December Training Recap / 5K race / Marathon Training Begins

 Holy busy Holidays. Really haven't had much time to post weekly training updates so I'll have to do a monthly post this time. I coach a basketball team during the winter and started marathon training so my free time is extremely limited. I'm starting week 3 of my marathon plan and so far so good, I have had a 73 mile week and a 77 mile week both with at least 16 milers with some tempo or marathon pace worked mixed in. I also won a 5K in Beverly running 17:02 I believe on a hilly course. With the start of marathon training I stopped lifting 4 times a week and only go Tues / Fri now with somewhat limited intensity. It's really just go go for fun and get a pump.

 

Dec 1-6: 33 miles this week. I brought my mileage down as this was the week of my goal 5K. Splits were 5:23, 5:28 and 5:24 on a hilly course and I got the W. Going in I estimated I would be close to 16:45 and I think with the elevation on this course I was pretty spot on. I was really happy with how I paced myself (I don't reference my watch during 5Ks) and I dropped the guy in the last mile on the uphills exactly as I was planning. I took the day off after and jumped back into mileage to get a launching point for my marathon plan. The 16 miler was day 1 of actual training.

 

Dec 7-14: Solid week of base training. Nothing really special other than hitting a 16 miler (7:21 avg pace) on the Boston hills with a local run club and some buddies. Up to this point I haven't really had many good long runs and I was glad to see this a success going into marathon training.  

 

Dec 15-21: First real week of marathon training with workouts. 73 miles total with a Tuesday 14 miler on the treadmill doing a 3,2,1 style tempo. 3 mile and 2 mile tempo at 6 flat, fast finish on the last one around 5:50. Took it a little easy pace wise as I think my aerobic capacity is pretty solid at the moment anyway, I just need to really toughen my legs up for the pounding and I figured better safe than sorry starting at 6 min tempo pace. Saturday long run was the other big day for this week. It was a 2 mile warm up, 8 miles at 6:25ish, 1 mile easy, 3 miles at 6:15 ish and 2 miles easy for 16 at 6:41 average pace. Felt meh during the long run but was glad to get it in. Just getting used to these bigger longer workouts again. 

 

Dec 22-28: Second week of training in the books here with 77 miles for the week. I'm feeling pretty good but definitely a bit tired as expected. I was really tempted to hit a double today to get over 80 but I figured I have a long way to go. If I can creep up to mid 80s for this block I think that would put me in a great spot but no need to rush it. Again a Tuesday treadmill workout for 14 miles with 3 by 2 miles, then 2 by 1 mile at tempo. 3 by 2 mile went 6 min for the first set, 5:56 for set 2, 5:52 for set three. 2 by 1 mile was 5:49 and 5:45 so I'm feeling pretty okay with where I'm at. It's really bizarre though because I kind of hate the treadmill, but for some reason the workouts on the treadmill are hitting diff. Just being able to set the pace and autopilot on these long reps has been kind of nice. I don't intend to do them all on the treadmill but we have had a good amount of snow and ice and I don't like running fast on slippery surfaces. Second workout of the week was a 17 miler on Saturday also on the treadmill going 1 mile warm up, 2 by 2 mile at 5:53 with 2 min rest in between, 8 miles steady at 7:50, 2 miles at 5:53 and 5:37, and a 2 mile CD. The hardest part of this was the 8 miles in between the tempos, just boring and grueling on the treadmill after going fast at the start but that's the whole point I suppose. 

 

 

Anyway, a really solid start to marathon training and a 5K win so how can I complain? I hope everyone had a great holiday season and looks forward to the new year!