Reflection: Week 4 of 20

Weeks 3 and 4 were like day and night – I ended Week 3 a little concerned about a pain I was feeling in my butt/hip area (to be discussed in a later blog) while I ended Week 4 feeling very strong, confident and recharged for another tough week ahead.

As I have discussed previously, I am following one of Hal Higdon’s marathon training program which is an 18-week program. Technically this is the end of my fourth week of training but only the end of my second week of Hal’s training schedule. I needed a few weeks of light running before I got deep into training just coming back from an injury.  I can really feel a difference with my strength and speed so early in my training compared to the final weeks of training right before I fractured my foot – I am much stronger and faster.  Definitely don’t have my endurance back, 14 miles being my longest run so far.  I would definitely say the running break (down time) really gave my body enough rest and ample time to recover.  The funny thing is that even though I know this, I still fight myself on my recovery days. It doesn’t make any sense for me to know that they are important yet I feel guilty running so slowly. 

Anyway, here is what happened this week:

WEEK 4 OF 20
Total Mileage:  34:26
Cross Training: None (no time!)
Garmin Statistics:  click here

Monday – Recovery Run (3.14 mi)
Tuesday – Track (5.01 mi total including warm-up and cool-down).
                   The workout: 1 x 4,800m
                     19:34 (6:36, 6:38, 6:21)
Wednesday – No time to run! (0 mi)
Thursday – Tempo (6.2 mi)
                     Long Beach Turkey Trot
                     42:25 (6:50, 7:06, 7:10, 6:52, 6:51, 6:51 :43)
Friday – Rest day (0 mi)
Saturday – Pace Run (6 mi)
                      42:58 (7:09 avg)
Sunday – Long Run (14 mi)
                    1:51:09 (7:56 avg)

As I mentioned, it was a really good week, hard but good. No real issues with butt/hip this week. Next week I hope to add 2-3 more miles to my weekly total.