One Small Step...

It's hard to believe it's February.  It's hard to believe that I just turned 28.  It's hard to believe that this week started my training for my first marathon.  June 2nd seems so far away, but I know will be here in no time!

Although this marks the official start of my marathon training, I have been training hard since January 1st.  I have 2 half marathons leading up to the big day, one in March and one in May, wish a couple other races pieced in between.

Each week, I plan to do a short recap of the week so I can keep tabs of my progress throughout.

Sunday (2/3) - 8 Miles
8.55 miles - 1:26:56 - 10:09 pace
Super Bowl Sunday.  I was tired.  I was lazy.  I didn't want to do this run.  My day was already thrown off because I slept until 9 (first time in months I slept that late - normal is 7:30-8ish).  So I had to go to the later church service.  I got back, and just crashed on the couch.  At about 12:30 I kept saying to myself I had to get out before the Super Bowl.  Finally, at about 2, I got off the couch.  I didn't think this was going to be that great of a run.  Actually, I thought it was going to be terrible.  I thought 6 miles would have been a success.  The first couple miles were fine.  But once I started hitting 4...5...6... I knew that I was going to do it.  Once I started approaching 8, I noticed I still felt great.  So I finished my loop and it felt great.  Super excited about this run!

Splits:  9:37, 9:54, 10:07, 9:55, 10:14, 10:17, 10:33, 10:20

Monday - Rest
Technically, marathon training said I was supposed to run here.  But I am transitioning from long runs from Sundays to Saturdays, so I needed a rest day here.

Tuesday - 3 Miles
3.11 miles - 28:04 - 9:01 pace
I left my apartment hoping this run would be about the 29:00 mark.  I knew in the first mile I would crush that.  I ran harder than I've ran in a while, but it felt pretty good!  I'm really glad my splits became progressively faster each mile (9:12, 9:01, 8:54) and had a strong finish.  I'm a little surprised by this - I'm only about 40 seconds off my 5K PR right now, and at this point when I was in my half marathon training this past spring, I was running at the 9:30s-40s pace - I'm super excited about being ahead of that schedule!!

Wednesday - 4 Miles Pace
2 hours of volleyball, 10 mins elliptical, abs
Sore from last night's run and knowing I have volleyball = no run.  I tried to elliptical it up, but a few minutes in my legs were really feeling the fatigue.  It's not worth killing my legs this early on in the journey.  Time to get ready for tomorrow's run.

Thursday - 3 Miles
2.19 miles - 21:17 - 9:41 pace
Soreness.  Pain.  That's how this run started.  I felt tight.  I felt strained.  But I had to get out.  About 1.5 in, my calf started hurting.  Shoot.  With every step, it got worse and worse.  Finally, I had to call it quits.  Not sure what's wrong with it, but time to foam roll like crazy!

Friday - Rest

Saturday - 3 Miles
2.48 miles - 27:14 - 10:54 pace
First group training run with Team in Training!  Today was all about meeting the team, socializing, getting to know the terrain, and just getting a couple of miles in.  It was just what I needed, because I can still feel my calf hurting.  No pushing it for me.  It was so much fun chatting with the rest of the team, and I can't wait to continue this amazing journey with everyone.  One guy on the team is even from my home town!  Crazy!