Marine Corps Marathon Training Weeks One and Two

by - Friday, August 17, 2012

With the major lack of chatter about marathon training going on over here, you might have forgotten that I was in the middle of training for one.

I've gotten a little lazy with my training recaps. Whoops.

So to catch everyone up on how things have been going, here's a quick rundown of my first two weeks of training.

Week One:



Monday: 6 miles of hill

Hill workouts are brutal. First #mcm training run done. #fitfluential

It was humid, it was hilly and it was painful. But I got it done and kicked off training on a good note.

Tuesday: 4 miles easy

Well nothing about the run actually felt easy, even though I was moving out a snail's pace. My legs were unhappy after the hill work the day before.

Wednesday: Hauling luggage 25 blocks in NYC

I traveled up to NYC and ended up lugging my massive duffel bag 25 blocks to the hotel. I think that counts as cross-training.

Thursday: Bootcamp with Army drill sergeants

Just finished an awesome Army boot camp. #blogher #goarmy

This was a fun class and definitely something different that I got to try on my NYC trip.

Friday: BowFlex and Physique 57 classes

DSCN1687

You might remember my review of the Physique 57 class I took in NYC - aka the hardest workout I have ever done in my entire life. My legs were jello afterward and it was awesome.

Saturday: Softball tournament

Lots of softball all day long. Sprinting the bases totally counts as strides or something.

Sunday: 10 mile long run

This run started off so promising. Sure I was going pretty slowly because it was hot, but I felt good and I was excited to be running double digits again. Then stomach disaster struck in the last 1.5 miles and I had to walk the rest of the way home. Not the best way to end a run.

Overall, my first week of training wasn't perfectly by the book because of my NYC trip, but I managed to squeeze in lots of good workouts and cross-training, though no real rest day. Perhaps that explains why the beginning of week two was so brutal.

Week Two:



Monday: Planned - 7 miles hills; Actual - 4 miles hills, 30 minute swim

Or at least that's the what the schedule called for. Instead I did four miles of hills before my legs were like no way, we need a break. They were tight, they were cranky and they were straight up over this workout. So I headed home, did some work and then decided to hit the pool to shake things out. Did 30 minutes of easy swimming and felt pretty rough the whole time.

Tuesday: Planned - 4 miles easy; Actual - 30 minutes spin

My legs needed a break from running. After my miserable workouts Monday, I was still trying to figure out a good way to shake things out and get everything loose, I thought a trainer ride would help with that, so I did 30 minutes followed by a lot of stretching.

Wednesday: 6 miles with 2 at marathon pace

It was so humid when I started this workout, but I somehow managed to nail my two miles at MP. I was completely gassed afterward though and did a lot of walking in mile five to recover. But I was just happy that I was finally able to nail a marathon pace workout because this summer my times have sucked so bad.

Thursday: Lifting

Even though we're marathon training, Emily and I are trying to stick with our plan of lifting once a week during our lunch break at work. We mainly focus on upper body and core to give our legs a break.

Friday: 3 miles easy

Yay for short easy runs. They're a nice mental break from everything else.

Saturday: 12 mile long run

Saturday morning long run routine #fitfluential

It was a little bit cooler on this run and definitely cloudy, which helped mentally. My stomach also decided to play nice and I was able to polish off all 12 miles without too much of a problem. I just need to find a better way to end long runs. Having to run the last mile completely uphill is torture. I need to find a new way out o the park so I can avoid that.

Sunday: Rest.

Finally a glorious rest day, where I sat on my butt, caught up on TV and then watched my friends' softball games. It was the perfect end to a great week of training.

I have to say, so far I'm feeling good about this training cycle. I know it's still super early and I have plenty more weeks where I will probably feel some of the motivation slipping a bit, but right now I'm still riding that early stages of training high, so I'm just going to roll with it.

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4 comments

  1. Looks like it's going really well! Hill repeats will bring some serious game to MCM. Great job!

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  2. I need to start doing hill repeats again.

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  3. Your NYC trip had a bit of everything, didn't it? And I think I'd be a bit afraid of those serious looking drill sergeants! Glad your training is going well.

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  4. :). I just found your blog when I was searching for my own! I look forward to reading about your training...a marathon is not in my near future...but maybe one day!

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