Training Log – 09.23.18 (CIM Week 4)

Happy Monday!

Lots of easy miles, one good quality workout and a long run this week!

Here is what my training looked like the week of 09.17.18 – 09.23.18:

Monday – Easy: 8 miles (9:24 pace)

Tuesday AM – Quality: 11 miles (7:32 pace) + PM – Pilates

My workout Tuesday was a one mile warm up, 8 X 800 at threshold (goal pace was 6:20 – 6:30) with 800 recoveries (goal pace was 8:00 – 8:10) and one mile cool down. My coach told me not to go too fast on the first few repeats. He said even just a few seconds too fast in the beginning and my workout would be shortened quickly. I took his advice to heart and made this workout a test of patience.

I thought about the first and second half of my race as I ran and how I really want to have the patience to hold back in the first half so that I feel good during the second half. Patience is NOT one of my virtues and I have never been able to pull off a negative in the marathon distance. The goal at CIM will definitely be to negative split (with the second half faster than the first half).

I enjoyed this workout a lot. It felt very easy in the beginning. I had to make a conscious effort to not go to fast and to keep it controlled even though I felt good. I told myself over and over again to save it for the second half and that’s exactly what I did! By the end of the workout, I was definitely working hard. Even with the 800 “recoveries,” I averaged just under 7:00 pace for the 8 miles of work! Actual splits for each 800 were: 3:20, 3:51, 3:18, 3:47, 3:18, 3:49, 3:14, 3:53, 3:14, 3:50, 3:10, 4:00, 3:11, 3:50, 3:08, 3:52.

Wednesday – Easy: 8 miles (9:16 pace)

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles (9:29 pace)

Friday – Easy: 6 miles (9:35 pace) 

Saturday – Long Run: 15.5 miles (7:45 pace) 

Saturday was a two hour long run. Daniel and I were at the beach for the weekend and the change of scenery was really nice for the long run! We ran up and down 30A from Seagrove Beach to Seaside to Grayton Beach and back. I practiced my marathon fueling during this run as well. I had UCAN and coffee pre-run and then took a gel around mile 6 of the run. I actually forgot to take the fuel with me (because I never practice this and don’t ever even think about it … no bueno), so we had to stop at a bike shop in Pensacola on the way to find some UCAN.

This was supposed to be just an easy long run. There weren’t any specific pace miles or anything like that, but since I had only done one quality workout during the week, I decided to at least keep it on the low end of my “easy” range. Side note: running at the low end of my easy range for two hours was NOT easy! All in all, I am really pleased with how this run went. Our splits were very consistent. My stomach seemed to handle the gel just fine. I didn’t run out of steam at the end of the run. It was everything you can hope for as far as execution of a long run early in the training cycle.

I even got an “ice bath” in the Gulf post-run. The water wasn’t really all that cold, but it still felt good and I like to think that it did something beneficial for my legs.

Sunday – Easy: 5 miles (10:11 pace)

Sunday morning I ran five very easy miles on the beach at sunrise. It was amazing. Beach running is so peaceful. I absolutely love being out there by the water. Oh, and I saw a golden retriever, so … good day!

Total – 61.5 miles

Have a great week!