Week 1 - Key Run Workout #3

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Better news today and a great way to end Week 1 of my Marine Corps Marathon Training Plan. In my previous two Key Run Workouts this week I’d struggled in the heat and humidity and came away with what I thought were poor performances. On reflection however, I’m actually not too unhappy with my splits and pace - I just need to adjust to the heat and set more realistic goals when the temperatures are high.

Anyway, back to today’s Key Run Workout #3 - a 13 mile effort to be run at Planned Marathon Pace (PMP) plus 30 seconds. PMP for me, based on a recent 18:00 5k time, is 6:41 per mile pace. Add on the 30 seconds and it comes out at 7:11 pace for the 13 miles.

I wanted to avoid the heat of the day, so I set my alarm for 6:00am and prepared all my running gear in advance. I find if I wake up in the morning and my gear is laid out I’m more inclined to actually get up and run. If I have to hunt around for shorts, socks etc. I might just not bother At 6:00am I made my way downstairs, made up a 2 scoop mix of Sustained Energy which I take as breakfast on long run days. The advantages to this are (a) I’m not waiting to digest a solid breakfast which can take 2 or 3 hours depending on what I eat and (b) the 24 ounces of water that go into the drink are vital for correct hydration before a long run.

After checking and replying to a few emails, it’s time to drive to First Landing State Park when I usually run my long runs. The park is made up of a series of trails which are perfect for running any kind of distance. The surface is soft and there’s plenty of shade to hide from the sun. The only downside can be the amount of bugs around at this time of year, but if you stay on the main trail it’s usually fine.

I arrive just before 7:00am and after 4 or 5 minutes of easy stretching I’m on my way. The 7:11 pace I need to maintain doesn’t actually count for the first and last mile, which actually are used as a warm up and cool down. Mile 1 is completed in 7:45 and it feels as easy as it should feel. The next 6 miles are all fairly close to goal pace (7:09, 7:02, 7:12, 7:20, 7:04, 6:53) and it still feels good. On the way back I stop at one of the public water fountains to take a quick drink, and my Garmin GPS seems to get confused and goes into a continuous auto-pause/auto-resume mode. I don’t have time to stop and figure it out so I keep running at the same pace and heart rate. For some reason (and I’m not sure if it’s related to the GPS problem), the next 3 miles are all slower than goal pace (7:16, 7:18, 7:19) and each mile seems to get a little longer in relation to the fixed mile posts on the main trail. Not to worry, I put in an increased effort for the next 2 miles (7:09 and 6:40) and cruise home in the final mile for a final time of just over 1 hour 33 minutes - exactly 7:11 pace!

Only in the latter miles did I feel like I had to work to any degree, so I’m really pleased with the long run went and how I felt afterwards too. As part of my recovery I did 5 to 10 minutes of stretching and consumed a 24 ounce mix of Recoverite, one of my other favorite nutrition products from Hammer Nutrition.

All in all a great workout and now I feel more confident going into Week 2 of the FIRST Training Plan…