Training update plus a couple of tips

Here’s how my joggling has gone over the last few days.

Friday – rest day. I should’ve run here because I skipped running last Wednesday. However, I opted for a rousing game of volleyball instead. I’ll call it cross training. Joggling alone is not cross training.

Saturday – Despite the fact that I was out until 3 am Friday night (poker game) I got up, strapped on the old Brooks Adrenalines and joggled 8 miles. For me this is a run down to Lake Michigan, along the path for a mile and back home. The training session took 64 minutes. A bit slow but not terrible.

Sunday – This was supposed to be a long run and it turned out to be just over 12 miles. I completed this long joggle in 100 minutes. Again, a bit slow but for a long training run you are supposed to run it about 1 minute slower than your anticipated marathon pace.

Training tip: Run your long runs slower than your anticipated race pace.

It was also a bit short as my schedule called for 15 miles. Unfortunately, I woke up too late and was under a time crunch. I went out running at 9 am and had to be at a softball game by noon. I was happy that I ran the last mile in 7:30.

Training tip: It’s always good for you to finish a run faster than you started.

Monday – While I thought I was being a pretty good joggler during this run, it took me 44 minutes to run 5.3 miles. Not great but it was a “recovery” run and I was slowed up by a couple of traffic lights. My schedule called for a 3 mile run but I had some extra time and figured I’d make up a few of the miles missed last week.

Which brings us to today’s run. It is another speed day featuring 7 miles of running. This includes a warmup, sprint workout (8×400 in 80 seconds each), and a cool-down.

For all you marathon runners out there in training, keep up the good work. It’s tough to work, keep up with the social callings of the kidless urban lifestyle and still get your training runs in. Take heart, it will all be worth it on race day.