I’ve had a lot of recent success in my races… 2 PRs in 2 weeks! Marathon and 10 mile. Shooting for a half marathon PR on Saturday. Why the recent success? Well, I’ve put in a lot of hard work. But, I’ve been doing that for a while. The switch to a coach has made a big difference. I have more accountability, so have been more consistent with my training. More than that, with my coach I’m doing things differently than I was. I feel like if you run the same types of workouts over and over, you’ll reach a plateau of speed. As if your body gets efficient and doing those workouts, so to improve, you have to change it up, Before the coaching, I felt like I was on one of these plateaus. I changed up my workouts a bit, but hey were all of the same template. Since I’ve ben with my coach, I’ve done workouts I’ve never done before. And, he has me doing different things all the time. I’ve been with him 12 or 14 weeks now and think I’ve only done the same workout twice. So, my advice to those of you looking to get faster, no matter what the means to you, is do something different. Don’t get into too much of a routine. If you’ve trained using one method, try another. Or at least, add in some different types of workouts.
And, I’ve started trail running again. Again? I’ve never talked about that here. I did a 50K trail race in January, so did some trail running in training for that. Once it was over, I haven’t been back on the trails until recently. I feel like I should provide some clarification here to the real trail runners out there. The pictures in this post are the trails that I train on. Very non-technical. But, that’s also the type of loop trail my upcoming race will be. It’s the same event I ran in January of this year, but I’m doing the 50 miler this year! Actually, it’s 4 mile loop, so it’ll be 52 miles. I’ve never run further than 32 miles at once in my life. And, that was the 50K. So, a very different type of challenge. Less about speed, more about endurance. Another change up for me.
I’m all about something different recently. I got a coach, I’m running trails, and I’ve been posting here less. Why? Well, I’m running low on topics. I don’t want to just ramble about how my training is going. I do that everyday on Instagram. (If you are interested, follow me there @islandbridgerunner!). So, I’m going to start posting a slightly expanded version of my training log each week, and only do a post like this where I talk about something beyond my training about once a month. I will still do race recaps, too. Sharing the details of my running journey was the objective of this when I started it, and this different approach still covers that. I wanted to share my journey towards some pretty big goals. And, I’ve already accomplished one!! I’m still so astounded that I’m a sub-3:10 marathoner!! Up next, becoming a “real” ultramarathoner. I hope you’ve enjoyed following along so far and continue to enjoy the journey as much as I am!!
Training Log November 5-11, 2018: 47.1 miles.
Monday – 1.4mi @ 11:05. Hotel treadmill. More waddling than running. Sore from weekend’s races.
Tuesday – REST DAY! A little yoga and stretching.
Wednesday – 9.3mi @ 9:21. Still in Indiana, so cold out. Took it nice and easy. Legs feeling okay, but still tired.
Thursday – 8.0mi @ 8:01. More Indiana cold. Solid steady run. Just a little heavy-legged.
Friday – 6.2mi @ 8:57. Easy peasy cold run. Legs okey doke.
Saturday – 10.1mi @ 7:56. Nice and steady back home in the warmer south!
Sunday – 12.0mi @ 8:43. Warm up, then pushed it for four miles, and finished easy. Legs pretty well recovered.
Training Log November 12-18, 2018: 54.7 miles.
Monday – REST DAY! Stability session.
Tuesday – 6.3mi @ 8:57. A touch sore from stability work, otherwise, easy and good.
Wednesday – 10.1mi @ 8:08. Warm up, then 3x5min hard (6:56-7:05 pace), cool down. Legs pretty good.
Thursday – 8.1mi @ 7:57. Nice and steady. Legs just a touch tired.
Friday – 10.1mi @ 8:57. Easy peasy.
Saturday – 2.0mi @ 8:53, 10.0mi @ 6:48, 1.1mi @ 9:09. Warm up, Turkey 10 Miler race, cool down. Felt strong the entire race… all the way to a PR!!
Sunday – 7.0mi @ 9:09. Just an easy day. Legs feeling good.
Training Log November 19-25, 2018: 62.7 miles.
Monday – REST DAY! Stability session.
Tuesday – 10.1mi @ 7:56. Steady effort. All good. Stability session.
Wednesday – 6.3mi @ 8:58. Easy run. Included one little trail loop.
Thursday – 10.1mi @ 7:59. Warm up, push for 5 miles (6:57-7:18 pace), cool down. Legs good.
Friday – 8.1mi @ 9:13. Easy peasy on the trails.
Saturday – 16.1mi @ 8:39. A comfortable run with increasing pace. Legs strong.
Sunday – 12.1mi @ 8:46. Few miles warm up, 10 minutes of hard effort (6:34 avg. pace), then finished out easy. Everything feeling good. Strength session.
Training Log November 26- December 2, 2018: 55.7 miles.
Monday – 5.1mi @ 9:04. Legs felt good for this easy run. Stability session.
Tuesday – 7.2mi @ 9:01. Easy run thru the trails with some hard surges.
Wednesday – 10.1mi @ 8:16. Warm up, then 3x5min hard efforts (6:25-6:42 pace), cool down. Legs good. Strength session.
Thursday – REST DAY!!
Friday – 8.0mi @ 8:15. Steady run on the hotel treadmill. All good.
Saturday – 15.3mi @ 7:51. Started with a steady effort, then pushed it for 10 minutes (6:38-6:49 pace), and finished out easy.
Sunday – 10.1mi @ 9:26. Nice and easy trail run. Legs felt good. I fell early on (~1.5mi in) and think I pulled a rib muscle (really?!?). Didn’t affect my run, but had to alter my strength session.
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