Marathon Monday - Training Week 1

Week 1 of marathon training is over, and I'm really looking forward to Week 2!

Every Monday, I will be recapping the past week's workouts.  Focusing on my training runs.

Monday -  Walked 2.5 miles with the dogs in 42:16

Tuesday - 3 mile run in 33:47 (11:04 pace - 11:27, 11:11, 10:41).  I did this run as an out and back route on the bike path near my house.  It felt really tough and I wanted to walk multiple times, but I pushed through!  And somehow, I had negative splits.  I also did a .5 mile morning walk with the dogs in about 10 minutes, and another 2.33 mile walk in 42:21 in the evening.  The day was finished out with the 21-Day Fix yoga DVD.

Wednesday - .52 mile morning walk with dogs in 9:12 and evening 2.08 walk in 33:54.  21 Day-Fix Total Body Cardio DVD.

Thursday - 21 Day Fix Upper Fix DVD.

Friday - 3.02 mile run in 31:36 (10:29 pace - 10:54, 10:43, 9:51).  For this run, I ran the berm route.  There is a lovely gravel berm path that was constructed a few years ago across the little lake in our town.  Most of the run was on concrete sidewalk, but about .5 miles on the gravel trail.  This run felt really great.  Negative splits with the last mile coming in under 10:00, woohooo! 

Saturday - 2.01 mile trail run in 23:40 (11:47 pace - 11:59, 11:37).  I love hiking, and have always wanted to give trail running a try, so, I finally did.  And by trail, I mean in the woods, on an actual hiking trail.  Nick and I took the dogs hiking earlier in the day, and then decided to head to another trail to try out trail running.  Man, it was tough!  I had 3 miles on the schedule, but my legs were dead after the 3.09 mile hike in 56:49 earlier, and running on the uneven terrain.  After the first mile of the run, my legs were already crying, so I decided a mile out and back loop was good enough!  Even though it was tough, it was a lot of fun!  I am going to aim at running one trail run a week. 

Sunday - 6.02 mile run in 1:05:03 (10:49 pace - 10:58, 10:51, 11:02, 10:31, 10:48, 10:44).  Finally, fairly consistent pace :)  Since running 3 miles straight still feels a little tough, I was nervous for this run.  Honestly, I wasn't going to be able to run continuously for 6 miles and I didn't want to set myself up for failure so I did run/walk intervals.  I ran for 3 minutes and then walked for 1.  This method really helped keep my pace near where I want it to be.  I have a lot of endurance to gain back, and really want to be back to 10:00 average pace, or faster, but it's going to take some time to get there.  For now, I really want to stay around 11:00 or quicker.  I really pushed it during those 3 minute running periods, and tried to really power walk it during the walk intervals.  I will probably stick with the run/walk method for my long runs until my 3 mile runs start to feel more comfortable.

Here's the obligatory super sweaty post-run selfie :)

Also, I need to figure out something different to do with my hair during my long runs.  As you can see, my ponytail was a disgusting, sweaty, rat's nest when I got back.  It was a nightmare to get through!