First thing’s first: Des Linden won the Boston Marathon!!!
I, like everyone else, wanted so badly to see an American woman break the tape for the first time in 33 years, and I fully cried at my desk at work as I watched her turn right on Hereford and left on Boylston with no one else in sight behind her. Talk about running inspiration! GET. IT. GIRL!
I also want to give a shoutout to my friend Meg, who ran a PR of 3:21 despite the miserable rain and wind! Ah-maz-ing!
Back to week three of my training, which now seems very boring in comparison. ☺ I’m still plugging along, putting in mostly easy miles. Since I’m running slowly Monday through Wednesday, I find myself feeling paranoid that I won’t be able to run fast during my speed workout on Thursday—but I just have to relax and trust the process.
This week’s big lesson came in the form of a comment Hallie left on Instagram after I expressed doubt that the splits from my Thursday speed workout were fast enough. She said: “I was reminded the other day, by a very speedy lady, to not get hung up on the paces of one interval workout, but to focus on the consistency of showing up for each workout each week.”
Thinking back on my past marathon training, I don’t think I’ve ever done consistent speedwork, so the fact that I’m even doing it this time is a win. And Hallie’s speedy friend is totally right: consistency is the most important thing.
Funny that Des’ advice is pretty much the exact same thing:
MONDAY: 3-mile easy run at 9:11 average pace.
The sun came out and it was downright warm, which felt like a nice preview of all the shorts-and-tank-top running I’ll be doing this summer. I even wore my sunglasses, which slipped down my sweaty nose every 10 seconds and made me realize I need a better solution for sunny-day training! Any suggestions for sport sunglasses or croakie-style attachments that don’t look silly?
I also intended to do BBG or lift weights, but since it was so nice out, I spent the rest of the evening weeding our backyard. It’s definitely not my favorite chore, but it was lovely to get even more fresh air.
TUESDAY: 6-mile easy run at 9:12 average pace.
Nothing notable about this run except that I’m loving my new Distance long-sleeve tees from Brooks! When it’s not warm enough for short sleeves but too warm for layers, this thin tee is the perfect in-between piece. I bought it in two colors because I love the style and fit so much. It’s not super loose or shapeless, not super form-fitting—just right. I wear size medium (as I do with all Brooks gear).
WEDNESDAY: 3-mile easy run at 9:06 average pace
Another day, another Distance tee. Aaron got new wireless headphones and I promptly swiped them for this run. They’re less than $30 on Amazon, and they sounded pretty good and stayed in my ears! He decided I should have this pair and ordered another pair for himself. ☺ I’ve really enjoyed listening to podcasts on my easy runs to keep from getting bored. I think sheer boredom is a big part of what caused me to do my easy runs too fast in the past!
THURSDAY: 4 x 800m speed workout (5 miles total) at 8:21 average pace.
I finally did my first interval workout of this training cycle! I did an easy one-mile warmup, ran 4 x 800m between 7:15 and 7:24 pace with 400m of easy jogging in between, then finished with a one-mile cooldown.
Have you heard of Yasso 800s? The idea is that someone who can run a certain marathon time (say, 3 hours and 35 minutes) should be able to run 800m repeats in the equivalent number of minutes (3 minutes and 35 seconds). That’s what I aimed for, but I ended up running 3:38, 3:37, 3:37 and 3:42. Not too far off, especially this early in training. But I did feel a little down about it anyway, prompting my lackluster Instagram post about this workout and Hallie’s wise response. Going forward, I’ll try not to get too wrapped up in numbers, but it’s hard to do when you’re shooting for a big non-goal.
FRIDAY: Rest!
SATURDAY: 6-mile marathon goal pace run at 8:02 average pace.
Rain, rain, rain. I’m sick of running in it, you’re sick of hearing me complain about running in it. But the downpour gave me a lot of confidence on this run because I nailed my goal pace in less-than-ideal conditions. I didn’t think it was possible when I started, so I felt very accomplished when I finished. I also did the middle 4.5 miles of this run on a gravel trail (just like the marathon course), so that was another confidence-booster: I can run fast on gravel, you guys!
SUNDAY: 8-mile trail run at 14:44 average pace.
This was a stepback week with a shorter long run than the previous two weeks. Hallie is running a trail 50K this coming weekend, so she was down for a short and easy trail run with me! We did a fair amount of hiking, which left my glutes sore and my right piriformis tight (something I’ve struggled with in previous marathon training cycles), so I made sure to visit my chiropractor on Monday for an adjustment and some soft-tissue work. If you’re in Seattle, I’ve been seeing Dr. Devine for years and highly recommend him! When I’m training, I usually see him once a week for routine maintenance.
Total weekly mileage: 31
Follow along in real time on Instagram @dev.on.running.
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