Run With Mojo

Week 4 of Phase 2 !

Hill Training Phase:

Tuesday: Quality Hill Workout (QH6) : 8 miles total (2.5 miles warmup + 2 Hill repeats + 2.5 miles warmdown)

Wednesday: 9.5 miles (3 miles@7:30 pace, remaining 6.5 were mostly easy, around 8:20 pace)

Friday: Quality Hill Workout (QH7): 6 miles total (2.2 miles warm up + 2 Hill repeats + ~1.0 miles warmdown) + 3 miles easy in the park

Sunday: 13 miles@7:31 pace (First 8 miles were run with Nicole and at a pretty good pace, last 4 or so miles were relaxed and easy). Felt great through out the run. Got last 0.5 miles to Rose Garden at good 6:20 pace.

Outlook for Next Week: I want to continue Hill Workouts on Tuesday and Friday and increase long run to 15 miles to get in 44-45 miles for the week. May need to run on Saturday or recovery jog on Monday. We will see.

Mileage (Week 4 Phase 2) = 39.5

Mileage (Week 3 Phase 2) = 37.5

Mileage (Week 2 Phase 2) = 42.5

Mileage (Week 1 Phase 2) = 17

Week 3 of Phase 2 !

Hill Training Phase:

Tuesday: Quality Hill Workout (QH4) : 8 miles total (2.5 miles warmup + 2 Hill repeats + 2.5 miles warmdown)

Wednesday: 9.5 miles (Mostly easy, around 8:30 pace)

Friday: Quality Hill Workout (QH5): 3 miles total while doing  a tough Mark Fraser workout

Saturday: 6.3 easy@7:49 pace

Sunday: 11.75 miles@7:23 pace (First 8 miles were run with Nicole and at a pretty good pace, last 3 or so miles were relaxed and easy). Felt uneasiness in my calf around mile 9 and decided to go short in the park. Need to monitor calf cramps more closely. As of now they appear if I run pretty hard in hot weather for 8-9 miles or longer.

Mileage (Week 3 Phase 2) = 37.5

Mileage (Week 2 Phase 2) = 42.5

Mileage (Week 1 Phase 2) = 17

Week 2 of Phase 2 !

Hill Training Phase:

Monday: 6 miles easy @7:50 pace

Tuesday: Quality Hill Workout (QH2) : 7 miles total (2.3 miles warmup + 2 Hill repeats + 1.7 miles warmdown)

Wednesday: 9.5 miles (Mostly easy, one miles around 6:48 min/mile pace)

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Quality Hill Workout (QH3): 8 miles total (2.5 miles warmup + 2 Hill repeats + 2.5 miles warmdown)

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: 12 miles@7:49 pace (Mostly easy, few around 7:20-7:30 pace)

Mileage (Week 2 Phase 2) = 42.5

Mileage (Week 1 Phase 2) = 17

Week 1 of Phase 2 !

Hill Training Phase:

Phase Two of marathon training concerns with Hill Training. I plan on continuing my easy runs while adding two quality Hill sessions every week. Lauren Wilder has shown me a parking garage in medical center which has about 14 levels and uphill is about 0.75 miles. The plan is to run Hill workouts on Tuesday and Friday and taking Thursday and Saturday as rest days.

Hill workout consists of: 2.5 miles warmup + 2 Hill repeats + 2.5 miles warmdown.

Week 1 of phase 2: 17 miles

Cumulative Miles from Phase 1: 157.5 miles

Week 6 & 7 of Phase 1, End of Phase 1 !

Both easy weeks with very little running. This marks the end of Phase One of Marathon training. I feel no aches and pains and ready to enter Phase Two of marathon training i.e. Hill Training.

Mileage (Week 7 of Phase 1) = 3 miles

Mileage (Week 6 of Phase 1) = 9 miles

Mileage (Week 5 of Phase 1) = 35

Mileage (Week 4 of Phase 1) = 34

Mileage (Week 3 of Phase 1) = 33.5

Mileage (Week 2 of Phase 1) = 19

Mileage (Week 1 of Phase 1) = 24

Week 5 of Phase 1!

I promise not to beat myself up for Sunday’s run. At least now I have definite reasoning about what doesn’t work for my running. Now, that’s something. Isn’t it?

At this point, I am not sure if I want to race Houston Marathon or just jog it casually. I think I can decide at the end of September.

Monday: 7 miles Easy

Thursday: 9 miles easy

Saturday: 9 miles easy@8:25 pace

Sunday: 10 miles Easy but painful +4 mile walk

Total Mileage for the week (Week 5) = 35 Or 39 (if counting walk of shame)

Mileage (Week 4) = 34

Mileage (Week 3) = 33.5

Mileage (Week 2) = 19

Mileage (Week 1) = 24

Planned Mileage for next week: 38-40

Week 4 of Phase 1!

Tomorrow I’ll finish 4th week of my base building phase. I will count this week as one of the best in last several weeks.

Monday:6.7 miles Easy

Tuesday: 6 miles Easy

Wednesday: 9.5 miles Easy (With some variation of pace)

Sunday: 12 miles easy planned

Total Mileage for the week (Week 4) = 34

Mileage (Week 3) = 33.5

Mileage (Week 2) = 19

Mileage (Week 1) = 24

Planned Mileage for next week: 38-40

Week 3 of Phase 1 !

This is third week in the build up of base mileage phase.

Monday: 9.0 miles all easy

Wednesday: 6.5 miles all easy

Thursday: 6 miles all easy

Sunday: 12 miles NOT easy but manageable. Don’t repeat the mistake next week.

Total mileage for the week (Week 3) = 33.5

Mileage (Week 2) = 19

Mileage (Week 1) = 24

Planned mileage for next week = 36-38

Week 2 of Phase 1 !

A disappointing week mostly due to my laziness to wake up early in the morning to run and it becoming way too hot to run in evenings. Hopefully next week will be better. I also started running with heart rate monitor strap and I plan on monitoring my heart rate to see if it drops in my runs towards the end of phase one.

Wednesday: 9.3 miles (All easy, averaging about 8:37, 174 average heart beat). Heart rate climbed to 180′s while still running easy. Not a good sign.

Friday: 9.5 miles (All easy, 8:23 average pace, 168 average heart beat)

I need to make some lifestyle/nutrition related changes and follow good discipline to be able to have a good running season. I am not concerned but based on my current fitness and lack of mileage base, I may need to extend my Phase 1 to 8 weeks instead of planned 6 weeks.

Planned Mileage for week 3: Mon (6.5), Tues(4.3), Wed (6.5), Thurs(?), Fri(6.5), Sun(12)

Week 1 of Phase 1 !

This past week was week # 1 in Phase 1 of marathon training.

Tuesday: Junk miles (6 miles), Warm up + 3*800 + 2*400 + Cool down

There was no need for speed work but I got carried away and hopefully it won’t happen again.

Thursday: 5.8 miles easy ~ 8:00 min/mile pace

Sunday: Alarm didn’t work in the morning but I ran 12 miles at 8:30 min/mile pace at 5:30 pm.

Week 1 = 24 miles

Goal for Week 2: Run all easy and get about 30-32 miles