You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[WillRunForPizza]

June 2 - 8, 2025
In which I make it up as I go

Monday
Upper body strength

I thought about running in the morning, but I decided I didn't feel like it. And then later I was busy. I did get in some strength training during a webinar, though, because I felt like I had been kind of neglecting it leading into the race.

Tuesday
Easy: 5.6 miles (9:53), avg. HR 146, max 163, 98% Z1-2
Core

Back to it. I felt pretty comfortable after a couple of days off. The top of my peroneal tendon did ache briefly, but then it went away. I blame the dog.

Wednesday
Easy/hill strides: 9.5 miles (9:48), avg. HR 151, max 182, 94% Z1-2
Lower body strength

It was starting to get warm but still felt okay. My legs were pretty tired though. Not sure why - I did a 9+ mile workout only about a week ago and a 12+ mile long run a week and a half ago, so it's not like I've been away from longer runs even though I've been racing 5Ks. Had a bit of top-of-the-peroneal-tendon ache again, but it went away after a few minutes.



Thursday
Easy: 6.8 miles (10:06), avg. HR 148, max 160, 99% Z1-2
Upper body strength

Warmer still. But not too bad. I found other people especially clueless this morning, but maybe that was just me.

Do you ever notice that when your legs are tired, you kind of collapse into your stride every step? I kept catching myself doing that.

Friday
Easy/hill strides: 6.1 miles (9:51), avg. HR 151, max 184, 88% Z1-2

It's funny because I actually haven't been feeling that hot as it gets warmer, but you can definitely see it in the metrics. Summer is upon us.

I was planning to do a core workout, but my right hip joint was weirdly sore and I didn't want to aggravate it. That's a new one for me.

Saturday
off

My hip was still sore, so I decided it was better to just take a rest day.

Sunday
No uphill left behind: 7.5 miles (9:45), avg. HR 154, max 180
Lower body strength

My hip was still a little sore, but I was tired of resting. My concession was that I didn't do a long run. Instead I did no uphill left behind, so running uphill at more of a steady/threshold effort and then coasting on the downhills, and then a few hill strides.

My hip was totally fine on the run. The ball of my right foot kind of ached, but that might just be my shoes wearing out. I definitely felt a lot of tightness around my hip when I was stretching afterwards, but I'm not sure if that was the cause of the soreness or a side effect.

I did some "strength" in the afternoon that was mostly just a bunch of PT exercises. I think this is what I might do on my medium-long days during marathon training so I'm doing some strength without completely wiping myself out going into the long run. Anyway, my hip was more sore immediately afterwards, but then it felt better.

Totals
Running: 5h 51m, 35.6 miles
Strength/mobility: 2h 6m
Total: 7h 58m



Just out here replacing old issues with new issues. My hip actually seems mostly okay now, though.

Coming up
Might do a little fartlek or something this week. But also my parents arrive on Wednesday, so I may be doing shorter runs for a few days while they're in town.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

June 9 - 15, 2025
In which fast and heat are not a good pairing

Monday
Long/hill strides: 11.9 miles (9:38), avg. HR 153, max 186, 87% Z1-2
Core

Since I didn't really do a long run last week, I did one on Monday. I actually felt really good! I attribute this entirely to having a caffeinated gel for the first time in a while. I even felt up for some hill strides after running 10+ miles, which is not a thing that usually happens.

Tuesday
Easy: 6.6 miles (9:34), avg. HR 147, max 163, 97% Z1-2
Upper body strength

My hip was feeling better when I woke up, but it started to ache as I was walking the dog. It did not bother me while I was running, though.

Wednesday
Fartlek: 10.5 miles, avg. HR 157, max 190
Lower body strength




Well, it's good that I didn't try to do a structured workout, because that was rough. I kind of gave up shortly after turning around. I tried to do one more fast interval, but nope. Too hot? Not enough time to recover after Monday's long run? Just one of those days? Who knows.

I just did a short lower body workout before my mom arrived.

Thursday
Recovery: 5.8 miles (10:07), avg. HR 143, max 155, 100% Z1-2

It was hot and sunny again, but if I don't have to run hard, then I don't care. I did care that my watch didn't want to stream anything, which made for a not-very-fun run.

Friday
Easy/strides: 5.3 miles (9:50), avg. HR 148, max 178, 90% Z1-2
Core

Steamy. My legs felt heavy at the start, but I think that was more due to too much wine the previous couple of nights than the heat. Anyway, I felt okay after a few minutes.

I tried to do hill strides, but there was somebody washing their car in the middle of the sidewalk on one side of the street and somebody smoking on the other side, so I gave up and did a few more flat strides on the way home. Then I popped into the mini-sauna, just for some extra steaminess.

Saturday
off

We ended up going to a baseball game, so I got plenty of steps in, but no actual training. My parents headed to the airport after the game.

Sunday
Progression-ish: 15.1 miles (9:21), avg. HR 154, max 182


It was an overcast and drizzly sort of morning - so, great for running. Between the weather and half the population of the city deciding, apropos of nothing, to be somewhere else this weekend, the trails were relatively uncrowded, which was nice.

I was feeling pretty good, so I did kind of a mini-progression. It wasn't totally consistent and didn't get all that fast, but I finished faster than I started, so I'm happy with that. I feel like this is a good place to be as I start to think about marathon training.

I didn't feel too tired until after lunch, when I couldn't keep my eyes open and passed out on the couch for a couple of hours.

Totals
Running: 8h 47m, 55.3 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 15m
Total: 10h 3m


I did a lot of running, but that's just because I ended up with two long runs in one week.

Coming up
Less running and more strength training. I have started putting together my training plan for the marathon (by which I mean I created a spreadsheet where I will write my training plan for the marathon ).

 

[WillRunForPizza]

June 16 - 22, 2025
In which the dew point is what now??

Monday
Recovery: 6.2 miles (10:03), avg. HR 144, max 167, 98% Z1-2 (and 2% bikes)
Upper body strength

It was another drizzly morning, so I enjoyed the reprieve from the heat while I could. Took it easy but felt pretty much okay after Sunday's 15.

Tuesday
Easy/strides: 7.3 miles (9:41), avg. HR 149, max 184, 83% Z1-2
Core

Conditions were similar to the last couple of days except that the drizzle was gone and it was just humid. My legs were a little sluggish starting out but okay after that.

Wednesday
"Workout": 6.6 miles, avg. HR 153, max 186
Lower body strength



Yuck. First, it was gross out (T+D~150). The humidity was awful. I was also tired before I even started for some reason that I cannot determine.

I wanted to see if I could do slightly longer hill repeats by combining a little hill and a bigger hill. This sort of worked, although there is kind of a flat stretch in between them.

I did a few of those before I decided that was enough and switched to just the bigger hill. Only it was like trying to run up a down escalator - you can do it, but it really doesn't feel like the progress you're making matches up with the effort you're putting in. After a couple of those, I was over it. And then I slogged home.

That makes two weeks of pretty lackluster workouts. It's not like I had planned anything specific for either of them, so it's not that big a deal right now, but I'm going to need my body to figure out how to do this again sooner rather than later...



Thursday
Yoga

It had been a while since I did yoga, so a bonus early rest day seemed like a good time to come back to it. I liked this one.

Friday
Easy/strides: 6.5 miles (9:31), avg. HR 153, max 188, 82% Z1-2
Core

I think I got a little carried away by not running in a sauna.

Saturday
Easy/pickup: 10 miles, avg. HR 160, max 185
Mobility


Hooootttttt. I ran the first half easy and did a progression in the second half. It felt hard. Even though my fastest mile was theoretically slower than my marathon pace, my HR kept creeping into Z5, which is not what I was going for. This summer is already trying to kill me.

Sunday
Long: 16 miles (9:45), avg. HR 156, max 173, 65% Z1-2

So much sweat. The T+D was about 140 when I started and got up to about 160 by the time I finished. I brought a liter of Skratch, refilled one of my flasks around mile 12, ran out of water again around mile 14, and tried to refill again at mile 15 but the water fountain wasn't working. So I got home and drank about another liter of water/LMNT.

Otherwise, I felt okay. My legs were quite tired by the end, but if I concentrated I could keep pretty reasonable form. My peroneal tendon felt a little...sensitive? afterwards when I was walking the dog, but I put some ice on it and it seemed okay after that.

I did spend a significant portion of the run with my HR at like 160 (which is probably at the bottom of Z3 for me). This is, again, not what I was going for, but it's really hard to get your HR to drop when it's hot out.

Totals
Running: 8h 36m, 52.8 miles
Strength/mobility: 2h 11m
Total: 10h 48m

Coming up
Less running and more strength training.

Well...I did more strength training.

Coming up
A heat wave, apparently.


Gross.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

June 23 - 29, 2025
In which the mini-sauna did not prepare me to run in a heat dome

Monday
off

And now I am back to a Tuesday-to-Sunday schedule as god intended.

Tuesday
Easy/hill strides: 5 miles (10:24), avg. HR 153, max 183, 75% Z1-2, T+D~160

Cannot recommend running when the dew point is 77º. It is unpleasant.

The worst part was the mile back home after the hill strides. My HR gets up into Z5 most of the time when I do strides, and normally this is fine. It will come back down after a minute or two. Unless the T+D is over 160, and then it does not come back down, ever. I had to stop at a couple of lights and my HR did drop, but as soon as I started running again it was back up into Z3-4, even if I ran really slowly.

In other words, heat domes are gross.

I was going to do some strength training later, but I got distracted and then I got busy.

Wednesday
Easy: 5.3 miles (10:12), avg. HR 149, max 164, 86% Z1-2, T+D~155
Lower body strength

I tried running before breakfast (don't worry, I ate a Pop Tart first) to get out a little earlier. I don't know if it helped. My legs felt tired, and I gave up on running even a little bit fast.



Not sure if I was out of practice or I just chose a particularly difficult combination of exercises, but my legs felt particularly jello-y at the end.

Thursday
Upper body strength

I was all ready to go out on my run, knowing it was going to be miserable. I was literally tying my shoes. And then I thought, "Wait, I don't actually have to run today." So I didn't. I have no regrets about this.

I did do some strength training while watching the Breaking4 pre-show. I was hoping she would get a little closer to four minutes, but a mind-boggling time regardless.

Friday
Easy: 7.4 miles (10:10), avg. HR 148, max 164, 98% Z1-2, T+D~135
Core

So much more pleasant than the last few days. I was planning to do some hill strides, but my legs said, "No, thank you," so I didn't. (They were still sore from strength training.)

Saturday
No uphill left behind: 10.3 miles (9:41/9:22 GAP), avg. HR 154, max 178, T+D~145
PT exercises

I got up late so got a bit of a later start. Fortunately the forces of good seemed to have defeated the evil heat dome, at least temporarily, so it wasn't too terrible out. Still quite humid, though.

My legs were feeling better than Friday, and I pushed a little harder on the uphills for this round of No Uphill Left Behind. (Still staying in low-mid Z4 though.) By the time I turned around, I could definitely feel it in my legs. By mile 7, my legs felt like someone had replaced them with dried-out logs. So then I did a few hill strides.

Sunday
Long: 13.4 miles (9:31), avg. HR 154, max 184, 73% Z1-2, T+D~155

It got gross again.

My legs were quite tired starting out, but they actually felt better as I went on. After running 15-16 miles the past couple of weeks, 13 seemed surprisingly reasonable, even on a hot and humid morning. At least I was in the shade most of the time.

I found a single-serving packet of Skratch in the cabinet, and I thought I'd try dumping it into my bottle as I approached the water fountain for faster refilling. It didn't really work. The powder kind of clumped up, and I couldn't get it into the bottle while running. I need a better pouring system. I'll have to dig around and see what I can find.

I started out with two 8oz soft flasks and refilled both of them, then refilled one a second time. Even though I left the last water fountain with two full water bottles, I still ran out a mile from home. Hydration is tough in the summer.

Totals
Running: 6h 48m, 41.4 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 52m
Total: 8h 41m



I'm going to need the universe not to give us a 160+ T+D when we've only had like 140s so far. I can't handle that. I need an adjustment period.

Coming up
One more week of just whatever before I start actual marathon training. I did finish writing a plan, which I will post soon.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

T

I'm going to need the universe not to give us a 160+ T+D when we've only had like 140s so far.

Seriously. We had weeks of decent running weather and then shifted into Atlanta hot-n-humid so fast that we speed shifted without using the clutch. Ugh.

 

[Herding_Cats]

T

Seriously. We had weeks of decent running weather and then shifted into Atlanta hot-n-humid so fast that we speed shifted without using the clutch. Ugh.

It really grinds my gears when that happens.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Training plan: Marine Corps Marathon 2025
In which I try out a new spreadsheet

Believe it or not, we are less than four months from the 50th Marine Corps Marathon. That means it's almost time to start doing more-focused training, and for that I need a training plan.

First, though: goals. As with any race, my actual goal is to run it as fast as I can. In this case, based on my 3:32 at last year's MCM and 1:33 half at Princess, I am hopeful that I will be able to BQ, as long as nothing goes horribly wrong (which is always possible! ).

A BQ for me would be a 3:30, but to actually get into Boston, I imagine I'll need something more like a 3:24 at least. I'm always slightly surprised when this [a goal that would have seemed impossible once upon a time suddenly coming within reach] happens, but somehow that doesn't seem unrealistic. But it's early yet, and we'll have to see about specific time estimates when we get closer to race day.

Before we get to the actual plan, let's talk structure. I've laid it out basically the same as the last couple of cycles, except instead of doing most of my medium-long runs as progressions, I will do some of them as No Uphill Left Behind to get in more hill practice. Probably I'll do a light progression when I have a hill workout that week and NULB when I don't. Or if I'm especially tired, they'll just be easy.

Doing my PT exercises on Saturday is meant to make me a little less tired for the long run than when I was doing more strength training, but based on last week, this strategy may not work. I will adjust as needed, but also I kind of want to be doing the long run on tired legs, especially in marathon training.

As usual, I'm most likely doing strides on easy days. Upper body and core workouts are usually Fitness Blender, and if I'm doing yoga, it's a Yoga with Adriene video. If I feel like I'm not getting enough core work, I may add another round on Tuesday and move upper body to Wednesday, but hopefully this will be okay for the next three and a half months.



The schedule looks a little different for this cycle. Last time around, recognizing that I almost never run exactly six miles (or whatever), I gave myself ranges for easy days. This time, I thought, "Why do I need to schedule those days at all?" I know I'm going to be running about an hour on easy/recovery days - maybe up to 75-80 minutes in peak weeks. I also know that medium-long runs will be about 10-12 miles most of the time. So really the only days I need to plan out specifically are Wednesdays (workouts) and Sundays (long runs). Short and sweet!

However, for anyone else to understand the plan, I need to explain a few things. Some abbreviations and local details:

• M = marathon effort
• HM = half marathon effort
• T = (lactate) threshold effort (60-min race pace)
• CV = critical velocity (30-min race pace)
• E = easy
• T hills = ~half a mile at ~3-5% grade. I run at T up and alternate a float (a little faster than easy) and a jog down.
• M/T/M hills = same ~0.5 mile hill. M up and down, T up, M down and up, E down
• ff = fast finish
• Hill repeats = ~75s at about 8-12% grade (from the bottom of the hill to the top)
• Times with no pace designation = recovery intervals

It's kind of funny: the first time I read Daniels Running Formula, I found all the abbreviations very confusing. Now I'm all like, "Yes, give me fewer letters!" I'm not using the weird ones like R or H/I, though.

Anyway, now you can hopefully make some sense of the schedule!



There are three races in there (DC Half, Army Ten-Miler, and Marine Corps Marathon), but I'm only racing the DC Half and MCM. ATM will probably be a progression workout; two weeks out seems a bit late to race 10 miles. Hopefully the half six weeks out will give me a reasonable idea of where my fitness is.

For that race, I will do a two-day mini-taper, taking Friday off and doing a shakeout on Saturday before the race on Sunday. Then I have a easy (pace-wise) week afterwards to recover.

I've got a lot of 18-mile long runs in there; read those as "at least 18 miles and up to three hours," which is what I actually mean by 18 miles. That's as long as I've gone in the past and it's worked out just fine, so I don't feel like I need to do any 20-milers unless I get that far in three hours (which doesn't seem terribly likely).

You'll see a decent amount of HM efforts in the long runs, which is less about training for the half specifically and more about making up for the difficulty of running enough mileage at M effort in training to actually prepare for a marathon. I do have one 10-mile M effort workout, but otherwise I'm mostly doing M intervals alternating with faster paces along with the HM workouts.


Wet dog = sad dog

A few of these workouts might shift as I see how they look in practice. In particular, I might adjust the number of reps on the mini-progressions (e.g., 5 min M/3 min T/1 min CV/2 min) depending on how the first one goes.

Another thing that's not written into the workouts but is part of the plan in my head is speedy/steady finishers. What this means is: if I have a speed-focused workout (like 4 x 4 x 1 min CV), I'll run a mile or two at a steady pace afterwards. (Steady here isn't a specific pace; it could be a little slower than M effort or up to T depending on how I feel.) If I have a more aerobic workout (mostly T or slower), then I'll end with some strides. I like this because it kind of balances out the workout, and it's a way to get in a bit of extra work without taxing your body too much.

You might also notice that I'm using "effort" instead of "pace" to talk about how fast everything should be. As I mentioned after my 5K season, that's going to be my focus for now. All paces are vibes. Especially when the dew point is 77. Hooray for summer marathon training!

Comments welcome, as always!

 

[nancipants]

Looking forward to following along with your training!