2021 London Marathon – Week 6
It’s officially summer! The temperature reached 85 degrees by the end of my 19-miler on Sunday but a cool front moved through mid-week making the other workouts much more pleasant. In fact, the paces for my interval workout on Tuesday and my marathon-pace run on Thursday were both faster than they should have been.
Training Schedule
June 20th – June 26th
Sunday: Long Run. 20 miles
Monday: Easy Run. 5 miles
Tuesday: Interval Run. 8 x 200m @ 5K-10K pace w/400m recovery jog
Wednesday: Easy Run. 5 miles
Thursday: Medium Run. 11 miles w/6 miles @ goal marathon-pace
Friday: Easy Run. 6 miles
Saturday: Easy Run. 5 miles
Total: ~58 Miles
Training paces
| Recovery | Easy | Marathon | Threshold | Repetition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No faster than 10:15 | 9:45-10:30 | 8:55–9:20 | 8:30-8:55 | 7:35 – 7:45 (5K) |
Workouts
Long Run
Now that most of our family and friends are fully vaccinated, we have started having people over to our new home. The night before my long run, we had friends over and I stayed up later than I should have but I was out the door a little after 7am. It was about 70 degrees when I started the run.
D.C.-area forecast: Building heat with a Father’s Day storm chance https://t.co/tTiqbZi12u
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) June 20, 2021
I started the run on the W&OD Trail but I was on the Four Mile Run Trail after only three miles. I wasn’t listening to music at this point in the run. I wanted to think about life and what my future plans were now that life was getting closer to how it was before the pandemic. I stopped at the observation deck near the water treatment plant and ate a SaltStick cap. My pace was 11:05, which was extremely slow. I exited that trail and ran south to Alexandria.
After winding through the neighborhoods, I crossed over to the Mount Vernon Trail. By then, I started feeling the effects of the heat. I saw a woman in a hydration vest on the side of the trail and wondered if I should have brought more water. I stopped at the water fountain at National Airport and had a Gu Energy Gel. A mile down the road, I stopped again at Gravelly Point and turned on a podcast (This American Life). I was still running 11:00 pace.
After climbing the long uphill on the Custis Trail, I started to feel more sluggish than expected. By then, I was running close to 12:00 pace. When I stopped at the water fountain at Nelson Street, I checked my smartphone and saw the temperature was above 80 degrees! I decided to exit the trail at Glebe Road rather than continuing to the W&OD Trail. When I got home, I sat under the sprinklers to cool myself down. By then, the temperature was over 90! Surprisingly, my detour didn’t cut the overall mileage of the run down by much.
Distance=19.24 miles
Pace=11:18/mile
Interval Run
It was already a busy work-week and I logged on to do some work in order to meet an early morning deadline. Luckily, the temperature was only in the low 70s so I didn’t think the 8am start would impact my run much.
D.C.-area forecast: Showers today lead the way to a fantastic Wednesday and Thursday https://t.co/lRtof71ZDP
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) June 22, 2021
I did my usual warm-up on the W&OD Trail to Bluemont Park. I started the intervals immediately, running west towards the Custis Trail. Usually, the early repetitions are slow because the trail is slightly uphill but today, they were just under 8:00 pace. I turned around after a mile and headed downhill on the trail. Suddenly, my pace for the repetitions was around 7:20. As I continued on, some of them came in sub-7:00! In all, I did 16 sets with 1-minute recoveries and the average pace for the speed segments was 7:21, a bit faster than they should have been.
Distance=3.35 miles
Pace=8:58/mile
Marathon-pace Run
A cool front moved through on Wednesday and it was only 60 degrees in the morning!
D.C.-area forecast: Superbly dry and mild today but humid heat returns this weekend https://t.co/pW4eT9QndN
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) June 24, 2021
For my warm-up, I ran down the Arlington Boulevard Trail but on the Fort Myer side of Route 50. I’d been stressed about work for weeks and my spirit was low. But somehow out of the gloom thoughts I said to myself, “Remember who you are.” I started thinking about all the things that I have to be proud of and my mood started to improve. I turned on my 2021 London Marathon playlist, lifted up my chin, stuck out my chest, and took on this marathon-pace session!
I headed towards Rosslyn, which meant stopping a couple of times for lights. My pace was showing low 8:00 but I guessed the GPS was off due to the tall buildings. I eventually made my way over to the Mount Vernon Trail where my pace climbed to high 8:00.
About 4 miles in, I passed some Marines doing their time trials coming from Gravelly Point. I urged each one of them on – they support us runners during the Marine Corps Marathon, so I can support them today.
I left the trail in Crystal City but kept running hard until I reached Long Bridge Park.
This was one of those runs that I’ll remember on race day. It reminded me how important it is to stay positive.
Distance=6.00 miles
Pace=8:43/mile
Cross-training
Strides. I did strides on Monday and Friday at Thomas Jefferson Park.
Media & Motivation
Podcasts. “Episode 256: Coach Vin Lananna“, Pace the Nation. It was a long break for one of my favorite podcasts, The show has undergone a new, shorter, more professional format with just two of the previous hosts. This episode featured an interview with the President of U.S. Track & Field and Director of Track & Field at the University of Virginia. There was a lot of discussion about the trials at “Track Town USA” – Hayward Field.
Racing Schedule
Future races. 2022 Boston Marathon. Information on next year’s race was announced on Tuesday. The qualifying window began September 1, 2019 and registration will start this year on November 8th. For me, this meant the pressure is on to run a fast time at the London Marathon to re-qualify for Boston and keep my consecutive race streak, which is currently at 7, going.
Runner rankings. RunWashington’s DMV Distance Derby. My best times are:
- Teddy Roosevelt Island (1.4 miles): 10:08 (7:38 pace) on May 12, 2020.
- Custis Climb – Key Bridge to Glebe (3.1 miles): 25:47 (8:47 pace) on October 6, 2020.
- Hains Point (2.5 miles): 20:37 (8:13 pace) on November 26, 2020.
Next race: 2021 South Lakes 10K on Sunday, August 29th. Goal is sub-52:00 (8:20 pace).
