I wasn’t originally planning on documenting my training for the Marine Corps Marathon. But I think it’s been awhile since I documented a training cycle, so why not? Let’s lay a little ground work first….

The 2020 Marine Corps Marathon was slated for October 25. Unfortunately, like so many things this year, it has been canceled due to COVID-19. Barry and I were both registered to run, and we both decided to defer our actual entries to next year’s race. We also both decided to sign up to run virtually this year for the special 45th anniversary medal. I’m not usually one to run a race for the medal, but this one is supposed to contain volcanic ash (“black sand”) from Iwo Jima and that’s just plain cool.

MCM has given us a date range of October 1 to November 10 to complete our virtual run. I plan to run it on October 18 with some friends, which means I’m 12 weeks out from race day. Each week, I plan to post a recap of that week’s training. Here’s a run down of week 1.

Monday – Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, Level 2

Tuesday – 4 miles easy
Even though this was at an easy pace, I kind of felt like I was running uphill the whole time. And it was hot. But I did find the “Whomping Willow.”

Wednesday – 4 mile fartlek workout
After a 1 mile warm up, I did repeats at 10K and 5K pace, followed by a 1 mile cool down. This run totally kicked my butt. I had a hard time locking in on my paces and I really suffered in the heat and humidity. When is fall??

Thursday – Ab circuit
My legs needed a rest, so I kept it light and just did my 20 minute core workout.

Friday – 4 miles easy
Nothing exciting to report on this run, but here’s a turtle I saw.

Saturday – 5 miles easy
I did this run first thing in the morning. The temperature was nice and cool, but it was extremely humid.

Sunday – 13 mile long run
I slept in a little before hitting the trail for this one. Fortunately, it still wasn’t too hot out (low 80’s) and I had a really enjoyable run. Thanks to the summer heat and humidity, I haven’t had a pleasant long run in awhile. So it was nice to finally have one where I didn’t suffer. I hydrated and fueled well, and my legs felt strong.

During the last 90 minutes of the run, I did 1 minute pickups that were between marathon pace and 10K pace. That was something new for me, and it was actually pretty fun.

Total miles – 30 miles
Weeks to MCM – 11