MCM Training: Week 2

With the first week under my belt, and lots of fellow SW posting on FB about their own accomplishments (in their plans), I was feeling confident going into week 2.

Week 2 was supposed to look like this:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 5
Wednesday: Intervals
Thursday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 12
Sunday: 4


In reality, I should know that I will almost always be running Monday, Tuesday and Friday for sure. I try to get my long runs in during the week, so we don't miss family time, but that's not always possible since we're potty training and hauling the Weasel with me is rough for 10+ miles.

Here's what Week 2 actually brought:

Monday: 5
Tuesday: 1m w/u, 2x (1200 TK (600), 800 TK (400), 400 FK (200), 1m c/d)
Wednesday: 4.01
Thursday: 4.01
Friday: 3.05
Saturday: 11
Sunday: Off


Tuesday's interval workout was a HOT one. I arrived at our SW workout about 35 minutes early, knowing I wouldn't have time to get the entire workout done. I did the warmup and first round of intervals, took a break to meet up with the SW and then continued the rest of the plan. I had to walk the rest periods between the last couple intervals, but it was nearing 9am and getting too hot. On Saturday morning, I woke up at 4:45, grabbed half of a Honey Stinger Waffle and hit the neighborhood roads until it got light out. That's tough because my neighborhood it TINY! From my house to the furthest point back is .8 miles. I managed to get 4 in the hood before grabbing my pre-staged water bottle for a quick sip and heading out on the main road. I headed out for a couple miles in one direction, turned back to grab some more water and a couple Honey Stinger Chews to finish out the 11. It was just shy of my goal, but my longest, successful run in a while and I was feeling good. I did manage to get several blisters, but they didn't affect me too badly.

On a whim, I had purchased a Chilly Pad cooling towel at Bed, Bath & Beyond earlier in the week. I decided that Saturday would be a perfect day to test it out. I ran the entire 11 miles with it and felt pretty good. I'm not sure how effective it was because I finished my run before the sun actually got high enough to see, but I think I'll be trying it again.

Me and my Chilly Pad nearing the finish. 

Week 2 was over and I was feeling great. My total mileage for week 2 was 33.57. The plan total to date is 62.4. 

MCM Training: Week 1

I just started Week 4, so to say, "I'm behind" would be an understatement! As July approached, I was still struggling to find a plan that didn't scare the living daylights out of me. With the help of my husband and my friend/running partner, Jill, I finally narrowed it down to a mix of a couple plans (Runner's World Intermediate, ING Beginner, and my own comfort).

July 9th was D-Day. My first week was supposed to go something like this:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 4 easy
Wednesday: Intervals
Thursday: 3 easy
Friday: 3 RP
Saturday: 13
Sunday: 3 easy

My actual first week looked like this:

Monday: Intervals (1m w/u, 1x1200 HP (400), 2x800 TK (200), 4x200 FK (200), 1m c/d) 
Tuesday: 4.32
Wednesday: 9
Thursday 3.09
Friday: 4.11
Saturday: 3.03
Sunday: Off






As you can see, I didn't really "stick" to my plan overall. But I did log some miles, so overall, I was happy. The heat has been kicking my ass. Thank goodness I did the intervals with Jill and her husband, my Tuesday and Friday runs with Stroller Warriors, and my Wednesday long run with my friend, Nicole! Otherwise, I definitely wouldn't have made it through any of those workouts.

The long run for the week was now well planned by me. I saw that Nicole was planning to run at the Air Station, so I tagged along. I had the Weasel in tow and her potty too, we started too fast, plus we ran the first 5 on a trail. That made for a rough first half. At the 5 mile mark, we stopped for water and a potty break for Weasel. She didn't go which was frustrating and stopping just made it harder to start again. Nevertheless, we continued along the paved roads, with me begging to stop a few more times. As we came up to the 6.5 mile mark, we had the choice to turn left and go back to the vehicles, or turn right and add on another 2.5. It was a battle in my own head, but we turned right. We got to the vehicles and I was DONE. But Nicole said, "I'm going to finish 9." So after a minute of feeling lousy about failing so miserably to get my mileage in for the week, I finished out 9 myself.

One of my awesome SW running partners, Nicole, looking amazing after what I thought was a TERRIBLE run!

So Week 1 finished with a total of 28.83 miles. And while I didn't stick to the plan exactly, I did get a good start and learned some valuable lessons. 

Lesson #1: Stop wearing cotton t-shirts and start putting those dry-fit tops to use.

Lesson #2: Run earlier in the day whenever possible.

Lesson #3: Just because you don't nail the plan, doesn't mean it was a wasted week. Move on and don't dwell on your bad runs.