Training - Week 6 - Week 4 of Marathon Training - Monday & Tuesday - Recovery, Time Goals, Body Fat %

I am entering week 4 of my marathon training. This week the miles will be scaled back to 24 total miles. My long run will scale back to 10 miles. This will give the body a chance to recover slightly after a good three weeks of pushing my frontier of my limits. This is a great time for a recovery week as my body is tired and sore from the race and all the pushing I have been doing lately.

With that being said I may go over my mileage slightly as I want to get a practice run in at the Bix at 6 for the big Bix 7 race coming up on July 30th. I ran the race for the first time last year and I ran the race in 58:19. I have my sights on a better time than last year. That is my major goal - to be faster - and just need to dial in a time for myself. A couple practice runs will help me make a decision for my goal. Also, running the Moonlight Chase on July 9th - a 4 mile run - will help me gauge at what rate I can push my body without crashing. For the Moonlight Chase last year I ran the 4 miles in 32:02 which is an 8:01 mile pace.

I was reading my post from the Moonlight Chase from July 11, 2010 where part of that post I shared the following:
I ran the Bix at 6 in 67 minutes which I was very pleased with considering that I am still not in the greatest shape. Last night (Saturday) I ran in the Moonlight Chase. This is a flat 4 mile course in Eldridge. I set a new personal best with my mile pace by finishing in 32:20. This is an 8:05 mile pace. I increased my PR by 11 seconds where my previous best was 8:16. So I was very happy with myself. The hardest challenge is that I am supposed to run 5 miles today and I am very sore. I did sign up for the Bix so I have to prepare for that race and there is not backing out now. So far, so good and I am still on the right path to achieving all my goals. Off to drink another cup of coffee, some coconut water and to the road to run. Maybe I will see you out and about running.

I have forgotten completely where I started and where I am currently with my running. To be honest I never thought I would still be running. I need to go back and read my training posts to do some more reflecting on my progress. This time last year I was starting my training or really running for the first time where in the month of June last year I logged a total of 19 miles for the month and was struggling.

This has reinforced that through trial and error, success and mistakes, maintaining my mental toughness I can turn into a somewhat average runner. Looking at the results from the Moonlight Chase race last year and thinking this year I want to run under 28 minutes is crazy. That is 4 minutes off a time that was a personal best this time last year.

This leads me to my first two days of running this week. On Monday I had a 3 mile easy run. I was looking forward to this as my legs and body were dead from the race on Sunday. However, as I took off in the afternoon in the hot sun I decided that I needed two work on two things:
1. Running in the summer heat as the Moonlight Chase is at night.
2. Running and pushing through the times the body feels tired and legs heavy.

I decided to push my body a little(probably not very smart) and see what I had. It was obvioius right away that I did not have much as I had to really fight to run fast. I ran the 3 miles in 21:01 which is a 7 minute mile pace. This is where I want to be for the race. I am not sure if I can sustain that rate of running for 4 miles, but I am going to try.

Mile 1: 7:24
Mile 2: 6:44
Mile 3: 6:51

I also did a TRX workout titled Endurance. It did not feel like it was that hard of a workout, but today I am sore in places in my core that I did not know existed. I also completed my 100 Push-Up Challenge Training by doing the following
Set 1: 13
Set 2: 17
Set 3: 13
Set 4: 13
Set 5: 19+(I did 30)

It was a good day of work.

Today(Tuesday) I felt very tired. My body hurts and I am sore. I ran the 4 miles easy as suggested. I ran the 4 mile run this morning in 31:09 which is an 7:47 mile pace. It felt good to work out some lactic acid and soreness. My joints hurt so I look forward to taking tomorrow off from running. Wednesday will be good to let the legs rest before the practice Bix @ 6 on Thursday.



Anyways, this has turned out to be a long post, but as I pursue my goal of completing a marathon it is important to take time to reflect, work on the small challenges along the way, and stay realistic and positive with my training.

I hope you are working towards a goal and that you are making progress. Continue to GET IT DONE!