It’s been awhile, but I am finally starting to train for a race again! I’m planning to run the Charles Street 12 on August 31st. I’ve been slowly building up my mileage so even though I started “training” this week, it’s not like I’m starting from scratch. However, there will only be 7 official weeks of training.
I felt like I needed some help with keeping myself in check so I reach out to Laura to ask her to write me a training plan. I wanted to make sure that I don’t overtrain but also feel prepared to run 12 miles at the end of the summer. The key to this training cycle will be flexibility!
This first week was a little different because I was off all week and was at the beach from Wednesday through Sunday. We also had a serious heat wave on the east coast.
7 weeks to the Charles Street 12
Sunday: Usually my weeks start on Monday but I figured I would get in my two strength training sessions before I went away.
Monday: Hill repeats! It’s been a long time since I did hill repeats. The plan called for a warm up plus 8 x 1 minute repeats. I did this workout outside and at first I overestimated how long it would take me to run up a nearby hill so I had to find a different one. It was also weird to run these intervals by time because I was looking at my watch to see when the minute was up (I should have programmed the workout into my watch.) But it went well!
Tuesday: I got in my second strength training session of the week
We also went out for a walk later in the morning.
Wednesday: Rest day/drove to the beach (at 4:45 am…)
Thursday: 3 miles and core/glute/hip exercises
Friday: I got in my 9 mile long run, but it was a struggle. I knew the real heat would arrive over the weekend so I was glad to get this done before that. But it was still so humid. I had to play some mind games to get through it!
Saturday: 3.5 miles in the heat. I was really glad I wasn’t running any more than this. I ran on the beach so there was a slight breeze but not much. The key was keeping my pace super slow and drinking water before, during, and after!
Sunday: Rest day/drove home
I hit 20 miles for the week for the first time since having Grayson! It was also my first time running 4 times a week. I won’t always run 4 days a week, some weeks it will be 3. Laura built in an optional 4th day because some weeks I will have time and others I won’t.
I am sure I will be doing plenty of treadmill runs and stroller runs to prepare for this race, but I just hope to get the runs done somehow! And if I don’t, that’s ok too. Now, I should probably actually register for this race at some point!
Did you have a heat wave this week?
Ever do a shortened/modified training cycle?
I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down!
So many are blogging about the heat wave last week because it was such a dragon for us all! I’m doing MCM (late October), and am kind of going with your strategy…I have a solid base, so I’m not starting from scratch. But I have been kind of “winging it” with my runs, so I need to get some structure officially done on paper for myself. I have most of the long runs mapped out, but I need to fine-tune the weekly stuff. It’s great to see you back on the WRD!!
You know whats funny is that I obviously follow you on IG every day but I didnt know you were doing MCM (or I missed it) until I read your post:) That’s why I am excited to be back here reading blogs! Hopefully I can keep up with it. I’m excited to see how your training comes together!
Great job on an awesome first week of training – and hooray for the first postpartum 20 mile week!!
I’m already eyeing some postnatal races for about 6-7 months postpartum and those will probably be shorter training cycles because of winter and slowing building back up.
I think that will be a good plan! I am glad I didn’t try to race too soon after having Grayson because there was just so much going on. It was nice to just take my time and then jump in when I was really ready.
So glad to have you back at the weekly run down! So fun to be back on a training plan. You seem to be bouncing back quickly. I miss training for a race but this heat is killing me! Looks like a great start to your plan
It’s definitely nice to be back to training (and blogging- for now!) Of course I had the hottest week to start out with, so hopefully it will just get easier from here. Although that’s probably not likely!
He’s getting so big — and cute!
Congrats on a solid week. the heat was ridiculous
Aww thank you! Yep, the heat was rough this week for so many of us.
hooray for training! how exciting! and what a week of running for you. Grayson is just absolutely adorable! even with the heat I love so much to run at the beach or even near a body of water. I don’t know what it is but it just makes me so happy. our heatwave starts this week (again – we had two weeks of scorch about a month ago) and I’m in week 5 of Chicago marathon training… As soon as I was cleared for running after my foot operation, I started building up so that I’d have at least a little endurance by the time I started training. That was the idea anyway – turns out endurance is sometimes hard to get back. Oh well, onward!!
I also love running at the beach, even when its really hot! Thats probably my favorite place to run in the heat. Hopefully your endurance will come back quickly now that you are training!
I bet it feels great to be getting back at it! This summer has been a challenge to get anything of distance in. I do have a half in September so I need to start upping my mileage. I’m not stressing about it–if I don’t get to the starting line, it’s ok. We’ll see how things go. Good luck with your training. I think Laura is a good choice for a coach!
It seems like your approach this summer has been working out well for you! We can only hope the heat will die down soon, right?
It looks like we all got hit with the heat wave. It was terrible. I am glad it is finally cooling down. You did great running 20 miles this week. Great job getting it done. I find that programming my workouts in Garmin Connect is so helpful to me and I don’t have to constantly be looking at my watch.
Yes I like doing that too! I just always forget to do it in advance. I need to remember for next time because it really makes run process of getting the workout done go smoother!
Cheers to a new training cycle! I haven’t done much since finishing the London Marathon and I swear it is such a great summer to not be training! That said, it’s time for me to ramp up for ZOOMA Great Lakes in September. Oh my he’s so big already!
I bet this is a nice time of year to take a break from training! Although I tend to find the the winter months can be the hardest to keep up with workouts.
Welcome back to the weekly recaps! Glad to read about your return to a training plan. A 12 miler sounds like a fun distance. Hill repeats are the worst/best 🙂
Thanks! Yes they were a good workout since I haven’t done any real speedwork since returning to running.