I know this is a little late, but better late than never right?

Last week was week 2 of marathon training and I definitely worked hard! The week didn’t start off that great but had a big turn around in the end. That’s the thing about marathon training you have to learn to ride the highs and the lows all the way through to the end.

 

Monday – 10.63 miles 

Monday started off with workout #1 of the week. The original plan was to go to the trail and do the warm up and cool down with E in the stroller. When I started my workout I would take him in to gym daycare and get the workout portion of the run done on the treadmill. The goal was 6 tempo miles.

We did the 2 mile warm up and I was pretty nervous because we had already gotten a later start. I dropped him off in daycare and he was fine. I headed up to the treadmill and got started right away to get it done as quickly as possible to go back and get him. After about 3 miles I saw my phone light up and it was the YMCA. They said Easton was really upset. I immediately stopped and went and got him.

After I got him calmed down I decided I might as well attempt to finish the last 3 miles. I told myself that I’d start and if he got upset again I’d call it a day. Surprisingly enough he did great once he was in the stroller and even fell asleep pretty shortly after.

My first 3 treadmill tempo miles were at 7:24 and my final 3 stroller tempo miles were at 7:14. Surprised myself!

 

Tuesday – 7.05 miles

As per normal, Tuesday was an easy run day. It was one of my slower runs lately but I was 100% OK with that since I knew that I would be getting up early Wednesday and I had another workout to get my legs ready for. I averaged a 9:23 pace with the stroller.

 

Wednesday – 7.5 miles AM/3 miles PM

Wednesday I started the day on the track for a workout Wednesday! This day was a prime example of the importance of pacing yourself and not going too fast on your first intervals.

The final workout ended up being: 1.5 mile warm up, 8 x 800 meters, 4 x 400 meters with 90 seconds rest in between. The workout intended to be at cruise interval pace and with the stroller I ended up going too fast in the beginning. I really was struggling at the end which was NOT the purpose of the workout.

I didn’t have a chance to finish my cool down at the end so I doubled and ran 3 easy PM miles.

 

Thursday – 8.06 miles

Thursday was all about recovery and you can bet I was TIRED! I do find that the days where I double it actually helps my legs the next day. It may not feel easy at the time but it helps to work out some of the stiffness from my legs for the following day.

 

Friday – Off

 

Saturday – 15.30 miles

I was feeling pretty worn down from the week and was a bit worried about my long run this week. Wes and I had gotten a plan together to tag team our long runs so I was ready to give it a go!

I went and dropped Wes off about 14 miles from our house so he could do his last big tempo of his training cycle. After that Easton and I headed back near our house to start our run. The weather was 55 degrees at the start and even though I was still nervous for my first long run with tempo pace thrown in I was ready to give it a go!

The first 11 miles really FLEW by! I was also shocked with how good I felt. My legs seemed to feel so recovered and the miles really felt effortless. I sang and chatted with E almost the entire time and we had such a blast! At mile 11 I handed the stroller off to Wes (who KILLED his tempo) and he took over while I finished the last 4 miles at marathon pace. I really focused on doing this off of effort and finished the final 4 in 7:19 average!

Overall a great run and great teamwork to get it done!

 

Sunday – 7.05 miles

I finished the week off with some easy miles with my little man. It was a really good feeling to finish off this week strong!

 

58 total miles for week 2 of marathon training and I was really happy with how my body responded. I kept focused, didn’t give up during some of the tough early week workouts, and ended up with a really awesome long run!