Pumps & Iron

Happy New Year! I feel like I’ve been on vacation for an entire month so I’m actually pumped to be back to a regular schedule today. I seriously had no idea what day it was this entire weekend and at one point found myself laying on the couch in my underwear doing a jigsaw puzzle of a cat playing the piano on my iPad while my 14th back-to-back episode of Sons of Anarchy played in the background. If that’s not a sure sign that your vacation has lasted far, far too long, then I don’t know what is.

Anyway, now that I’ve put that lovely visual in your mind…

The traveling and weird holiday weeks didn’t just throw off work and my ability to wear pants, but also my marathon training. Not a big deal at all since I’m still pretty early in the game, but I’ll be happy for the regained structure this week and moving forward. I made sure to never miss a long run, but admittedly a lot of the other intended workouts got deprioritized.

Here’s a recap of my workouts through the crazy holiday month:

Prep Week 

The week leading up to my first scheduled long run was my chance to gently break the news to my body that, yes, running is going to be a thing again—get used to it.

• MON | 5 miles
• TUES | Cross training + yoga (Btone class followed by this 20-min Yoga for Tight Legs YouTube)
• WED | 4 miles
• THURS | Cross training (did a rowing + strength workout very similar to this one I posted)
• FRI | Cross training (Btone class)
• SAT | 4 miles + yoga
• SUN | Rest

I felt great during the 5-mile run on Monday and then when I ran again on Wednesday I could tell my legs (calves especially) were like wait WTF are we doing this regularly again?! My lower body felt like led the whole time so I spent a lot of time with the foam roller afterwards. The Saturday run felt much, much better.

Week 1 (in Costa Rica) 

• MON | 6 miles
• TUES | Active rest (tons of hiking and zip lining)
• WED | Active rest (again, tons of hiking)
• THURS | Cross training (bodyweight core workout I’m going to post later today)
• FRI | Rest
• SAT | 4 miles
• SUN | Run + strength circuit (run 1 mile followed by core workout from Thurs x3)

We were SO active from sun up to sun down the first half of our trip in Costa Rica that I didn’t feel the need to workout–nor did I have the time or energy. I’m talking 6AM wake ups, 17 excursions, group dinner and then bed. Our flight didn’t leave until late morning Monday so I was able to sneak in my long run beforehand and the last hotel we stayed at had a small gym, so I got a couple shorter runs in at the end of the trip as well. But shit. I was so quickly reminded of how much I despise treadmills. It got me a little worried about later in the winter when Boston inevitably has snow on the ground and I have to chose between a cold, slippery, miserable outdoor run and a treadmill run.

Week 2 (in New Jersey for Christmas) 

• MON | Rest (traveling back from Costa)
• TUES | 8 miles
• WED | Cross training (Btone class)
• THURS | Yoga (60-min Yoga by Candace DVD)
• FRI | Active rest (I spent Christmas morning assembling a trampoline which was a workout in itself haha)
• SAT | 4 miles
• SUN | Rest

With more travel, my workouts were again scattered. I was down in New Jersey with Joe’s family for Christmas so it was nice to switch up my running scenery on Saturday. I ran along one of the pretty boardwalks by the Shore.

Week 3 

• MON | 10 miles
• TUES | Cross training + Yoga (Btone class + 60-min Yoga by Candace DVD)
• WED | 5 miles
• THURS | Cross training (Btone class)
• FRI | Yoga (same DVD)
• SAT | 3 miles with hills + Cross training (I ran a loop around the Boston Commons, hitting the Beacon St. hill repeatedly then did a Btone class)
• SUN | Rest

We had a wedding in Boston New Year’s Eve so this was the first week pretty much all month that I actually stayed put in Boston. I finally felt like I was regaining some sense of normalcy with my schedule!

Weeks 1-3 Summary

What’s Working

• Listening to Serial. I know I’m a year late to the game, but instead of putting together a music playlist for runs, I’ve been listening to the first season of the Serial podcast and I’M OBSESSED. Although as I’m reaching the end, I’m starting to worry that there isn’t going to be a definite “Adnan is guilty” or “Adnan is innocent” conclusion and they’re just going to leave it up to you to wonder. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle that. If you’ve already listened, don’t you dare spoil the end for me!!
• Yoga the day after long runs. I didn’t want to buy a class package at a studio in December knowing I’d be all over the place, so I’ve just been doing DVDs and YouTubes in my apartment. It feels soooo good to work out any stiffness from the previous day’s long run.

What’s Not Working

• My sneakers. My running shoes have waaaaay too many miles on them and it’s really starting to become noticeable. Top priority this week is getting myself a fresh new pair of sneakers. Should have done this before training even started, but better late than never!

I’ve gotten some marathon input from you guys on Facebook and in the comments section of my training plan post, and am so appreciate! Biggest piece of advice I keep hearing is to do the longer long runs on Saturday mornings along the race course to experience and feed off the energy of everyone else training. Definitely going to do this!

You can donate to my marathon fundraiser benefiting the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired here. I’m giving away awesome prizes over the course of the next few months as a thank you to donors! The winner of a Fitbit, Daniel Wellington watch & ToeSox gift package will be contacted via email today.  Thanks for your support!

I hope everyone who celebrates had an amazing Christmas weekend! I celebrated early with my family in Costa Rica (travel recap post coming soon), and then a few days after getting back to the States, Joe and I drove down to New Jersey to celebrate with his family. It was a crazy-busy, but wonderful couple of weeks!

I wanted to put together this post weeks ago, but with all the travel it’s a little delayed. From here on out, I’ll be doing weekly recaps of my training for the Boston Marathon (probably on Sundays), and am starting it out by sharing my general plan. As you’ll see, it really is just that: a GENERAL training plan.

Major Considerations in Making My Marathon Training Plan

All the following considerations stem from this goal: I want the 2016 Boston Marathon to reignite my passion for running, not make me hate it. I used to love running and then following my first half marathon all but eliminated it completely from my life. I wrote more on that in this post. 

• When I ran my first half marathon, I definitely over-trained. I had no idea what I was doing when I trained for this a few years ago and just googled “half marathon training schedule” and went with whatever popped up. I was running 5-6 days a week training for that half and it was totally unnecessary. More so than the physical burnout was the mental burnout. I started to dread running by the end. I love variety in my workout routine so this time around I know better than to completely push other fitness to the side in place of running.
• I’m not trying to set any records. I’m competitive, so to be honest, I will be a little disappointed if I don’t finish in under 4 hours and 20 minutes. But besides that very reasonable goal (reasonable based on my current fitness level), I’m not worried about shattering records here. It’s my first marathon! I don’t want numbers to overshadow the fun of the experience.
• Being kind to my body and avoiding injury top my list of priorities. Recovery, foam rolling, stretching and yoga are going to be just as important to me these next few months as the actual running. I’m going to pay close attention to running form as well.

My Marathon Training Plan

This is the loose framework I’ll be following the next few months. In reaching a goal, I think it’s important to be both realistic and flexible, which is exactly what this plan is for me!

• Long runs every Monday following John Furey’s training schedule. One of the perks of running with a charity team is that I get access to a running coach! I’m following Team With A Vision’s coach-made schedule for long runs, with the only change being day of week. I’ve decided to do my long runs on Mondays because my work schedule allows it and I selfishly like to be flexible with my weekends.
• 2 additional shorter runs each week, one incorporating hills. So I’m running a total of three times a week. In talking to Boston vets, everyone seems to say the same thing: hill training is extremely helpful. So while I’m not trying to set any records and am not worrying too much about sprint and tempo workouts, I am going to incorporate regular hill workouts. 1/week is the goal.
• Yoga at least twice a week. I know how important foam rolling and stretching are following a run, but I also know my tendency to rush through these vital recovery and mobility sessions. Yoga has a slew of benefits, but I’m committing to two classes a week primarily for the forced stretching. I can’t rush through it in a group setting!
• Continuing my current strength-training regime. Slow-twitch-focused megaformer strength training is an amazing compliment to long distance running, so I’ll be continuing to take 2-3 Btone classes a week. I think it’s important to incorporate the slow with the explosive, so I’ll also continue to do 1-2 HIIT workout(s) each week (what I post on my blog) in addition to a high-intensity group fitness class of choice (you all know I love me some group fitness!).

And there it is! I’ll share specifics of my workouts each week in my recaps (first one summarizing weeks 1-3 coming Sunday), but the above is my general training guide for April 18^th. If you’ve run Boston before, I’d love your input! 

You can donate to my marathon fundraiser benefiting the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired here. I’m giving away awesome prizes over the course of the next few months as a thank you to donors! The winner of a Fitbit, Daniel Wellington watch & ToeSox gift package will be contacted via email today. Thanks for your support!