Marathon Monday: Week 3 was good for me!

Week 3 of the marathon plan seemed to fly right by! The way this plan is structured is to have 2 higher-mileage weeks followed by a lower-mileage week for recovery. This week my mileage was a little lower than the first two which let me have a nice 'break' before I start building up again next week.

On Monday Dustin said he was going to go swimming at lunch time, and asked if I wanted to join him. I haven't been swimming regularly since the school year ended, so I was happy to get into water. I ended up swimming just over a mile (1650 meters) which felt really good.

Tuesday I had three miles on the schedule. Dustin has been trying to get back into running, and before I was even awake he was off to run! This was a good thing because it motivated me to get up and going--I never run in the morning, but I would like to so I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. When I finally got outside and was ready to go, he got back from his run.

Me (prerun) and Dustin (postrun)

The beginning of the run was really tough. It felt like my body was still waking up and my legs felt super stiff. After about a half mile though, I was happy to be out running, and the rest of the run went well. I finished 3.1 miles at a 9:49 pace (interestingly, the exact distance and pace from last Tuesday!).

Wednesday I set off for my 5 miles at lunchtime. I was planning on running later, but the forecast was predicting rain all afternoon and evening, so I figured I better go as soon as possible. The whole time I was running, it looked like it might start raining, which I think made me push my pace a little bit. Because rain was looming, it was extremely humid on this run, and I think I sweat more than I have on any other run all year. Overall though, it felt good and I completed 5.1 miles at a 9:38 pace.

Stretching in the backyard after the run

Thursday had another 3 miles on the schedule. I was extremely excited about this run because the night before, I had received some new shoes! I frequently check out the running subreddit, Runnit. One of the members is a Skora representative, and he had a $50 gift card giveaway that I ended up winning! Skora is a shoe company that creates shoes to "complement the human body and allow it to perform naturally." I bought the cheapest model of shoe that they had, the Fit, just because I had no idea what to expect and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on shoes that I didn't like.

I loved the feeling of running in these shoes. I am used to running in shoes that have a lot more cushioning, so these felt very light and minimalist. I am not sure if I'll be able to wear them on long run because of the lack of support, but I may be able to work up to it. I was definitely excited to add a new pair of shoes into my rotation. The run on Thursday was 3.1 miles with an average pace of 9:47.

My Garmin view with a cute dog in the background :)

Friday was a rest day--no exciting news to report.

Saturday I decided to participate in a 5k in my home county. I wrote up a race report here, but the summary is that I achieved a PR with a time of 25:08, but am still working on that sub-25! I had 5 pace miles on the schedule, so after the race I grabbed my dog and we ran an extra 2 miles. I let myself keep these two miles easy since I pushed myself so hard during the 5k.

After the race we went to my parents house because it's the last weekend that my nieces will be there. We had some delicious tacos and corn on the cob for lunch (I know, not a typical combination, but it was delicious), and then spent the entire afternoon at the town pool. I worked at that pool as a lifeguard for three years, so it was a bit of a flashback going there. We had a lot of fun, and I continued working on my summer tan. :) In the evening, there was a retirement party for my high school Spanish teacher that we attended, which was fun mostly because I got to hang out with one of my good friends. We drove home afterwards, which made for a late night, and then we proceeded to sleep for about 10 hours!

Sunday was a shorter long run than in previous weeks: only 6 miles to complete. We woke up late and then spent the rest of the morning lounging around. I wrote up my race recap, but didn't accomplish much else. We were planning on having friends come over around 6 for dinner, so I was torn between running before they came in the heat of the afternoon (it was about 93 degrees with super high humidity because storms were coming in), or afterwards after lots of food and some drinks, possibly in the dark. Guess what I chose?

Preparing for my night run

Someday I will be more responsible and not end up running while it's dark outside, but today is not the day. :) I have been meaning to replace the battery in my heart rate monitor for months--this weekend I finally brought it to my parents house and my dad did it for me (we didn't have any screwdrivers small enough for the screws). I ran the 6 miles by heart rate, never looking at my pace. I tried to keep my heart rate around 155, but it kept inching closer to 160. It was only about 73 degrees, but the humidity was 100%, so that may have been part of the reason my heart rate was higher than I expected. Either way, the run felt good, and I ended up with a 10:52 pace.

Overall the week was a good one. I am happy that I was able to get a PR in the 5k, and for the 3rd week in a row, I hit all of the prescribed mileage on my plan. :) I'm ready for Week 4!