Monday, February 18, 2013

Hanson Brothers Marathon Training :: Monday Marathoning 2.18.13

I wrapped up my third week of training using the Hanson Brothers plan, and feel surprisingly great. I say surprisingly because I have been running more than I ever have, which means my legs took awhile to adjust to the increased mileage. There were definitely some sore, heavy leg days days, when I ran the lower end of the mileage or took a rest day and switched my training days around.

The flexibility aspect is what I've learned to love about this plan. 4 days out of the week, you have a range of miles to run. While I've ran the peak number of miles most days, as mentioned above there were a couple days where I just knew I shouldn't push it and ran the least amount of miles.

That being said, I also enjoy pushing myself because I know it will make me a stronger runner. Thankfully, I've grown to recognize where the "push" line lies, and when to skip a run altogether due to a variety of physical factors. Getting injured/sick is something nobody's got time for.



Monday: You can see there that I wasn't feeling it. I had started battling a cold/allergy thing, the temperature was cold, it was just a bad bag of cold juju. So I stopped, and honestly didn't regret it.
Tuesday: Track time! 1.5 miles w/u, six 800's with one lap jog between each, 1.5 mile c/d. It felt great. Thursday: General aerobic run; 8:21 average pace.
Friday: General aerobic run at marathon pace; 8:08/mile. From the looks of my watch I was settling in at around 7:30/mile, so I'm unsure how my average pace came out that much higher than I had thought. Whatevs.
Saturday: Unplanned rest day due to living it up in Friendtown. I'll push my planned runs back a day and will most likely skip Wednesday rest day this week.
Sunday: 6.5 unexpectedly speedy miles at 7:44 pace. I had expected it to be a doozy, since my allergies decided to flare up, but I felt strong (albeit sniffly) the entire time.

Here's what to expect this week:


I already have that 11-miler out of the way today, and it was great. I held a 7:47 pace the entire time, and felt like I could have gone longer. I'm hoping this is a sign that my body has adjusted to the higher mileage.

Are you good at listening to your body? There are still days when I want to get out there and just DO IT, despite my aching shins. Resting and not veering off a plan can be tough stuff, especially when you want to stay 100% dedicated.

1 comment:

  1. Ooo, you are kicking butt on this plan! Lovin' all your speedy paces and that you already rocked the 11-miler! :)

    I am pretty good at listening to my body! And I always try to take one full rest day a week :)

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