Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 11

Week 11 brought some big milestones–my highest weekly mileage to date and I REACHED MY FUNDRAISING GOAL!!!

Yiippeeee!!

Two burrito sales, one raffle, and countless pleas for help (lol!), I was blown away by the generosity of my family and friends (both close to me and those I only know online). Thank you SO much to those who generously donated to this important cause ❤

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Monday, September 12th–5.5 Easy Miles @10:19 avg. pace

This was an easy run around my ‘hood. It was hot and humid.

Tuesday, September 13th–1 mile WU, 6 Strength Miles @8:35 pace, 1 mile CD

I was determined to get in a full warm up and cool down as I’d been slacking on ’em on my Tuesday runs. This brought the first “Strength Run” (10 seconds below race pace) of the plan and what will be every Tuesday from here on out.

There was supposed to be a 400 recovery between each mile and that’s where I slacked. I just did all the miles straight. Afterward, I felt fine but after talking to a buddy, we both agreed that I should keep them in the plan as that’s additional mileage I’m supposed to have and I could def use the recovery even though I may feel fine (it was also 95 degrees and humid out when I did this). I don’t want to jeopardize anything so far in.

Wednesday, September 14th– Rest Day (but, 10k steps)

No running, but I met up with my run club and walked with some friends to get my 10k steps in.

Thursday, September 15th–1 mile WU, 8 Tempo Miles @8:45, 1 mile CD

I’m always nervously excited about tempo days. I actually like them and they really help build my confidence, but at the same time, I still can’t take in that I’m going to try and do this for 26.2 miles.

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Another run with stellar splits ❤

I’ve been really lucky to have friends to run these tempo miles with me because the miles just fly by. Next week, the tempo distance goes from 8 to 9 and I’ll do 9 tempo miles for three weeks before moving on to 10. Hopefully, my friends still want to run them with me, lol!!

Friday, September 16th– 6.5 Easy Miles @10:08 pace

Easy miles around my ‘hood. It was hot.

Saturday, September 17th–16 Long Run Miles @9:23 pace

I moved my long run to Saturday because later that night I’d be going to a bachelorette party and yeah…I didn’t think I’d be awake enough Sunday morning for a long run, lol! I didn’t drink any alcohol, but I’m really not used to staying out late (I was home by 10 but that’s late for me jaja!!!).

Me and the soon-to-be Mrs. :D We were college roommates! <3

Me and the soon-to-be Mrs. 😀 We were college roommates! ❤

Anyway, my run that morning started at 4:30 a.m. and wowzers…..it was cold out!!! Yes, you read that right!!! It was 65 degrees and I was chilly at the start lol!!

We (I was running with my NYC Marathon buddies) immediately felt the difference running in colder weather. The miles were cruising by us and we were going faster than we usually do. After mile 5, every mile was below my long run pace—oops!! Luckily, everything averaged out to be pretty close to my 9:30 target pace.

“Warm-up 5” lol

In addition to my tempo runs, my long runs have been super confidence boosters. This was my first “Hanson’s 20” (longest run of the plan) and for it being such a high mileage week, I felt so good on this run. I have 3 more of these 16ers and I was happy to cross one off the plan 😀

Sunday, September 18th–5 Easy Miles @10:14 pace

Easy miles around my hood. These were nice and slow because I was so tired from my early morning long run and night out the day before.

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Highest weekly mileage ever at 51 miles !!! I never thought I’d run so much and I’m just so thankful I’m doing well and feeling good 🙂

–How was your running week?

–When is the last time you went to a bachelor/bachelorette party? (It’d been a looong time for me, lol)

–What is your highest weekly mileage?

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 10

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Marathon Training, TCS NYC Marathon, Weekly Recap September 12, 2016

It’s crazy that I’m in the double digits of training. Week 10 had a hiccup at the end but I made it through relatively unscathed, lol!

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Monday, September 5th– 5 Easy Miles, 10:13 avg. pace

Easy miles around my neighborhood. I’ve been listening to music on my easy runs and I put in one of my favorite Spanish rock bands in Pandora. It’s ended up being a great station for my easy runs because I just zone out and run an easy, relaxed pace. I don’t have to to think about it and I never even look at my watch when I run.

Tuesday, September 6th– 0.5 mile WU, 4×1200 @7:30 (w/400R), 0.5 CD

I’ve been doing my speed work in the evening which means battling the heat, but I’ve found that I’ve still been able to hit the paces so it works. The downside is that I’ve neglected my warm ups and cool downs because of the way the route is laid out. As the training plan moves on from speed to strength runs on this day, I’m going to be more strict about getting a full mile in for each even if it means having to figure out a new route.

I wore a new pair of shorts for this run and they were shorter than what I usually wear. You can see from my runner’s tan that it’s a good inch from comfort zone, LOL. Anyway, I hit all the reps except one (but was still close 🙂 )

Wednesday, September 7th–Rest Day

It was a “rest day” but I’m in a Step into September challenge (10k steps a day) so I took the family to my group run’s track day. I had already done my speed work the day before so I just ran around after my kids.

My son ran a 4×400 little workout for his FIRST MILE EVER!!

Lil speedster ❤

And my husband did his own speed workout (800s and 400s) using my watch (because I forgot to pack his). I kinda want to leave his stats in my profile 😀

Thursday, September 8th– 1 mile WU, 8 Tempo miles @8:45, 1 mile CD

This was a CLOUD 9 run. I felt good the entire way and was so happy with my splits. They were beauties.

Friday, September 9th–5 Easy/Hill Miles, 9:44 avg. pace

It was a super early wake up for this run. I had to leave my house at 4 to get to the meet-up spot at 4:30. That meant a 3:30 alarm….oooof. The things we do for running.

When you finish a run BEFORE the sunrise…

Saturday, September 10th–5 Miles @11:10

Things went horrible south with this run. It was an important one as I was running/pacing my good friend Jen on her 20 miler (I was going to do 10 for my long run). But 2 miles in, I stopped abruptly and clutched my stomach. Jen immediately knew something was wrong because I never stop mid run like that.

My stomach was wreaking havoc and there was not a bathroom in sight. It was dark out (we started at 4:30 a.m.) and I thought we were about a quarter of a mile from a nearby park—but we weren’t. It was still about a mile away.

I walked. Tried to run. Walked.

I told Jen and the others (thank goodness she had others with her) to go on without me. They would run for a while and then wait for me to catch up. I felt a little better after I used the restroom but with it being mile 3 of my friend’s longest run of her training, I didn’t want to mess things up for her so I told her I was going to walk home. It was closer than walking back to my car.

So at 5 in the morning, I walked/ran home feeling sick, sad, and defeated. I wanted so badly to be there for my friend.

Sunday, September 11th–11 Long Run Miles, 9:20 avg. pace

After hydrating and getting a really good night’s sleep (finally), I woke up feeling a lot better. My husband got in his long run first and I went immediately after him.

I got in 3 miles solo as I ran to meet up with a friend, got in 6 with her, then I ran 2 miles to a nearby McDonald’s where my family was having breakfast. It was a fun, and thankfully, easy and uneventful run.

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11 for 9/11 ❤

Week 10 brought in 41 miles . I said good-bye to speed workouts and I’ll be welcoming in strength runs this week with my first one tomorrow. Strength runs according to Hanson’s are Race Pace minus 10 seconds….we’ll see how that goes 😀

–How was your running week?

–Have you gotten sick mid-run? I keep telling myself that at least it wasn’t during a race. I hope it DOESN’T happen during a race, lol!

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 9

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Marathon Training, NYC Marathon, Weekly Recap September 7, 2016

And just like that, we’re halfway there….

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Last week was a good one and I felt like each run was a success.

Monday, August 29th–5 Miles Easy, 10:30 avg pace

I met up with my good buddy Jen who is training for Chicago marathon. We kept the pace nice and easy and had a great run catching up. I haven’t been able to run with her as much as I’d like because of our different training plans/schedules so it was a good way to start my running week.

Tuesday, August 30th– .5 mile WU, 6x800s (w/400 R), .5 mile CD

I shortened the warm up and cool down because of the route we take with our Tuesday night group run. It’s not ideal but….oh well. It was a great run nonetheless and I was super excited to see that I nailed the workout. The goal pace was 7:30 and here’s how I did:

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This was a Cloud 9 run 😀

Wednesday, August 31st––REST DAY

I ended the month with another monster total mileage (for me). I also only missed 2 days when I had some shinny shin shin pain. Luckily, some modifications have helped it and I’m a-okay!

Thursday, September 1st–1 mile WU, 8 miles Tempo, 1 mile CD

This run had me scared as it was my first 8 mile tempo run (of three). The tempo runs are set up in thirds so that from here on it’s 3 eight milers, 3 nine milers, and 3 ten milers. So I’ll be having a medium-esque long run (10+ miles) on Thursdays from here on out.

So the first one was tough…it was 84 degrees and 55% humidity at 4:45 in the morning and what has usually been a relatively comfortably hard pace was just brutal. Plus, I think I’m definitely feeling the accumulated fatigue now. The goal pace was 8:45 and this run was at about an 8:52 pace average for the 8 tempo miles. Ugh.

Friday, September 2nd–4 Easy Miles, 9:44 avg pace

This run was faster than it should’ve been (and shorter) because I skipped my early morning hill run workout to let my husband run. I keep saying I forget that he’s training for a marathon and I say that half jokingly, but I sometimes do forget. I’ve been pretty selfish about making sure *I* get my runs in and I haven’t been more accommodating to him.

Side note: I’ve found Hanson’s to be a pretty lonely training plan. It’s so much running and pace specific that it doesn’t work well with running with other people. I’ve missed out on running with friends quite a bit and while I’ve tried to make it work, it can get tough with different training plans, different life schedules, kids, and a spouse also training.

Saturday, September 3rd– 15 Long Run Miles @ 9:28 pace

I switched my long run days so that I can run with friends (see Side note above). I have two friends also training for NYC Marathon and it has been difficult getting our schedules to match. I hate that we haven’t run together more, especially since we’re training for the same race.

Anyway, it was a great run. I didn’t worry about my pace; the run was about hanging out with friends.

At the mile 12 mark, my friend said she needed musical assistance so she plugged herself in and got in her zone. I started to pull away from her then as I felt good and I finished the last three miles at goal marathon pace–8:46, 8:43, 8:32. This is where I really feel/see the benefits of Hanson’s. I can’t believe I felt that good at the end of a 15 mile run.

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start time–4:30 a.m.

Sunday, September 4th–5 Easy Miles, 10:14 avg pace

Easy recovery miles around my hood to finish off the week.

It was a 44.16 mile week of good running and I’m stoked to be at the halfway point feeling strong. I know things will start getting tough as the fatigue settles in and the mileage keeps climbing. Here we gooooo!!!

–How was your running week?

–How many of your runs are solo runs? The majority of mine are and I don’t mind running by myself, but there are times when I really do enjoy company.