The Training Week That Was... 3/10-3/16

Three down and ten more to go! This, my third, week of following the FIRST Marathon Training Plan, went well, despite an early illness and late ankle tweak. The week began with a cold and some rest and ended with an intentional "two-part" Key Run, thanks to my participation in the local St. Patty's Day run.

In the recap below, the Key Run Workouts prescribed by the plan appear in parentheses. It is unclear what the total mileage I was scheduled to run this week is a little was, but I feel like I did pretty well:

Legend: R = Running, ri = recovery interval, ez = easy, m-t = mid-tempo, wu = warm-up, cd = cool down

Monday: (Rest)
Tuesday: (Key Run Workout #1--10-20 min. wu, 2x1200m, 400m ri, 2x800m, 5-10 min. cd) R 4.5 mi
Wednesday: (Rest)
Thursday: (Key Run Workout #2--4 mi m-t) R 5 mi
Friday: (Rest)
Saturday: (Key Run Workout #3a--10 miles) R 11 mi
Sunday: (Key Run Workout #3b--9 miles) R 9.1 mi

TOTAL--R 29.6 miles (+1.8 miles from last week)
Weigh-In*: 184.0 lbs. (-1.5 lbs. from previous week) [* took place at 5:00 a.m. on 3/17]

The official Johnny's Runnin' of the Green results are in, and I came in 57 of 984 overall and fifth of 88 in my gender/age group (M 35-39) with a time of :31:28. I am exceedingly happy with my time and place, though it seems like every time I make the internal decision that "I like running longer," I perform well in a "shorter" distance race.

As I shared with some fellow runners this weekend, I remain committed to racing the longer distances and participating in 5ks only when I can do so with my children, or when I need the speed workout. I'll have another chance to "race" longer this coming weekend, during a rare moment of training-racing convergence when the race distance is the same as the planned Key Run, in this case thirteen miles, the Leo Austin Memorial Cats Half Marathon on Saturday, March 22.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!