Boston Marathon Training Week 1 (8 Weeks Postpartum)
It’s official week 1 of Boston Marathon training is DONE. Going into it I was nervous about how my body would respond and how’d I’d feel. I’m happy to report that it’s gone a lot better than I originally expected.
This training cycle is completely different than anything I’ve ever done. The schedule make look easier than I’ve done before, but I’d say coming back postpartum makes it just about as difficult as the past. Just less speed work and tempos. The goal is simply to put in the miles to get my endurance back in order to get my strength back.
Week 1 consisted of 32 miles. It was a good start and I’m glad I’ve taken down the miles on my easy days so that I can focus on the days that really matter the most.
Here is a break down of my Boston Training Week 1:
Monday – 5 x 800 meters
I started the week out with a workout; however, it was much more mild that I have done in other training cycles. Even on the days when I have workouts I don’t run as hard since my goal is simply to get to that start line healthy. This run actually went really well and was the first day that I had my sweet E down in the basement with me while I ran. He did great in his Rock N Play and I know there will be many more of these days ahead of us during training.
Tuesday – 3 miles easy
My easy days are much shorter this time around, so I took advantage of the bit of extra time and made sure to get in good strength training as well. Somehow my easy days always end up feeling the hardest, but I was happy to have another successful run.
Wednesday – 4 miles with 5 x 10 second hill sprints
Hills to me are extremely important during this training cycle, so each week I will include at least one run with hill sprints. They are quick 10 second sprints and I start with 5 and will eventually work my way up to 10. Since I was on the treadmill I set it on a 9% incline and ran at 95% effort. In order to not have to move the treadmill up and down I get off the treadmill and walked until recovered in between.
Thursday – 10 miles
My long runs this cycle are on the days when I have someone to watch E. Most of the time I am trying to get them on Thursdays but some weeks it will get switched around. My mom came up Thursday so I went out and did my first double digit postpartum run. This run went better than expected. I kept telling myself throughout the run to simply relax and enjoy the miles. My legs were definietly tired at the end, but looking forward to seeing improvement as the training progresses.
Friday – Off
Per usual, Friday is still my rest day though I did some stretching because my legs aren’t recovering like they used to. I notice that with a lack of sleep my legs take longer to recover from my runs than they did previously.
Saturday – 35 minutes steady
Saturday’s run was on the treadmill again. I started with a 15 minute super slow warm up and then did a 35 minute progression run. I really like progression runs especially when I am on the treadmill because they help the time pass by much quicker. Another success run with E downstairs. He lasted exactly an hour so I cut my cool down a little short and stopped at 60 minutes.
Sunday – 3 miles easy
The week ended with 3 easy miles with the only focus of letting my legs truly recover after the week.
I was curious to see how my body would respond with 6 days of running, and I’m happy to say it did really well! I know it will get more difficult as the weeks go by but I was really happy with how my body handled it. I did strength work 5 days which was also an accomplishment for me since it’s usually the first thing to get pushed to the side.
Overall, week 1 of Boston Marathon training was a success! Bring on week 2!