Marathon Training Recap: Week 1 + Announcement!

Happy day, my people!

What a weekend. We were so busy, I don’t even know what happened. On Saturday I ran with some friends, and Boo had taekwando class (which he loves, by the way). In the afternoon we watched a movie and popped popcorn with our brand new air popper. Whoop! Sunday was grocery shopping day (which is always exciting), and I did some yoga for marathon cross-training. My husband had the day off for MLK day so we took the kids to the aquarium and then out to lunch at a phenomenal Greek/Indian restaurant. I would say it was a pretty successful three-day weekend.

On to my training recap, which I know you’ve missed over the last several months. 🙂

I have officially completed my first week of marathon training. It was definitely harder than I had anticipated, and I’m not entirely sure why. I haven’t increased my mileage any from the previous weeks of running. I didn’t do anything new. And I didn’t do anything harder. I’m inclined to say it’s all mental and my soreness and exhaustion is psychosomatic, but I can’t be sure.

In any event, I ran 3 miles on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday, and 3 miles again on Thursday with a short strength conditioning session after. Friday was rest day, and Saturday was long run day, with 8 miles in the books. It was forecasted to be warmer than it has been on Saturday, but at the time of day that we went out it was far from it. It was “feels like 7˚” and it felt every bit like 7˚. I complained almost the entire run, I had to run/walk on most of the snow covered sidewalks, and I was freezing cold. The last mile and a half was the easiest mentally because I knew I was almost done, but my bottom lip was numb and cold so I had to run with my sweatshirt over my face. I was a ~~hot~~ cold mess.

I’m hoping this weekend’s forecast is a bit warmer because frankly, I’m not so sure I can endure another run like that and I’m scheduled for 9 miles.

So that’s my first week of training in a nutshell. I’m not going into much more detail because I’m anxious to share some awesome news with you. Last week it became official — I’m now an ambassador for the Lake Health Running Series here in northeast Ohio. I couldn’t be more excited. My first race in this series will be the 20 Mile Drop in April. It should fit in nicely with my marathon training plan.

Be sure to check out the Lake Health Running Series. And if you’re up for some beautiful, scenic races, come join me!