Another training week is in the books. Last week was week 15 of marathon training. The Vernonia Marathon is now 35 days away. Here’s what I did from Coach Dawn’s plan:

Monday – Plan: Easy 4-5.
Actual: Ran 5.01 early miles, avg. pace 9:44.Tuesday – Plan: Interval Progression. 15 minute warm up, then-
1 mile at 10k pace- (around 7:45)
2 minutes easy
0.5 mile at 5k pace (around 7:20-30)
2 minutes easy
then 5 x 30 seconds fast with 1:30 recovery between each.
10-15 minute cool down.
Actual: This one was fun. I’m liking the speed work. It’s so much more fun than the easy paced runs. It was tough but I went fast on the 30 sec intervals. My mile at 10k pace was 7:43. The 0.5 mile at 5k pace was 7:23. The 30 sec intervals were: 6:31, 5:48, 5:41, 5:51, and 5:42. Wednesday – Plan: Rest day. Sleep in day! But try to do 5-10 minutes core. This can include fire hydrants, bridges, balance, etc..
You could also do a core workout video with your husband here, or the next day.
Actual: I slept in a little since I still had to work but was happy for the rest day. I did get in some core work.

Thursday – Plan: 15 minute warm up with 3 x strides after 10 minutes
2 x 20 minutes at 8:05-20 with 3 minute recovery in between
20 minutes easy.
Core work if didn’t do day before
+ 8 x box jumpdowns
10 x lunges- 2 sets
if you have a wobble board or bosu ball, do a few sets of balance drills- 10-20 seconds per leg.
Actual: Started the day with a DVD workout with hubby. We did Core De Force Dynamic Strength. It’s a good low impact workout and still tough with body weight exercises. I got my run in a little after the bus picked the kiddos up for school. Paces in the 20 min periods were: 8:11, 8:03, 8:05 then 8:06, 8:06, 8:01. I did the box jumpdowns and lunges afterwards. I have a bosu and did a little on there too. Felt good when I was done with all that. Ended up with 9.26 miles, avg. pace 8:49.
Friday – Plan: 5-6 at recovery pace.
Drills after- 4 different drills, 2 sets each. Include a lateral drill.
Actual: Ran 5 miles, avg. pace 10:02 and did the drills afterwards.Saturday – Plan: Vernonia course
Do the first climb, and then around a mile of the downhill if the mileage works out from where you start.. if you need more on the way back just go out and back to equal 15 miles.. up to 16 max. Finish with the last 20 minutes at around 8:30-50.
Actual: The trail is nice but there’s a lot of downed trees right now. I had to a maneuver around/through a bunch. A little after mile 4 the trail was closed so I had to turn around.

Also, for some reason I had it in my head to finish the last 30 minutes faster, not 20 min, whoops. I ended up running the last 3 miles at 8:32, 8:32, 8:24. But I’m glad I got to check out the trail before the marathon. It’s a great trail. There is a gradual climb and two steep switch backs. But once that’s done, it looks like it’s downhill.More pics from the trail:

Sunday – Plan: Rest day.
Actual: Rest day.

Total miles = 39.96 miles. I thought it was a good cut back week after last week’s 51 miles. Things seem to be going well still and I’m excited to run the Cottage Grove Half Marathon next Saturday. I just checked the weather and it’s supposed to be overcast with rain showers at times, a 60% chance of rain. Hopefully it’s not too bad.

As for the rest of the week, nothing too exciting. We did have family movie night two nights in a row. We watched The Lorax on Friday night and Kubo and The Two Strings Saturday night. Both great movies.

How’d your week go? Any races coming up?

I’m linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap.

I’m also linking up with Courtney, Eat Pray Run DC‘s training recap linkup.