Marathon training – Weeks 1-5 – Bringing you up to speed
It’s marathon training time again!
I’ve decided that my next major running goal will be the Toronto Marathon on Oct 18. I’m already through 5 weeks of an 11 week training program that I tweaked from Smart Coach. Normally I’d prefer about 16 weeks to train for a marathon but that just wasn’t going to happen this time around. After setting a PB at the Rock n Roll Seattle half marathon at the end of June I became absorbed with packing and moving back to Ontario. Throw in a three day ultimate frisbee tournament to play and recover from and a two week vacation to Europe and my July mileage topped out at only 20.2 miles. I’m pretty sure that’s the lowest monthly mileage I’ve done in the last three years! However, marathon training started on August 3rd and I covered 136.5 miles for the month so I feel like I’m back on track.
My dream goal for this race would be to beat 4:00 but given the abbreviated training cycle I’m not sure how realistic that is. Right now I’m just concentrating on getting the mileage in and I’m not paying much attention to pace. I’ve also stopped wearing my heart rate monitor strap but that’s partly because I haven’t unpacked that box yet! The next four weeks are really critical to my marathon training because the big long runs are coming up!
Here’s a quick week-by-week account for the first five weeks of training:
Week 1 - I was in Niagara-on-the-Lake at the Shaw festival with Mom and Dad this week. Most of my runs were along the very pleasant Niagara Parkway running along the Niagara River.
| 03/08 | 6.2 mi | Easy run: avg 11:04 min/mile |
| 04/08 | - | Rest day |
| 05/08 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:50 min/mile |
| 06/08 | 10.0 mi | Long run: avg 10:58 min/mile |
| 07/08 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:56 min/mile |
| 08/08 | - | Rest day |
| 09/08 | - | Rest day |
| Total | 26.2 mi | YTD: 694.5 miles |
Week 2 - This week I was back in Ottawa preparing for my move to Waterloo. Mom and I were ridiculously busy this week (sewing, packing, shopping and visiting various government ministries) so I did my mid-week runs on the treadmill in the (relatively) cool basement. My long run was along the Rideau canal which is one of my all time favourite places to run. It was hot though so I had to make an emergency stop at the Loblaws near the Pretoria Bridge to get more water!
| 10/08 | - | Rest day |
| 11/08 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: treadmill |
| 12/08 | 5.0 mi | Tempo run: 3mi @ 9:09 min/mile |
| 13/08 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: treadmill |
| 14/08 | - | Rest day |
| 15/08 | 12.o mi | Long run: avg 10:53 min/mile |
| 16/08 | - | Rest day |
| Total | 29.0 mi | YTD: 723.5 miles |
Week 3 - This was my first week in Waterloo and as everyone very kindly pointed out to me it was the hottest week of the summer so far. Even getting out at 6:20am it was hot. It was mercifully cooler on my long run day so I took the Trans Canada trail and ran up to St Jacob’s and back. It’s funny when I was here before St Jacob’s seemed so far away but now it’s well within a runnable distance for me!
| 17/08 | - | Rest day |
| 18/08 | 6.2 mi | Easy run: avg 10:33 min/mile |
| 19/08 | 6.0 mi | Tempo run: 4mi @ 9:08/9:08/8:59/8:54 min/mile |
| 20/08 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:50 min/mile |
| 21/08 | - | Rest day |
| 22/08 | 14.o mi | Long run: avg 10:34 min/mile |
| 23/08 | - | Rest day |
| Total | 32.2 mi | YTD: 755.7 miles |
Week 4 - I started to feel like I was hitting my stride a bit better this week. I was in Kincardine visiting a friend over the weekend so I did my long run up there. Running along the shore of Lake Huron on “Ontario’s West Coast” was definitely a treat.
| 24/08 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:13 min/mile |
| 25/08 | 7.0 mi | Tempo run: 5mi @ 8:43/8:45/8:41/8:41/8:43 min/mile |
| 26/08 | - | Rest day |
| 27/08 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:05 min/mile |
| 28/08 | - | Rest day |
| 29/08 | 16.o mi | Long run: avg 11:00 min/mile |
| 30/08 | - | Rest day |
| Total | 35.0 mi | YTD: 790.7 miles |
Week 5 - By the time this week rolled around I was more than ready for a recovery week. It was 5C at 6am early in the week so I actually had to break out the long sleeved running shirts! I think my improved pace is mostly thanks to the cooler temperatures but I definitely felt like my runs were getting easier. I’ve decided to take two rest days in a row this weekend to let a few minor aches and pains heal up before next week’s 38 mile effort.
| 31/08 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:14 min/mile |
| 01/09 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:55 min/mile |
| 02/09 | - | Rest day |
| 03/09 | 6.0 mi | Easy run: avg 10:03 min/mile |
| 04/09 | 8.0 mi | Easy run: avg 9:53 min/mile |
| 05/09 | - | Rest day |
| 06/09 | - | Rest day |
| Total | 26.0 mi | YTD: 816.7 miles |