Marathon Training Update

We have almost completed our first week of marathon training. Only the long run to go this weekend. After our first run outside in the freezing cold on Monday, we rested on Tuesday and Wednesday was our speed work run. Since the temps have been in the 20s or lower and there's still ice on a lot of the roads and paths in our neighborhood, we broke down and decided we needed to look for a gym to join for days like this. Good thing we did because yesterday, today, and tomorrow have wind chills in the negatives! In fact, it's so cold they actually canceled school for today and yesterday because the kids could not be in the cold waiting for the bus or walking to school. So, we went back for 3 days and now have had 2 more days off. Kind of weird because roads are drive-able, so it's not like we are stuck at home or anything.

Anyways, back to the speed workout. We joined a gym not too far from our house and ran our 5 mile run with 3 miles at 7:39 pace on a treadmill. We don't love running on the treadmill. We really prefer the outside air and freedom to run wherever we want that you don't get from a treadmill. But, there was no way we were going to make it running a pace run with those temps and ice to navigate. The speed work is definitely going to be one of the harder workouts for me. I can run that fast, but it obviously requires more work than just trucking along at an easier pace. I know it will be good for my aerobic levels which will help on race day.

Thursday, another cold day, had us running our 5 miles on the treadmill again. It was just an average pace run...9:08 pace, but I ended up being under 9:00 because I was trying to figure out the right speed on the treadmill. Tony and I ran separately because I was off work and had pilates last night, so I went during the day and Tony went after work. Wind chill's yesterday were -4 to -5! Yikes!

Today is a rest day, but we may go to the gym to ride the bike or do some light running. We are supposed to do our long run (10 miles) tomorrow, but since the high is like 18 degrees, we are going to wait and do it on Sunday when the high is supposed to be in the 30s. We definitely want to run this outside so we don't die of boredom on the treadmill.

Week 1 is almost complete...15 more weeks to go!