Hanson's Marathon Method Week 7 Rundown

Another week of Marathon training is done and gone! I can't believe I'm almost halfway through training. This is typically where I always need a little 'restart' and 'reset'. I sometimes find myself getting sick (ahem, like this week) or tired. I just need to keep on chugging along!

Monday: 6 easy miles on the treadmill at 10:20 & 20 minutes of strength work

Tuesday: 9 miles on the track- Ladder; 1.5 warm-up; 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 (400 Recovery between); 1.5 cool-down

Wednesday: 7 miles easy @ 10:11 min/mi & Jumpboard Reformer class

Thursday: 10 miles with 7 @ GMP (8:46); actual- 1.5 warm-up; 7 miles @ 8:41; 1.5 cool-down. This run felt SO great and I was super happy that it didn't feel nearly as much of a 'struggle' that I thought it would feel.

Friday: 8 miles easy @ 10:20. I slept in this morning and fit it in the afternoon. It was pretty hot, but a nice change to run during the day!

Saturday: 14 miles @ 9:29; actual- 14 miles @ 9:28 on the treadmill. I had to travel to Denver this weekend for some Figure Skating Coaching Exams & Seminar, so I did it on the treadmill in the afternoon and the gym was SO amazing that I didn't even mind that I was inside!

Sunday: Rest Day & Drive back from Denver

Sunshine Goods:

• Hitting my marathon goal paced run
• Felt strong during my jumpboard pilates class
• Feeling super fit & strong
• Hit my long-run and felt strong
• Fit in 2 strength training sessions

Gloomy Goods:

• Didn't hit all my tempo speed work paces
• Sleep wasn't a priority
• Legs feel pretty sore/tired each day

Hanson's Marathon Method Week 6 Rundown

We are officially under 90 days from the Las Vegas Strip at Night Marathon! Wooohhooooo. This week of training had several low-points, but I honestly feel that those struggles make us stronger when we get to the finish line. If we're able to push through them, then it makes it THAT much easier to push through a little "marathon" pain (well, it's not SO little and it's actually pretty painful, but I'll keep telling myself that ;) ). 

I did 43.5 miles this week (I was planning on doing 47, but unforeseen circumstances I let those extra 3.5 miles slide :) ) and totally nailed my tempo workout outside! This was a HUGE confidence booster, as I've never tried a goal pace run for multiple miles in a row before and I couldn't believe how easy it felt. Talk about empowering! I also switched my rest days this week because my knee was giving me some trouble on Friday, so I did a bunch of leg strengthening exercises and iced it and it's feeling better now (I'm also determined to get more strength sessions in on my own throughout the rest of the training cycle). 

Monday: 6 miles easy on the treadmill @ 9:59

Tuesday: Track Tuesday! I actually made it out on the track this week! This one was super tough and it's really HARD to stay motivated to keep pushing yourself when you are pretty exhausted towards the end of the repeats. 7 miles total with 1.5 warm-up; 4 x 1200 (400 Recovery between sets); 1.5 cool-down. I wanted to hit them each at 5:27, but my average was 5:33. It wasn't perfect and I did hit a few splits, but really need to continue to work on boosting my confidence when things get tough and getting my legs to turnover faster. I also did a CoreBarre class at lunch.

Wednesday: 6 miles easy outside @ 10:01. I did this one during my lunch break and it was SO nice to sleep in (well, turn-off my alarm) and get some miles in during the day. 

Thursday: 10 miles outside with 1.5 warm-up; 7 miles at 8:46 (actual: 8:47); 1.5 cool-down

Friday: Knee was achy; 30 minutes of strength training and 35 minutes on the bike

Saturday: Planned 8 miles @ 10:00 (actual: 4.5 miles @ 9:17). This one was later in the day and I was working through ALOT of emotions, so I really had a need for speed and couldn't reign it in...

Sunday: 10 miles on the treadmill @ 10:00

Sunshine Goods:

• I hit my tempo work-out pace!
• I was able to do my track workout actually on the TRACK and OUTSIDE!
• I fit in 2 strength training sessions (including CoreBarre)
• I took 3 epsom salt baths (these are my favvvorrrittee recovery method)
• 4 out of 6 runs were done outside

Gloomy Goods:

• Oh, the tiredness. Hanson's wasn't kidding when they said it'd be normal to feel achy and exhausted throughout the workout
• Knee achiness. Hoping ice, salt baths, and more strength training will ease this!
• Slight head-cold going on and loss of grandfather/ friend this past week...

Hanson's Marathon Method Week 5 Rundown

Week 5 has come and gone! My mileage hit another all-time high (48 miles) and I am so psyched! I had some trouble hitting my paces on my Saturday long-run, but the weather definitely was pretty unforgiving (HOT for me in the 80's) and I started to develop a bit of a head cold. Otherwise, my training went really well and honestly I've been so busy with work lately that I can't even remember which runs were done outside or on the treadmill (yikes)! So, I'll do my best to recap this past week. 

Monday: 6 easy miles @ 10:10 min/mi on the treadmill and 20 minutes of strength training at night

Tuesday: 8 miles with 1. 5 warm-up & 1.5 cool-down and 5 x 1k @ 4:30 and 400 recovery (actual: 4:32, 4:31, 4:28, 4:28, 4:30) on the treadmill

Wednesday: 7 easy miles @ 10:10 min/mi outside? I think...& Tower Reformer Class

Thursday: 9 miles with 1.5 warm-up & 1.5 cool-down and 6 miles @ 8:46 (actual: 8:40) on treadmill at night because I slept in!

Friday: 6 easy miles at 10:02 outside? I think...

Saturday: 12 miles at long-run pace 9:29 (actual: 12 miles @ 9:36)

Sunday: Rest Day

Sunny Goods:

• My easy paced runs were right on target pace
• My tempo miles were 6 seconds faster than my needed pace!
• I'm focusing on my nutrition intake more and trying to get in some protein immediately following a run
• I've gotten sold 8 hours of sleep each night this week and 12 HOURS (each night) on the weekend!

Gloomy Goods:

• I didn't hit all of my paces on my speedwork session
• My long run pace was a bit slower than scheduled
• Head cold not so fun this week...

Hanson's Marathon Method Week 3 Rundown

I seriously cannot believe that week 3 of the Hanson's Marathon Method has already come and gone! You guys this training cycle is flying by! I'm pretty glad that I document it because I may otherwise never remember what I ran each week. I started doing a few new things to compliment my training this week and I really believe they've been helping boost my recovery. I also switched around my rest day from Saturday to Sunday so I could get my long run in on seriously sore and tired legs (boost up that marathon mental strength). 

Heres the run-down of week 3 & training thus far:

Monday: 6 miles easy

• I like to start off my week of running on the treadmill so I know my recovery pace will truly be really easy (I keep it towards the 10:20 min/mi range) and it's kinda nice to kick off the week on the treadmill and be able to catch up on the news. I did a 60 minute JumpBoard Pilates class at noon and was sore for several days afterwards!

Tuesday: 1. 5 mile warm-up (outside); 8 x 600s (@2:44) with 400 Recovery (@11:19) between sets; 1.5 miles cool-down => 8 miles total

• I normally like to do my speedwork on the treadmill and I was all ready to complete my warm-up and hit the track, but there were soccer players on the track at 6:30am! I was not quite ready to suffer with others, so I headed back to the gym and finished my workout on the treadmill and hit my paces there.

Wednesday: 7 miles easy

• It was pretty cold and rainy out this morning, so I figured to just keep up my indoor running streak (exaggerating) and hit up the treadmill for this one again at a 10:10 min/mi pace. I did a 20 minute strength session before my run, but was still pretty sore from my pilates class on Monday!!

Thursday: 1.5 mile warm-up; 6 miles @ tempo (8:41 min/mi); 1.5 mile cool-down

• I was pretty exhausted come Thursday morning and shut-off my alarm and decided to sleep-in instead of going to the gym, so that meant an after-work running sesh for me! Normally, I try to listen to my body and when it needs more sleep, I'll just rearrange my schedule to fit it in (and lucky I have such a great support system at home to be able to do this). It was pretty hot out after work, so I headed to the treadmill to get this one done since I had specific paces that I needed to hit. It went really well and I felt a bit sore afterwards, but not too terrible. 

Friday: 6 miles easy

• Finally made it outside for this run! I did my favorite run around the river and had a hard time keeping the paces really slow. Average pace was 9:58 min/mi. 

Saturday: 10 miles at Long-Run Pace (9:29 min/mi)

• Since 10 miles doesn't seem to really be considered a really "long long run", I slept-in and did a bunch of housework in the morning before getting ready for my run. It was 1 in the afternoon before I started and I was pretty nervous since my legs were pretty fatigued by the week of high mileage and speed/tempo sessions, but I knew that the more I'm able to train on these tired legs, the better equipped I'll be to handle those last 6 miles of the marathon! So I headed out (luckily it was pretty much overcast) with extra water and totally nailed my pace of 9:29 min/mi. I stopped a few times just to make sure I was cooling my body down (it does NOT do well in heat) and getting enough fluids. This run was definitely a self-esteem builder.

Sunday: REST DAY

• I did a bunch of foam rolling and also a quick round of weights (arms/abs/legs), then really just relaxed the rest of the day which was definitely needed! Alex had hurt his back from his softball game the week before and we just took the day and watched the Breaking Bad marathon that was on AMC! One of the best shows to binge-watch. 

Sunshine Goods:

• I hit my paces for all three SOS (something of substance) work-outs
• I managed to keep my recovery easy runs really easy (thanks to the treadmill!)
• I took 2 Epsom Salt Baths this week <-- I REALLY think these help with recovery!
• I put my legs up the wall twice this week <-- another really important recovery tool
• Trying to be a "mindful" eater & remember that food=fuel and that I'll continue to need more fuel as I train 
• I pushed through my long run on Saturday on pretty tired and sore legs

Gloomy Goods:

• My legs were pretty fatigued by Saturday
• I'm tired a lot of the time and maybe relied on caffeine a bit too much last week!
• I'm also hungry allll the time (trying to eat every 2 hours now)
• I had to run on the treadmill a bit more than ideal this week

Hanson's Marathon Method Week 1 Rundown

I have been totally MIA lately the past few days, so you must be wondering (or maybe you're not, that's cool too....) WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Well my friends, I've been busy RUNNING and sleeping and working and trying to fit in stretching and core work and cross training and eating healthy etc. phew. This training plan is definitely intense, but also really exciting! 

Sorry the breakdown is a little blurry- still working on processing it into an image! 

So for those who don't know here is a short breakdown of how Hanson's Marathon Method is different from those other training plans out there:

• It's longest run is 16 miles (vs most others are 20 miles)
• It's plan is based on scientific research that mimics how your body feels in those brutal last 10 miles of a marathon (dead, exhausted, burnt, etc.)
• There are no real 'cut-back' weeks (vs most others have a cut-back week after a build-up of 1 to 3 week peak weeks)
• The taper is shorter than others- it starts ~1.5 weeks out from the race, but rather than take away mileage, speedwork, and tempos, it keeps the mileage roughly the same but takes out the other two (vs others that begin tapering ~2-3 weeks out from a race and takes out almost all speedwork, cuts back mileage, and takes out tempo/long runs)
• It has you run 6 days a week and rather than putting all the 'big' miles on one day, it scatters them over two days (making your legs/body more tired = AKA mimicking those very tired legs in the 2nd half a marathon)

There is a whole book dedicated to teaching you about their marathon and breaking all these items down further (and adding in more benefits to the training plan)- there's also a half marathon training plan/ book as well (you can find both books here). 

I was really intrigued by this plan because I typically ALWAYS feel super exhausted when I hit mile marker ~16-18 and begin to crash big time from then on in a marathon. I'm not too worried that I won't be hitting the infamous 20 milers for this training cycle because I know I can do them (having previously done 4 marathons in the past helps boost my confidence). The peak week mileage is ~61 miles which is beyond higher than anything I've ever done in the past (I've peaked ~39 miles during my last marathon training cycle); I'm actually pretty excited to be hitting this high mileage! I know that taking the easy runs SUPER slow and easy (see my paces on the above chart AKA almost feeling like a jog to me now) will be a huge key into keeping myself healthy and not burnt-out. 

I also really REALLY like that there is no dedicated 'long run day'- I really would put SO much pressure on myself for those long run days that they became much more like a 'chore' rather than something I enjoy doing. Having the ability to switch-around the days to work with my schedule/how I'm feeling is really convenient and melts away that pressure. 

One thing that I am already finding challenging (a week and a half into the training plan) is fitting in strength training/foam rolling/stretching. Running more (and at a slower pace) takes way more time! I've cut back on my strength training to shorter, simpler routines (rather than 30 minute full-body strength sessions, I've been doing 15 minute sessions focusing less on legs and more on abs/arms). I figure that my legs are already getting stronger with all the running (I am still doing squats) and am going to try to fit in a 20 minute at-home yoga session at least twice a week to remain flexible/ utilize those meditation techniques to visualize my race!

So, there's a quick rundown of Hanson's Marathon Method and my thoughts behind it now let's discuss how I came to "picking" a time goal for the Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Marathon.

After reading through the book, it became pretty apparent to me that I should choose a goal a little outside of my comfort zone (this training plan is renowned for shaving off A LOT of time off your previous PR for the marathon). I kept going back and forth between a 3:50, 3:55, or 4:00 marathon goal- I felt like Goldy Locks and trying to find the time that was 'just right'. 

I wanted to push and really challenge myself. I knew this training plan was already a challenge (weekly mileage-wise), so any time goal that I set my sight on would be the cherry on top. 

Hanson's has various tables that breakdown your various speedwork, long run, tempo, and easy run paces so that is what I used as a general guideline to basing my time goal on. I also like to have the time goal that maybe it too far out of reach (although I'd be beyond THRILLED to achieve it), I'd also be beyond excited to even come close to it (which is why before I decided to train for a sub-4 hour marathon even though my previous marathon PR was 4:14- I got 4:03 in my race). 

SO with all these factors coming into play, I decided that I will set my sights on the 3:50 marathon time and adjust if needed. So if I start not being able to hit any of my paces in my workouts, I'm going to take that as a sign and re-assess and look at maybe a 3:55 time goal instead. I'm not hell-bent on getting that sub 3:50 time goal now (I will want to someday), but I know that no matter where I end up at the end of this training cycle and race, I'll be closer to achieving that ever-elusive BQ. 

If you're going to dream, why not dream really really REALLY big, right?

So, here's the rundown during week 1 training:

Monday: training didn't officially start until Wednesday, so I opted for a short 4 mile easy run at 9:59 min/mi pace

Tuesday: No training yet, but wanted to get some speed back into my legs so I went to the Steamboat Pilates Studio and did their CoreRunning class. I did mainly 200 and 400's totaling 6.5 miles. I also went to their CoreBarre class in the morning before running.

Wednesday: MARATHON #5 TRAINING BEGAN! 6 easy miles at 10:03 min/mi pace

Thursday: 6 easy miles at 9:58 min/mi pace

Friday: 6 easy miles at 10:08 min/mi pace on the treadmill to really slow myself down and recover

Saturday: REST DAY. I had a skater competing in Vail, so I drove down there at 6 in the morning and then we ended up camping Saturday night with friends (SO tired at the end of the day!)

Sunday: 8 easy miles at 10:44 min/mi. We didn't end up getting back home from camping until after 11am, so that meant a super hot and slower run out on the trails around the lake. I didn't hit my paces exactly, but knew with the trails and the heat, that 9 seconds off really wasn't too bad. 

Overall, I'm still getting used to the super slow easy runs (my previous slow runs were 9:30-9:50 min/mi pace), but I know that you really can never go 'too slow' on your easy days so I just need to take advantage of the active recovery! 

I am also determined to work in a bit more strength work and foam rolling at night since I'm already pretty time-constricted in the mornings with the longer runs. I totaled 36.5 miles last week and that's the highest mileage week I've had since May! 

Sunshine Goods:

• Easy miles feel really easy
• Focusing on heart rate and recovery time following easy runs
• Hungry for anything and everything almost all the time. RUNGRY is an appropriate description here

Gloomy Goods:

• Time is never enough 
• Difficult fitting in foam rolling/stretching/strength training