Virtual MCM Training – Week 4

I am training for the Marine Corps Marathon. It will be held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My race day will be on October 18 and this was week 4 of training…

Monday – Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, Level 2; Ab circuit; 3 minute mountain legs

Tuesday – 4 miles easy

Wednesday – 5K time trial / 5.5 miles total (warm-up/cool down)
I was nervous about this run from the time I saw it on my training plan 4 weeks ago. And I’ve been thinking about it since finishing last week’s Wednesday workout.

It’s been awhile since I ran a 5K (my last legit road 5K was in 2014) and I wasn’t sure how to pace it. Standing on the trail about to start, I felt the same nervousness that you do on race morning. But also nervous because I knew this was going to hurt. After staring down the trail for several minutes, I finally bucked up and got going.

Mile 1 – 9:24 (I hope that wasn’t too fast)
Mile 2 – 9:30 (This is hurting, but at least I’m on the way back now)
Mile 3 – 8:50 (I think I’m going to puke)
Last 0.1 – 0:51 (I did it! Thank goodness that’s over. Ow)

I met my “secret” goal of sub-30, and finished my time trial in 28:35. I’m really pleased with how it went, especially since it was 80 degrees, sunny, and humid outside.

Thursday – 25 min. easy indoor bike
My hips and hamstrings were tight and sore from Wednesday’s workout. It felt good to get in an easy ride and then stretch.

Friday – 4 miles easy
My legs still felt a bit tired from Wednesday’s run. I wondered what that would mean for Saturday’s long run.

Also, it turns out that the map of my running route looked like Elvis. It do be like that sometimes.

Saturday – 17 mile long run
I met up with Kim for this run and it was our first run together in about a month. Good thing it was a long run because we had lots of catching up to do!

It was much cooler outside, but extremely muggy. The air temperature and dew point were actually the same. During the last 90 minutes I did more pickups, but this time they ranged from 1 minute to 7 minutes long. Some of them were on a gradual uphill section which made them even tougher!

One of my hip flexors was sore throughout this run and both of my hamstrings felt tight on the uphill section during the final 4-5 miles of the run. But it’s been a challenging week. And as I told Kim at one point toward the end of our run, “Aside from the things that hurt, I feel great!”

Sunday – 4 miles easy
My hip was still feeling really sore, but it seemed to loosen up some towards the end of my run.