This week was a solid week of training. It was low mileage to kick off training but I felt pretty great on all of my runs. I truly believe the first week of any training program is telling of how the rest of the cycle will be. There’s always room for tweaking and improvements in the following months but you learn a lot in that first week. I learned I’m going to have trouble with the paces given on my training plan, not because they’re too fast, but because they are much slower than my comfortable running pace. I’m going to make some changes with this plan along the way and it’s only the beginning so we’ll see how this training plan goes.

Monday– Cross-training at Bootcamp

45 minutes of strengthening exercises. We did four circuits of no repeat exercises.

Tuesday- 5 miles, easy

Went for a pre-work run with my roommate. We wanted to take it easy, especially since we both went to boot camp last night. My legs felt surprisingly good, although breathing and sweating were an issue. Ahh, summer training.

Plan- 5 miles at easy pace (10:40/mile)
Actual- 5 miles in 43:40 (8:44/mile)
Mile Splits-
(1) 9:18/mile
(2) 8:48/mile
(3) 8:50/mile
(4) 8:48/mile
(5) 8:04/mile

Shoes: Asics Gel Flux

Wednesday- Lehigh Valley Parkway 5K

I was by no means racing this 5K. It’s a fun, free 5K put on in the Parkway the first Wednesday of each month and this was the only one I was going to be able to make this summer. It was a lot of fun, but it was extremely hot (86 degrees at the start) and incredibly humid. I was dripping by the end. I felt good though!

Planned: 3 miles easy (10:40/mile pace according to my training plan)
Actual: 3.14 miles in 27:34 (8:46/mile pace)
Splits:
(1) 9:01/mile
(2) 8:27/mile (got a little excited here and had to pull in the reins)
(3) 9:03/mile

Shoe: Saucony Fastwitch 6

Thursday- FULL rest day

I was going to go to gentle flow yoga after work to stretch out a bit but it was cancelled.

Friday– 5 miles, easy

This was the first lunch run I’ve been able to do in awhile since it wasn’t 90 degrees or more. It was really relaxing and enjoyable, a nice break in the day.

Plan: 5 miles, easy (11:45/mile pace according to my training plan)
Actual: 5 miles in 44:13 at 8:50/mile average pace
Splits:
(1) 8:55/mile
(2) 8:43/mile
(3) 8:52/mile
(4) 8:58/mile
(5) 8:45/mile

Shoe: Asics Gel Flux

Saturday– 3 miles, easy

Took a short run along the canal with my roommate and her friend. It was a really good run. Again, my training plan had me running 3 miles at easy pace (10:40/mile) but I ran considerably faster and it felt easy.

Plan: 3 miles, easy at 10:40/mile
Actual: 3 miles in 26:12 at 8:44/mile pace
Splits:
(1) 9:04/mile
(2) 8:40/mile
(3) 8:27/mile

Shoes: Asics Gel Flux

Sunday– 10 mile long run

This was the first long run of Marine Corps training and it went pretty well. I left my apartment at 10 a.m. which was probably wayyy too late to head out for a summer long run but heat training is always good. I did my 10 miles and finished with 4x100m strides.

Plan: 10 miles, long slow distance at 10:40-11:45/mile pace (according to my plan)
Actual: 10.2 miles, LSD with 4x100m strides in 1:31:50 (9:00/mile pace)
Splits:
(1) 9:28
(2) 8:47
(3) 8:56
(4) 9:12
(5) 9:21
(6) 9:22
(7) 9:02
(8) 9:35
(9) 9:02
(10) 9:00

Shoes: Asics Gel Flux

Total mileage: 26 miles

See all weekly training recaps here.