Cowtown Marathon Training

Week 1 – 75 Miles

Jumping into a 75 mile week of running after 3-4 weeks of lower mileage turned out to be easier than expected. The 12 mile run on Thursday and the 16 miles on Sunday were the hardest runs of Week 1, but that was just enough to prepare me for a tougher Week 2.

I ran both indoors and outdoors, with shoes and without. Week 1 was about getting the workouts done and building back my endurance.

Week 2 – 78 Miles

A slight increase in miles. A huge drop in temperature. And a jump in effort. I almost froze on Monday and Tuesday. I wanted to begin the New Year with mental toughness and guts, so I ran 8 miles on Monday in freezing temps with a 5 degree windchill. On Tuesday, temps were up a few degrees but I needed a break after my ‘warm up’. I ran 3 miles to LA Fitness, completed the 3 mile workout on the treadmill, and then jumped back out in the cold for my 3 mile cool down.

Two days of easy running (20 miles total) left me feeling ready to go for Friday’s Progressive Tempo. 3 mile warm up. 4 miles, starting at 7:00/mile then working my way down to 6:20/ mile. 3 mile cool down. After 3 more miles in the afternoon, a satisfying exhaustion came over and stayed with me for the rest of the day.

I spent most of Saturday recovering. 8 miles easy and not much else. My long run today was 16 miles. I focused on staying strong for the second half, with the last two miles being the fastest.

For Week 2, I alternated between my Addidas Supernova Glide Boost Trainers and my new Vibram Five Finger KSO Evos. Addidas on most recovery days. Vibrams on tempo, interval, and long run days.

Two weeks down. Seven to go!

Thanks for reading! What are you training for? Let me know!