CIM Training: Week 1 of 16

I'm teetering back & forth on whether I want to document another training cycle on my blog, especially while juggling a new work schedule, running at a different time than I normally run (gahhhh mornings, wahhhh), and overall just not really knowing how tired I'll be when the California International Marathon comes around. Oh, and not to mention that I haven't set a goal for the race yet...

But alright, alright. A few of you on Twitter said you'd read these updates. Some of you reminded me that I'll appreciate having this all written down later.

And who knows. Maybe completely changing everything up lifestyle-wise at the beginning of a training plan will show others they can do it, too. And I might even surprise myself along the way.

I am basically taking my 12-week Ogden plan and tacking on four weeks so I can still get a full cycle in for the Humboldt Marathon, thus leaving myself with a miserably long 16-week training cycle. (Seems smart, when I'm finding my ideal training cycle would be 7-10 weeks. But I digress.)

Without further ado: CIM training: Week 1 (week of Aug. 13)*

*No paces are listed as I haven't figured out a goal yet. I'll think about that longer & harder once a few weeks of training pass & I can assess how I'm feeling without driving myself to burn out. 

Monday:

Goal: 8 mi. easy w/ 10 x 100m strides

Actual: 8.06 mi.

This run was definitely not done at an easy pace for me... but it was my first run of this training cycle so there was some natural energy associated with that. Funny, I actually slowed my last mile down so I could fit in a few proper strides. I didn't follow the 10 x 100m, though, and instead did maybe 5 strides of a couple city blocks.

Tuesday:

Goal: Rest

Actual: Rest

Wednesday:

Goal: 9 mi. moderate

Actual: 9.15 mi.

Once thing I am noticing about morning runs is that I am naturally negative splitting. Not only am I half-asleep when I get going, it's dark in the mornings & I'm careful with my steps. By the time it's lighter & I can see the hobo poop I should try to avoid, my body is warmed up and I'm mostly awake. I want to keep attempting these negative split runs consistently, no matter what pace I do them. 

Thursday:

Goal: Rest

Actual: Rest

Friday:

Goal: 7 mi. recovery

Actual: 10 mi.

I ended up moving my "long run" to Friday morning because I wanted to get it out of the way and have the laziest weekend possible. My new job has been leaving me exhausted, and I wanted to sleep as much as I could and do as little imaginable over the weekend.

Saturday:

Goal: 10 mi. moderate

Actual: Rest

I slept until 1pm (!), and we finally rolled around to "brunch" at 3pm. I would call that a successfully lazy start to the weekend. Love.

Sunday:

Goal: 6 mi. recovery

Actual: 12 mi.

A late-Saturday night glance at Twitter showed me that a few friends were going to be running in Golden Gate Park Sunday morning. So I chimed in, barged into their party, and had a lovely run with Renee, RoadBunner, and Karin. Even though this run was twice as long as intended, the miles FLEW BY as I got to tag along & catch up with some great friends. 

Because no post is complete without a picture: Did you know dinosaurs have taken over the Conservatory of Flowers?

All in all, week 1 ended with 39.29 miles of running. This was not quite the 40 miles I wanted to hit, but I'll have plenty of weeks to make up for that missed .71 of a mile. I am not stressing yet. ;)

And let the record show: After a week of morning runs, I am not finding them to be getting any easier.