Week 4 is officially over. I’m starting to like training again, but I’d like to work out MORE—but that’s not part of our training plan (nor my husband’s personal plan). Here’s our recap.

Mileage = 14.64 miles. Our long run this week was 8 miles. One day we opted for a “long walk” instead of a run. As walking also strengthens our legs for the marathon, this walk day is included in total mileage (but not pace).

Pace =11:22 min/mile. Our short training day was fast-paced and a hill workout. Good times! Our 8-mile run pace was decreased when my husband fell about 5 miles into the run (a patch of concrete was on the sidewalk–and it was dark outside–you get the picture). He’s OK although a bit bruised physically, mentally and emotionally…

Rest = Fair. I didn’t sleep well this whole week (nightmares are icky) but was rested for our Saturday run.

Emotions = Loving the runs. We ran at night for our long run. It was AWESOME (minus the fall)! It was breezy, about 67 degrees outside, and it made the time go by faster. It was definitely a fun trip (no pun intended). I hope we’ll do more evening runs (maybe in a more well-lit area though).

Lessons Learned = Vary your training runs. We are varying hill workouts and speed workouts. It will help you become stronger and faster and more prepared for race conditions. Consider one workout a week of hill repeats, and the other training run as a speed workout. More to come on this.

Well, happy running this week! Thanks for reading our weekly training updates!!

So, our third week of training is complete. We’re getting used to this routine of running three days a week (how I had missed our exercise schedule!).

Here’s the recap:

Mileage = About 12.6 - 13 miles (one day we didn’t count mileage well).  We would have gone further during one of our “short runs” but my allergies, combined with the humidity, caused me to stop. I’m sure that there were other things I could have done to continue running (anyone have any tidbits?).

Pace = Our pace this week was pretty good at an average of 11:18 min/mile. We finished the end of our long run in under 10 minutes (which was a better pace than we started)! The humid/allergy-laden day hampered our good pace this week. 

Rest = I was fairly well rested by the long run start. We postponed our Saturday long run until Sunday because of the humidity (and our weekend plans).

Emotions = Psyched. Our good pace through the long run gave me a new level of excitement! I LOVE running!  As well, I felt well-rested and had minimal gastrointestinal distress before our long run (I didn’t have dessert the night before and we ate an earlier dinner).

Lessons Learned = We’re a team! It’s important to DEVELOP A SYSTEM if you run with someone else. For us, Mike is the leader of the pack. He tells us when we’re going to run and when we’ll take our walk breaks. I monitor our mileage and our pace (as I wear the Garmin).  I am also the motivator, getting us through those long runs (so far).  As well, I make sure that we get our carbs and water during our runs (as needed). 

 Well, that’s it for this week.  Please stay tuned as our season progresses (especially the lessons learned!).  Thanks!

Week 2 of marathon training is officially complete. This week was rough because I battled major rush hour (which is silly because it became more like “hours”) traffic, which caused my husband and I to train separately instead of together for part of the week. As well, the weather is warming up–and it’s been HUMID here in the DC metro area!

Here are our stats from the week:
Mileage = about 12 miles this week (one 6 mile long run plus two 3 mile runs)

Pace = I had a sub-10 minute/mile day this week, but overall finished the week with an 11:18 min/mile pace over 12 miles.

Rest = not as well this week, thanks to traffic and the Memorial Day weekend. I’m tired today!

Emotions = excited about the sub-10 minute miles. We’ve decided to increase our pace on our short running days, and I’m excited about this secondary goal of continuing sub-10 minute/miles.

Lessons Learned = Don’t eat dessert the night before a long run. I thought last Saturday’s nausea was due to eating late. However, Friday night I had cake for dessert at a local restaurant, and like clockwork, I was feeling nauseous before our run Saturday morning. I had eaten too much fat and calories without giving my body ample time to digest it.  Also, it is key to eat a good breakfast the morning of a long run–Mike didn’t really eat much before we ran, and he was not able to complete the 6 miles this weekend because he was STARVING!
Stay tuned to my weekly running recap throughout the next several months for more tips! Thanks for all your comments!

Just as a follow-up to a recent post, the Marine Corps Marathon registration for 2007 is now closed. Over 30,000 runners have registered. This is the 2nd quickest “sell out” in MCM history. How exciting!!!

If you still want to run this race, you can do so via MCM’s Charity Partners and run for a charity organization. See www.marinemarathon.com for more information.

Or, you can choose to run the 1/2 marathon or the 10K instead of the full marathon. Whatever you choose, I wish you good luck, good running, and good eating along the way!

Stay tuned for more running tidbits throughout the coming months.

We completed our first week of training! Yay! We are following Jeff Galloway’s “to finish” marathon training program, which tells us to:

• Run 2 days (short runs of about 30 - 45 minutes each)
• Walk (or cross-train) 2 days and
• Run one long run

So, 6 days of being active, and 1 rest day each week until the Marine Corp Marathon in October.

Here are the stats:

• Mileage (running) = about 9 miles this week, some of the mileage was walking between the running (Jeff Galloway stresses short walk breaks to keep your legs from getting tired–this will be key as the mileage increases)
• Pace = roughly 11:30 per mile (see Mileage above for explanation)
• Rest = well-rested because I only worked 2 days! However, we’ve been traveling in a car for several hours and eating poorly while on vacation this week.
• Emotions = excited and anxious about training. I didn’t keep in shape this winter, so I am already feeling guilty. As well, I experienced major knee pain last summer during training and worry that it will come back.
• Lessons Learned = Don’t eat late the night before a morning run! I had a late dinner last night and felt horrible this morning before my run. Ugh!

I’ll be posting regular weekly updates about our marathon training. We’d love your support too!