This week was the final week before I start training for the California International Marathon. Even though the smoke still lingering through Friday, this week I ramped up my mileage after last week’s down week. On the weekend, the smoke finally dissipated and my mom visited, so we had such a fun weekend – the perfect way to wrap up the fun of summer base building before the work of marathon training.
Monday: 30 minutes strength training
I will choose a morning workout over an evening workout any day. Even in my senior year of college and grad school, I preferred to wake up a 5 or 6 AM to work out. We strength trained early at the gym this morning, which made a significant difference for me. I really enjoyed the strength workout, especially all of the lunges. I think I prefer lunges over squats, especially because there are so many variations.
2 x 10 + 1 x 5 lateral lunges with weight
2 x 10 + 1 x 5 push ups
2 x 10 + 1 x 5 reverse lunges with weight
2 x 10 + 1 x 5 stability ball pikes
2 x 12 + 1 x 5 hamstring ball curls
3 x 10 cable tricep pulldowns
2 x assisted pull ups (5 for first set, 3 for second set)
I really enjoyed this month’s Stridebox, especially because of the appearance of the Endurapouch running fuel pouch that Ryan sells!
Tuesday: 7 mile run
When August arrives, the sunrise gradually occurs later and later in the morning. The sun was barely up when Ollie and I began our run. I used my Knuckle Lights for the first time in months to illuminate our path through the foggy bog. After two miles, we met up with Ryan and ran 5 more miles. The air quality still felt worse than normal, but I felt so good getting back into my normal daily mileage after a down week.
Wednesday: 5 mile fartlek & 15 minutes Pilates
Ryan had a couple weeks off of speed work – first due to an achy knee, then due to the extreme heat and air quality last week – so I eased him back in with a fartlek run based solely on effort. After a mile warm-up, we ran 3 sets of 8 minutes hard with 3 minutes of easy jogging in between each set. I let him set the pace and just kept up, cueing the start and stop of each interval.
Our route forced a focus on effort rather than pace: the first interval was uphill, the second interval was through a windy, wooded section of paved trail that seldom has reliable GPS, and third interval was along a slightly downhill to flat stretch. Ryan ran his fastest timed mile – 7:11! – on that last stretch.
In the afternoon, I did a quick Pilates workout to work on mobility and core strength.
Thursday: 7 mile run
Ollie and I woke up early and ran not with the sunrise, but with the moon still high in the sky. We did two miles on our own and then Ryan joined us for another five. Poor Charlie desperately wanted to run, but the air quality was still at an unhealthy level and his short snout can make it hard for him to breathe.
Friday: 5 mile run
This was a “get it done” type of run. I do not know if it was a combination of heat and air quality or if I was not feeling well, but my breathing was too labored for the pace and my stomach felt off. I ran three miles with Charlie and two miles with Ollie, who seemed affected by the conditions as well.
Saturday: 7 mile run
Ryan and I intended on 10 miles, but we got a later start than planned and did not want to take up a whole Saturday morning with my mom in town. We ran for an hour instead with Ollie and tested out a new Ruffwear leash for him. The weather finally had cooled down and the smoke dissipated and we enjoyed beautiful, almost fall-like weather on our run.
After our run and breakfast out, we took my mom and the dogs to the North Cascades National Park. We found an unoccupied stretch of beach on Lake Diablo and let Ollie swim. Ollie was quaking with excitement over the opportunity to swim.
Sunday: Active rest day
We visited my aunt, cousin, and cousin-in-law who live about an hour south of us. Their house was absolutely stunning and we had a wonderful time seeing family. After visiting them, Mom, Ryan, and I took Ollie and Charlie for a long walk and picked some wild blackberries.
[Tweet “Ramping up for #marathon training and this week’s workouts from @thisrunrecipes #running”]
Do you prefer lunges or squats?
How was your week in running?
16 Responses
I think I find lunges to be harder than squats, but that probably means I need to do them more! There are definitely some variations I prefer over others. Great week of training! Glad the air is finally clearing up for you.
Lunges are so much harder that squats, which makes me wonder if I compensate on squats with my stronger leg. And thank you!
I definitely prefer lunges to squats just for the reason you said so – many, many variations! You’ve got a solid base going into training. I’m excited to follow along!
The variations of lunges are so fun! And thank you!
My clients at the gym would have preferred that I didn’t come up with so many variations on lunges, haha. They certainly learned how multifuctional they could be!
The variations are what make lunges fun!
I’m really liking lunges lately. I revamped my Monday strength routine to be more single-leg focused with fewer squats. I still do some, just more single-leg deadlifts, lunges, and glute bridges. So far it’s been a pretty good change.
Good job on logging the miles this week! I am NOT a morning workout person. I will either do a workout in the evening or at lunch time on the treadmill (or lunch time on the road, although it’s too brutal here for that right now with the heat). Good luck as you ramp up for CIM!
Single leg exercises always feel challenging in a good way. I am not an evening runner, although I think it’s because of how sensitive I am to any heat. And thank you!
Ahhh your week sounds like it was better than the previous week with all your sore throat and coughing! Wasn’t yesterday (and Saturday) SO AMAZING to be able to breathe in clear air and actually SEE THE MOUNTAINS AGAIN?!?!?!?! So happy.
My hips aren’t stable enough for lunges, so I stick to squats.
It was so wonderful to see the mountains again! And the air feels so amazing now.
Can’t believe it’s time for you to start CIM training already! Where did the time go?
Glad you had such a fun weekend with mom in town!
I know! It’s so weird to think about training for a race in December right now.
im so glad you had fun with your mom! I don’t know – I sort of like both squats and lunges. maybe squats more because lunges sometimes I worry more about my form.
Thank you! Form with lunges is tricky, but I worry so much about overcompensating with my stronger side in a squat.
I’m a squat girl for sure but I don’t mind backward stepping lunges as much. It’s a knee thing 🙂
You have to tell me (and maybe everyone?) how you like the Ruffwear leash. They reached out to me but I literally just bought a running leash so I said I would come back around in a few months.
LOVE the pictures of Ollie getting his swim on!!
With three runs to test, I really like the Ruffwear leash! Ollie pulled too hard for the normal bungie running leash and the Ruffwear Slackline gives good control. Plus the clip is so easy to use. I do use it with a waist leash I have from another belt and loop the waist/handle around that belt to give Ollie a bit more space in front of me (he seems to get anxious if he feels like I am running too close to him).