Week 3 of Marathon Training: Aug 24 – Aug 30

Monday – Lunch: 3 easy miles. 

Tuesday – Lunch: 3 miles.  Got a last minute invite to the Rangers game with some friends.  Good thing I had a workout bag with me.  Switched my Tuesday strength workout with my Thursday run!

 

Wednesday – Lunch: 3 miles.  A solid group run of 4 miles.

Thursday – Rest Day

Friday – Lunch: 2 easy miles with a few 0.25 pickups thrown in.  Tested out some of the machines in the weight room: chest press, leg extension, leg press, squats with overhead press and bicep curls (since I missed weights on Tuesday).

Saturday – Long Run: 11 miles.  I was really happy with this run, it took me a bit to get functioning and going, but once I did, it was a breeze.  I stuck with my 0.1 walk/0.9 run.  I do that for several reasons: to save energy and restrict myself from using too much energy early on and dying at the end and to emulate water stations which I walk through on the course.  I kept it easy and finished with a 10:20 pace.  I went out 5.5 miles and back 5.5 miles, took a gel at Mile 5 and felt great for the second half.  Then went and got Whataburger and discovered that they have root beer milk shakes – awesome!

Sunday – Rest Day!  Sunday Funday – went to friend’s house and relaxed in their pool.  Trying to soak up as much summer as I can before it is over.

 
Total miles: 26 miles and a little bit of strength.

 

This concludes the first part of my marathon training plan of the base phase, now to start building.  Both the weekly mileage and the long run.

Week 2 of Marathon Training: Aug 17 – Aug 23

Monday – Lunch: 3 easy miles. 

Tuesday – Gym: Spin 15-20 extremely easy, just got the legs moving.  At Body Pump I went extremely heavy on the first 3 exercise, increasing all of my weights.  Squats, chest, and back.  I feel that hits all the main groups.  I did my normal weights for everything else.  I will be feeling it tomorrow.

Wednesday – Lunch 3 miles. 

Thursday – Lunch: 2 miles.  It was a perfect running day, 71 – cloudy and a slight breeze!  Had to get another run on the beautiful evening: 5 miles in 46:26 (9:28, 9:07, 9:12, 9:03 & 8:50).  Felt great to get this run in.  It is hard to judge how good your runs are or how much you are improving when it is 95+ degrees out.  Total of 7 for the day!

Friday – Rest Day!

Saturday – 8 miles for the day.  I did my 5 mile loop, stopped back at the house for some water and fuel, then went back out for 3.  Still trying to get my body used to the long run!

Sunday – Was scheduled for 4 miles today.  Ran the first one, and my legs were just not getting going.  So I walked the last 3 as a shake out!

 

Total miles: 25 miles and 1 day of spin/strength

Week 1 of Marathon Training: Aug 10 – Aug 16

Monday – Lunch: 3 easy miles.  Dinner was out at Old Chicago – to start carbing up for my training.  I used to go there every Tuesday while in college and they finally opened a location in Dallas!

Tuesday – Gym: Spin 30 minutes and Body Pump

Wednesday – Lunch 3 miles.  Evening: 3 miles of baby hills.

Thursday – Lunch: Ran 3, walked 1 to get to my total of 4.  Legs are tired from Tuesday/Wednesday work.

Friday – Rest Day!

Saturday – On the schedule was 10 miles, which I got in, however it was in two separate 5 mile runs.  It was way too late by the time I got up and moving on Saturday, so I did a 5 mile loop in the morning, followed up with a 5 mile loop in the evening.  Not the best method, but OK as long as I don’t do it for EVERY long run.

Sunday – Rest Day!

 

Total miles: 23 miles and 1 day of spin/strength

Weekly Recap: Aug 3 – Aug 9

Monday – Lunch: Ran 3 miles.  I have my work route established!

Tuesday – Gym: 28 min spin and Body Pump.  Then I finished up my shoulder workout with the second coat of paint for the back bedroom.  Mark just has to finish up the edges.

Wednesday – Lunch: Ran 3 miles

Thursday – Walked 2 miles.  I hadn’t been sleeping well and just feeling pretty dang tired, so I took it easy

Friday – Ran 3 miles

Saturday – Biking 24 miles

Sunday – Rest Day at the lake!

                                                                  

Weekly Mileage: 11 running miles, 1 strength workout and 1 bike ride.  Not as many running miles as I would have liked, but the 2 other days of spinning/lifting and biking make up for it.

Today is the start of marathon training! 

Weekly Recap: July 28th – Aug 2nd

Monday – Gym: 4 miles (34:50 – 8:42 pace).  I did a 0.50 mile warm up, then did 0.50 speed (8:00 pace) and 0.25 recovery (9:40 pace) and the last 0.50 at a comfortable pace.  I felt really strong in this workout, like I could have done a couple more repeats.  Afterwards a few planks for good measure. 

Tuesday – Gym: 20 minutes of spin and Body Pump!

Wednesday – Lunch 2.5 miles.  Today was the first day I had to try and find my new running route for lunch breaks.  I found one that didn’t work.  Another that took me through a shit ton of bees.  But I think I have a way figured out.  Going to try it tomorrow and see if I can figure out my 0.25 mile markers.

Evening: Group Run 4 miles

Thursday – Lunch: Ran 2.5 miles.  Still perfecting the route, didn’t quite get it right today, but I have it figured out for next time!  Then it was out for 3 volleyball matches, where I played pretty well.  I had a few good hits and a couple of almost blocks.  I had my timing down and got my hands on the ball, just wasn’t far enough over the net. 

Friday – Off Day

Saturday – Melon 5K and Little’s Alzheimer’s Tournament.  The Melon Dash went really well except for my watch being dead when I got there, even though I had charged it the night before.  I think it was powered on when charging, so when I took it off the charger, it was on and drained the battery.  Either way, it was a good thing because I just ran based on feel and had no concept of pace and I did way better than I expected. (25:47 - 8:19 pace).  After that I raced home to grab Mark & Jack to get out to the Little’s volleyball tournament.  I played really good, my team lost in the championship – to Mark’s team.  But I definitely had the highlight of the day with my huge block!  And that will be talked about for a long time!!!!

Sunday – 3.5 miles.  For some reason I thought I was at 17 miles before today and only needed 3 miles to hit 20 for the week….oh well.

                                                                             

Weekly Mileage: 19.6 running miles and 2 days of sand volleyball.