Philly Marathon Training, Week 1

Monday, July 21st:

6:00am, 66 degrees, 79%, calm.  Maple Shade Route (S).  Asics Kayano 19.

5mi easy (40:29) (8:06/mi)

IT band symptoms are practically gone, but I am still trying to find the right stride/mechanics.  I am not sure if it's because I haven't been consistently running these past few weeks, or because of the injury issues I am getting over, but I am still not feeling 100% fluid during my runs.  At least the last mile felt pretty loose.

10:30am, 74 degrees, 66%, 0-5mph.  Chapel - CH Blvd loop.  Nike Pegasus 29 USATF.

4.5mi easy (36:10) (8:02/mi)

Much, much smoother than this morning.  More relaxed and loose.  Piriformis was tight before and after the run, gingerly rolled over a lacrosse ball to help loosen it up.  Solid day one of training.

Tuesday, July 22nd:

6:00/6:50pm, 86 degrees, 48%, 10mph.  Neighborhood Loop.  Asics Kayano 19.

2mi+ very easy warmup before workout, 2mi+ very easy cooldown after workout

6:20pm, Treadmill, 1.0% incline.  Adidas Adios Boost.

4mi continuous fartlek as 5x (1:00ea at 7/8/9/10/11mph), 1x (1:00ea 7/8mph).

I have done this workout once before but I really think this is my new favorite workout.  It's fantastic on so many levels because there are many great qualities embedded in it.  You can think of it as a 25:00 moderate tempo at 6:40/mi pace.  You can think of it as 5x 1/2mi at 3:00ea with 2:00 1/4mi jogs.  The fastest 15:00 of the run averages threshold pace (6:00/mi), the fastest 10:00 of the run averages 10K pace (5:43/mi), and the fastest 5:00 of the run averages 5K pace (5:27/mi).  Because the average pace of the total run is still in the moderate range, you don't really get aerobically tired as the workout progresses - I can just as well imagine doing 10 sets of each pace for 50:00 of total running.  Such a workout is great in a base phase, or as an extra day of lighter quality during a specific phase, or even as the last few miles of a longer run during marathon training (e.g., 10-12mi easy followed by 25:00 fartlek).  Faster runners can use faster paces (e.g., 8/9/10/11/12mph), or slower runners can use slower paces (7/8/9/10mph).  If your corresponding paces are "in-between" rounded mph marks, you can increase the incline to modify the "feel" of the workout.  It almost has limitless potential!

Wednesday, July 23rd:

Rest.

Thursday, July 24th:

5:00am, 72 degrees, 76%, 5-10mph.  Maple Shade (S) - Neighborhood.  Asics Kayano 19.

6mi easy (48:38) (8:07/mi).  Strides.

Comfortable pace this morning.  Felt myself gathering momentum as the run progressed, covering the last 3 mile in 7:56-7:41/mi.  Felt good the whole way.

Friday, July 25th:

5:45am, 66 degrees, 63%, 10-20mph.  North Wildwood.  Asics Kayano 19.

5mi easy (40:05) (8:01/mi)

Headwind out, tailwind back.  Progressed from 8:35-7:35/mi.  Solid the whole way.

12:15pm, 75 degrees, 61%, 5-15mph.  North Wildwood.  Asics Kayano 19.

4mi easy (30:23) (7:36/mi)

Nice conditions this afternoon.  The winds were swirling a little more than this morning, but I was cruising the whole way.  Last 1/4mi was around 7:00/mi pace.

Saturday, July 26th:

5:50am, 64 degrees, 82%, 0-10mph.  North Wildwood - Stone Harbor, out-and-back.  Asics Kayano 19.

12 miles total (1:24:09), including 10mi moderate 6:50/avg (6:44-:57)

Absolutely rocked my first long run of the cycle.  Had a slight tailwind on the way out and a rough gusty patch over the bridge on the way back but overall I was very relaxed and controlled the entire time.  Had to hold myself back from naturally running sub-6:40s for some of the middle miles.  Also practiced taking in some Gatorade around miles 3.75/8.25/10.0.  Had a lot of running in me today.

Sunday, July 27th:

6:30am, 73 degrees, 87%, 0-5mph.  Moorestown.  Asics Kayano 19.

7.5mi easy (57:49) (7:43/mi)

Conversational pace run with Rosie.  Very humid air this morning, the pace actually felt even slower than it was.  Ran into Larry afterward in the MRC parking lot, which was nice.  Great cap to a satisfying first week.

Weekly Total: 52 miles

What a difference a week makes.  Now that I am finally symptom-free, I feel stronger than ever.  Both Tuesday's and Saturday's sessions went according to plan, and all of my easy/recovery runs felt very comfortable.  Looking forward to my first track session on either Tuesday/Wednesday.