Monday, January 6, 2014

RNR Raleigh Training Week 4

Maybe you heard on Twitter that it is a little cold outside? Here is my personal favorite way to stay warm! He's going to be too old and too cool to cuddle with his mama soon. I am soaking up every possible moment.



I have a feeling that when I start getting into the thick of marathon training -  a time when the newness of training for a new distance wears off but the race is still many weeks away - that I will look back on this week for some motivation.

So much seemed to go right for me this week:

  • Monday - Rest 
  • Tuesday - 4.6 miles to get to 700 for the year (200 miles over my original goal!)
  • Wednesday - 3.1 miles to start the year off right.
  • Thursday - 6 miles on my hilly route
  • Friday - Rest 
  • Saturday - 14 mile freaking cold long run
  • Sunday - 2.5 shakeout miles on treadmill to hit my first 30 mile week. 1hr yoga class.

Total miles: 30.2

I am not really following a set training plan for this marathon. I know I want to run 4-5 times per week. I have my running group's long run schedule which I will start following once the weekly group runs hit 12ish miles. Until then I want to keep my long runs between 10-12 miles. During the week I want to run one run where I push my speed, one mid-distance hilly run and one or two short easy runs. Somewhere in there I will try to be more diligent about core work and cross/weight training.



This week was one of my first weeks running 5 days and my very first week hitting the 30 mile mark. I didn't set out to run my highest mileage week ever but between not having work this week and feeling great while running it just happened that way.

I am trying to be relaxed about the whole thing. My race pace is not too challenging for me since my goal is to finish this race healthy and happy. My "speedy" runs are based more on effort than actual numbers. Mostly I am experimenting with adding more running days to my week and running higher weekly mileages.

This week, everything seemed to go well. I ran in my neighborhood for the first time in a really long time and was able to crush 3 different hills that I used to have to walk up. I love seeing progress like that. My 6 mile run on my hilly trail also went really well.  I am starting to feel really strong on a couple of the steeper hills that traditionally give me trouble. My splits for the 6 miles were pretty even. Slow for me for sure, but usually they all over the place because of a few steep hills.

My long run was supposed to be 12 miles - 8 with my running group than 4 more miles afterwards. A couple of other people from my group were heading out for 6 more and told me that the particular trail was not a great place for solo runners. I was (easily) convinced to tack on the extra miles and ended up having a fantastic negative split run, despite the freezing temps.

Bare, frozen wetlands on my long run. I miss the color
green and temps that don't start with the number 1.

Mostly likely I won't see another 30-something week for a couple more weeks, but I really had some fun this week. My confidence is definitely high right now!


3 comments:

  1. Whoo hoo! Way to go! Love it when weeks come together like this.

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  2. Nice work Rose -- you are so going to crush your marathon - I just know it!

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