(Source: Pinterest)
This week of training can be defined by two words: heat wave. But I’m not going to complain too much about it here because I’m honestly tired of talking about the weather. It is what it is and everyone is dealing with it, it’s just a little bit harder on us crazy marathoners because we voluntarily run and strain ourselves in this weather so we really can’t complain about it. But a hard summer makes for a strong fall, right? Anyway, besides the heat, this was a pretty solid week of training.
Monday- Cross-training at Bootcamp.
45 minutes of strength training. We did five circuits of no-repeat exercises.
Tuesday- 5 miles, easy
I did not want to wake up early for this run but I’m so glad I did. It wasn’t too hot when I left my apartment and the forecast for later on in the day would be 95-97 degrees and humid. It was pretty humid out which made breathing hard but overall it was a good run.
Plan: 5 miles, easy at 10:40/mile pace
Actual: 5 miles in 43:05 at 8:37/mile pace
Splits:
(1) 9:15/mile
(2) 8:30/mile
(3) 8:29/mile
(4) 8:41/mile
(5) 8:09/mile
Shoe: Asics Gel Kayano 19
Wednesday- Speedwork – 3.5 miles total
My training plan called for 3 miles easy today but I really wanted to do speedwork. I waited until after work to head to the track and it wasn’t as bad temperature-wise as I was expecting. I felt surprisingly great and my times on these intervals were all faster than when I did this same workout three weeks ago in 15 degree cooler weather.
Plan: 3 miles, easy (10:40/mile pace)
Actual: 3.5 miles
1-mile warmup at 8:50/mile pace
8x400m-
(1) 1:42.0
(2) 1:39.8
(3) 1:37.7
(4) 1:36.9
(5) 1:38.0
(6) 1:36.1
(7) 1:36.5
(8) 1:32.4
0.5-mile cool down
Shoe: Saucony Fastwitch 6
Thursday- Rest Day
Did Lululemon’s Yoga for Runners
Friday- 5 miles, easy
It was really tough out there this morning. It was only 75 degrees but it was also 88 percent humidity. I had a really difficult time breathing during the entire run. At 4.3 miles I had to stop because I had a pretty bad cramp in my diaphragm and an old man driving by offered me water. That act of kindness pushed me forward to finish the run strong. My pacing was kind of all over the place during this run but oh well.
Plan: 5 miles, easy (10:40/mile pace)
Actual: 5 miles, easy (8:49/mile pace)
Splits:
(1) 9:32/mile
(2) 8:37/mile
(3) 8:50/mile
(4) 8:55/mile
(5) 8:14/mile
Conditions: 75 degrees, 88 percent humidity, air quality alert
Shoe: Asice GT-1000 2 (testing for RW)
Saturday- 3 miles, easy
It was another hot one out there this morning. I slept in a little so I didn’t get out until 10ish. It wasn’t as humid as yesterday but it was still pretty muggy. I was really overheated at 2.77 miles so I decided to finish with 100m strides so it would be over faster.
Plan: 3 miles, easy (10:40/mile)
Actual: 3 miles (with 2x100m strides) in 25:52.1 (8:37/mile pace)
Splits:
(1) 9:00/mile
(2) 8:50/mile
(3) 8:00/mile
Conditions: 82 degrees with 69% humidity
Shoes: Nike Vomero 8 (testing for RW)
Core- 20 minutes of two rounds of the Standard Core Routine
Sunday- 12 miles, long slow distance
I left my apartment early to get my long run in before the humidity and heat got the best of the day. My paces were more or less even which was really good. My legs felt great but even though it was a lot cooler this morning than it has been, the humidity was killing me and I had a hard time cooling my head down. I’m going to have to work on that. Maybe wear a hat with ice cubes? I also almost ran out of water so I’m going to have to keep that in mind on my longer long runs.
Plan: 12 miles, at LSD pace (10:40-12:10/mile according to my training plan)
Actual: 12 miles, in 1:51:32 (9:17/mile pace)
Splits:
(1) 9:38/mile (2) 9:00/mile (3) 9:16/mile (4) 9:22/mile (5) 9:22/mile (6) 9:26/mile (7) 9:21/mile (8) 9:22/mile (9) 9:33/mile (all hills) (10) 9:17/mile (11) 9:11/mile (12) 8:43/mile
Total mileage: 29 miles
See all weekly training recaps here.
Fit Girl. Happy Girl. 
Nice job dealing with the heat! It was brutal. Thankfully, the heat wave broke here for my long run yesterday. I’m curious why your training plan has you running so much slower? It looks like you’re faster than you thought you were when you started the plan!
Thanks! As far as the paces go, I just ran my first full marathon this past April at Big Sur in 4:33 so for Marine Corps I thought I’d try to break 4:15, so my plan is a break-4:15 plan. I’m going to continue to follow it for the mileage and schedule but I’m just going to do what feels right with the paces. Maybe I’ll set an even bigger PR, which wouldn’t be a terrible thing :)
Hope your feet don’t mind the constant change out in shoes. Nice week!
Thanks! So far so good with my feet :) I usually run solely in my Kayanos and Gel Flux, and then the Saucony’s for speed work but I need to test some shoes for work for the next couple of weeks. I’m keeping the testers though for low mileage runs only!
Yay, thanks for sharing that link for the Yoga for Runners! I’ve been wanting to do something like this after my runs! Also, about this heat wave, it’s been so hot here that I literally can’t think about anything else except that I am hot. It seems to have let up here though and we finally got some rain so hopefully it has where you are too!
No problem! It’s a great routine and it offers a bunch of variations too which I find helpful. We got a little bit of relief from the heat today so hopefully this upcoming week will be a little better! Best of luck to you in this heat too!
Great week of training, you got some solid workouts in especially with the heat!
Looks like your training is going really well! I’m amazed you’re able to run such speedy paces in the heat.
Your training looks a lot like what I did for my second marathon. My plan had me running a bit slower, but I ran comfortably hard all the time (8:00-8:40 for shorter runs, ~9:00 pace for long runs) and thought that would help me hit 3:55. Sadly, I bonked and came in at 4:08, so for marathon #3 I’m embracing a “train slower, race faster” method. It’s hard to run slower when I know I have it in me to run faster, but hopefully the payoff will be worth it. I’ll see how it works out!
You need to do your easy runs with me and I will keep you at a slower pace! lol Nice job on your training :)