Monday 6/23/14 – REST DAY!! (Went for a nice 90 min massage!) Legs are feeling pretty darn good too!

Tuesday 6/24/14 – Track Intervals: Workout – 1 mile warm up & drills, 4 -6 X 800 (400 recovery jog), 1 mile cool down

What I ended up doing:

  • 1 mile warm up & drills, 5 X 800 (3:14, 3:08, 3:04, 3:04, 3:00, 2:56), 1 mile cool down
  • Drills: (I keep forgetting to add these in, however I do drills at every interval workout)
    • High Knees (2 x 40 yards)
    • Butt Kicks (2 x 40 yards)
    • Knee Hugs (1 x 10 hugs)
    • Lunges (Front, Lateral, & Backwards) 1 x 5 reps each leg for each type of lunge
    • Strides (4 x 50-60 yards)

What happened?!

  • Felt pretty good!! Did 5 instead of 6, because I had some GI discomfort on the 5th interval. (Meaning I’m not shy with pooping in woods & I got a bit nauseous) My stomach is extremely temperamental.
  • I would rather finish my workout feeling good, than feeling like death & destruction, I can’t move, I puked on myself, or I just died feeling. If you are feeling like this during your workouts, I’d suggest scaling it back in intensity.

Wednesday 6/25/14 –Cycled Outdoors – Loving my sunset rides!! I went for 60 minutes, kept it easy. Just about blood flow & turnover.

Thursday 6/26/14 – Workout: Tempo Run (1 mile warm up with 5 pickups/strides, 2 mile tempo @ 6:57 pace, 1 mile cool down

How I felt:

  • Pretty good, considering it was humid as heck. It was definitely playing with my head a bit. One of my mantra’s while running is, “Stronger, Longer, Longer, Stronger.” I like to repeat that over and over in my head to beat out any negative thoughts.
  • I generally knew where I should be pace wise;however, this was my first tempo in awhile, so I let my body do the deciding for me. I didn’t check my watch until the first mile of the tempo to gauge where I was (7:04), and did the same for the second mile (6:50).
  • I wanted to keep it steady the whole way through, and I felt that it was a success!

How should a tempo feel?

  • Tempo’s are considered to be a comfortable hard effort. You shouldn’t be sprinting or at race pace.
    • For example: You are training for a marathon, like I am, your Tempo’s could range from 10k pace all the way up to your goal marathon race pace. The distances than vary accordingly to your pace.
    • Shorter Tempo’s – generally you go quicker; Longer Tempo’s – generally go a bit slower. (You could even consider these Steady State Runs/Marathon Paced Runs)
  • In all your Speed Workouts, the idea is NOT to RACE! You want to WORK HARD, but these are not the days you show yourself what you got!

Friday 6/27/14 – Rested – Didn’t have time to get a workout in, woke up too late, then was busy all day getting my boyfriend’s house in Martha’s Vineyard ready for renters.

Saturday 6/28/14 – Easy Run – I ran 30 minutes, slow. Roughly, over 3 miles.

Sunday 6/29/14 – Long Run – 16 miles!!

How I fueled my run?

  • I set up water/gatorade points along a 6 mile route. I put water/gatorade at 3 & 6 miles. I carried water & my bf carried gatorade for the first three miles then found a spot, plopped it down! AHHHH I’m freeee! It’s crazy how you feel 10lbs lighter!
  • Tested out a fuel source – Honey Stinger Gel – Acai Pomegranate.
  • My tummy is incredibly sensitive, and I really have no idea what is going to work for it. I get nauseous from a lot of things.
  • Starting at about 35 minutes in, I took a lick of the gel, and over the course of the run, I took small licks the whole way.
  • If I was to have gatorade, I wouldn’t take any gel in only water. Too much sugar can overload your belly resulting in nausea, diarrhea, and your tummy screaming at you.

The Good Points

  • I ran 16 miles!
  • My hip isn’t bothering me at all anymore!
  • NO breathing stitches either! BAM!
  • Didn’t hit “THE WALL”

The “OH this is what Marathon Training Feels like” Points

  • I started running at noon. (Yea this was NOT smart lol) Even coaches do silly things! We got in late Saturday night, so I was too delirious to run in the morning, and I got my engines up and going by midday. Weather hot & humid = NOT Martha’s Vineyard weather at all lol
  • First lap feeling swanky just relaxing and keeping it cool ;-)
  • Second lap – Couldn’t find my 3 mile water/gatorade hiding spot (Blaming it on my bf, he had to hide it behind a tree, I was going to hide it under a bench lol!! Had to do the whole loop pretty much without liquids, until the heavens broke and an angel stopped me around mile 11! Some awesome biker said,”Hey do you need some water, I have an extra bottle?” I’m thinking I look that bad, don’t I? The fear of dehydration is writhing on my face! I respond with boisterous appreciation,”Yes!! Thank you so much! You are my hero today!!”
  • Third Lap – The heat is setting in and between the gel & gatorade my belly is not super happy. Finish with an avg pace of 8:45. Walked about 2 miles back to the start, and stretched along the way. Looking forward to bumping it up next week!!!
  • Oh and at every water stopped, I cooled down my body by pouring some water on my head.

Post Run Recovery

  • I needed juice really badly, so I had some fresh OJ & water immediately after the run.
  • My stomach was not so great, and I really got nauseous, which is not the best sign. I could have possibly dehydrated myself, so this I need to work on better.
  • I had some watermelon too, and some potato chips. (My bf swears by these after his long runs, I guess it’s the salt)
  • What I should of added was some protein, however the thought of eating was so unappealing to me. Next time I will make a smoothie and just slowly choke it down. We breakdown muscle during endurance training, protein is really important to maintain muscle mass, and help with recovery.
  • Foam Rolled, Took and hour nap, then had some sushi for dinner. Oddly, it was the only thing that appealed to my belly.

Also check out my two blogs on Running in the Humidity & Hydration!

Total Mileage: 27.5 miles

Happy Training Guys!

***************Natalie Johnston is USATF & RRCA certified runner coach serving areas PA, NYC, & NJ.*****************