Thursday’s Run
On Thursday I met the JSRC track group at 6pm at Vanderbilt to complete my weekly “speed” workout. I did the week 5 “speed” workout prescribed in the Hansons Advanced Training Plan. This was 4 x 1200m with 400m recovery in-between each interval. This equates to 3-miles of intervals and 1-mile of recovery. Based on my goal marathon time of 3:15, the target splits for this workout are 4:50.
We caught a huge break with the weather Thursday night. The temps were around 79º with a nice break in the humidity. This felt awesome compared with previous weeks. Hard to believe it could be 79º at 6pm on any night in July!
Overall this workout felt really good, and I’m sure the weather had a LOT to do with it. After my warmup and stride outs I still felt a little tight during the first 1200m, but my legs really loosened up throughout the workout. Here’s a breakdown:
Warmup
- 2.12-miles easy
- 6 x 100m Stride Outs
Workout
- 1200m fresh (5:10) / 400m recovery
- 1200m fresh (5:05) / 400m recovery
- 1200m fresh (4:50) / 400m recovery
- 1200m fresh (4:46) / 400m recovery
Cool Down
- .42-miles easy
So, all told I got in 7-miles of work. As you can see, each interval got progressively faster and I finally hit my target in the third one after loosening up a bit. I got a little over-aggressive for the last one, but am really pleased at how well I felt at the end.
Saturday’s Run
After an off-day on Friday, Saturday was my fourth “tempo” run of the Hansons Advanced Plan, and marked an increase to 7-total-miles at pace. The objective was to complete 7-miles at goal marathon pace (7:26). My friends Nathan and Brian joined me for this workout at the Edwin Warner Park picnic area.
Just like Thursday night, the nice weather continued. Starting temperatures were around 57º, with a noticeable break in the humidity.
After a 2.4-mile warmup with 4 stride outs, we hit the greenway for the “tempo” section. We decided to do a 2-mile out-and-back and then a 1.5-mile out-and-back so we could grab some fluid in the middle. Unfortunately I had some GI issues that caused me to have to take an additional break. However, overall I felt really good for this workout, especially at the end. Some of my intervals were actually too fast. Here’s a breakdown…
- Mile 1 – 7:25
- Mile 2 – 7:37
- Mile 3 – 7:25
- Mile 4 – 7:18
- Mile 5 – 7:32
- Mile 6 – 7:29
- Mile 7 – 7:15
Overall my average was just about on-point. After a .83-mile cool down we finished with just over 10-miles for the morning.
Today’s Run
Understandably, after a tough running week, my legs were really, really tight and grinding during the first part of my 6-miler this morning. The temps were back up in the mid-60s, and the humidity is slowly creeping back into normal range for July. I did a big loop starting from my house and going through the surrounding neighborhoods and the Harpeth River Greenway. I had a struggle getting my first mile under 11:00, but thankfully my legs loosened up throughout and this turned into a progression run, with each mile faster than the previous:
With this run I finished out week 6 with 49.3 total miles, which is the most I’ve had since January 2013. Since starting the Hansons plan I’ve had a good progression in my mileage from week-to-week, and am now knocking on the door of 50-mile weeks:
Even with my terrible “long” run on Tuesday, this turned out to be a really good week of training, though it has left me exhausted. Week 7 starts out tomorrow with a scheduled 10-mile “easy” run, so it will be interesting to see how my legs feel.
In addition to the runs, I also got in the following cross-training exercises since Thursday:
Ab-Ripper X (Thursday)
- In & Out (20)
- Bicycle (20 each direction)
- Crunchy Frog (20)
- Wide Leg Sit-ups (20)
- Hip Rock & Raise (20)
- Pulse-Ups (20)
- V-Up Roll-Ups (20)
- Oblique V-Up (20 each side)
- Leg Climb (12 each leg)
- Mason Twist (50)
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Workout VINYL: Magic Potion by The Black Keys |
Chest (Saturday)
- Standard Pushups (30 reps)
- Military Pushups (17 reps)
- Wide Pushups (40 reps)
- Decline Pushups (35 reps)
- Diamond Pushups (10 reps)
Total = 132 reps
Abs / Core (Saturday)
- Plank w Reach (15 x 2)
- Side Raises (25 x 2)
- Bridge (25 x 2)
- Superman / Banana (30 sec each x 2)
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Workout VINYL: Nevermind by Nirvana |
Shoulders & Arms (Sunday)
- Alternating Shoulder Presses (12 reps each arm / 20 lb dumbbells)
- In & Out Bicep Curls (16 reps / 15 lb dumbbells)
- Two-Arm Tricep Kickback (15 reps / 15 lb dumbbells)
- Deep Swimmer Presses (8 reps / 25 lb dumbbells)
- Full Supination Curls (9 reps / 25 lb dumbbells)
- Chair Dips (20 reps)
- Upright Rows (8 reps / 25 lb dumbbells)
- Static Arm Curls (16 reps / 15 lb dumbbells)
- Flip-Grip Tricep Kickback (13 reps / 15 lb dumbbells)
- Seated Shoulder Flys (10 reps / 20 lb dumbbells)
- Single Arm Curls (10 each arm / 20 lb dumbbells)
- Lying Down Tricep Extensions (12 reps / 15 lb dumbbells)
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Workout VINYL: Revolver by The Beatles |
“I dare you to train for a marathon, and not have it change your life.”
-Susan Sidoriak