Category Archives: marathon training

DetroitFP Marathon Training: Week 10/11

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I’m alive… I swear. We got home a week ago this past Friday and we’ve been enjoying being home and working our butts off to get everything done before moving at the end of this month. Every time I remember I need to write a post, something else comes up or I’m exhausted at the end of the day.

So, let’s re-cap the last two weeks of training:

Week 10

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Monday
REST/Packing

Tuesday
3.5 mile run – 10:01 avg

Miserably hot, but that was my own fault. Woke up at 6 to run, but decided to go back to sleep instead. Was supposed to do 4 miles according to my training plan, but cut it short.

Wednesday
REST/Packing

Thursday

4 mile run – 9:32 avg

Last run in Japan. Left EVERYTHING I had out there on the pavement. I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t bust my ass today. 

 Friday
REST

Saturday
7 mile run – 9:48 avg

Amazing how much easier it is to run without 90% humidity! Great run. Reminder of how great running can feel.

Sunday
REST

We were out getting stuff done all day and I was exhausted by the time we got home.

Week 11

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Monday
4 mile run – 9:28 avg

Felt good. Found some guys running and followed them to find a good road for running in the city. :)

Tuesday
REST

Wednesday
4 mile run – 9:01 avg

Felt so good and fast! Did 1 mile w/up, 1 lap easy + 1 lap hard until I hit 2 miles, 1 mile cool down.

Thursday

REST

Friday
REST

Saturday
7 mile run – 10:07 avg

First few miles came out way too fast (but they felt so good!) so my legs were spent quickly AND my hip started to hurt around 6 miles. Was hoping for 13, but that didn’t happen today. Need to focus on consistency instead of speed during long runs.

Sunday
1.64 mile run – 10:28 avg

Legs didn’t feel the greatest, so I stopped.

 

…

As you can see, it’s been an interesting few weeks of running lately. Ready to get back to training hard (and smart).

DetroitFP Marathon Training: Week 9

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Week 9

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Monday
4 mile run – 10:06  avg

Couldn’t wake up early enough to beat the heat (sleep won!) so I suffered through the heat/humidity for these 4 miles. Despite the weather, they were good miles and I felt strong.

Tuesday
Legs ST

Workout B from Best Body Bootcamp. Great routine—I felt it for days after!

Wednesday
REST

Thursday
4.62 mile run – 10:26 avg
Core ST

First try of Yasso 800′s. It was 91F with 87% humidity in the AM, so I waited to run until the sun was going down. Good choice. Really enjoyed this speed work and surprised myself. The pace seems slow, but that’s because it included 1 minute of total rest between 800s.

Friday
REST

Rest really meant spending the day walking around Tokyo. Not rest at all.

Saturday
12 mile run – 10:28 avg

Last long run in Japan. Bittersweet, for sure. Good run, though I started out a bit too eager and fast and was feeling quite dead-legged by the end.

Sunday
2 mile run – 10:57 avg

Easy recovery run before spending the day on the beach

My first Yasso 800’s

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I’ve been kind of putting off speed work lately because it’s just not my favorite part of running. BUT, I realize in order to get faster/stronger you have to put in the work. So tonight I reluctantly hit the river loop for my first Yasso 800 workout.

What are Yasso 800’s?

  • Take your marathon goal time in hours/minutes and convert this to minutes/seconds. For example, if your marathon goal is 3 hours and 10 minutes then convert that to 3 minutes and 10 seconds.
  • Try to run 800 meters (approximately 1/2 mile) in your converted time (3:10 in this example).
  • Recover after each 800 by jogging or walking for the same amount of time (again, 3:10 in this example). (Source)

My training plan called for the following:

  • 1 easy mile warm-up
  • 800 x5 @4:55  with 1 min rest between
  • 1 easy mile cool down
1 mile warm-up 10:14:50
800 M 4:30:76
1:00 REST
800 M 4:35:60
1:00 REST
800 M 4:34:67
1:00 REST
800 M 4:33:10
1:00 REST
800 M 4:33:27
1:00 REST
1 mile cool down 10:16:92

As mentioned in this post, my ultimate goal is sub-4:50 at the Detroit Free Press marathon. So, seeing that I was able to run my 800’s in 4:35ish made me feel pretty damn good!

Also, I realized after I started typing this post that I did the Yasso’s a bit wrong (should have done an easy jog of the same time between 800’s) so I will correct that next week.

The best thing about today’s run, though, was the consistency. I am not the greatest pacer and I tend to have very uneven splits, so I was happy to see this! And it was fun!