My Little Rock Marathon Training (so far)… and other random thoughts
Well, this marks my first and last “hard” week of training for the Little Rock Marathon. Houston and Little Rock are 7 weeks apart and I am right in the middle of them now. I have only ever raced two other marathons before Houston and they were separated by ten years so having two planned 7 weeks apart is a bit new for me. I looked up a few training plans for back to back marathons and as usual I ended up sticking with Hal.
My 7 Week Plan (so far):
Week 1-
Sun. 1/15- 26.2 m @ 7:36 (Houston Marathon)
Mon. 1/16- Off (I did walk around A LOT at the airport to loosen up sore muscles…)
Tue. 1/17- Off
Wed. 1/18- Off
Thur. 1/19- Off
Fri. 1/20- 5 m @ 8:27
Sat. 1/21- 10 m @ 8:20
Total Miles: 41
Week 2-
Sun. 1/22- Off
Mon. 1/23- 6.5 m @ 7:55
Tue. 1/24- 8 m @ 7:55
Wed. 1/25- 6 m @ 7:21 (First marathon paced run since marathon and it was HARD. I felt awful.)
Thur. 1/26- 6.5 m @ 8:04 (Felt a little better.)
Fri. 1/27- 12 m @ 8:02
Sat. 1/28- 8 m @ 7:49 (Felt great!)
Total Miles: 47
Week 3-
Sun. 1/29- Off
Mon. 1/30- 8 m @ 7:45 (last 2 m were 6:30-ish pace)
Tue. 1/31- 16 m @ 8:05
Wed. 2/1- 4 m @ 8:13
Thur. 2/2- Off
Fri. 2/3- Off
Sat. 2/4- 11 w/ 9.3 @ 6.51 (15 K race- felt great!)
Total Miles: 39 (I had planned on more miles but when I decided to race I opted for fresh legs which meant taking off Thursday and Friday. So glad I rested too because I felt great on race day!)
Week 4-
Sun. 2/5- Off
Mon. 2/6- 8.5 m @ 8:11
Tue. 2/7- 10 m @ 8:13
Wed. 2/8- 3.5 m @7:40
Thur. 2/9- 8 w/ 8 x 800 (3:09, 3:08, 3:08, 3:08, 3:07, 3:08, 3:08, 3:01). My goal was to keep the 800’s between 3:05 and 3:10 with the exception of my last one. For the final 800 I just gave it all I had.
Fri. 2/10- 2 m on elliptical (legs were achy and I thought cross training would be a smarter choice than running since I have a 20 miler tomorrow.)
Sat. 2/11- 20 miles planned. (Goal is to keep it around 8 minute pace or below.)
Total Miles: 52
So after tomorrow’s big run I will just have 3 weeks left! I am trying to gear up mentally for tomorrow. I am running it all by myself. My usual running buddies are not running tomorrow for various reasons. (They are not currently training for a marathon either.) So it will just be me and the open road for 20 miles. I have never run that far on my own. It’s supposed to be about 25 degrees too so not my ideal running weather but it will be ok. Thankfully, I have my Ipod shuffle!!
I will leave you with a few of my favorite faces…
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| A little smirky smile from my big boy who was home most of the week with the stomach bug. |
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| My big girl is on the Little Dribblers! |
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| Anna put together this Grinch puzzle on by herself! |
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| Ashton wakes up much happier now that we moved the b-ball hoop next to his crib! |
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| I love these crazy kids! |
And speaking of crazy… My youngest is into EVERYTHING. Having 3 other children I consider myself fairly knowledgeable when it comes to how to handle this age but he is a full-time job. If there is something he shouldn’t have he will find a way to get it. When we built our house a little over two years ago, our youngest at the time was 18 months old. She was out of the opening every cabinet age. She was…. easier. I remember thinking no matter how old she was that I loved every single age/ phase she went through. I actually thought we could maybe get by without child-proofing everything for our last one. Was I ever wrong? Ashton has eaten, broken, smashed and destroyed too many items to name. Just when I think we have everything “child-proofed” he proves me wrong. Again.
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| I did not envision a sneaky (yet adorable) 1 year-old boy when our builder designed this lovely little pull-out spice rack. I have yet to find a child-latch that works with this cabinet. It looks like we will be temporarily moving all the spices… |
I guess that’s all for now. Time to prepare a little pasta for my big run tomorrow…
~Tia
8 thoughts on “My Little Rock Marathon Training (so far)… and other random thoughts”
So funny – I have never had COMPANY for a long run of that length! Our running group meets for long runs, but 1. They usually do over 8:30, sometimes over 9:00, and that takes too long for my impatient self and 2. They start late – 7:40 am – so if I do join them I usually run to and from the meeting place and just do like 5 mi with them. I hate those long boring 20 milers!
I guess ive been spoiled!! Somehow it has always worked out for me to go with someone for all or at least part of a long run. It will be a mental workout as well!
You are amazing. I love seeing what you’re doing with training. NICE 15k. I like how you keep a lot of your runs sub 8…I think this is going to be something I’d like to do more of seeing as it makes sense to me instead of keeping too many of my easy runs in the 8:20 range. I’d like my new 8:20 to be 7:55 and I think this will transfer well to races and overall fitness. Good luck with training. Love your pictures!
Thanks! I have found my “easy” pace naturally falls around an 8 min. pace these days. If I go with a friend we are still able to carry on a conversation.
Such cute kids! It always surprised me at how different each of my three were from each other. Your last one looks like he’s the curious explorer. You’ve certainly got your hands full.
Char- You are right about that!
FINALLY getting back on here after reading a few times. I am so impressed with your taking this on, I would be scared to death! And you have recovered so quickly! Your easy pace is pretty quick! I hope your 20 miler went well.
I am interested in your JD plan- didn’t even realize you could buy one online. Where did you find yours? I use the book and am writing the mileage for each day as I go- but the workouts are all in there week by week. I am doing plan A, week 13 this week. (I think!)
Ashton is such a cutie! Aren’t they always trouble at that age?? 🙂
Your kids are so adorable! I can relate with how different kids can be from one another. My youngest is also a sneaky little one.