Comeback Week ?

So, I kinda of merged Week 11, Week 12, and Week 13 of the plan. (obviously, they number by weeks out from the race). Technically, last week was 12 weeks out.

The best thing about the week, was that after probably 1 and half years or so, Running Partner Steve and I finally got back into a running routine! We met twice last week for runs and since we both have new jobs that are less stressful and less busy, I think we will easily be able to keep up a running routine. YAY for running partners and accountability!

So, that being said, I roped him into doing two of my workouts together:

As a reminder: I'm hoping to run a 3:59 in Oklahoma City in April. That pace is 9:07.

Workout #1:
Was supposed to be 5x1000 m. Steve and I meet at 5:30am, it is DARK out at that time and while I'm still new to the Garmin 105 and it's button placements, I opted to run the Workout 1 from Week 13 which was:3x1600m with 3 minute recoveries (we did 400 recoveries. Again. It's Dark!).

So, I wore my trusty timex, because the quarter miles are marked where we run. And of course, the light is out on the watch. So, I had no idea about my time or if I was getting the intervals marked off right on the watch. I will say that it felt hard. Very hard. I almost quit after the first one, but I was like... ohhh... I can do two more and then I almost quit after the second one, but I was like... ohhhh there's only one more. It was rough.

When we finished the run, I realized that I had recorded our warm up mile: 9:21 and our first interval at 8:21 (I was shooting for 8:40). And then I had one time for the rest of our run that included the last two intervals, two recoveries, and two miles of cool down and that total time was:  40:32 which is 9:00 pace, so, I'm going to assume that my other two intervals were fast and that's why they felt like poop. Oh well. Did it.

Workout #2
From Week 12: 1 mile easy, 4 miles Tempo, 1 mile cool down. Again, I did this with Steve and my plan was to run it at around 8:40 pace, too. (I need to re-assess my paces on my workouts methinks), and we averaged 9:00 instead. So, I guess in the end, it ended up being a Marathon Pace Run, which, I'll take.

Workout #3
From Week 11: 13 miles @ :15 seconds over planned marathon pace. Since I was running a half marathon on Saturday, I figured this long run from week 11 was perfect. And it would have been, except, I never got a mile that was 9:22 pace. I started off with a couple of miles at planned marathon pace, but after those first two miles, it was a shit show. I finished in something like 2:18. With walk breaks, and miles where I vowed that I was quitting running forever.

So, here's the deal. I haven't been as diligent with the training plan as I should be. So, I think that doing 2 of the weekly workouts and then attempting an aggressive long run is just assuming that I'm wayyyyy more fit than I am. So, I think, moving forward, I'm going to try and make sure that I hit my long run goals and that means, maybe scaling back for a week or two on the weekly workout paces. Still pushing them, but, staying away from 8:21 miles.

I'm not too concerned, there are still 11 weeks till the marathon and if I can string together some good solid weeks till then, I think I can put myself in position to attempt the 3:59(and lose a little weight. YES, still working on that. Failed for awhile. Trying to get back on track).

But, my focus for the next 2-3 weeks is going to be the long run. That's always been my weakest link in training, and so, I want to make sure that I'm focusing on that part of improving.

So, not a great week. Not a terrible week. One foot in front of the other.