Week #7 Marathon Training

Hard to believe, but week #7 of my marathon is completed. I am already past half-time with my training and Las Vegas is closing in fast. I better get my shit ready and my training runs in. But I also have to remind me that I am doing this to have fun. While I want to make it to the finish line in a certain time limit, I am not going to beat myself up if I miss the self-set goal by a few minutes. I want this to be a fun experience.

So, week #7 is in the bag. This was my first week where I ran over 50 miles. To be exact, I ran a total of 53 miles or roughly 10 miles more than the week before. I also maintained my Kosama workouts, but replaced 1 of those workouts with an early morning treadmill run. Running 53 miles + doing 4 taxing boot camp style workouts is definitely something I paid a price for. My recovery time this last Sunday was needed. The week before I was top fit on Sunday, while this Sunday I was tired and I was glad to have a rest day scheduled.

Week #7 Pace Trend

Week 7 also had my longest run ever so far. I ran over 22 miles on my Saturday long run and I think this will stay the longest run for the time being. I am heading out of town for a few days and will change my training a tiny little bit as I will not be able to get a really long run in. So, instead of doing Kosama Boot camp workouts and runs in the 6-8 mile range, I will alternate between 10 and 12 mile runs instead. My goal is to run the 10 milers a bit faster and the 12 milers at my normal pace. However, if all works out I am probably looking at a total mileage of over 60 miles for next week. This current week (week #8) will see significantly reduced mileage due to travel and some other things going on in my personal live, but the combination of doing Kosama 4 times this week with at least some running should cover me (at least in my humble opinion). And a little bit more rest is probably a good thing – especially with my lofty goal to go above 60 miles next week.

My average pace is also on the good side. Even for my 22 mile run I was able to improve the average pace from 9 minutes 55 seconds (last week’s 21 mile run) to now 9 minutes 47 seconds (this week’s long run). On the shorter runs during the week the pace stayed on the faster side even on days where I felt tired or had to deal with steady headwinds. I give credit to my Boot Camp workout aka strength training and all the hills that I am running.

So, the week in general was great even though I can feel the extra mileage taking a bit of a toll. But I am not feeling exhausted and so I keep on going. I am also not having any running related injuries to report, so the extra mileage seems to be Ok for my body. I know I am pushing things a little bit with the overall volume of workouts that I am doing. The boot camp / strength workouts could be translated into miles in one way or the other, but I am not going to do that. I think it would be misleading. However, I have seen a few marathon training plans now that promote a bit less running (less = 25 miles per week as an example) and then do cross training on alternating days. I am far from being in that range with my overall training volume – be it the miles that I am logging or the number of boot camp workouts that I am doing. And I am trying to implement enough rest as well – you see blanks or rest on my weekly volume screenshot. It is very important to have time for recovery as your body needs to “implement the benefits” of your training.

And last, but not least – I am really enjoying my training and getting fit for the Las Vegas RnR Marathon. I am having a blast doing all this.