Flo - Rida (Marathon Training - week 1)

Well, the Gate River run didn't quite go as planned. As most disappointing races turn out, I will walk away with a lesson learned as suppose to a blissful performance...

The few things I've learned have not changed since my high school days. I went out too fast for my own fitness. You would think, that with this much experience I would know how to race, but once you start and are caught up in such enthusiasm, you can't help but go with the flow. Which is exactly what I did for the first mile and paid for it. I felt; at the time, that I didn't go out at a blistering pace, but apparently it was a little too fast for me. 4:39 isn't really that fast... but I guess for a 15k race I was in over my head. Mile after mile I faded off the lead pack and was getting passed by everyone.

Once the race was over and I got a few beers in my system to num the embarrassment, I soon found myself in conversation with many other "elite" runners who had bad races. The egotistical consensus from my other elite compatriots is that; those of us who ran in the trials hadn't quite recovered and that this race was a bit of a shock to us.... comparatively of course. So now that I've added some fuel to the fire, I can refocus on the main goal of running a PR at the Grandma's Marathon. But this weekend wasn't over yet...

After the race I had a wonderful wedding to attend to in Jacksonville Beach. The beverages and dances seemed to have taken my worries of the race away and refocus on more important things, at the current moment. So, after a fun filled weekend in Flo-rida, I was happy enough to actually race my first Gate River Run and attend an awesome wedding! My mileage for the past week was very unimpressive, but I did get in one track workout. Hopefully things will start to pick up in the next couple of weeks as I hit the roads more and get ready for the 26.2 mile tour of Duluth, MN.

Week 1:

This wasn't a great way to start off my marathon training, but it's a starting point.... I guess. I have introduced some core, if that means anything.

Mon - am. 4 miles easy

Tue - am. 5x(200, 200, 400) in [31, 31, 68], [31, 31, 67], [31, 31, 65], [31, 30, 64], [31, 31, 64] total: 9 / pm. 10 miles

Wed - am. 8 miles

Thur - am. 10 miles / pm. 10 miles

Fri - am. Travled to Jax - no running

Sat - am. 15k Gate River Run [4:39, 4:49, 4:54, 5:09, 5:11, 10:33(2 miles), 5:43, 5:36] 48:14. total: 14 miles

Sun - am. 8 miles

Total: 73