Hope that you are enjoying all of the fun summer festivities. I guess I have been, considering my long leave of absence from the blog! The past few weeks have been a blast as Boston has finally warmed up, and I've also had some great runs! This week my long run is up to 9 miles, and I am super excited because I am planning on being down in Newport visiting my girlfriend Katie. She lives right off this gorgeous bike path that goes along the bay, past huge houses, and is nicely shaded in most parts. I was down there a couple weeks ago and got in some nice runs :)
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By this point everyone should be seeing themselves get a little stronger, and the runs that initally were challenging should be getting easier. If not, it may be time to step up the training. Remember, the race is only 114 days, 22 hours, 34 mins, and 5 seconds* away!!! That may sound like a lot, but considering I've been doing this blog for well over a month it just shows how quickly that time will be here!
If your NOT where you'd like to be, no worries! There is still plenty of time, and below are some tips that I think should help!
1. Buddy up! Typically having someone accountable for you, besides yourself (especially if you are the procrastinating type) can really help boost training efforts. Personally, I like to run with someone who is slightly above my level to give me that extra boost. My gals from running club are great, and I haven't missed a week yet unless I am out of town. We make it fun too by doing things afterwards. (I'll give some examples of training-approved fun in my next post!) I talked to Jacky yesterday and she said her and Beth have been training together. LOVE IT! If anyone else is training with a partner, or looking for one let me know and we can try to hook it up!
2. Don't be afraid of running groups. They don't bite. If fact, running groups have probably been the key force in my efforts to improve my time. In the Philadelphia area there are many, but I can guarantee that on any given day of the week just show up at the art museum around 6/6:30 and there WILL be a group. I used to do one on Tuesdays @ 6:30, and it was great. Usually around 50 people, in various levels. Also in Haddonfield on Wednesdays the running store puts on a run. (For the people doing the full I think they also do a long run on Saturday mornings, though I've never gone)
3. Find a POWER song. If you've ever used a Nike+, you know what I'm talking about. Push the middle button when the going gets tough, and get your fav song blasting into your ear buds. I love this concept, and I've made a playlist titled "A" (easy to find) with a few of my running favs. I think it would be fab if everyone could post 1-2 of their power songs and we could compile a list of raging awesomeness. Lets all do that, and I'll compile the list for the next time.
4. Think of the consequences. J/k. but not really, fear can be a great motivator. Think of what is worse, skipping an easy run because you don't feel like it, or being under-prepared in the race. Yep, thats what I thought.
*at time of posting.
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Training Progress
The following is long, and may seem tedious, but this is an excerpt from my training program for this lovely week two.
Week of July 27th-August 2nd
| Week 2 | ||||||||||
| Tip of the Week: Easy days are as important in your training plan as hard days. You won't get the full benefits of the progressive long-run buildup on the weekends, unless you rest before and after. Resting on Fridays and Mondays allows you to run harder on Saturdays and Sundays, when you will have more time for your workouts. The marathon is 17 weeks away, but your success depends on the steady base that you are building now. | ||||||||||
| Monday: Monday is an easy day. Continue to remind yourself of that fact. Do some cross-training, but only at a very easy level. It may not seem like you need to rest after only an 8-miler over the weekend, but you will be thankful for this day of relative rest as the program continues. Also, evaluate how you felt after your last week of training. A lot of people play at running, working out three or four days a week, doing a long run on the weekends, entering an occasional race, sometimes gearing up for a marathon. For a while, they'll improve just on accumulated mileage, but after several years it becomes increasingly difficult to set Personal Records. To do that, you need to train. Training is when you follow a schedule, such as this one, where each day has a purpose. If the weather is bad, you still run. If you have important business, you simply rise an hour early to run. Why? Because I told you to! And if Hal tells you to cross-train today, maybe including some strength training, please do it! Not this one workout, but the accumulation of workouts over a period of a dozen weeks, should make you a better runner. | ||||||||||
| Plan | Actual | Time | Pace | Notes | ||||||
| Tuesday: Today's workout is a run of 3 miles at a comfortable pace, the same as last week on Tuesday and the same distance you will do Thursday as well. This workout shouldn't take a great deal of your time: a half hour or less if you run at a 10:00-mile pace or faster. But forget I said that! I don't want you to go out and time yourself for 3 miles. In fact, your course doesn't need to be precisely 3.0 miles. It can be about that distance. The easiest way to pick a course of 3.0 miles would be to get in your car and figure out how far you need to run to go about half that distance (1.5 miles), either from your home, from your office or from wherever you plan to run on Tuesdays. Then run this 1.5-mile course out and back. Don't wear a watch, at least for the time being. | ||||||||||
| Plan | Actual | Time | Pace | Notes | ||||||
| 3 | | |||||||||
| Wednesday: Five miles today. This is your "hard" day of the week. If you want to run a bit faster than yesterday toward the end, do so. Today's 5-miler is also the same as last week's and next week's Wednesday workouts, but in two weeks you move up to 6 miles. As the program continues, the Wednesday mileage will steadily increase until you reach a peak of 8 miles on Wednesday in Week 10. It's all part of my Grand Plan to get you in shape for the marathon. And trust me: It will! | ||||||||||
| Plan | Actual | Time | Pace | Notes | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||
| Thursday: Run 3 miles at a comfortable pace and do some strength training afterwards. Consider using several different courses at this distance--and for other road distances. Tuesday I discussed how to find a 3-mile course, suggesting that you simply get in your car and measure approximately half that distance, then run it out and back. For a second course, you might measure a "loop" course, meaning you circle around without retracing your steps. But as you run this and other distances, consider utilizing completely different courses, perhaps one in a scenic area frequented by other runners. Be inventive. You might as well make running as pleasant as possible. | ||||||||||
| Plan | Actual | Time | Pace | Notes | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||||||
| Friday: A day of rest. Seemingly, you don't need this now, but wait until your weekend runs start getting longer in another few weeks. If you feel you need to do some exercise, limit it to stretching. I've been focusing on course measurement for most of this week. You might even call this the "Theme for Week 2." So if you're looking for something to do with your extra time while not running today, go out and measure a series of courses from 3 through 8 miles. You'll use them during the remaining weeks of this Marathon Training Program. | ||||||||||
| Saturday: Run 5 miles. Last week, I asked you run "marathon pace" (the pace you hope to run for the full 26 miles of the marathon). Next week, you will be asked again to do "5 m pace." Today, simply run at whatever comfortable pace suits your mood, keeping in mind that tomorrow is your long run of the week, and you don't want to compromise your ability to finish it comfortably by running too hard today. When you see the word "run" in my training charts, this is what I mean. | ||||||||||
| Plan | Actual | Time | Pace | Notes | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||||||
| Sunday: Today is long-run day, and I'm asking you to go 9 miles, one mile further than the week before. One mistake you want to avoid is running these long runs too fast. Never do your long runs faster than marathon pace or even at marathon pace itself. That creates too much stress, coupled with your other training. Generally, I advise runners to do their long runs 45 to 90 seconds or more slower per-mile than race pace. | ||||||||||
| Plan | Actual | Time | Pace | Notes | ||||||
| 9 | ||||||||||
| Planned | 25 | Actual | 0 | |||||||
| Days Remaining | 115 | |||||||||
Here is what my actual mileage will likely look like for this week:
Monday- 4 (I switched my off day b/c Tues was un-godly hot, plus I did my long run on Sat last week)
Tuesday- off
Wednesday- 5.5 (ran w/ run group @ 8:30 pace)
Thurs- 4 (1 extra mile just because, might get killed, asked a really fast friend to "push me")
Friday- off day as scheduled
Saturday- 5-6, running resevouoir w/run club gals
Sunday- 9 miles @ easy pace.
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Total: 28.5
As you can see, I will be up 3.5 miles this week. Last week I took off an extra day on a low mile day, so it kinda balances out.
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Just for fun:
Apparently my blog has reached a far and broad audience. I received an email from Sara from the Fresh Air Fund, which is still looking for runners and sponsors to join their Fresh Air Fund-Racers team for the NYC Half-Marathon on August 16th. It could be a great training run, and it benefits inner city children. If you want to check it out, here is the link. I think it sounds like a blast and I may try to round up my boston ladies and take the bolt bus down to NYC to participate!
http://freshair.org/racers
Well thats all I have for now. Remember to send me training anecdotes, power songs, and more. And look out for my list of fun post-run activities in the next post!
~Danielle
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