Overview:
Looks like the die has been cast, and I’m officially registered for this year’s Marine Corps Marathon. I will admit that hitting the ‘register’ button was an impromptu decision that took place around 1 or 2 am. Although I knew nothing about this marathon at the time of registering, many folks have said that I should give it a shot.
Since I alway complain about the temperatures while training for fall marathons during the summer, this meme is perfect for me.
Training:
The previous week’s plan:
Monday: 3 mi easy
Tuesday: X-train or rest
Wednesday: 4mi tempo
Thursday: 3mi easy
Friday: X-train or rest
Saturday: 10 mi long run
Sunday: rest
While I did not complete all of all my training miles, I think this week was successful overall. While I prefer to run first thing in the morning, I have been playing around with running in the evenings. I figured that I should try to do some evening runs with low distances just in case I have to do an evening run due to work commitments. For instance, I have to attend 8am meetings during my in-office days, which doesn’t leave much room to do a morning run and leave the apt by 7:30am.
LONG RUN CHRONICLES:
Woo hoo! I’ve finally hit double digits for my long runs. I don’t know why, but there is something about hitting double digits for a long run that makes training for a marathon really real.
For this 10 mile long run, I decided to do something a little special so I ran from a metro station in Forest Glen, Maryland to the Washington Monument in DC.
I have to say that I really enjoyed this route because it didn’t have a million and five turns. Once I arrived to DC, I pretty much had to follow 15th/16th streets until reaching the monument. Also, it was impossible to get lost because all I had to do was run towards a huge pointy building. 😉
Overall, the run was nice and I stayed in my 12:04 – 13:32 min/mi range (even with walking 0.1 – 0.15 after completing a mile) according my training plan. Sometime in August, I’m gonna visit my long run pace range because I think it might be too slow for me. I say this because even with walking I’m still at the faster pace (around 12 min) of the range.
I did have some “fun” spelling out my initials with street signs since I had to make my way through an alphabet soup in DC.
The other nice thing about this route, I can do a round trip for my 20-mile run on Sept. 23rd or 24th. Since the elevation from Montgomery County to DC was mostly downhill. However, running back (for the 20 mile run) might be a little challenging.
ETC:
For X-training, I think that I’m gonna restart Insanity Max: 30 and do another round of 3 Week Yoga Retreat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that this probably is my 3rd or 4th time restarting Insanity. But, they do say if at first you don’t succeed, try again.
Oh, I did learn that Montgomery Country has provided residents with free rec center access until Labor Day, and I think there is a rec center about a mile from us. Perhaps, I can get my weight training fix at one of these rec centers.
Goals for the week:
-Buy a new pair of running shoes.
-It’s kind of funny because shoes was a topic on the running podcast that I listen to.
-Look up some running orgs in the area.
-Register for a half marathon or two during my training plan.
TRAINING PLAN:
