Back to being Track Head Med again

First of all, I need to give a special shout-out to the Marine Corps Marathon forum on Runner's World. I've been posting there since Summer 2009, when I started training for my first MCM. They are great - very supportive and funny - always able to keep everyone in check with some sass, spunk, and even encouragement! I have met a few of them, both at MCM and at DC meet-ups, but still feel connected to the ones who I haven't met yet. After all, we all post daily and write to each other - it is definitely a friendship, albeit a digital one.

Anyways, today is registration day for the Marine Corps Marathon (in honor of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima). I am signing up, marking it my third year in a row doing MCM, and will be the 2nd time I pace my friend Jenny. Very excited for 10/30 - one of my favorite races.

On the forum, we have developed nicknames for each other. The forum calls me "Track Head Med" because of my crazy track workouts. In training for previous marathons, I have done track workouts that total 14-14.5 miles. These entail long warm ups and cool downs, and generally 2 segements (a 2k cutdown where you go faster and faster with each lap, and then either mile repeats or 800s that get faster and faster). I love them - they are a great check to get for the day, and can teach a lot about pacing/how to push at the end.

It will be a while before I get up to 14 miles on the track again, but yesterday I got to return to my favorite stomping ground. I hadn't had a successful workout since early November, before all of the ITBS stuff. But now it was time to revist the track, especially with cycle 2 of Boston training starting at the 3:30 goal in mind.

2.5 mile warm up. Then, did a test lap around the track (we had some freezing rain Monday night) to make sure the track was useable. All clear! Then 2000 meter cutdown, starting at 2:00 per lap pace and getting progessively faster. Finished in 9:04, and happy to successfully finish the first part of the workout. Then, 2 laps of recovery. I had the track to myself, and was very excited about that. Then time for 5 x 800, starting at 3:40 and aiming to knock off 3 seconds with each one (and 1 lap recovery in between). End result: 3:38, 3:34, 3:31, 3:27, 3:24. 2.5 mile cooldown. Total mileage: 10.25 miles. Yes!! I was a little fast with the 800s, but felt strong the whole time. Quite literally, I am back on track and excited about the marathons to come!