I took a bit of hiatus from track workouts but with “the M-word” less than 10 weeks away, I need to get serious about increasing my speed.
Last night I hit the track with my running partner and trainer – let’s call her AF for simplicity (and privacy) reasons. AF is an amazing athlete – both mentally and physically strong. She told me last night that she trained to run 2:55:00 at Chicago, but unfortunately got injured and couldn’t. Talk about speed demon. I’d be ecstatic with 3:15:00. But I digress….
According to my best 10 mile time and the McMillan Running Calculator, I can run a 3:13:00 marathon. Since this is my first marathon ever, I’m shooting for more-of-a 3:25:00 (but would obviously take 3:13 if my body gave it to me). So, with that being said, I’m using a combination of times/speeds from both the 3:13 and 3:30 plans.
Goal Splits: 4:55 – 5:15
Workout Details:
Warm up: 1.5 miles
4 x 1200m with 2 minutes standing
Cool down: 1.5 miles
Total miles: 6
Actual Splits: 4:52, 4:52, 4:49, 4:44
The 1st 1200m felt hard but as I started to get in the groove, each one started to feel better than the last. It certainly helps that AF is a great pacer and motivator. I’m happy with my 1st marathon-training-track-workout – I feel great today. Unfortunaltely, this workout combined with my splits means that AF will make me run faster next week (I’ll likely never be allowed to use the 3:30 plan again, ha!).
In totally unrelated but awesome news: we leave for New Zealand one week from today. I’m seriously SO excited. We are going to do lots of adventures/hiking – and I’m hoping to be able to squeeze in at least 2 long runs while I’m “down under”. I keep telling myself that I’m far enough out (from the marathon) that I’ll be able to take this trip without it doing too much “damage” to my distance base – keeping my fingers crossed that this is true!
