This week was 50 miles of running, 24 "miles" of pool-running, and 1500 yards of swimming.
I had initially planned to start "serious" marathon training next week but decided to bump it up a week after looking at the long term weather forecast - though the weather wasn't great this week, it is expected to be more humid next week.
Marathon training meant two big workouts. Wednesday was supposed to be 2x(2000, 1200, 1600) at 10 mile effort, with 1 lap jog between reps and 2 laps jog between sets. I made it to the second 2000 and then pulled the plug because I was starting to strain (never ideal when marathon training). I finished up with a few short reps to preserve some speed and called it good. I still got over 4 miles of work, so it was a productive morning.
Saturday was my first marathon effort workout of the cycle. I haven't run at marathon effort in a while, and it showed in this workout. Instead of locking into the right effort, I sped up considerably for the shorter reps. This is always a risk for me and is one reason I prefer doing 2x5 miles - having to hold a pace for 5 miles removes the temptation to run faster than marathon effort.
Of course, running faster than marathon effort doesn't give the same stimulus as running at marathon effort - it's the aerobic equivalent of cheating and using muscles other than those you intended to strengthen. And it also meant that this workout will need a bit more recovery than it otherwise would have.
Mental note to not make that mistake again. Fortunately, I have at least two months of training ahead of me to get it right.
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Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running in the morning, upperbody weights/core plus foam rolling in evening.
