Weekly Total: 37.25 miles. Good week, slight step-back in preparation for marathon training which starts next week. My tempo run on Thursday was probably the hardest workout I have ever had but it felt really good to cover that many miles at nearly 7:00 pace.
Monday: 32 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: 10 x Hill Repeats @ 7:40. 6 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 70 minutes tempo @ 7:23 pace. 9 miles.
Friday: 48 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:09 pace. 12.25 miles.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Week of June 13th
Weekly Total: 41 miles. Quality week and another 40+ mile one. I think my baseline fitness is holding great where it is which is a good sign for my upcoming marathon training. Also, I had a sick tempo run this week which makes me think I can step up the pace overall on all my training.
Monday: 32 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: Speed work. 2x[800@7:30;400@7:00;200@6:30;1200@7:40]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 70 minutes tempo @ 7:30 pace. 9 miles.
Friday: 49 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:00 pace. 15 miles.
Monday: 32 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: Speed work. 2x[800@7:30;400@7:00;200@6:30;1200@7:40]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 70 minutes tempo @ 7:30 pace. 9 miles.
Friday: 49 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:00 pace. 15 miles.
Week of June 6th
Weekly Total: 40.2 miles. This was the first week I did hill repeats outside on a real hill instead of a treadmill and man did it kick my ass. It took me almost 3 days to recover from that workout. I'd like to keep with doing the repeats on a real hill as I am sure in the long run it will make me stronger. I had to bail on a tempo run because of the heat and humidity but was able to do one the next day. Back-to-back hard workouts are becoming easier for me which means I should be able to start introducing doubles when I start my marathon training.
Monday: 34 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: 8 x 200 Hill Repeats. 6.5 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 54 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Friday: Cancelled tempo run, 22 minutes. 3 miles.
Saturday: 70 minutes @ 7:50 pace. 9 miles.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:00 pace. 11.7 miles.
Monday: 34 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: 8 x 200 Hill Repeats. 6.5 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 54 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Friday: Cancelled tempo run, 22 minutes. 3 miles.
Saturday: 70 minutes @ 7:50 pace. 9 miles.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:00 pace. 11.7 miles.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Week of May 30th
Weekly Total: 41.3 miles. I am going to be keeping my mileage steady to maintain a solid base for the next few weeks to rest up prior to the start of my marathon training. I am trying to see if I can maintain the workouts from my peak weeks during the half marathon training as my base, which will give me a great starting point to start my marathon training. I was only scheduled to run 14 miles this weekend but I felt great so I kept going and ran the longest I have ever run and hit my most miles ever in a week.
One thing I really need to work on is my paces for my runs, specifically my tempo runs and speed work. I really like my long runs being around 8:00 min/miles and and my easy miles are around 8:40-9:00 min/mile which shows my fitness has greatly improved, but I feel like I am no longer making progress in my speed since my tempo runs are right around the same pace. I think I need to start pushing the pace on my tempo runs which I did this week but it poses an interesting dilemma. If I push the pace down far enough to really have to work on the runs then I have to reduce the distance which means I need to move the miles to another day. I guess I will have to read up on how to best improve your tempo, maybe it is a slow burn where every week I try to run 10 seconds faster per mile.
Monday: 37 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: Speed work. 2x[800@7:45;400@7:15;200@6:45;1200@8:00]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 70 minutes @ 7:50 pace. 9 miles.
Friday: 49 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:00 pace. 15.3 miles.
One thing I really need to work on is my paces for my runs, specifically my tempo runs and speed work. I really like my long runs being around 8:00 min/miles and and my easy miles are around 8:40-9:00 min/mile which shows my fitness has greatly improved, but I feel like I am no longer making progress in my speed since my tempo runs are right around the same pace. I think I need to start pushing the pace on my tempo runs which I did this week but it poses an interesting dilemma. If I push the pace down far enough to really have to work on the runs then I have to reduce the distance which means I need to move the miles to another day. I guess I will have to read up on how to best improve your tempo, maybe it is a slow burn where every week I try to run 10 seconds faster per mile.
Monday: 37 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: Speed work. 2x[800@7:45;400@7:15;200@6:45;1200@8:00]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 70 minutes @ 7:50 pace. 9 miles.
Friday: 49 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:00 pace. 15.3 miles.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Boston Run to Remember - 1st Half Marathon!
So after 18 weeks of training, the day finally came...my first half marathon!
I didn't really know what to expect as I have never been to a race this large before, a total of 5800 runners were signed up for the race. It was quite the experience to say the least, the crowds were crazy and on the way to the finish people were pushing out into the street and we literally ran through what felt like a 3 foot wide chute to the finish line.
Now on to the actual race...
Based on some advice, I decided to start near the front, near the 6:00 min/mile pace, as supposedly people don't line up based on their actual pace. After the gun went off, everyone took off pretty quickly and with all the excitement I was right along side them. After about 2 miles in the first time clock was showing under 14 minutes which is when I realized I was running way too fast.
My first four mile splits were: 6:05, 6:15, 7:25, 7:45. I tried to slow down but didn't want to slow down too much and the people around me were passing me so it was tough. I finally settled into an 8:00 pace which is where I wanted to stay. I did have some issues at the water stops as drinking out of a cup while running is something I have yet to master and I had to go back to get water twice because I got Gatorade. Around mile 10, we hit two back to back hills that took their toll on me and many others who started walking, so I had to drop my pace way down. I would say mile 11 was by far the hardest simply because I was running out of gas and it felt like it dragged on forever.
My official net time was 1:49:22, just about 4 minutes slower than I was hoping to run on the perfect day, so I was pretty happy since it was pretty hot and humid compared to the weather I trained in.
If I learned one thing from this that I will take forward, it is that you need to run your own race as I proved in training I could hold an 8:00 pace for all 13 miles but by going out too fast I hit a pretty hard wall. I am going to run another half marathon at the end of the summer near the conclusion of my marathon training so I am hoping to break the 1:40:00 mark this year.
I hope to have some pictures to post shortly from the race and afterwards.
So ends my 13.1 adventure and now after a few weeks of some base maintenance I'll be moving on to a new one, 26.2...
I didn't really know what to expect as I have never been to a race this large before, a total of 5800 runners were signed up for the race. It was quite the experience to say the least, the crowds were crazy and on the way to the finish people were pushing out into the street and we literally ran through what felt like a 3 foot wide chute to the finish line.
Now on to the actual race...
Based on some advice, I decided to start near the front, near the 6:00 min/mile pace, as supposedly people don't line up based on their actual pace. After the gun went off, everyone took off pretty quickly and with all the excitement I was right along side them. After about 2 miles in the first time clock was showing under 14 minutes which is when I realized I was running way too fast.
My first four mile splits were: 6:05, 6:15, 7:25, 7:45. I tried to slow down but didn't want to slow down too much and the people around me were passing me so it was tough. I finally settled into an 8:00 pace which is where I wanted to stay. I did have some issues at the water stops as drinking out of a cup while running is something I have yet to master and I had to go back to get water twice because I got Gatorade. Around mile 10, we hit two back to back hills that took their toll on me and many others who started walking, so I had to drop my pace way down. I would say mile 11 was by far the hardest simply because I was running out of gas and it felt like it dragged on forever.
My official net time was 1:49:22, just about 4 minutes slower than I was hoping to run on the perfect day, so I was pretty happy since it was pretty hot and humid compared to the weather I trained in.
If I learned one thing from this that I will take forward, it is that you need to run your own race as I proved in training I could hold an 8:00 pace for all 13 miles but by going out too fast I hit a pretty hard wall. I am going to run another half marathon at the end of the summer near the conclusion of my marathon training so I am hoping to break the 1:40:00 mark this year.
I hope to have some pictures to post shortly from the race and afterwards.
So ends my 13.1 adventure and now after a few weeks of some base maintenance I'll be moving on to a new one, 26.2...
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