9-Miles 7:16 pace
When the sun rises tomorrow (Monday) the Boston marathon will be just 14 weeks away. I have to admit over the past two weeks as I have been working my way back to serious training from my shin issue today was a pretty big test. It was time to take the gloves off a bit and not only cover some decent mileage (9) – it was also time to test where we are physically and push the pace a bit. Ironically, as I was preparing to “take the gloves off” mentally – physically it would be a much different story.
20 degree temps in Austin, TX
Most marathoners will tell you that the “Sunday Long-Run” during training is the high-point of the week. We think about it all week long, visualize the course we will take, plan our meals around it and when that alarm clock goes off on Sunday morning – it is go time. Well this morning the thermometer outside the bathroom window pointed firmly to 20 degrees fahrenheit.
Leg Warmers
Needless to say, I was going to have to get creative this morning. Recently I had purchased some cycling leg warmers that are designed to transform cycling shorts into cycling tights. Seemed like a good idea to try those out under my traditional running tights this morning. Coupled with an under armour base mock turtle neck, my brooks heavy running shirt with the cuffs that fold over your fingers, a running vest, two pairs of gloves and my trusted Arctic Beanie we were ready to roll.
That really is frost on my hat ...
With the exception of my water bottle freezing on my run (seriously) – I have to say it was a great, great run this morning. Total time of 1:05:28 at 7:17 pace – which would translate roughly to a 3:10:23 marathon – my leg felt strong throughout the run. With the exception of some cold toes starting around mile 7 – our cold weather gear held up perfectly over the one hour plus.
For the week we posted four training runs, three cycling workouts and three strength training sessions. Great stuff even though the weather did not cooperate very much this week with cold temperatures hitting virtually every part of the country.
Such are the challenges when it comes to winter training. I get asked a lot whether it is “hard” to run a marathon. The hard-part is really the training, the race itself (while it does have its moments) is really a celebration of all that training. Of course it is hard, but it is the hard that makes it great.
So week three is here, we’ve got a full workout schedule ahead of us with another Sunday long-run looming just one week away. Can hardly wait.
Joe Runs For Dom 