Louisville Derby Festival Marathon Training Week #1

Last week was the first week of my 16-week training cycle for the Louisville Derby Festival Marathon. Going into this training cycle I am both very excited and incredibly nervous. I spent all of 2015 injured with/recovering from ITBS, so this will be my first marathon in 1.5 years (my last marathon was Marine Corps in October 2014). Going into Marine Corps I was in the best shape of my adult life, and I worry that I won't be able to get back into that kind of shape. And since Marine Corps was such a painful struggle, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a different kind of fear of 26.2 miles. Before, I certainly respected the distance but I never doubted I could conquer it--but Marine Corps darn near broke me, and the seed of doubt--which sprouts fear--was planted. I will be working on mind strength this training cycle as well as physical strength (more on that in a later post). But, despite my nerves and fears, I am so glad and excited to be training again and I'm looking forward to seeing how I grow and change as a runner over the next 16 weeks.

So this time around I am working with a real training plan  : )  When I trained for Marine Corps I stuck to a schedule--usually 4-5 runs per week, with a speed workout and a hill workout and a long run each week, a ten-mile run in the middle, and a shorter run somewhere along the way if I could fit it in--but I didn't really have a plan. I ran all of the miles at race-pace or faster.  I had no idea what I was doing, my goal was just to put the miles in and make sure I could hit the desired paces. Well, that backfired. I realize now that I way over-trained (I started training for the October race in early May!) and that I lacked structured, focused workouts. This time around I am doing a training plan that consists of just three very focused runs per week. I will be running far less miles but there will be quality over quantity. Part of the reason I chose this plan is because, coming off injury, I want to make sure I don't over-do it; and because one of my BRFs Keith used this same plan and BQed twice : )  I tagged along with several of his runs and know that this plan is challenging, but that it yields success if you stick with it.

In addition to the running plan, I am cross-training 2-3 times per week and incorporating 30 minutes of strength and core 5 times per week. I allow myself one complete day of rest.

Here's how training week #1 looked:

Monday
30 minutes strength and core in the form of Jillian Michaels's 6-Week Six Pack level 1 workout

Tuesday
Speed work

Prescribed: 3 x 1600 @ 6:51 w/ 400 RI (plus warm up and cool down)

Actual:
1 mi warm-up (8:23)
3 x 1600 @ 6:49 w/ 400 RI (@10:00)
.5 mi cool down

I did this workout on the treadmill because it was very windy outside and I did not want to fight for the paces (or not hit them at all). The treadmill pace was either 6:53 or 6:49, so I went with the faster pace. I was really nervous about this workout because it is pretty much what a 5K RACE would look like for me)--but I told myself with the 400 rest intervals it would be just fine. The first two intervals were good--I was feeling it during the second one but nothing I couldn't maintain--but by the last mile of the third interval I was just hanging on. And, as you can see, at a 10:00 rest interval pace I really needed those rests! Overall I was pleased.

I also did a 30 minute strength workout

Wednesday
Swim

2000 yards (about 50 minutes)

Thursday
Tempo run

Prescribed: 2 miles easy, 2 miles @ 7:23, 2 miles easy

Actual: 2 miles easy (8:31, 8:23), 2 tempo miles (7:11, 7:21), 2 easy miles (9:02, 8:26)

Although it was a gorgeous day out there--blue skies, sunshine, 50-some degrees--it was awfully windy and tempo miles were a bit of a struggle, especially since I ran through the park (which is always windier than everywhere else even on a good day). I will admit, I actually intended to do this workout on the treadmill so as to avoid the wind, but all the treadmills were taken so I had no choice but to do it outside. I managed to hang on to the paces despite the wind and felt good about the workout.

I also did a 30 minute strength workout

Friday
REST

I had hoped to at least do a 30-minute strength workout, but my in-laws were visiting, my husband was gone for a bit during the evening, and we'd had our new mattress delivered and had to get that all set up, so I decided not to stress about fitting in a workout

Saturday
Long run

Prescribed: 13 mi @ 8:37
Actual: 13 mi @ 8:17

It was really nice going into this run with permission to run slower than an 8:30 pace. (For some reason, I have it in my head that if I run slower than 8:30 I am not training hard enough. Normally I strive for 8:20s even on "easy" runs.) Even so, I thought 8:37 was kind of slow and decided to just run a comfortable pace--not pushing it at all, just nice and easy--and see where the paces were. The splits looked like this: 8:17, 8:22, 8:11, 8:18, 8:19, 8:15, 8:02, 8:24, 8:13, 8:24, 8:22, 8:28, 8:27. It was a good even-paced run and I came away happy.

Sunday
REST

Normally I would do some sort of cross-training after a long run, especially since I had just had a complete rest day two days prior and just one day of cross-training. But my husband and I were kid-free and I wanted to take full advantage of being able to spend the entire day with him, completely uninterrupted. So we went antiquing and ate junk food : )



I feel good about how the first week of training went! I really like having a plan--I don't have to think about the runs, I just do what the schedule says, which makes is easy. And going into the training cycle, doing just three runs a week makes the training seem very manageable when I'm incredibly busy at work, my husband also has to fit in several training works each week (he is training for a spring 50K), and the kids have a slew of activities going on. I'm in the middle of training week 2 now and am already having to improvise due to being out of town for two days and staying home with the kids for snow days....I'll update you next week!