On Saturday, Stef and I ran our first (and only) 20-miler of this training cycle. Leading up to the run, I was worried about how it would go. It had been a while since I ran anything close to 20 miles. Aside from a few issues - mostly related to a poor wardrobe choice - I felt strong during the run. We took it easy, of course, because of the temperature and the number of miles ahead of us. At the end of the run, I felt strong and could have run another 6.2 miles if I had to. I feel ready.
As I think more about this race, I'm set on trying to run a 4:15 marathon, which would be 24 minutes faster than my Philadelphia PR. It's a reasonable and attainable goal, and I'm excited to see if I can do it.
I have a bit of business travel ahead. I'm a little worried about what this means for my training, but I think I'll be able to make everything work.
Monday - 5 miles
Tuesday - 40-minute speed workout
Wednesday - 3 miles (easy)
Thursday - 60-minute tempo run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 15 Miles
Sunday - Rest
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
One to Go Until the Taper
I had a thought during my short run today that I might need a new challenge to keep running interesting. With less than a month to go until Providence, I'm finding hard to get as excited for this race as I was when I was getting ready to go to Philadelphia. I'm not sure what it is, really. It's going to be a great race, and I'm so excited that I get to see Matt - who's preparing to run a marathon of his own this month (in Boston!!!) - while I'm in town for the race. I'm probably just anxious about a few things that I have on my plate before the marathon, including a bit of work travel. I'm sure once I have those things done, I'll be able to focus on the race.
But, getting back to setting a new goal: I've been thinking that 50K might be in my future after I run the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I've joked about ultramarathoning before (warning my friends that they should stop me if the word ultramarathon came out of my month as something that I should do), but I'm starting to think that a 50K would be the perfect challenge since it's not much farther than a marathon. Call me crazy, but I think that's where I should head next.
I'm coming up on the last week of intense training before I start to taper. Here's to making it count!
Monday: X-Training/Strength Training
Tuesday: Speed Workout - 60 minutes
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 3 miles (easy)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 22 miles
Sunday: 5 miles (easy)
But, getting back to setting a new goal: I've been thinking that 50K might be in my future after I run the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I've joked about ultramarathoning before (warning my friends that they should stop me if the word ultramarathon came out of my month as something that I should do), but I'm starting to think that a 50K would be the perfect challenge since it's not much farther than a marathon. Call me crazy, but I think that's where I should head next.
I'm coming up on the last week of intense training before I start to taper. Here's to making it count!
Monday: X-Training/Strength Training
Tuesday: Speed Workout - 60 minutes
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 3 miles (easy)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 22 miles
Sunday: 5 miles (easy)
Monday, April 2, 2012
Cherry Blossom 10-Miler Race Round-Up
It's April, which means that it's seriously crunch time for the Cox Sports Marathon. The reality is this: I have two weeks of training before the taper begins, and that's it. I'm finding that I oscillate between being really stressed out and not worrying about this reality. I think I had the crazy idea going into training that I would be table to train hard enough to take another significant chunk off of my marathon time. Sure, it would be great (and I still wonder if I'll be able to do that), but I have also thought about setting a more realistic goal for this race -- say, shaving 15 minutes off of my marathon PR. I have the base to finish a marathon, and - as Stef has pointed out - racing has its benefits to marathon training.
Yesterday, I ran my second Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. I'll say up front that I did not set a PR for my 10-Mile time (in fact, I was seconds slower); however, I was exactly three minutes faster compared to my 2011 Cherry Blossom 10-mile time. Awesome!
There honestly isn't much to report from the race itself. The experience was very similar to last year's race, though it was a little harder to find good running space for most of the race and most of the blossoms had already lost their beautiful pink color so there wasn't much to look at on the course. I am proud that I ran consistent splits during this run.
Yesterday, I ran my second Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. I'll say up front that I did not set a PR for my 10-Mile time (in fact, I was seconds slower); however, I was exactly three minutes faster compared to my 2011 Cherry Blossom 10-mile time. Awesome!
There honestly isn't much to report from the race itself. The experience was very similar to last year's race, though it was a little harder to find good running space for most of the race and most of the blossoms had already lost their beautiful pink color so there wasn't much to look at on the course. I am proud that I ran consistent splits during this run.
 | |
| Split 7 and Split 8 should be combined. Split 11 shows me hitting my watch at the race's ninth mile marker so I could keep track of my pace from the race's ninth mile marker to the finish line. It's always amazing how much I had by taking the longest possible route around turns. |
I'm happy with my time, and I'm looking forward to moving onto the second week of the Cox Marathon Crunch.
Week 2
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 18 miles
Sunday: X-Training/Strength Training
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