Week #2 Recap - It feels good to be on track

Saturday, July 1 – 13 mile long run

We were invited over to our neighbor’s house last minute on Friday night. They had a cookout and an outdoor movie night. Pretty cool, they projected the comedy act of Ron White on to the side of a neighbor’s house from a DVD and projector. Funny stuff, if you haven’t seen him.

Again, I faced the challenge of being social in the summer and keeping my workout schedule. I had to excuse myself at 10:30 PM to get to bed. I knew if I stayed later that I would be toast in the morning. I felt bad, but I needed to get to bed.

I was up at 5:45 AM on Saturday. Can’t remember the last time I’ve done that on Saturday. The nearest CARA group run is in Warrenville, which is about 14 miles north of my house. We kicked off our run at about 7 AM.

It was my first long run with a group. I truly felt like a veteran in the group, since most there were 1st or second time marathoners. I really enjoyed the social run. I haven’t had one since some of my earlier marathons.

We ran a section of the Illinois Prairie Path, which is part of an excellent trail system that we have here in the Chicago area. Sucks for me, as it does not extend down as far south as I live. Bummer.

I ran with a guy named Gilly who is training for his first marathon. He reminded me of me during my first. I had to hold his pace in check, as I explained the strategy of doing the long runs slower than target race pace by 10-20%. He thanked me, since he never knew. I’ve learned the hard lessons of attempting race pace training on long runs while suffering miles 21-22 in a few of my marathons.

Amazing what you learn about a person on your first long run with them. We talked about marriage (mine), divorce (his), having kids (which neither of us have), education, career, vacations, places we’ve lived – or would like to live. I didn’t even know this guy at the start of the run.

We breezed through 9 miles while trying to stay on 8:30’s. There were some who were surprised to see me head back out for another 4 miles after doing the 9 miles with the group. The last 4 seemed easy. I felt like I could have gone another 3 or 4. But I will say later in the day that I was pretty tired and needed a good nap!

Run time: 1:50:27
Est dist: 13.0
Est pace: 8:30

Sunday, July 2 – 5-mile recovery pace

We slept in late here til about 9:00. Late I know, but we were up late after being out. Before I headed out, I did some reading on what my recovery pace should be. The “Runner’s World Guide to Cross-Training” is a book I received from the CARA for signing up for the training program.

Based on my recent 10-mile race, I am projecting by current 10k race time to be about 42:50. At this pcae, the book tells me I should do recovery at 8:53 per mile. Seems about right, so that was the goal for today.

Today’s conditions were very warm and extremely humid. Plus, I was still tired from yesterday’s long run – not to mention that I had a few drinks last night and felt dehydrated. There, all the excuses are out there. This run was not really that pleasant. Now I remember why I drag myself out of bed by 6AM on most days of the week.

My wife ran with me for the 1st mile and turned back to complete her 2 mile work out. I continued to plod along and I found that I was really heating up. Even at a slow pace. Glad that one is over.

Time: 44:10
Est dist: 5.0
Est Pace: 8:50

Week 2 recap: “It feels good to be on track!”
Achieved distance target of 36 miles.
Hit all work-outs.

Focus area: Weight management

I am weighing in around 171 lbs right now. I feel I’ll need to get down to a race weight of 165 if I hope to really chase 3:10. Not going to really cut weight now, but will need to find a way to drop 1-2 pounds per week down the home stretch of training.

I'm ready for a rest day tomorrow, as I head into Tuesday's 10k July 4th race.

See Friday's post for Week #3 schedule