6M “marathon pace” run; very sore
Day 4 of marathon training and I’d say I’m still on track. According to the training plan, today I hit the treadmill, warmed up with an easy mile, hopped off the treadmill for a could minutes of leg swings and the like, reset the treadmill, then set the speed to 8.1MPH and got moving. I ran that steady pace until about the next 5.75 miles, then sped up through the finish. All in all, it was what I was looking for out of the workout. Most of the 6 miles of “work” was at 7:24/mile pace, with just enough added speed on the end to make sure that next gear was still there.
It didn’t feel easy but I didn’t gut myself either. I know I could have held the pace for a good while longer but 20 miles, I don’t know about that yet. That’s sort of the idea: to get “comfortable” running about as fast as I’ll need to hold for 3 hours and 15 minutes just about 18 weeks from now. I’d have been happy to find out that 6 miles at race pace felt easy but that wasn’t the case. I’ll need to gain a good bit of fitness to hit my goal but I feel like I’m heading in the right direction. Even so, when I think back to how hard, even unachievable, today’s run would have been even a few years ago, I know see how hard work and persistence pays off.
Now, about those push-ups and pull-ups. Surprisingly, my chest is more sore than my back or biceps. “More sore” is, of course, relative. But the goal wasn’t intended to be a gimme and I kept working towards it today, logging 36 pull-ups and 200 push-ups, bringing the June monthly total to 121 and 475. Tomorrow is a 15M run so it’ll be an extra heaping of fun to get in the reps.
Kind of Like Fun 