Last week durinig recovery i signed up for the Paris Marathon for April 11th. That gives me 26 weeks to train. This is the first marathon where I have time to build up a good base and also have time for a long sharpening phase. To review, the base period starts this week with 28 miles total and slowly builds for 13 weeks up to 62 miles. During the first 9 weeks of base all the training is really simple, no hill work, no tempo work, just building a steady pace which is specific to the given distance. This week all my training is under 8 miles, and based on my 3:30 marathon goal any distance under 8 miles can be run at 9:00 mm or slightly faster depending upon the goal for the day. Monday moderate 6 miles, tuesday off, Wednestay moderate 6 miles, Thursday easy 4, friday another easy 4, and Saturday hard long 8 miles.
Monday was my first run for the season where I had to wear long sleeves, what a bummer. I ran flat downtown around battery park. Started with a 1 mile warm up then picked up the pace with the goal being an average of 9mm. Everything felt good, some wind, knee is totally fine, although it was bothering me today walking up and down stairs. The main set was 4.39 miles at 8:42pace and HR ave 159bpm. I had a shake 15 minutes before the run and that was fine and had a banana after. Was hoping to have time today for weights, but no such luck.
Tuesday was an off day. I used this free day as an opportunity to do a partial cleane day. Fasted until about 5pm.
Wednesday I started with 2 oz of cleanse while training clients. Had a shake made of half Isalean, half Isapro, plus fruits, calcium and coconut milk right before heading out for the run at 9am. It's a beautiful, clear, crisp day and I'm running 6 miles, a moderate length and at a moderate effort. Went over the Brooklyn bridge and back. I've decided that when it is cool out i don't need to carry water and feels nice to not have that camelback pack around my waist. My legs feel great today, no knee pain, light fast steps. Warmed up 1 mile to the bridge and then set my pace based on keeping HR around 160 as an average and planned for a bit faster than 9:00 mm. Had to go to the bathroom so ran to John street, short chat with a trainer there and then headed back. Everything is feeling really good and it's nice to have a low volume week getting into this first week of marathon training. The main set was for 5 miles, AV hr was 158 and speed was 8:49. For lunch I had 1 scooop of isalean chicken soup plus 1 cup of a home made greens soup. Around 4pm I went downstaris and got in a short TRX workout. Working my legs for the first time in ages. Everything was body weight. Focused on legs, back, and rear delts for 30 minutes. Kept supersetting with no rest. Finished with TRX abs for 15 minutes doing about 5 different exercises, some of which were new. My food focus today was low carb, low cal and high protein because i'm going out for pizza tonight. A rare treat.
Thursday morning my morning rutine was shaken up and so was my diet. Guess that pizza last night left me craving bad carbs in the morning. All would have been fine had i not had a cancellation. I got news of the cancellation and now had 2 hours before my next client. Before degressing to food i put in a easy 35 minute sports specific training with cables, medicine balls ets. I did no lower body because i'm surprisingly sore from the body weight TRX stuff I did yesterday. Did some BB over head pressing and was only able to do the bar (45#) 6 reps x4. Did some chest, shoulder and back strength focusing on more functional movements.
More on the meals. After weight training i went to eat at a coffee shop where i had my protein pudding and a low fat yogurt muffin and a cup of coffee. Had a banana before my run and and Isalean shake for lunch around 3:30. Had a fantastic salad for dinner at a restaurant. Not the most healthy as it was topped with a 10 oz turkey burger. But boy was it tasty. Interesting concept.
My run on Thrusday was an easy 4 miles. It was a cold rainy day and not feeling like running in the cold at all so i hit the treadmill in my building gym. I got some good ideas on the treadmill about variations for winter training when it gets nasty. If i have to adjust a long run and move it inside i can run and hour or so, jump on the bike trainer for a bit and then run again. It's variety at least, but don't know if i can handle training inside for three hours. Today I warmed up for .5 miles then set the treadmill at 9:00mm. I increased the grade to 2% and ran that about 5 min. The work sest was an increase in grade for 3 min followed by 0 grade for 2 min all at a 9:00 pace. It looks like this: 2%, 3%-0. 4%-0, 5%-0, 4%-0, 3% for last .5 miles. The interval set was for 3.25 miles then did cool down for .25 miles. Nice way to jazz up a short, easy indoor session.
Friday was an easy 4 miler through Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo. Wore tights and loves. Breathing feels good, hamstrins are still tigh from the leg work I did on Wednesday. Run was some hills, but mostly flat. 10 min warm up and 5 min cool down. Main set was 3 miles at 9:07 pace.
Saturday was my hardest run of the week. Funny to call a long run 8 miles, but that's my schedule and it feels good to be logging some easy runs. I warmed up 1 mile going to Prospect park. Continued with a 9:00 pace in mind and turned around at 4 miles. Worked hard on hills both up and down and easier on the flats. Work interval was for 6.51 miles, average pace 8:55 and average HR 162, max 177. All was just where it should have been. Weather was damp, drizzled a little but the temps were quite comfortable while wearing gloves. Only drank a little water with Want More Energy. Cool down was half mile.
On Sunday i really wanted to go to the pool but was going to be a rush to train with the team and get home in time to pick up and get out of the house for an open house so I opted for an indoor trainer session. Yesterday i changed tires from race tires to 4 season continental tires. I have an old back wheel with old tires on it that i'll use on the trainer permanently and the front wheels are new with the 4 season tires. Easier break down and set up. Also using a new riser block which kept the bike much more stable. Noticed that i need to adjust the speed sensor next time because it wasn't working. I warmed up for 13 min and followed this with a short set of 15 min of fast intervals. 15 sec hard then 30s rest. Rest was in 2nd gear and work in 4th gear. Max HR was 163 at the bottom of zone 5a, a good place to be, and my cadence was around 90. The 2nd set was 12 minutes and longer intervals. Worked 60 sec hard followed by 90 sec rest. Rest and work were in 3rd gear. Max hr was 169 putting me in zone 5b (better) and cadence was a little slower. Next time will extend this interval to 20 minutes. This was a new workout i found on line and will continue to use it throughout the winter. Note i still have a cough, it's been about 4 weeks now.
In addition to the 28 miles of running and little over an hour of weight training I started practicing yoga on my own this week. I ordered a book which came in on Tuesday called The Athlete's Pocket guide to Yoga. It has balance movements, meditative movements as well as core, back, shoulder, chest, hip, leg specific routines. This week i started by picking 2 sequences each day and getting familiar with them. Over time i will spend more time on this, but for my first week i did pretty well adding in about 15 min of yoga outside my regular stretching from Wednesday through Sunday.