CIM Training Week 5

CIM Training Week 5

This week was a cutback week after 4 weeks of build-up, with just 31 miles of running and no long run. Ryan and I traveled to St. Louis for a family wedding this weekend, so I did all my runs before we left. Since I ran 15 miles, including the Craft Classic Half, on Sunday, I did a shorter long run this week since I would not have ample recovery for a longer run before we left. Although if you looked at the training week as Sunday through Saturday, instead of Monday through Sunday, I had my highest mileage week of training yet with 46 miles in six days.

CIM Training Week 5

Monday: 3 mile recovery run & 30 minutes Pilates

Ollie and I ventured into the darkness for a short recovery run. It’s amazing the difference that a later sunrise makes: during May, June, and July, it was no problem to head out and run 7 miles by 6:30 AM. Now, 3 miles before 6:30 AM felt like waking up early, since we ran in the dark the entire time. This was a sluggish run, probably in part because I had not had any coffee beforehand and probably because of the 15 miler/half marathon the previous day. 

Tuesday: 6 x 1 minute uphill hard (7 miles total)

I did not check the weather before heading out on this run and perhaps it’s best that I went into this workout not knowing. Both my breathing felt harder and my legs heavier throughout my warm-up and I figured it must be a bit humid; as my weather app revealed after my run, the humidity was 100%. No wonder I felt like I was moving through sand!

Hill repeats are one of my least favorite workouts, despite the fact that the duration of work is less than that of interval runs or tempo runs. No matter how long or short the intervals, hill repeats are hard – although they provide a sense of accomplishment once they are done.  After a long warm-up (~3.5 miles), I ran 6 repeats of 1 minute at 5K effort on a 6-7% incline, followed by a cool down to 7 miles. 

CIM Training Week 5

Wednesday: 7 mile easy run 

Ollie and I ran 6 easy miles, during which he nearly caught a squirrel. The benefit of hill repeats, compared to speedwork, is that my legs felt more recovered. I didn’t monitor pace during the run and focused on a light effort and I was pleasantly surprised with our pace. After running Ollie, I immediately headed out with our friend’s German Shepherd – and he ran his first continual mile! 

Thursday: Fartlek and progression long run (10 miles total)

Since I wasn’t doing a marathon long run, I opted for a longer and harder workout. I really enjoy combination workouts – they make the miles fly by and providing a good training stimulus. This run utilized intervals at 10K effort to fatigue legs before finishing the run at marathon pace – a great way to practice running marathon pace with tired legs. 

CIM Training Week 5

The workout:
2 mile warm-up
4 miles repeating (1 minute at 10K effort, 1 minute easy)
2 miles easy
2 miles at marathon pace 

I hit a 7:46 and 7:49 for those two marathon pace miles, which I was pretty pleased with! 

Friday: 4 mile easy run

I was feeling the lack of rest days (I almost never run 6 days in a row now), so Ollie and I did a short 35 minute run on a flat route. A short run did feel good for shaking out my legs before our flight to St. Louis, but I was also glad to have a weekend of rest at this point. 

CIM Training Week 5

Saturday: Rest day

My cousin got married! We attended a beautiful mid-day Mass for their ceremony and a reception later in the evening. It was so wonderful to see my family and get dressed up for a fun evening together. 

CIM Training Week 5

Sunday: Rest day 

And just like that, we were flying back to Seattle! 

[Tweet “A cutback week of marathon training and a weekend of travel via @thisrunrecipes #runCIM #marathon #running”]

Do your training weeks start on Sunday or Monday?
How was your week of training?

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14 Responses

  1. Great job this week! I used to start training weeks on Sunday, but ever since my last marathon training cycle when my coach started them on Monday Ive switched to that. It doesn’t matter too much since most of the time Sunday is my rest day. Im glad you enjoyed the wedding and had a fun weekend with family!

  2. Hands up for the cutback week!! And the constant planning of long runs around weekend plans is a struggle for me but you feel so good when you finish “early” and can enjoy whatever is going on. And those hill repeats are no joke…and the awful weather as an added bonus…but you did it!! Congrats on another strong week of running and you guys clean up well 🙂 That dress is gorgeous!!

    1. Thank you! The dress is from Nordstrom Rack, which made it even better since it was on sale! Hill repeats are no joke – but then they are definitely a way to inject some speed into the legs!

  3. I definitely start my training weeks on Monday. I’m not sure of ANYONE who starts them on Sunday- most people do long runs on Sunday, right? But I guess if you did, that would just mean your long run was at the beginning of the week instead of the end.

    Looks like you had an awesome time at the wedding and a good week of training! I don’t blame you not to do a long run especially with a big build up and just running that half marathon. It doesn’t really matter what the weekly totals look like all the time, your body doesn’t know your training schedule (Mon-Sun or Sun-Sat if anyone does that); it just knows stress and mileage.

    1. That’s what I thought – which is why it was so weird that my Garmin was logging weeks from Sunday to Saturday! I have seen plans that put the long run at the start of the week – I think what matters most is looking at total mileage over time – like you said, the body doesn’t know a week, just how much stress in the past few days.

  4. I love that photo of you two and I totally spied your Garmin on your wrist! Ha ha! So great. Hill workouts are rough. I still haven’t done that one you texted me, but I probably will this week sometime. I’m procrastinating…

    1. Thank you! Ha I had to wear my Garmin because of a telltale Garmin tan line, and to get steps recorded! I hope the hill workout goes well for you – I promise it’s not as bad as it looks on paper….

  5. I love that Sunday is often your rest day… I’m trying to rearrange my training schedule to better allow for that as it definitely affects the whole family more than Saturday. Great cut back week- and I love the 10k to marathon pace run!

    1. Originally, it was because of church on Sunday mornings, although now we go to Mass on Saturday nights or Sunday nights and hike on Sundays 🙂 It really does make the schedule easier, so I hope you can rearrange your schedule! And thank you – that run was a fun one!

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