Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 8

Still truckin’ …

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:29

Monday, August 22nd–4.4 Easy miles @ 10:18 avg/pace

The plan said 6 but my route said 4.4 so that’s what happened. This became a theme this week in that my runs were shortened due to time, life, excuses.

Tuesday, August 23rd– .5 WU, 3×1600 @ 7:30 (w/400R), .5 CD

The warm-up was supposed to be longer and I really had all the intentions of doing it as I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get this workout done. But, it was raining cats and dog, thundering, and lightening. I still drove to my group run though, thinking maybe the storm would pass. We all waited in our cars but after 10 minutes, I chose my bed.

I ended up doing this workout in the evening (99 degrees–at least it wasn’t triple digits) and shortening the warm up and cool down.

So 1600s are not in the beginner plan but like I had mentioned last week, I really wanted to do this workout just to see. My goal someday is to better my 5k and if I was to do these miles consecutively at this pace, I would get a PR. So that was a big reason I wanted to do it.

And I nailed it.

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and negative splits, too!! 😀

Wednesday, August 24th –Rest Day

What wasn’t resting was my fundraising. This was a monumental day as donations came in like whoa and I’m now LESS THAN $100 AWAY from my goal!! (So if you want to donate and get me even closer, you can do that here 😉 )

Thursday, August 25th —1 mile WU, 6 Tempo miles, 1 mile CD

This was such an amazing run. The goal pace was 8:45 and I nailed it feeling good the entire way. It was another confidence builder for sure. BUT, I somehow still doubt I can do this for 26.2 miles, lol. Ugh, I hate you doubt.

Friday, August 26th–4.5 Easy Miles @ 10:50 avg/pace

The plan said 5 but my route said 4.5. Plus, my husband and I both squeezed in early morning runs because right after….we were beach bound!!! 😀

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Bathing suits ready but mom wants one more pic!

Saturday, August 27th–5 Easy Miles @ 9:40 avg/pace

The plan said 6 but our route said 5. We ran this outside the condo we were staying at where on one side was this

and on the other, a road on which we ran our workout. It was cool to see the elevation map say that for a little while, we were below sea level lol!!

The rest of the day was spend having fun with family ❤

Sunday, August 28th–12 Long Run miles @9:30 goal pace (actual–9:22)

There was no way I was missing morning beach time so I told myself I’d do my long run when we got home. A four plus hour car drive later, the realization hit me that I really did have to do it. I also was NOT going to shorten this one as last week I shortened the 10 miler to 8. I needed to do a double digit run so begrudgingly, I went out the door.

And surprisingly, it ended up being a great run!! I felt good the entire way and never felt like I was working for the pace–despite it being 100 degrees out.

So despite shortening a few runs, it was an amazing week of running. 38.68 total miles and thankfully, everything is feeling good 🙂

–How was your running week?

–Are you a beach bum? I’m definitely more of a mountainous gal, but I love the beach with my kids 🙂

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 7

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Hanson's Marathon Method, Marathon Training, NYC Marathon August 22, 2016

Whoof, Hanson’s fatigue has officially set it in. Plus, I think my husband’s travels have had a good part in me feeling like I’m dragging sand bags…

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:29

Monday, August 15th– Easy 5 miles, 10:13 avg

I’ve been working really hard on making my easy runs even easier. I’ve usually been closer to the 10 minute range and I really want them more in the 10:20-30 range. I’m getting there.

Tuesday, August 16th–1 mile WU, Ladder: 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400 @7:30 pace (w/400R), 1 mile CD

I met up with my run club and luckily, I had my buddy (the amazing pacer from last time) and another friend agree to do this workout with me.

We nailed it.

Goal pace for each was 7:30 and here’s how it went:

400—7:15
800—7:24
1200—7:30
800—7:30
400—7:32

I wore new these new super cute shorts I had been coveting, and I think they had a lot to do with it 😀

My “I swear I’m not posing” pose. Shorts: Senita Athletics

I did modify this workout. The Ladder is not in the Beginner Program; for Week 7 it had 8×600 and I had already done that a couple of weeks ago. I really wanted to to do this workout but was worried about over-doing it so I eliminated the 1600 after the 1200–there would’ve been another 1200 after the mile too. But it’s all good. I thought it was still a good, productive run. I’m keeping the speed work for the Advanced for the next three weeks as I don’t want to repeat and I kinda really want to do the 3x1600s it has (who says that, right?).

Oh, and that night, we went to see Adele!! She was amazing.

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All cleaned up!

Clever sign on our way to the concert, lol

Mom, Adele’s face, and Me 😀

Wednesday, August 17th– Glorious Rest Day

So much rest.

Thursday, August 18th–1 mile WU, 5 Tempo miles, .5 miles CD

My route shortchanged me a little on the cool down but the important thing was getting in the tempo miles. The goal pace was 8:45 and I’m still trying to get closer to that range but it was close enough.

8:30
8:34
8:43
8:32
8:34

Friday, August 19th–5 Easy Hill Miles, 9:57 avg

I didn’t do so well on getting to my easy range with these miles but it was a good run nonetheless.

5 smiles 😀

Saturday, August 20th–6 Easy Miles, 10:23 avg

Much better getting these in my easier range. I did 3 with my Moms Run This Town group and 3 solo.

Sunday, August 21st–8 Long Run Miles, 9:30 avg

This was supposed to be a 10 miler but I couldn’t muster up the desire since I was on the treadmill and it was late in the evening. And I wanted to make it back home for kids’ bedtime. #excuses

8 miles, didn’t die.

It was a good 36.14 mile week. I feel a lot better about the lesser mileage (plus, this is still a lot to me). I did start to feel the niggle on my shin a bit towards the end of the week but it wasn’t constant like it’d been before. I’ll be keeping an eye on it and making changes throughout the week if need be.

On to Week 8!

–How was your running week?

–Do cute shorts make you run faster? Some guys chimed in on my Instagram how unfair it is that girls have such cute running clothes, lol!

–Are you an Adele fan?

–When was your last treadmill run? Is it death for you to run on the ‘mill? I don’t mind it but draw the line at 10 miles.

Mid-Week Musings: Mistakes…They Happen

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with Hanson's Marathon Method, Marathon Training, NYC Marathon August 10, 2016

So far I’m loving the difficulty of the Hanson’s plan. It’s what intrigued me in the first place. I’m the type of person who sees something that’s hard and says, “If it’s been done, why can’t I do it?” I don’t know if that’s the best mentality to have, lol, but it’s gotten me to try a lot of fun, crazy stuff.

Anyway, when I decided to take a break from teaching and become a stay at home mom, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try the Hanson’s 6-days-of-running plan. In my other training cycles, I’ve done 4 days a week with an occasional sprinkle of an extra run or cross training day. I figured, if I was going to try a plan that had so much running, I might as well go for it now that I don’t have a job to worry about (I take care of my kids which is the toughest job ever but you know what I mean).

When it came time on deciding between the Beginner or the Advanced, I leaned towards the Advanced because it got to business a lot quicker than the Beginner. In the Beginner, the first 5 weeks are “Easy” runs which for my goal pace is between 9:45-10:45. I just couldn’t see myself adhering to that for 6 days a week for 5 weeks. The Advanced plan started with the fun stuff– speed work at Week 2 and tempo at Week 3–earlier and I liked that.

Fast forward to Week 5 and I’ve been doing great, nailing the workouts and feeling really confident. Except….my shin is starting to hurt. The shin where I had my stress fracture.

I’m so frustrated because I’ve been doing so well with this plan; I actually like it, and I feel like I’ve improved so much as a runner. And I’ve been stretching, rolling like a good girl and I just don’t understand why my body won’t cooperate. It’s not even fatigue, because I don’t feel tired (miraculously), it’s just the gosh darn shin that’s sore.

If I’m honest, I worried that going from 25-30 miles a week and 4 days of running, to 40-50 miles a week and 6 days of running was going to bring about something. I did my best to transition, to “pre-train,” but I think there’s no avoiding some type of injury-likeness with a jump in mileage like that. Which is what I think is happening with me.

Anyway, what did I do wrong? I think I should’ve stuck with the Beginner plan–modified it, or done something, but starting right away with the Advanced, even though I’ve done “well” with it so far, probably wasn’t the best idea. This is only my 4th marathon, after all.

So, I’ve decided to go to the Beginner’s plan Week 6, which is the week I’m on now. I’ve already passed the 5 weeks of “Easy” running I wanted to avoid, and I’ll get the speed and tempo workouts but just with less mileage. It’s still a shit ton of miles, but less so than the Advanced. I’m hoping that this will help my cause and still keep me happy. I really want to try this plan all the way through.

Of course I’ll continue to stretch, roll, ice, compress the hell out of my shin and if I see that things aren’t getting better, I’ll have to reassess everything. I’m hoping it won’t get to that. I’m proud of myself that I’m addressing it now while it’s simply soreness and not when it’s a full blown I-can’t-run-pain.

There’s the update. Mistakes happens and all you can do is just keep on, keep on.

–Are you good at admitting you were wrong?