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Today was a scheduled off-day from running and, as usual for my off-days, I ROCKED IT!
Just Kidding
It was nice to have the day to recover from the hard track workout last night. My legs are fairly sore, and it will be interesting to see how they feel on my run tomorrow
Tonight was my first track workout in over a month, and it was good to be back running with the Jim Spivey Running Club (JSRC). I intentionally shifted the Hansons Advanced Marathon training plan a bit so that the “speed” workouts would fall on Thursday instead of Tuesday. This way I can continue to run with the JSRC during the “speed” phase of the plan.
Thick humidity has descended on Middle Tennessee with a vengeance this week, and tonight was tough with temps around 85º. I know it is only going to get worse, but my body struggling to get acclimated right now.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve logged 20-miles after the first three days of a running week, and my legs are REALLY feeling it! This is especially true considering that today’s 6.4-miler had almost 1,000′ of elevation gain in the first 3.2 miles. I met Dawn, Mary, Marc, and Nathan at the main gates of Percy Warner Park at 5:15am, and then ran an out-and-back to the top of “3-mile-hill.” I did this same run last week in order to get in some practice with uphill and downhill running, which will clearly be needed in St. George
While climbing “3-mile-hill” (see peak below), my legs were SCREAMING, and had Nathan not been right beside me, I very likely would have stopped and walked.
The Life of Abraham
Lesson 18: Sons of Abraham
(Galatians 3; 4:21-31; Hebrews 11:8-19)
For students in my Wednesday night class on The Life of Abraham: Handouts and Notes for Lesson 18 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text tomorrow night at 6:30pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!
Today’s plan was for 8-miles at “easy” pace, and I was joined by my friend Brian on the Harpeth River Greenway at 5:30am. The humidity was again pretty dense (there was even a low-lying fog), and temps were slightly higher than yesterday.
We started off by the driving range on Old Harding, and ran 3.25-miles out and back on the greenway. Our pace was very chill, but I still nailed the high-end of my “easy” range on every split but the first one. It is already obvious to me than many of the goal pace ranges in the Hansons Plan will have to be modified as the heat and humidity continue to rise in Middle Tennessee.
While this is technically the first week of my training plan for the St. George Marathon, the first scheduled run doesn’t happen until Saturday. However, I’m hoping to get in some good mileage leading up to the weekend.
Last Week:
After getting off to a good start last Tuesday & Wednesday, I turned into a lazy bum the remainder of the week. The only real positive is that I got in 4 solid days of cross training activities, including 2 upper body workouts, 2 leg workouts, and 2 abdominal workouts.
I also mapped out my weekly cross training schedule for St George training…
My goal is to get in 15 to 20 minutes of cross training each day until race week. Now that training has officially begun, there can be no more lazy days off from running or cross training!!
Tuesday
After struggling to hit my “easy” run paces last week, and having a miserable run on Sunday, I felt really smooth during my 6-mile run yesterday afternoon on the Harpeth River Greenway. The temps were in the mid 80s, but I still hit my target pace for every mile, except the first by 2-seconds when I was still warming up. Here are the splits (goal range 8:26 to 9:05):
My legs were a bit stiff during the first mile, but generally felt good after that. Glad to finally hit my “easy” pace.
For cross-training I got in a short abdominal workout last night. Working on finalizing my cross-training schedule for St. George.
Wednesday (Today)
I met some friends at the main gates of Percy Warner Park at 5:15am for a hilly, 6.5-mile run in the park. Most in the group were running 9-miles, but my plan was to run just past the 3-mile marker, which is a climb of just over 1000 ft., and then head back down the same route. My goal is to get in some downhill running that closely approximates what the St. George descent will be like. With that in mind, I didn’t worry too much about “easy” pace since anything would be greatly skewed by the elevation change (my overall avg was 9:15 per mile)….
Overall I felt pretty good considering that I had barely over 12-hours between runs. My legs felt better than they had in a long while during the climbs. My friend Marc also only wanted 6-miles, so it was nice to have him accompany me back down. As many times as I’ve run the main drive in PWP, this is the first time I’ve ever done an out-and-back to the top of “3-mile-hill.” Will likely make this a regular part of my St. George training.
After mid-week Bible study tonight, I came home and got in the following short leg & back workout:
- Balance Lunge (25 each leg)
- Calf-Raise Squat (25 reps with 2 x 15 lb dumbbell)
- Reverse-Grip Chinup (10 Reps)
- Super Skaters (25 each leg)
- Wall Squats (1 min 30 sec)
- Wide-Front Pull-Up (8 Reps)
- Step-Back Lunge (15 each leg with 2 x 15 lb dumbbell)
- Deadlift Squats (20 each leg)
- Switch-Grip Pull-Ups (8 Reps)
Beast Mode…ON!
The Life of Abraham
Lesson 17: Salvation by Faith
(Romans 4:1-25)
For students in my Wednesday night class on The Life of Abraham: Handouts and Notes for Lesson 17 are now available online. Lord willing we will cover this text tomorrow night at 6:30pm at Bellevue Church of Christ!