Hard to believe that I am already heading into week 4 of my marathon training this week. I was looking back over the week and despite missing out on one 5 mile run, I am very pleased with my running this week. I feel myself getting stronger and more confident in my running. I am continuing to work on some of the techniques from the Chi Running, but I really have no idea if I am on the right track or not.
Tuesday I had a 3 mile easy run planned. We ran 3.25 at an 8:16 mile pace. We picked up the pace a little on this run because it was so short. Our last mile was 7:56 with our Avg. Heart Rate at 151.
Wednesday we had a 5 mile hill run to accomplish. We we right on with our course and ran 5 miles at a 8:26 pace with heart rate 153. There is one hilly road that just kicks my butt and I don’t know why. I am determined to blaze this road one of these times to prove that it won’t get the best of me!
Thursday was a rest. It was needed. My body has been fighting the flu that has hit my house. Both my kids and my wife sound terrible. I went to be early and slept in and did not lift today. It was needed.
Friday we were to run 5 miles. We ran 5.3 at a very easy pace because I had to change my workouts for the weekend. Instead of running 12 on Sunday I had to run them on Saturday because I was driving back home for a James Taylor concert with my dad. We ran at a 8:54 pace and heart rate of 150 so it was a good run. There was four of us running and I really love running with others. It makes it more enjoyable.
Saturday I woke up at 4 am and took off to meet Chad at the Mississippi River. We ran on the back path at 4:30 in the morning. I thought for sure it was going to be freezing with the wind coming off the river, but it was actually quite pleasant. I was hurting the last mile. My foot started to cause me some discomfort and my legs were heavy, but overall I felt really, really good for a run of this distance for me. We ran the 12 miles in 1 hour 56 minutes so just 4 minutes ahead of our goal. Our pace was 9:39 with average heart rate of 153.
After the race I came home, took a quick nap, and then drove for 4 hours back home to Indiana. All I have to say is that without compression socks I would have been cramping like no other. God bless compression socks.
Getting home today I was not physically or mentally prepared to get in the 5 mile run that I missed out on this weekend. I don’t think it will hurt me any, but I have now missed one run in the last two weeks. I am going to be sure to get all the runs in this week before Spring Break.
This next week is supposed to be a recovery week where the long run is scaled back to 10 to recover from the 12 miler this past weekend. Actually, it will be my largest mileage week yet if I don’t miss any workouts.
Thursday will be interesting as I have to time my mile run time. Feeling nervous about this as I don’t want my time to suck too bad.
I hope to stay healthy. I was in bed at 8 pm Friday and am off to bed as soon as I hit publish on this post. I have enjoyed the training so far and look to have a really good week this week. It all starts tomorrow with a good lifting workout. I am going to throw in a lot of arms, chest, and back to help with my running.
Keep pushing yourself and good luck this week in whatever goals you set for yourself.
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