Squeezing in under the wire for my Friday Five Link up with

Eat, Pray, Run DC,   Mar on the Run, and You Signed Up for What?

Five Runs I’m doing to train for the Marine Corps Marathon

The Cut-Down

Now it seems like there are several different ways to run these, but I run them the way my coach tells me to and I like them even if they are the bane of my existence!    Example of my last cut-down assignment.    Warm up mile at 11 minute pace.   Next mile at 9:45.  Next mile at 9:25.  Two miles at 9:20 and a mile cool down for a total of 6 miles.    The miles and the pace fluctuate.  Yes, they are hard.   No, I don’t always hit the pace.   Yes, these are the runs that I love to hate.   That being said they are effective.

The Long Run

We all do them.   Most dread them.   These are another hard run, but this run is harder mentally.    As we all know, running a marathon is just as mental as physical.   So as it trains the legs to run the miles, it also is training the brain to deal with it.

The Recovery Run

I love these.   They are short and sweet and slow!!    Who doesn’t love a recovery run with their friends.

Aerobic Runs

These are runs at a given pace usually on days after a hard run.    These runs are designed to help me learn to run on tired legs.  It takes a while for it to happen, but eventually your legs know just what to do even when your mind thinks it can’t.   I had such a run this week.  This run was the day after a brutally hot cut-down run of 6 miles.   My coach warned me that this run would be hard and just to run which I did.   I went into this run thinking how much it would suck and it did in the beginning.   My legs were heavy.   My legs were tired and I just didn’t know how I would do it.   Then a funny thing happened.   My legs just did what I’ve been trying to train them to do.  They almost were on auto pilot.  I started to just concentrate on my legs turning over pushing me forward and the feel of them turning over.  Even on tired legs, I was consciously slowing my pace down.  It was a run that I was sad to see end because I felt like these were the legs I’ve been waiting for and these are the legs that I want the day of my marathon I decided. These were legs that kept moving even when my mind was thinking they wouldn’t be able to go.

Rest Days

No, this is not a run; but it is equally important.   Our body needs it.    Without it, we may be more prone to injury.    I embrace my rest days!    I can’t do it every week,but I love to get a massage on a rest day.   Yes, it is a luxury.   No, I don’t go as often as my legs would like, but when I do go I enjoy it!