Philly Marathon Training, Week 3

Monday, August 4th:

5:45am, 70 degrees, 95%, calm.  Moorestown.  Mizuno Wave Rider 17.

8.5mi (1:07:00) (7:53/mi).  Strides.

Conversational pace run with Rosie.  Wore my Enduracool cap again today, which helped keep the feeling of high humidity at bay.  After two very easy opening miles, we were very steady for the final 6mi (7:42-:48).  Strides after felt good.

Tuesday, August 5th:

7:00am, 68 degrees, 86%, 0-5mph.  Cherry Hill West Track.  Nike Pegasus 29 USATF, Adidas Adios Boost.

9mi total: 2mi warmup, 8x600m (2:02/avg) w/400m recovery jogs (2:11/avg), 2mi cooldown
Splits: 2:04 04 03 03 04 03 02 1:54

Second solid track workout in a row.  I was prepared for the sun today with my sunglasses and Enduracool cap - really keep my temperature regulated so I could focus on running.  Ryan was on the track at the same time doing his 6x800m workout, and he didn't fare quite as well because of the heat.  Just like last week, I felt stronger the longer the workout went, and when I got to the last one I focused on running each 200m segment faster than the previous one.  Wasn't quite all-out at the end, more of a controlled acceleration.  My confidence is slowly building as I feel my speed coming back to me and my fitness improving.

2:55pm, Treadmill, 1.0%.  Asics Kayano 19.

3mi recovery (24:51) (8:17/mi)

Smooth as silk.  Little hot in the back porch, but otherwise, very easy.

Wednesday, August 6th:

8:00am,  70 degrees, 75%, 5mph.  Croft Farm-Cuthbert Blvd-South Park Loop.  Mizuno Wave Rider 17.

7.5mi (No watch, ~7:00/mi?)

Ran with the CHW XC team this morning.  The goal was to run for 50 minutes at a medium effort with occasional 1:00 surges.  There was a group of 5 of us that mostly stuck together, and we kept a solid pace.  My Garmin finally died for good last night, so I didn't have a watch to run with.  I do know we definitely closed harder the last couple miles, and was probably in the low 6:00s for the last 1/2mi.  Very solid run, definitely faster than I would normally run the day after a workout, but I have one more recovery day until my next workout so I figured I could run really easy tomorrow.  It was fun being part of a pack and running more of an effort-based run.

Thursday, August 7th:

5:45am, 67 degrees, 90%, 0-10mph.  North Wildwood.  Asics Kayano 19.

5mi recovery (41:30) (8:18/mi).  Strides.

Nice and slow jog this morning after getting in good quality the last two days.  It was slow going the first mile, but then I settled in a very relaxed pace until I found myself holding back the last mile.

Friday, August 8th:

5:45am, 64 degrees, 70%, 0-10mph.  North Wildwood - Stone Harbor.  Adidas Adios Boost.

10mi total (1:10:26), including 6mi MP tempo 6:20/avg (6:23 20 20 18 20 19)

I am pleased with how the first MP tempo of the cycle unfolded.  It took me a good 2mi to settle into the right breathing/stride rhythm, but once I did, I could pretty well judge the right pace by effort.  I was targeting 6:20-:25/mi, so it came as a little surprise that I averaged on the fast end.  Having said that, I could not fathom sustaining that pace for much longer than 25K right now - which is what the next 15 weeks of the cycle are for, I suppose. :)

Saturday, August 9th:

6:30am, 66 degrees, 80%, 0-5mph.  North Wildwood.  Asics Kayano 19.

7mi recovery (57:14) (8:11/mi).  Strides.

Started very slowly but within 2.5mi I was really feeling good all of a sudden and had to hold myself back the rest of the run.   8:00/mi pace suddenly felt like 9:00/mi pace - it was the most awesome feeling.  Really let those strides rip afterward since I was feeling so loose.

Sunday, August 10th:

5:45am, 68 degrees, 80%, calm.  3x Tavistock Loop.  Asics Kayano 19.

14mi hilly (1:40:12): including 12mi moderate 6:54/avg (6:34-7:11)

Today’s long run turned out to be more a struggle than I had planned.  I intentionally choose a 3 loop hilly course so I could practice grabbing small water bottles that I filled with 5oz Gatorade, which is the beverage given out at the Philly Marathon.  Of course, when I came around at the end of Loop 1, both bottles were already gone.  Not sure if it was a “Good Samaritan” trying to keep the neighborhood clean, or some evildoer that has it in for runners.  Let’s just say that the Hansons were right on this one – this 14 miles did feel like the LAST 14 miles of a marathon, haha.  And let's just say that after this long week, I will especially be looking forward to my day off tomorrow. :)

Weekly Total: 64 miles

Probably my strongest single week of training yet for 2014.  It will be nice to have a relative down week next week.