Week-beginning Thoughts:
I feel so freaking awesome. No soreness. No fatigue. No creeping injuries. This is probably the best marathon training cycle I've had? Not sure if that's because I was just in really, ridiculously good shape when I started or if just running mileage without pace goals merits the credit.
Monday
Scheduled: rest
Did: rest
So much for that "feeling great" thing. I had some general abdominal discomfort this morning and was pretty OK taking a rest day.
Tuesday
Scheduled: 8mi
Did: 8.02 @ 9:55/mi avg, Big 5
Oof. 53 degrees and 91% humidity really crushes your spirits after months of temps in the 20s. I felt heavy this whole run, and started questioning if I was going to make it through. By mile 6, I finally felt "good enough", but this may be a turning point for me in this training cycle. Things might finally be catching up....
Wednesday
Scheduled: 5mi easy
Did: 5.06mi @ 10:04/mi avg, Big 5
Another hot and humid morning, and another round of marathon training pains to go along with it. I wore a new pair of shoes and felt some definite discomfort on my right arch, just under the ball, similar to that problem that I was dealing with last spring. I'd go to a doctor, but, when I went last time, they just told me it might be a mild strain, to ice, put a support pad in my shoe, and keep on keeping on. So, that's what I'll do again... and maybe not wear those new shoes again for awhile.
 |
| soggy, dark, humid morning |
Thursday
Scheduled 16-18mi easy
Did: 18.16mi @ 10:25/mi avg (13.11+5.05 with stroller), Big 5
I had another out of town committee meeting scheduled for the weekend and knew I wouldn't be getting up to run 20+ miles solo, especially when I needed to be DONE by 7am for committee work. So, I swapped long run and speedwork days, and recruited my teammates to start at 4am on a work day to get me through the first 12mi. I was not excited about the route, though. To stay off too many hills (teammate request), we were limited to the road near my house. After they dropped off, I was limited to the road near my house due to: 1) no sunlight = no greenway and 2) heavier morning commute volume = no random road crossings like the ones we can make at 5am. This meant I'd be running more or less the same 4-6mi stretch over and over.
Plus, I was super nervous about how my foot would hold out after yesterday's discomfort. >_<
I got up at 3:30am, stuck a pad from my podiatrist under the ball of my right foot, and headed out to meet my teammates. As soon as I walked out the door, I was greeted with a delightful 63 degrees. Well, it's delightful if you're standing still.
Within the first two miles, Teammate #1 and I were sweaty and hot. I briefly wondered how time of day might factor in to the "Aggregate Hotness Rule", which combines physical attractiveness, current climate conditions, and your individual effort to determine if it's appropriate to run shirtless.
We circled back for Teammate #2 after two miles, and began a ~4mi ONB, followed by the traditional 10KTuesday route. It was much tougher than I'd anticipated. Not sure if that's due to my being so far along in things, getting up at 3:30am, the out-of-nowhere heat flash from 30s and delightful to 60s with 90+% humidity, or the fact that finishing this run would put me well over 50mi in a single seven day period (which might be my longest seven day stretch ever?).
My left glute was sore within the first 5K. My legs were tired within the first 10K. I was definitely in "marathon mode" by the 10mi mark. Since I realized on the run that, if I kept going along, I'd miss seeing my husband and kiddo (since I was traveling for work that morning and wouldn't be home until Saturday night), I decided I'd try to hit a reasonable mileage, get home by 6:15, and then go out and finish the mileage once the sun came up with my munchkin in the stroller.
I pushed myself to continue for another two miles after my teammates dropped off, wanting to finish a half marathon, which would leave me with only 3-5mi to go to hit my goal mileage for the day. Those two miles were a TRUDGE. I barely kept an 11min/mi.
Got home, changed sports bras and shirts, grabbed some chocolate milk, said good-bye to my husband, and then got the munchkin ready to head out.
Having the company of my little one was huge. I kept playing mental games of "just one more ____" to get through it. I trudged. I plodded. I resorted to little one coaxing me up hills with "I think you can" on repeat and helping us "put on the stroller's jet engines" (i.e. making motor/engine noises. I finished.
I got up at 3:30am, stuck a pad from my podiatrist under the ball of my right foot, and headed out to meet my teammates. As soon as I walked out the door, I was greeted with a delightful 63 degrees. Well, it's delightful if you're standing still.
Within the first two miles, Teammate #1 and I were sweaty and hot. I briefly wondered how time of day might factor in to the "Aggregate Hotness Rule", which combines physical attractiveness, current climate conditions, and your individual effort to determine if it's appropriate to run shirtless.
We circled back for Teammate #2 after two miles, and began a ~4mi ONB, followed by the traditional 10KTuesday route. It was much tougher than I'd anticipated. Not sure if that's due to my being so far along in things, getting up at 3:30am, the out-of-nowhere heat flash from 30s and delightful to 60s with 90+% humidity, or the fact that finishing this run would put me well over 50mi in a single seven day period (which might be my longest seven day stretch ever?).
My left glute was sore within the first 5K. My legs were tired within the first 10K. I was definitely in "marathon mode" by the 10mi mark. Since I realized on the run that, if I kept going along, I'd miss seeing my husband and kiddo (since I was traveling for work that morning and wouldn't be home until Saturday night), I decided I'd try to hit a reasonable mileage, get home by 6:15, and then go out and finish the mileage once the sun came up with my munchkin in the stroller.
I pushed myself to continue for another two miles after my teammates dropped off, wanting to finish a half marathon, which would leave me with only 3-5mi to go to hit my goal mileage for the day. Those two miles were a TRUDGE. I barely kept an 11min/mi.
Got home, changed sports bras and shirts, grabbed some chocolate milk, said good-bye to my husband, and then got the munchkin ready to head out.
 |
| alright, let's finish this |
Having the company of my little one was huge. I kept playing mental games of "just one more ____" to get through it. I trudged. I plodded. I resorted to little one coaxing me up hills with "I think you can" on repeat and helping us "put on the stroller's jet engines" (i.e. making motor/engine noises. I finished.
That was definitely the hardest run I've had in several years. I never felt like I should stop or that it was beyond me physically to keep going, but definitely had the mental "oof, I want to stop" that I had to overcome. I wanted to finish the mileage more than I wanted to stop. This felt like my first 15mi run ever. This felt like the Chicago marathon, where "marathon legs" set in at 13-- way too early. But I kept on going. Today was a win.
...but, man, I hope Publix weather isn't like this. That would suuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Friday
Scheduled: 6-8mi
Did: 20min yoga, 4.5mi walk
When I saw that I'd hit over 55mi for the past seven days, I decided today would be an appropriate rest day.
So, I took the morning to do some stretchy "yoga for tired legs", and then got some extra active rest in later in the day in the form of a 2.25mi walk to/from dinner at a work conference.
When I saw that I'd hit over 55mi for the past seven days, I decided today would be an appropriate rest day.
So, I took the morning to do some stretchy "yoga for tired legs", and then got some extra active rest in later in the day in the form of a 2.25mi walk to/from dinner at a work conference.
Saturday
Scheduled: strength or yoga
Did: 6.3mi @ 9:55/mi avg, Big 5
I'd wanted to get up and do a run around Clemson's campus this morning before committee work began, but, the weather was significantly different from the forecast when I'd packed two days ago. So, stranded without appropriate gear, and a little freaked about running sans flashlight (since I'd forgotten it), I opted for a treadmill run.
OMG. This was another rough run. It was 68 in the hotel gym. WAY TOO HOT for a run. I ended up wearing a towel around my neck the entire run, which was soaked by the 1/2 way point. To help myself mentally, I ran with the treadmill in kilometers, ticking off tenths of the way until I'd get a 10K.
I'd wanted to get up and do a run around Clemson's campus this morning before committee work began, but, the weather was significantly different from the forecast when I'd packed two days ago. So, stranded without appropriate gear, and a little freaked about running sans flashlight (since I'd forgotten it), I opted for a treadmill run.
OMG. This was another rough run. It was 68 in the hotel gym. WAY TOO HOT for a run. I ended up wearing a towel around my neck the entire run, which was soaked by the 1/2 way point. To help myself mentally, I ran with the treadmill in kilometers, ticking off tenths of the way until I'd get a 10K.
Sunday
Scheduled: 4-6mi easy
Did: 6.64mi @ 10:19/mi avg with stroller, Big 5
Weather report had 41 with zero percent chance of rain at 7:30am. After getting the kiddos set and running about two miles, we had 10mph winds that made it feel like 30s and rain. Stellar. This was a tough run. I slowed down for the first bit to stick with my other running mama this morning, but can't say that I wanted to go that much faster. I was grateful I'd brought an extra layer of clothes to wear at the post-run playground date, because I ended up putting those on DURING the run.
For some reason, I had 6-8mi in my head, and ended up going just beyond 6. So proud.
Weather report had 41 with zero percent chance of rain at 7:30am. After getting the kiddos set and running about two miles, we had 10mph winds that made it feel like 30s and rain. Stellar. This was a tough run. I slowed down for the first bit to stick with my other running mama this morning, but can't say that I wanted to go that much faster. I was grateful I'd brought an extra layer of clothes to wear at the post-run playground date, because I ended up putting those on DURING the run.
For some reason, I had 6-8mi in my head, and ended up going just beyond 6. So proud.
Total Weekly Mileage: 44.1 (40-45, 43= goal)
Week-ending Thoughts:
- Still a unicorn.
- I'm so excited that there are only five weeks left. 20mi this coming weekend, then a 22 miler, and then it's "all downhill from there". I mean, I'll still have 20mi to run the following weekend, but I'll be at the USATF Masters Indoor National Championship track meet, so a good bit of those miles will be on the track during various events (where I'm literally just there to score points, and the amount of points I score for the team won't really change if I'm pushing my hardest at each event or just scoring a legal mark-- weeeee, under-represented age group), and the rest will be warm-up/cool-down mileage.
- I looked back in my GSheet of every run I've ever run since making my "average a mile a day" resolution back in 2012. Evidently, my max mileage in a seven-day period was 69, during Chicago training, but that was when I did a long run on Sunday one week and Saturday the "next". Especially since circumstances are different this time with the whole motherhood thing, I'm gonna call my Friday-Thursday of this week equally, if not more-so, impressive.
- Still so proud that my legs and body in general is holding up so well. I'm two weeks out from peak mileage and still feeling better than I have during any other marathon training cycle ever. My mileage is less than Chicago, but not by too much. The biggest change is just the intensity.
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