Marathon Training Week 4: Now with a 5K Race Recap
Tuesday Morning's Imaginary Nefarious Intent
Signs you are ready for Breaking Bad to return. When running on a peaceful residential area, on a Tuesday morning around 5:45AM, if you see two cars parked by the curb, you think "Huh, wonder what sort of thing they're up to. Maybe I should cross the street? Or should I just make a point of focusing on my water bottle as I take a really long drink while approaching them?". Then you feel like a suspicious jerk when it turns out to be two young guys chatting.Lightning-Free Thursdays
Thursday morning's 4 miles were not as interesting, except for the threatening lightning off in the distance. Fortunately, I managed to finish my run without being electrocuted. That's always nice.Race-Day
This Saturday, August 3rd, was a special running day. 2 years ago my wife and I ran our first 5k. We had not exactly trained for it, we had actually just started working out again less than three weeks earlier, saw the race flier, and decided to register for the 2nd annual Run For Wounded Warriors. We thought (and still do) it would be good to support a great cause, the Wounded Warrior Project. I finished that particular race in 40:59, and immediately thought "I can do better!". Humble as that time was, it the start of my current journey towards training for a Marathon. We decided to come back every year.Below you can see me, waiting at the start line. I'm actually excited, although you'd be excused to think I'm barely awake.
When the gun went off, I started running, and after the initial jostling and dodging, I settled into a faster pace than I should. I could blame the fast course, and the downhill start, but really, I should know better. When I ran the first mile in 7:00 I thought "I should probably slow down a bit", ran the second mile in 7:11, and reaaaaaaally slowed down to a 7:43 mile 3. At least I had a bit of a kick for the final 0.1 mile.
Still, I shouldn't complain, I finished in 22:58, just 17 seconds off my 5K PR, and only the second time I finished under 23 minutes. Just need to work on my discipline and pacing.
Trail Sundays
Today's run wrapped up Week 4 of my Marathon training. My wife and I went to a nearby park to do some trail running. Toughest 7-miler I have ever run, or at least it feels that way. Maybe my legs were still shot from yesterday, or maybe the mountain bike trail was that difficult. All I know is that I struggled to a 14:50 pace. But at least I ran my long run, and learned a valuable lesson: don't run that particular trail after a race-day effort the day before.Till next week, happy trails!
