My wife Jackie and I have been talking a lot over the last few days about my regimen and how she can support me. There are going to be those days when I don't want to drag my bones to the gym, or go out in 35 degrees to log some miles, and it's always great if I have a shove -- or a pull. There's nothing like having someone else working hard to make you feel accountable. But here's the thing -- she's not training for a marathon. She has her own fitness goals and routines, and her own work schedule, and nothing really jibes. So even though she's been totally supportive of my goals, sometimes it's hard to find common ground -- times we can go to the gym together, or exercises we can do together (we don't even generally run together because our paces are so different). That all said, she has been really supportive -- especially when I did the half-marathon in October. And she realizes that the road ahead for me is even tougher. So we're working together to arrange our lives around my workouts, especially my long weekend runs. I'd love to know how other married couples deal with marathon training -- it must be like being a football widow.
Of course, Jackie and I did get to Work Out World together yesterday. We didn't have a ton of time, because we both had work to do. Jackie hit the treadmill for a 5k. I decided on a quick core rotation -- kettlebell squats, lunges and kettlebell jugglers. Then some HIIT on the treadmill. (Well, it was high-intensity as far as I was concerned.) 2.2 miles in 20 minutes, with 1:30 intervals at 7.6 mph and 2.0 percent incline, then 1:30 at 5.6 mph at flat incline. And that was freaking hard! I was plenty beat after that.
Today I was figuring would be an off day, but New Year's Eve turned out a lot more mellow than we'd planned, and I wanted to try out my new long running pants. So even though it was only 35 degrees and a little breezy, I bundled up and went out on what I thought would be a nice, easy recovery run with the dog.
I'm really starting to wonder about the GPS. I wasn't working very hard at all, and MapMyRun had my first mile at 9:05. I know it's going to be a little short on each mile -- about 3 percent on average -- but I thought I'd be doing 9:30s, so maybe it's just me. I was on my usual route, and not long after that first mile is when I get down by the water. It was low, low, low tide when I did today -- the lowest I've seen it in a long time. I guess that bodes well for the snowstorm coming later in the week -- no flooding.
Well, since I was feeling good, what was originally going to be a 2-miler turned into a 4-mile run. MapMyRun says 4.12, so I'll go with that for logging purposes, but I added that .12 to account for the 3 percent error factor. 36:53, or an 8:57 pace if it's accurate. The long pants were awesome, too -- definitely will allow me to run in 5-10 degrees colder than I have been.
As I've mentioned, I need to finalize my training plan. I'm thinking that since it's winter, and life always has a way of intervening, I'm better off coming up with weekly mileage plans, rather than daily ones. I'll generally do my longs on Saturdays and ramp those up generally in agreement with the Higdon plan (though I might peak a little longer than he does). Then I'll determine what I want my weekly mileage to be, and be a little flexible about which runs will be pace, tempo, interval, etc., and which days will be the mid-distance runs. As long as the weekly mileage adds up, and I get the variety in, I'm not going to worry about what "Monday's run" is supposed to be.
So, I guess go time started a couple days early. Tomorrow will be another mid-distance run, because the snowstorm is going to preclude a run and possibly even a drive to the gym on Friday. Saturday will be a treadmill long.
Total mileage since starting the blog: 192.2
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