Boston and Marine Corps Marathon Training Recap - Week 10

I logged another 64 miles this week and ran a 20 mile long run for the sixth week in a row. I do not say this to brag, but because it just blows my mind how our bodies can adapt to training over time. I remember 8 years ago, in 2012, I was training for my first marathon and I was doing most of my runs long runs with a friend. One weekend, I had to do a 19 mile run by myself and I completely fell apart. I almost quit running several times, wondered why I was even doing the marathon, and swore I would never marathon train if I had to train alone. Now, here I am 8 years and I have run 20 miles, 6 weeks in a row, by myself, and I actually enjoyed it. It was a reminder that I should never tell myself I can’t do something or sell yourself short. If you really want to reach a goal, you will find a way to accomplish it.

My training during the week was not overly exciting. I ran for time every day, except on Monday. I ended up getting in 2 runs that were over 10 miles during the week. It is always fun to have double digits during the week.

On Monday, I opted to swim instead of run. It was the day after my long run from the previous weekend and the high for the day was forecasted to be 109 degrees. Needless to say, a swim sounded good. I did two different swim workouts back to back. The workouts at the bottom of this post if you are interested.

The first workout is a “work down” because you try to decrease you pace with each distance. I really like doing “work down” swim workouts. It keeps my mind engaged and helps me not get bored. If you are new to swimming, you can modify this workout by cutting down the distances in half. So, you would do a warmup, 500yd, 250yd, 125yd, 75yd, and then maybe finish with a 25yd all out.

The second workout could be done in a 25yd, 25m, or 50m pool. I do not love to do them, but it is good to do fast swim intervals even if your goal is long distance swimming. Just like in running, you have to swim shorter, faster intervals to get faster at longer distances. This workout is perfect for working on that speed.

California unfortunately has multiple wildfires blazing right now. It is making the air quality across the state poor. Ash is visible in the sky when you look outside. I debated on Thursday if I should even run outside. I decided to give it a try and just see how I felt.

Thursday through Saturday I felt fine after running outside, so I decided to still give my long run a try on Sunday. I ran for 2 and a half hours and my watch hit 20 miles right before the 120 minutes mark.

This week my training will start to ramp up as my coach adds in some marathon specific workouts. I have not been on the track in a few weeks, so it will be fun to be back out there hopefully hitting some fast paces.

#marathon #marathontraining #bostonmarathon #runwiththemarines