So here we are week #3 of the marathon training plan. My first two weeks came and went, and I will say this, actually kinda surprised myself. After last week, I left off with my 12 miler adventure on Thursday. After a much needed Friday off, I toe'd the line on Saturday morning for 15x300m hill repeats. The goal was to run each one in 1:20. Not blazing fast, but a really good pace. There was a group of 5 of us at that pace, and we all stayed together each and every set, and we hit our marks spot on. Well.....except for the last one....where the two little rabbits took off, and I found myself staying with them....that one came in at a 1:16. Not my fastest split ever, but one to be remembered. I will admit, after that workout I was pretty tired. I'm finding my mind looking for that reason not to run. It's that mental fatigue that I need to overcome, and GET THROUGH WEEK #3. The YIKES week. But before I could get to YIKES, I need to get through Sunday's 16 miler. In every marathon training sequence I've never hit 16 miles this early. That's always at least 2 months into the cycle. Also, I've never worked mini bouts of speed work into them, like i am now. The 16 miler included 4 miles at marathon pace. Very similar to last week where we did the last 5 miles at marathon pace. This week, though, they started at miles 9.25 and went through 13.25. So, realistically, I should have been able to knock them out easier then last weeks. Oh how wrong was I .....Actually, the first two miles went very well. 8:05 and 8:06. Mile 3.....that's where we turned into the wind and that little blast of air (which I liked from the cool down perspective), zapped all my energy out....I slowed to an 8:32......Mile 4 was even worse as I argued with myself to keep chugging along. I finished that one in 8:54. That's not acceptable. Honestly I think it's a combination of miles, and the heat and humidity that's starting to build. Although we started at 5am....It's starting to be much warmer. And it's going to ZAP the energy right out of us. Not to mention, the first 9.5 miles weren't the flattest....They were ridiculous hilly. The slowdown hit everyone, and we all came back with the same tales of breakdown in the last couple Marathon Pace miles. And when i got home, I confirmed my bonkage by getting on the scale and having lost 8.5 pounds during the run.....That's AFTER drinking 64 ounces of fluid!
Needless to say...Monday AMs alarm came while i was in a dead sleep. I managed to crawl out of bed and make my 3.5 mile run. Not sure how...But I did it. I even got in a 1.5 mile walk in the evening with the wife and kids. Which leads me to todays workout....a 6 mile tempo run in which I had target times of 7:57/mile. I will say this....My LEGS WERE TIRED! BIG TIME! As we toed the line, I through out my target times and ran by feel. Actually....I didn't remember my target times, becasue i forgot to look at them before i left.... LOL... Anyways, I took off at what felt like a nice easy pace that I could hold for the whole workout....Mile 1: 7:39.....WHAT??!!?? Mile 2: 7:39.......Okay.....Mile 3: 7:38......Huh....Mile 4, which is my mental mile on this 5 mile course.....7:44.......Not a huge slowdown.....Mile 5 (i think) 7:42......Finally, Mile 6: 7:40.....I got back in the groove a bit. Everyone at the finish (of the marathon group) seemed a little down about not making thier target times. Although, Rhonda was very close. Since I knew mine was 7:xx....I was very OKAY....and I thought they were around 7:40-7:45ish. To my surprise they were the 7:57 I listed above. We'll mail those to coach mamma michele and see if I get yelled at, or adjusted from here on out...
Until then.....TRAIN HARD and LIVESTRONG!
