Vermont City Marathon Training – Week 2

Unpredictable. That was the weather this week and my running schedule as well. It seemed like the weather decided to swing back and forth between warm and rainy, and cold and sunny. I also had to reschedule a couple of runs, thanks to some last-minute changes to plans. Overall, this was a great week of running. It included my longest run since pregnancy and I felt a little stronger, fitter and more positive about running a solid race come May.

Vermont City Marathon Training – Week Two

Current Goal:

I’ve decided to stick to smaller, weekly goals so I have something to focus on rather than thinking unnecessarily soon about what I want my goal for race day to be. This week I really wanted to run four times and I didn’t succeed. I only managed three runs, but I got done what I was able to and at least it’s still early enough in training that the extra miles I could have tacked on won’t be as vital. My goal for next week is to negative split every mile of my long run – I want to get used to pushing through fatigue and being able to maintain speed when I’m tired.

Long Run:

I love, love, loved my long run this week. The only day I ended up being able to schedule it was Thursday and I ran a lot of it down on the path around Lake Champlain. While I was wearing my watch, I didn’t look at my pace or splits for each mile. I tried to focus on my perceived exertion and keep it at a little easier than my moderate pace. It was a gorgeous day, clear blue skies and lots of sunshine, but it was cold. I ended up averaging a 10:15 pace for the run. My fastest split was 9:50 at mile 5 and my slowest was 11:00 at mile 8 (that was the Battery St hill which will be mile 15 of the marathon). It’s humbling to be running what I consider a slow pace for me, but I’m focusing on the positives!

This was my first double-digit run since my first trimester of pregnancy with Tanner and I felt great throughout. My pace was pretty consistent except for the slow mile in which I tackled the hill monster. The views along the lake are really spectacular and make me happy. What more can you ask for in a 10 mile run, right? 🙂

Speed Workout:

It was a warm and rainy day for my speed workout and I changed my mind about 15 times about whether to run outside or not. I finally headed to the treadmill (my first time in about 5 months, I think!). I did a long warm up, then 4 half mile repeats with 2 minutes walking recovery, followed by just over a mile cool down. My splits for the repeats were 8:45, 8:41, 8:34, 8:27. Since it was my first time doing formal speed work since pre-pregnancy, I wanted to be conservative. It didn’t feel awful and I think I can push myself a lot harder next time. 

I’m still not a huge fan of the treadmill, but it was a good chance for me to have uninterrupted podcast time! 🙂 I listened to an episode of Blissful Bites and half an episode of Run to the Top (I listened to the second half when I showered at home).

Regular Run: 

I only got out for one regular run this week, 6 miles when we visited my mother-in-law. This was another one I ran by feel, even while I had my watch on so I could check splits later. I was less sore than I thought I would be after my 10 mile long run, so this regular run felt great.

Other Workouts:

I did some of the ‘core workout’ exercises from the Baby Strong workout cards with Baby T. We also took the boys to the indoor kids pool at our gym one day and I walked to and fro in the pool holding Tanner for about half an hour. The pool walking was actually the day after my long run, so I think it was the perfect recovery for me. I also put together a quick body weight workout for the living room (I’ll be sharing that in a post on Wednesday), so I definitely got my sweat on this week!

Notes From the Week:

I’m deliberately not looking at my marathon training logs from either of the other times I’ve trained for the marathon. I’m afraid of falling into the comparison trap with myself and not committing to running the best, quality workouts for where I am right now. 

My sleep has been horrendous lately – after a sleep regression period when Tanner was waking up once every single night, he’s settled back in to sleeping through the night nearly every night. The problem is that I lay in bed listening for him now, rather than actually getting sleep myself. And I’m just going to bed way too late every night. I feel like a broken record telling you that, though.

Weekly Mileage:

20.75 miles

Total Mileage:

39.75 miles

Do you look back at your old training logs? Does it help you?

Which do you think is harder, winter training or summer training?