I apologize for going a little M.I.A. on you all. We just got back from a little over a week vacation to the beach and I wanted to take the time to really unplug and spend time with family. Now that we are back I am ready to get back into routine!

Even though vacation was last week it also marked something else very fun – the beginning of my next marathon training cycle! I’m taking this one in stride (or at least really trying to). I’ve got some big goals but if they don’t happen it’s the end of the world. I really want to make this training cycle about more than just focusing on hitting my time goal.

Even though some might not thing vacation is the optimal time to start a marathon cycle, the first week is usually just getting into things and plus it means help with Easton so that I can get more solo running done!

In the past I’ve always shared my training cycles and while you may or may not enjoy it, I think it’s a great for me to be honest and track my progress along the way!

This cycle i’m also going to be keeping a written training journal. My amazing friend Meridith came out with the Devoted Training Journal

Not only does it provide all that a training journal normally does, but it also allows me to put my focus not on the running itself but on so much more! It allows you to take the focus away from yourself and instead on our creator! If you are looking for a new training journal – I HIGHLY suggest you check it out!

 

Now, back to my training this week. Week 1 while on vacation went a little bit like this:

 

Monday – 10.18 miles

Tempo Monday! Tempos in the past have always made me very nervous so instead of jumping right into long tempos I decided to break it up a little bit.

2 mile warm up, 2 mile tempo (7:17, 7:21), 5 minute recovery, 2 mile tempo (7:18, 7:19), 5 minute recovery, 1 mile faster (7:05), and 2 mile cool down.

The flat ground at the beach helped tremendously. It actually went much better than expected and it was a great start to tempos for me.

 

Tuesday – 7.12 miles

Easy miles for me on Tuesday and even though I went easy it didn’t always feel that way. The good thing is when I’m working hard and hitting my workouts I don’t care how slow I have to go on my easy days! They are truly all about recovery.

 

Wednesday – 10.07 miles

Whenever I do a longer tempo workout I make sure the other workout of the week is shorter intervals. It’s a nice break and uses different systems.

This week’s workout was 2 mile warm up, 16 x 400 meters (1:42 goal) with 1 minute recovery, and a 2 mile cool down.

My splits where: 1:40, 1:39, 1:38, 1:41, 1:40, 1:41, 1:39, 1:39, 1:39, 1:40, 1:40, 1:42, 1:41, 1:42, 1:42, and 1:41. I set my time goal based on 20-30 seconds faster than marathon pace.

This wasn’t an easy workout and the heat really got to me, but I was super happy to complete it!

 

Thursday – 7.13 miles

Another day of easy running on Thursday. This was one of those days that really was just OK. Nothing special and I honestly missed having my little man out there with me.

 

Friday – Off

No matter if I am marathon training or not I always make sure to take one rest day per week.

 

Saturday – 13.1 miles

Saturday didn’t go as planned. The original plan was to get up and be out the door by 6:30 but after a tough night of sleep I couldn’t get myself out of bed and running until around 7:45 am. It was still early but being by the coast it made it a lot hotter.

I started off and tried to stay calm and just take each mile at a time. By mile 6-7 I was really wanting some water and knew I would be looping back by our car around mile 8 and had left my water bottle there. I kept telling myself to just make it to the car. I got back to the car and my water was gone! I have no idea where it went, I guess someone was really thirsty, but I started to get a bit worried then with how much I was sweating.

I kept going and tried to just stay calm. However; at mile 11 I was just struggling too much and loosing water too quickly. Instead of continuing down the road I turned around and headed back to the house knowing I’d have to cut it short. I wanted 15 but ended with 13. It wasn’t what I had hoped but I was still proud of time on my feet.

 

Sunday – 7.08 miles

Easy miles again on Sunday and even though I was a little rushed since we had to be checked out by 10 I still was able to keep it slow and steady. My body was definietly feeling the run from Saturday but I just tried to keep my hear rate down in hopes I’d help get my body recovered before week 2 began.

 

In total I finished my first week of marathon training out with 54.68 miles. I was disappointed by my long run on Saturday but those come in any training cycle and I knew I gave it my all.

 

Week 1 I like to think was a success and I really look forward to seeing what week 2 has in store!