My first week of marathon training for the Skyline to the Sea Trail Marathon is done!
Read my full marathon training kickoff post.
Goals For Training
My overall theme for this training cycle is ‘anything but the usual.’ I’m trying to focus on keeping my positive running routines while busting the rut that I found myself in during my last training cycle.
My Training Goals
Each week I want to:
- Run 1 new route
- Run (at least) 1 route with significant elevation gain
- Do yoga once
- Do 2-3 strength & general fitness workouts
The Plan v. Reality: Week 1
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | 3 miles | Rest NTC | 3 miles | Rest Asana Rebel | 3 miles | 5 miles | Rest Asana Rebel |
| Actual | 3 miles | 45-minute NTC | 3 miles | 20-minute Asana Rebel | 3 miles | 6 miles | 17-minute Asana Rebel |
Monday
Considering the theme of this training cycle is anything but the usual, I didn’t knock it out the park today, doing my usual 3-mile loop of the lake at a comfortable pace.
But I did this intentionally since I paced a half marathon yesterday morning. I am starting on day 1, week 1 in a little bit of recovery mode.
While I don’t need a full-on recovery day after a half marathon (at what for me is a comfortable pace), it seemed wise to keep it familiar.
So the usual it is!
Tuesday
Today was the last day of a 6-week Nike Training Club Lean Fit workout program- the 45-minute ‘Controlled Blast’.
There were way too many 45-minute high-intensity workouts in this program for my taste, something like 16 of the 21 workouts were 45-minute high or moderate intensity workouts. When it’s in addition to all the running, it gets to be too much.
I think I’ll try some new workout apps and routines for a bit instead of getting back into a new NTC program.
Wednesday
Another short run this morning. Not yet 100% in the marathon training mindset. Feeling kinda blah in the running – which is not uncommon for the first week or so of marathon training.
I don’t yet have any momentum.
I know I’ll get there.
Thursday
No running today, but instead did a yoga-inspired strength workout. Does that count as both yoga and strength in my weekly goals? I think so.
First up in my attempt to find new apps and routines to replace (at least temporarily) my NTC ones is Asana Rebel, a ‘yoga-inspired fitness’ app.
I did both the 19-minute ‘Full Body’ workout and the Daily Goal 5-minute program.
I was underwhelmed with the full body workout. Almost every move has a 30-second preview. While that would be great for total newbies, it left me feeling like I had a lot of downtime. But I’ll do a few more workouts before I completely pass judgment.
On the other hand, I loved the 5 minute(ish) Daily Goal workout. As far as I can tell, the 5-minute daily workout is new every day. It is a little bit of yoga and a little bit of stretching. Even if I don’t stick with their full workouts, I’ll use these 5-minute workouts in place of my usual morning stretching routine for a bit.
I’m still stretching regularly in the morning and it has served me well, but that routine could also use a little shaking up.
Friday
One of my new ideas for this training cycle is to have shorter run on Friday and then my long run on Saturday.
It won’t be true back to back long runs like I did when I was training for my ultra, but it will (intentionally) give me slightly tired legs for the long run, so my body is more used to the feeling of working with tired legs.
Theoretically, this will help in the later miles of the marathon when my legs are tiring out.
It will be easy enough now when I’m doing 3 miles Friday and 5 on Saturday. I may come to regret the idea when I’m doing 8 miles on Friday and 20 on Saturday. But even that will have nothing on the 26 miles on Saturday, 10 on Sunday I did during ultra training.
That almost killed me.
Saturday
I said I wanted to do a run with ‘significant’ elevation gain. I may have taken my idea a little too literally.
For my morning run, I headed out to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park for a hilly trail run. Or what could more specifically be considered a hilly trail power walk (at least on the uphills).
I knew going in that the course I was doing climbed around 1400’ (1446′ by my Garmin, but who’s counting). I knew what I was in for, but still… yikes.
It’s hilly as heck, but I think I’ll be heading back out that way for future runs. It’s a fun little park with options in many different distances.
It wasn’t a terribly exciting run from a map view, but keep an eye on the elevation chart!
Sunday
Once again, trying an Asana Rebel workout. Today was the 17-minute ‘Flexibility Hangout’. I liked this one better than I did Thursday’s workout, but still more downtime that I would like for such a short workout.
But I’m still loving the Daily Goal 5-minute workout. I feel like it’s more of a workout than the 17-minute one since it’s all workout, no filler.
Week Summary
While my weekday routes were the usual, my Saturday run was both a new route and super hilly, which more than made up for it.
On the workout front, while I didn’t love the longer Asana Rebel workouts, I do love their 5(ish) minute ‘Daily Goal’ workouts and have incorporated that into my morning routine in place of my usual stretching routine.
Quick win for keeping the routine while simultaneously busting the rut!
Next Week: Week 2
The Plan
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | 3 miles | Strength | 3 miles | Strength | 3 miles | 6 miles | easy cross train/strength |
| Actual | 3 miles | 20 min yoga-based strength | 3 miles | 27 min yoga-based strength | 3 miles | 6 miles | 20 min yoga-based strength |
Area of Focus
Incorporating the 5-minute Asana Rebel daily goal workout into my morning routine. At 5-minutes, even I can’t come up with too many excuses not to do it.
