Tag Archives: Pre-season

Pre-Season Marathon Training: Week 1

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with , , , ,

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Well, you guys know that I decided to go with good ‘ol Hanson’s this time around for NYC Marathon and once I took a good look at the plan, I realized that was a whole lotta miles. I figured it would do me good to get going on getting used to running a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

Having taken a week off to recover from the Canyon, I went for my first official run last Sunday–exactly a week after my second day crossing.

Sunday, 5/29–3 miles easy, 9:27 avg

We were in my hometown visiting for the Memorial Day Weekend and I took advantage of being home by running the course for the yearly Turkey Trot. I hate this course. It’s my Eleanor, I guess you could say (who knows where’s that from??) For some reason, I can never do well at this race. Maybe it’s home court jitters, I don’t know, but I always struggle bus it. Anyway, whenever we’re home, I try and run this 5k so that I can somehow train my brain to beat it. It’s not even that hard. Ugh.

The mountain on top of my left shoulder is in Mexico and the mountain to the right of me is in Arizona :)

The mountain on top of my left shoulder is in Mexico and the mountain to the right of me is in Arizona 🙂

Monday, 5/30–4 miles easy, 9:45 avg

I finally was able to meet up with a sub group of a running group I’m in. They always meet on Mondays at 5 but I somehow can never make it. Since it was Memorial Day, my husband had the day off and I was able to go out for another easy run.

Tuesday, 5/31–4 miles tempo, 8:38 avg

I felt ready for a good run on Tuesday, just in time for our 100 degree weather. Yep, 100+ degrees out to say good-bye to May.

Ice pop at the end--necessary.

Ice pop at the end–necessary.

Splits–8:27, 8:42, 8:44, 8:43

I started out a bit too fast but I was please at the consistency for the remainder miles. It’s something I’ve been working on all year and I’m happy I’m getting better at it.

Wednesday, 6/1–Global Running Day 5k, 8:23 avg

Our run club had an informal 5k to celebrate this special day and oh my goodness gracious, was it effing hot out there. Another over 100 degree day.

Splits were awful–8:07, 8:22, 8:33

Last I checked, a 5k is 3.1 miles!! Bleh...lol

Last I checked, a 5k is 3.1 miles!! Bleh…lol

Thursday, 6/2–Rest Day

You should notice (and I’m making you if you hadn’t 😉 ), that I had done 4 days of straight running. This was done purposely as again, I’m training to get myself used to Hanson’s insanity of 6 days of running with no rest. I figured I’d start slow with 4 days straight, lol.

Friday, 6/3–4.23 easy miles, 9:14 avg

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You know you guys wanna move here….

This was tough because I started off easy, saw the first mile split and was pleased, and then continued running easy, saw the second mile a little faster….then continued running easy and saw the third mile faster, and then figured what the heck, I’ve already made this into a mini progression run–might as well make the last mile a little faster.

Splits–9:41, 9:24, 9:12, 8:43

I think Hanson’s easy runs will be tough for me. A lot of the miles are supposed to be done easy and my prescribed easy pace is 9:40-10:20. It’s crazy to even say this, but my easy comfort zone right now is around the 9 minute mark. I’m going to have work a little to get to Hanson’s easy. But, I’m pretty positive that once I get going with the plan, the accumulated exhaustion will settle and then Hanson’s easy probably won’t feel so easy anymore, lol!

Saturday, 6/4–Rest Day

I thought I’d be able to squeeze a run in, but I had an 8 o’clock hair appointment and didn’t want to rush to it. So, I slept in 😀

Sunday, 6/5–Long Run 6 miles, 9:19 avg

My Moms Run This Town Chapter meets on Sundays, so I ran my long run with them. We had a new mom join and I ran my first two miles with her to keep her company–10:14, 9:59. She turned around then as she was only doing 4.

I continued on with another mom to finish my six–9:05, 8:51, 8:55, 8:48. This was a good run as it had been a while since I’d done any road run over a 5 miler (since April 23rd!!).

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From Sunday to Sunday, I had a 24.6 mile week. Pretty good 🙂

–How was your running week? Do you “train for training”?

–How do you get yourself to run easy?

–What’s the temperature like where you’re at? Do you wanna move to Arizona?

 

Marathon Training Pre-season

Posted by hellyontherun in Bloggers, Marathon, Running and tagged with , , , , ,

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Last week and this upcoming week are serving as pre-season to marathon training. A sort of trial period before I move on to the big leagues–aka: the official marathon training plan. I don’t know, this is how I work things in my head 🙂

Anyway, last Monday, my schedule had me running 6 miles, a warm up and cool down and 4 miles at medium tempo pace. But, ever since my 27k a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been nursing a sore right foot so I decided to take it easy and run a total of four miles, 1 warm up and 1 cool down with 2 miles at mid tempo pace.

That was the plan and I started out milking the warm-up going at a pace slower than I’d done in a long time. I was feeling the heat and was just having a case of the tired Mondays. After the first mile beeped, I picked it up knowing I “had” to make the next two miles at pace. While I increased my pace considerably from the warm up mile, I was still 20 seconds away from the tempo pace.

Same thing happened with mile two. I was at least glad that the middle two miles were close in pace and I milked the fourth cool down mile almost exactly as the first.

Mile 1- 10:26
Mile 2-9:07
Mile 3-8:54
Mile 4-10:27

At least I was consistent lol!

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This is what I was dealing with at 7:22 p.m.

Tuesday was supposed to be a cross training day according to my Run Less, Run Faster plan but I decided that I could bend the rules considering it was still pre-season. So I ran. (You’re doing it wrong, Helly!) Whatever.

I met up with my run club for the Tuesday evening run but I knew before it even started that it wasn’t going to go well. It was so freaking hot!

6:05 p.m.

6:05 p.m.

I wasn’t even thinking of going out fast, instead just focused on maintaing a decent pace. I was doing okay the first 3 miles (of five) but the last two I was just so light headed and weak from the heat; I had to slow down. I’m honestly surprised at how I kept myself from walking.

Mile 1-9:57
Mile 2-9:54
Mile 3-10:01
Mile 4-10:37
Mile 5-10:37
Average-10:13/mile

Again, at least I was consistent jaja!!

Wednesday was speed work at the track but my husband had a late day at work so I took it to the gym where I did a 3.5 mile interval run finishing at an average 9:43/mile pace (def no speed work there!). It was a nice, relaxing run and doing the intervals helped pass the time on the treadmill. I don’t mind running on the ‘mill and with temps how they’ve been I think I’ll probably be on it more this summer.

Thursday was a cross training day so back to the gym I went and I hopped on the bike for a 10 mile ride. I loved sweating and the feeling of having just had a good workout. It puts me in such a good mood!

Friday was a rest day but I did squeeze in an ab video 🙂

Saturday was my first crazy o’clock run of the summer. My alarm went off at 4:30 and by 4:45 I was out the door for my “long” run with my run club. My pre-season plan had me going 6 so that’s what I went out with the intention of doing.

I could definitely feel the difference in temperatures running at 5 in the morning versus at 6-7 in the evening. It was a cool 77 and it felt SO great.

I hooked up with a friend who runs at a pace I like. She was going 8 and I figured I’d stick with her until it was time for me to make my return. We chatted and went along and before I knew it, I was at mile 3 ready to head back. I debated sticking with her since I felt so good but decided to be conservative and think about my foot so I said good-bye and turned back.

I was glad I did this. Normally, I would’ve kept on going because a.) I felt so good and was going at a good pace and b.) I had great company but I reminded myself that I had a long training season ahead of me. I think that I’ve matured in this way since last/first marathon..

Mile 1- 9:23 Mile 4-9:14
Mile 2- 9:25 Mile 5-9:16
Mile 3- 9:27 Mile 6-9:07
Average-9:18/mile

Again, I was really happy to see consistency. I felt like my splits were always all over the place last marathon attempt and I wanted to really work on them this time around. I was also very pleased to see the second half of the run be faster than the first half.

Sunday on my plan has a rest day/optional cross train and yesterday I chose the former. I wanted badly to meet up with my buddy Jeremy who was hosting a Run Tweet Eat social on the trails but my foot was super achy and I decided to rest it (and sleep in). Of course I saw all of their fun pics on Instagram and Facebook and wished I’d gone lol! Oh well, next time 🙂

Overall, it was a great week– 18.5 miles run and 10 miles on the track. I did an okay job with sticking to the training plan and like that I have next week to continue testing it out. After that, it’s game time!

–Did you have race this weekend?

–How was your running week last week?

–Are you good at keeping a consistent pace? (My splits are finally looking sorta normal!)

P.S. If you’re also training for a fall race or will start soon, check out my sole sister Salt’s Fall Race Training Directory for training friends!