to 45 miles. I only ran one run (out of 7 runs) by myself (making good on my 2016 goal of connecting with other runners). I'm including Nani as another runner ;).
Phew! Made it through the first week of marathon training AND it's only going to get more serious. It wasn't that it was hard so much as that it was different from my usual week with only 4 scheduled runs including 2 mid-week longer runs. I can see how running like this with these types of runs will both mentally and physically prep me for the 26.2 miles.
As mentioned in my previous post, this past week included 3 rest/cross-training days (Rocked them!) as well as an 8 mile run with 4 miles at tempo, a 9 mile regular run, a 4 mile recovery run and a 12 mile medium-long run.
I had to deal with self-doubt as I prepped for Tuesday's tempo run. I doubted my ability to run 4 miles at tempo. My tempo pace range is: 7:53-8:08 min/mile. As I was fretting over this, Paul asked me if the pace is slower or faster than my 5k pace. I told him it was slower and he said it should be no problem for me. I still had my doubts but Paul's words gave it a new perspective. I ended up running my tempo miles at an average pace of 8:04/mile. I did slow down a bit the last part of those miles and I know that is something I will need to work on as the weeks progress--but I DID IT!
I hit my paces with all the other runs and I learned that I need to wake up earlier for my mid-week long runs because I was late for work on those days. Oops. Also, running the hills of Griffith Park in Los Angeles for my recovery run was probably not a good idea (impossible to keep my heart rate below 143 bpm)--but it was a fun opportunity for a group run with my Oiselle Volée and Lab Rats teammates.
A friend, Jen, encouraged me to DREAM BIG and TRAIN BIG. And that's my plan.
Week 2 (16 weeks until marathon)
Goal Mileage: 36 miles
Monday: Rest or cross-training (taught cycle class)
Tuesday: 9 miles, general aerobic run with 11x100 strides 8 miles, general aerobic run with 10x100 strides
Wednesday: Rest or cross-training
Thursday: 10 miles, general aerobic run
Friday: Rest or cross-training
Saturday: 5 miles trail run with Paul's soccer team, recovery run
Sunday: 13 miles with 8 miles at marathon race pace
I'm ready to fly! Today marks the first day of my 18-week training plan for the California International Marathon. I just wrapped up 10 weeks of base building and I feel ready to tackle the rigors of training for a full marathon.
My training plan comes from Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and is divided into 4 mini-cycles within the whole 18 week cycle. The first 6 weeks will focus on endurance training, with the 6th week marked as a recovery week. During this cycle, I am focusing on building endurance specific to the marathon.
The plan uses 8 different categories of workouts:
- Long Runs (any run 16+ miles at 10-20% slower than my goal marathon pace)
- Medium-Long Runs (any run 11 to 15 miles, similar pace to long runs)
- Marathon Pace Runs (medium-long or long runs in which most of the miles are run at goal marathon pace--8:35/mile for me)
- General Aerobic Runs (standard moderate-effort runs up to 10 miles "regular runs)
- Lactate Threshold Runs (tempo runs with at least 20 minutes at lactate threshold pace--7:53-8:08/mile for me)
- Recovery Runs (short runs done at a relaxed pace with goal to keep heart rate reserve below 70%--for me 143 bpm)
- VO2 max Intervals (600m to 1,600m run at current 5k pace--7:20/mile for me)
- Speed Training (repetitions of 50 to 150 meters at sprint pace done towards the end of a general aerobic run)
Week 1 (17 weeks until marathon)
Goal mileage: 33 miles
Monday: Rest or cross-training (Cycle class)
Tuesday: 8 miles with 4 miles at tempo (Lactate Threshold run)
Wednesday: Rest or cross-training (travel to Sacramento + Cycle class)
Thursday: 9 miles, general aerobic run with Nani #dogmiles
Friday: Rest or cross-training (1 mile warm-up jog + Tabata)
Saturday: 12 miles, medium-long run
Sunday: 4 miles recovery run + yoga
Total (actual) Mileage: 34.3 miles
The total 18-week schedule is challenging and the weeks will get progressively harder, so it is great that this first week has 3 rest days and the total run volume is less than I've been running.
I'm off to a great start because I rocked Marathon Training, Day 1! ;)
Week 1 Recap:The first week of training was fun! It included a track workout which I always enjoy. Well, maybe not at the time, but after I'm finished I bask in my sense of accomplishment. Last week's track workout was different. I enjoyed it while I was running it. The goal was to run 10 x 1000 meters at cruise interval pace with a 2 minute recovery jog. These are not all out speed intervals. The goal of the workout is to improve stamina. It's best to be conservative with pace the first few intervals because as your legs get tired the intervals will feel harder. The goal for me per the McMillan pace calculator was to run intervals between 5:02-5:12 minute pace, which works out to an 8:06-8:19 minute/mile pace.
With all that said, I ended up running all my intervals too fast. Even after I made sure to tell Dani and Dana not to run them fast. It's super important to stay in pace zones. Even with the short recovery, I was always ready to go and the intervals didn't feel hard. I ran them comfortably relaxed at paces I could clearly maintain. I even tried to run slower! My glutes wouldn't let me! {hee} I was able to kick it and push the pace on the very last interval (which I like to do on the track). This may be because, for me, my current 1/2 marathon time is based on my comeback-from-injury half-marathon time which is a bit slow {for me}. With the exception of my first and last intervals, all others were within appropriate cruise interval pace range for my pre-injury 1/2 marathon times. *shrug* I asked the Oiselle Volée coordinator, Heather Stephens, about proper pacing for training workouts and she said you are supposed to run at your current pace and ability, not your goal pace. Pacing is confusing sometimes and I still have lot to learn.
