I wrapped up July with a good 159 miles. Marathon training is thankfully still going well. Six weeks to go until I run the Tunnel Light Marathon in North Bend, WA. Here’s what my workouts looked like last week from Coach Dawn’s plan:Monday – Plan: Easy 5-6.
Actual: Ran an early 5 miles before work.Tuesday- Plan: 5-6 miles
5 x 15-20 second strides after 2 miles
Stop and do light stretch and a few drills before the strides.
Actual: Another early run around 5 am. It’s dark around that time now so I wear my awesome Noxgear vest to be seen. Stay tuned for an ambassador sale coming next week. You can use code HAPPYRUN1 on their website. I ended up running 5.5 miles and did the strides. Also, did some core work afterwards.Wednesday – Plan: 4-5 miles- easy-recovery pace
Actual: Ran a nice 5 miles.Thursday – Plan:2 miles easy
**5 mile progression- at pace-
2 miles- keep it around 8:00
2 miles-7:50-8
1 mile- you can go as fast as 7:15. Try to keep it faster than 7:30.
If you feel that you are having a hard time maintaining towards the end of the 2nd set of 2 miles, you can take a 2 min rest before the last mile. But shoot for pushing through all of it without rest. I would rather you rest though, to finish the last mile strong if you need it.
10-15 min easy cool down

Strength Training – Jay Johnson Video 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXpK3bF9UlA
Actual: That was hard, especially the last mile. I had to dig deep on that one. Fast splits were 7:59, 7:59, 7:54, 7:46, 7:29. I felt ok on the 2nd set but that last mile was rough. Afterwards, I did the strength training video.Friday – Plan: 4 miles Recovery Run
Actual: Ran 4 recovery miles and did about 5 min of core work afterwards.Saturday – Plan: 2 miles easy
14 miles- pace 8:35-45
2 miles easy
You will have some residual fatigue from the last hard workout. This will be a test to run on tired legs. Adjust pace down as needed, you will be fine in the 8:45 range. You don’t have to lock into one pace. You can run half for 8:45 and second faster. Or alternate miles. Make it interesting. 🙂
Actual: I felt pretty good on this one and just wanted to get it over with. I got in that groove and was on the faster side of the paces for the 14 miles.

Sunday – Plan: Rest day
Actual: Rest day.

Total miles = 45.63 miles. That’s the most miles I’ve ran a week this training cycle. I thought it was a good week. I’m feeling pretty good about where I’m at and got to thank Coach Dawn for her help with my training! Also, I signed up for a local half to run on the 18th, so I’m excited to run that.

As for the highlights of the rest of the week:My brother’s family came down for my nephew’s tennis tournament. So the kiddos are having fun with their cousin who’s spending the week with us since he has another tournament on Friday. We watched Mission Impossible Fallout. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Mission Impossible movie and I thought it was good…so nerve racking.

That pretty much wraps up my week. How’d your week go? Any races coming up?

I’m linking up with HoHo Runs and Wendy of Taking the Long Way Home  for the Weekly Wrap.