10 miles – Today was the “toe dip” in the waters of training for the marathon in the summer months. I wanted to test running a tempo having been semi off for two months from any organized schedule of running. I have experienced a few sore areas, my achilles on one side and upper hamstring glute area on the other. So laying off of speed and serious running has been good.
I am re-engaging the Hanson’s method training plan, which has me selecting the workouts that will lead to a sub 3 hour result in Boston on October 11th. I know running at a pace of 6:45 should be something I can do for the duration of the race, some nice cooler Fall weather will help make that happen.
Today I had to open up the training by doing six miles of running at that speed, broken into three intervals of 2 miles each. Temp was 76 degrees with 90% humidity and no noticeable wind. I did a 1.5 mile warmup, made sure I did extra stretching and dynamic warmup for the long muscles on the back of my legs, then began. John, Matt and Maureen ran together at her pace ~ 8-8:20 min per mile. They get a head start and once they are out of sight I begin my run. At the pace I had going today, this meant I would catch up to them at just about the one mile mark – half way on each interval. I started with a good stride and didn’t feel any difference between my legs until late in the first mile. I knew finishing that first interval would be ok, but told myself if the “warm” soreness on the high back of my leg continued that I’d stop before injuring anything.
Miles 1 & 2 went well for the first interval, coming in at 6:41 and 6:42. The second interval after an 800m recovery was also consistent at 6:41 and 6:41. I didn’t feel the back of my leg getting worse so I continued. Another 800m recovery and some additional stretches and I did the third set. It was almost light out and this time Matt broke away from John & Maureen so I had someone to run after. My miles for that were 6:40 and 6:39.
I was happy with this result because I didn’t have any puckering from the parts of my body I thought might act up. And, even in the humid conditions I was able to do well, not relying on the “adjusted paces” that are recommended for humid and hot conditions. I do not have many weekly miles on my legs, so I’ll see how that weighs in as I climb the ladder of distance and intensity on the schedule.
This is a good start to what should be a great result in 15 more weeks!
~ dm
drun4fun 