Base Training Runs Week 4 Completed plus a Fabulous Weekend

I have completed training runs of up to 20 miles over the years but of course, not recently. My last marathon was in 2017 and my longest training run prior to that was 16 miles. So, I was a little surprised that I was a wee bit nervous about a scheduled 4-mile run on Saturday. What is there to be nervous about really? It’s just 4 little measly miles. For one, this is the longest run I have done in more than 3 years! Probably 4 – I haven’t kept the best of records.

Plus, my route is pretty hilly and this extra distance takes me up yet another hill. Hill training is good though, right?

Hills on Eagle River Road during a 4 mile training run. — The Main Hills During My Training Run

Maybe the real concern was doing too much too soon and getting injured or causing knee osteoarthritis flare-ups or anything that will take me out of running. This is probably going to be a concern every week that the mileage increases. As I have mentioned in other posts, I am following Hal Higdon’s 30-week Novice Supreme Program and the total miles is less than a 10% increase each week. Most running plans state that a 10% increase can safely add miles while also preventing injury and burnout when done properly. They also state that you should be running a good 20-25 (some recommend 25-30) miles a week before even starting a marathon training program.

By the time I begin the marathon training phase of this program, I will only be running about 15 miles per week. However, Higdon’s program also adds walking or cross-training each week which aids in building additional strength needed to take on 18 weeks of marathon training. And those two scheduled rest days are just as important as the training days. So far, I believe this is working out great. Being able to do 4 training runs per week when I haven’t been able to run much at all is exciting. Have I mentioned that already (like in almost every post)? Ha!

As far as the 4 miles – it went great. No issues. I am even getting up the hills much easier than I was a month ago. The “long training run” drops back to 3 miles this coming week. I can’t help adding the quotation marks because this type of mileage doesn’t exactly feel like a long run. 10 miles! Now that is a long training run. But that won’t happen until week 17 which is okay because this slow and gradual increase in training runs with recovery weeks is working out great!

Training Runs and Strengthening

Monday Strength Training
Tuesday Run 2 miles + Hip Strengthening/Mobility
Wednesday Run 3 miles
Thursday Run 1.5 miles + Strength training
Friday Rest
Saturday Run 4 miles
Sunday Rest – (feeling a bit fatigued)

Tuesday I was faced with an unexpected white-out. The training run still got done outside!

Shoe Update

I finally tried the Altra Paradigm 6 running shoes on a shorter training run and I absolutely loved them! Do you recall how worried I was that Paradigm 5 had been discontinued and changes were made to the newer model? Sometimes change can be a good thing and sometimes not so good. Of course, for a more accurate evaluation, I will have to run a few miles in them but I think they will work out fine.

Trying out the New Paradigm 6 Altra running shoe — Hmmm…..Is that a Heel Strike?

And the Best for Last

I got to spend a couple of days with these guys! Love, Love, Love them!!! The weather was a bit chilly but we went out for a little hike to the Eagle River Nature Center hoping to catch a glimpse of the swans. Rumor has it that they have returned and we were hoping to see them at the viewing deck but they were not there. Better luck next time; we still enjoyed our little hike.

While we were hanging out here at home, Scott was in the Talkeetna Mountains enjoying snow machining and backcountry skiing with our friend Richard. And then they had quite a show of the Northern Lights.