CIM Training – Week 1
I completed the first week of training for the 2015 California International Marathon!
I thought I would post weekly updates on how my training is going. As I was thinking about how to format them, I thought maybe it would be neat to do an infographic for the tl;dr version and provide more details on the core workouts.
Pretty neat, huh? And, it wasn’t that hard or time-consuming. But, not so easy that I’m going to redo it so get used to this design.
Here’s more context on the key (or “something of substance” as Hansons calls them) workouts.
The Details
The first week was part of the base building phase and featured four days of easy 8-10 mile runs, a hill repeat workout, a 15 mile long run, and an off day. I was able to follow the schedule with the exception of the strides after two of the easy runs – both times I forgot they were part of the workout. I was on vacation this week so fitting the workouts in was easy. However, one of the 10 mile easy runs was on a treadmill. Don’t feel bad for me, though. It was because I was on vacation at a very nice spa.
Hill Sprints Workout. On Friday, my workout was an easy 8 miles with 6 x hill sprints. I didn’t see instructions on how these should be run in the Hansons Marathon Method book or the training packet I received when I purchased the online plan. But, thanks to Google, I found an article on their website on two different variations of hill repeats. I ran 6 miles easy and then did the repeats on the hill leading up to the Air Force Memorial. It was a pretty brutal workout. The first rep was 7:15 pace but the last one was 8:05. I hate hills.
After the workout, I noticed that my training plan didn’t include the hill repeats in the mileage for the day. It just said 8 miles. So, I wondered if I over-did this and was just supposed to do very short reps. I logged 2.1 miles of reps and recoveries for 10+ miles total on the day.
Long Run. On Saturday, I ran a 15 mile long run. I was a little nervous going in to it because I’ve only run over 15 miles twice since the Boston Marathon back in April.
It started off pretty good. My legs felt a little heavy from yesterday’s hill workout. But, I remind myself that the long run is supposed to feel like the last 15 miles or the marathon, not the first. In any event, they loosened up after about 3 miles. By then, I was on the running trail and was able to run a comfortable pace, uninterrupted for about 4.5 miles. After that segment, I ran a mile long uphill. I started to feel a bit tired and dehydrated. (The temperature/dew point was 78/64 at the start and 89/64 by the end). I dialed back the pace. I told myself I could slow down but I couldn’t stop. At the 11.3 mile mark, I finally stopped at a water fountain to refill my Nathan handheld and take a bit of a breather. I ran a slow but steady 2 miles before coming to the uphill home. I was spent. I stopped multiple times and felt on the verge of fainting throughout that last 1.5 miles. A bus pulled alongside me at one of the lights and I really, really wanted to click Save/Done on my Garmin and ride it home. But, I didn’t. I finished the 15 miles but only managed 9:07 pace overall, which is the slow side of my easy pace. I’m exhausted.
There’s a “water park” across the street from my house. I take off my electronics and stand under a spout for a few minutes. I can feel the cool water turn warm as it washes over me. Ahhhhh! Relief!
The Week Ahead
The plan has me doing the same workouts next week. I won’t be on vacation, though. I imagine this will be the week when I start to really feel the strain of marathon training. Which is scary to think considering how tired I am right now.
Inspiration. “Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles”. – Alex Karras
