Week 1 of my 16 week training plan for Glass City marathon (4/26/2020) is in the books! I’d say it went OK.
- Miles run = 24.5
Monday – 4 miles, easy, treadmill. Marathon training begins today!! It didn’t start as early as it was supposed to… I turned my alarm off and went back to sleep 🙂 In all fairness, I am feeling run down and on the verge of a cold, so I figured the extra rest would not hurt. I did get my 4 miles in before work, so it’s all good. I even made it to work on time. Winning!!!! Did I mention that I went bowling with my Run Toledo friends on Sunday last week? I’m not a good bowler, but it’s still a lot of fun!
Tuesday – 3 miles, with a tiny touch of “speed”. The plan calls for a 2 mile time trial today to help determine which pace group people should be placed in the Dave’s Marathon in Training plan. I’m following along with that plan because I am a sub coach, and I’d like to be able to fill in as needed. BUT, I also already know what pace I’d like to hit, and even though that might be crazy, I’m giving it a try. I’m not really in a place where I should be doing speedwork quite yet (hamstrings!!), so I ran a warm up mile, did .1 on/ .1 off fartleks and called it a day. Spoiler alert, my target “marathon pace” was my “fast” speed, and it was challenging. Oh boy, this does not bode well for me! Ooof. Let’s hope that some of this is due to my nasal issues? Yes, let’s say that. And, I found a new place I want to visit 🙂
Wednesday – Rest day! I did get to go out with my friend and catch up over pizza and a beer. I haven’t talked to her in awhile so it was so nice to reconnect!
Thursday – 5 miles, “tempo” run. My Thursday workouts will be something I’ll be calling a “tempo” run. The fast part is usually done at my goal marathon pace, so technically not really “tempo”, but it’s a speedy work out that usually is longer than interval workouts. This week was 5 miles with mid 3 at MP. I did something crazy for me and waited until the afternoon to run because it was 20 degrees warmer than at 7:30am. I even went back to bed after the kids got on the bus and didn’t get up until 9:30am. CRAZY!!! I figured I needed the sleep to kick my cold to the curb.
Alan joined me on this run. As for our run, I’m not going to sugarcoat it… it was hard! You’d think just 3 miles at that pace would be easy, but no, I was huffing and puffing the whole time. I did hit the paces I needed to, but it was not easy by any means. Hey, it’s just week 1, so I’ll give myself some slack.
Friday – 4 miles, easy. We decided to hit the trails at the woods (still testing out my Brooks shoes). It was super wet from all the rain we got. My test shoes were really great in all conditions. Puddles are no match for me!
Saturday – 8 miles, long run. This was the first long run of my training cycle. I sub coached for the Dave’s MIT (Marathon in Training) group. The pace group is for people hoping to finish 3:40-4:04 in the marathon. I ran with the middle of the group, so target pace was 9:40 miles. I ended with 9:36. Winner!! I’ll be honest though… this felt like a long run. Luckily I made a new friend on my run and he kept me entertained with conversation the whole time. I just never know if i’m going to get chatty people in my group, or the person with headphones on doesn’t talk at all! As expected for week 1, we had a HUGE group. Yet somehow, only 2 people ran with me. Everyone wants to run faster, or slower? (we have 3 coaches). Should I take it personally? LOL!
Alan went out for his “long” 8 mile run too. I was overdressed in a short sleeve shirt and capris. 60 degrees!! Crazy.
In the evening we went to the “after the holidays” party for my job. Dinner, and even a little bit of dancing. Fun!
Sunday – Rest day… with a walk around my neighborhood for 2.5 miles. Had to work off my donuts this morning 🙂 I feel like my cold is all gone now. Yeah, back to normal!!! Fun stuff for the week – I convinced Alan to get a new pair of shoes. Due to his latest injury, I’m sure he needs shoes with more cushion. After about 7 choices, he decided he liked the feel of these best. We hadn’t heard of Diadora before, but he’s going to give them a try. And check out the reflectivity of these babies. WOW!!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Now I have a technology question for all of you bloggers…. What software/process do you use to resize the pictures on your blog? I have been using Photoshop Elements, and I like it, but now I need to buy a new version due to an OS update. Is there a cheaper/better alternative that I should consider?
Q: Do you bowl?
I don’t think I ever characterize my runs as “easy” ha ha. Looks like your marathon training is off to a running start 🙂 Glad your hamstring is feeling so much better. Mine is too just need to keep up w the exercises
As always, PT is back on the plan for “MUST DO” this week. I didn’t do anything on vacation (ewww, don’t want to lay on the floor of some rental place), but I really need to get back at it. Now that I’m over my cold, I feel it’s time for that fresh [new year] start!
If I was fast enough for your group, I would definitely run with you! ☺️
Thanks! I promise I don’t smell 😉
Awesome job on your workouts this week! The start of a new training plan is always so exciting – looking forward to following your journey to another marathon this year!
OMG those reflective sneakers look so cool!
New training plans are exciting! Hoping it will be a successful journey 🙂
This week was a struggle for sure getting back into the swing of things. Congrats on week 1 of training. And yay to see Alan out of the boot and out running with you.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie recently posted…Weekly Sweats: Humble Pie Edition
My husband is still having some pain, but luckily he has me to make sure he keeps his running slower and taking it easy 🙂
That reflection on the shoes is so cool!
That is quite the muddy trail you were on- surprised you didn’t lose a shoe, ha!
Luckily it was warmer out. I’m usually not the type to just get into those kind of puddles, but the shoes handled it well. I’m giving them two thumbs up!
Believe it or not, I used to bowl (years ago) when the kids were really little and we were living in Michigan. The ladies group I was in had a morning bowling league in a non-smoking alley LOL (also with a childcare room!). It was a lot of fun…I even had a few 200+ games and a few 500 series 🙂 But, that was a long time ago, and I have reverted to my previous “game” (130ish average). I love the hubby’s new shoes!
Wow, 200+ games! I’m excited if I break 100. And I didn’t. haha!! But the excitement of getting a strike or spare keeps me coming back for more. We do have an older alley in town which definitely smells like those smoky days of bowling. The one we went to does not. It has glow bowling too!
That’s exciting that you’re training for a marathon! Those shoes are awesome!
I’ve never seen a pair of shoes so reflective! My husband took his first run in them, and said they were comfy. So hopefully they are a winner!
Those shoes are pretty cool! I think your first week of marathon training went well. You did all of your runs whether they were easy or hard. I am sure things will fall into place in the upcoming weeks.
This is true – I need to give myself more points for just getting it done sometimes! I look forward to the challenge of a new plan, but not so sure I’m the right goal race pace. It’s a bit too fast right now!
We had an “after the holidays” party too! It’s probably always more important to rest than get sick, but especially so early in your training cycle. I use an app to upload photos from my phone to my wordpress blog (odd name – BIRU-WP) and it lets you set the upload size. There also are resizing/compressing plug-ins.
Very interesting! I hadn’t thought about using a plug in. I’m probably doing way too much manual processing of my pictures (with far too little pay off!). Thanks for the info, I’ll check into that!
We always find with the 5k and beyond learner runners group that everyone spreads out and only a couple of people run with the leader and two assistants – and that’s on a mile or so run/walk at the moment! So it’s probably just a second here, a second there, and there you are all apart. LOVE those shoes and well done on a solid first week.
Our pace groups got all scrambled together at the start of the run, so hopefully everyone found a friend or two to run with. I wanted to make sure no one got lost or left behind!
Whoa. Those shoes are awesome. Glad you’re feeling better
I just use the built in wordpress crop tool. I don’t resize them other than cropping. Maybe I should, but *shrug*
I will have to check that out. I did learn the hard way that my pictures needed to be resized when I switched hosting providers. And my website was crashing while trying to load pictures on the page! well, it was also a super cheap hosting plan, so not much bandwidth was included.
Ugh. So frustrating.
That’s great news that the cold was gone by Sunday! Sounds like it was a good first week of marathon training. And I love those reflective shoes, so cool 🙂
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My cold is 100% gone now!! woohoo! I was able to get out of bed early this morning… and breath freely!
First, OMG THOSE SHOES!!!!!!!!! I love them.
Second, I use Canva for all my photo editing.
And third, you’re only in week one of training. It’s ok if things are tough right now. You have 15 more weeks ahead of you and you are going to ROCK Glass City!
I’ve never heard of Canva. More things to investigate! Thanks 🙂
Great start to your marathon training! I’m doing my first one this year, so I’ll be following you very closely! Love that your Brooks shoes handled all those muddy puddles – #runhappy! I’m a big fan of Brooks 🙂
I’ve actually never bought any Brooks shoes for myself! My kids wear them, but I’m just a wear tester. I love seeing their new shoe lines. I’m waiting for my favorite tester pair to come out on the market so I can buy them!
A first time marathoner? Fun!! I do enjoy the challenge of the journey getting to the start line the most.
OMG, those trails! I don’t think I’d enjoy them that wet, but glad your shoes kept you comfy. Also glad that the rest seemed to do the trick with the cold.
Sometimes a simple 3 mile run can feel like for-ever! For real!
I’d also say since you’re in the beginning of your training cycle, it’s not surprising your goal pace is feeling hard. That’s what the training is for.
I think a lot about how 7 miles (my long runs now) feel so long, and yet it’s basically half of a half. But i know, again, that’s what training is for.
Does it surprise you that I always rinse off my trail shoes (or regular shoes!) when they get dirty outside?? I do like a clean looking pair of running shoes 🙂