(not my) Marathon Training: Week 14/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

I'm on vacation this week with my family, and have opted not to stress about fitting in training runs. It's a weird mental place to be in, where I still very much want to run, but I'm also wanting to savor early mornings with my husband, pancakes and bacon breakfasts on our Gulf-front balcony, and all the family time possible. I've challenged myself to stay mostly off the grid this week, shutting off social media for the week (still sending out a few messages, but not scrolling through feeds or others' stories), literally having no way to check work email, and opting against doing anything more than screening personal emails. 

So, that means that I've tapered expectations of my workouts for the week, like, A LOT. Instead of following whatever plan my training partner is on, my goals for this week are:

-30min workout every day, min

-run 3-4x during the beach week, for whatever mileage I want to fit in at whatever pace I feel like

-do some amount of beach yoga

Monday

Did: 2mi walk

I had plans for this workout, but, ultimately, didn't care enough to make it happen. I napped over baby's nap, and enjoyed some much-needed popcorn and Netflix time with my husband when the kids went to sleep. Totally the right choice. 

Tuesday

Did: 6.23mi @ 9:07/mi avg

Got up early to get my 10K in. Opted to play it safe and stay on the Pensacola Beach Trail (i.e. a sidewalk along the main road) for the way out, wearing a shirt to not invite any unwanted attention (I normally run in just a sports bra in the summer). Since my watch told me I was "maintaining" training, but dangeously close to 'detraining", I decided to do a bit of a workout-- 1mi WU, 4mi @ MP, and then 1mi cooldown, knowing the cool-down would be super slow since I'd do it on the beach at sunrise.

Pretty pleased with how the run turned out:

8:33

8:17

8:18

8:32

and then a bit of a slog once I hit the sand (11:19/mi), though my HR was higher than it had been during the tempo. lol. 

 

Wednesday

Did: 2.07mi w/bum stroller + 2.35mi w/o = 4.42mi @ 9:34/mi avg

Our stroller wasn't able to fit in the SUV, so we attempted to rent one while we were here. We called Sunday, it got delivered late on Monday, had flat tires, so we had to drive around Tuesday to fill them at a gas station, and finally got a chance to run with it today.

It was terrible. The front wheel wasn't the right size for the stroller and kept wobbling back and forth across the axle. If you tried to lock the wheel, it locked in a hard right turn, and was impossible to push. My little one was very displeased by this, because it meant I was pushing him wheel-barrow style for the whole time, with him leaning back, like we were popping a wheelie. So, we cut our attempted 4-miler to a two mile.

...and I finished up with a really nice, solo sunset run after the kids went to bed. 

Thursday

Did: 10K with a fixed stroller = 6.27mi @  9:54/mi avg

Weeeee, we got a replacement stroller yesterday and I got to take the potato out. It was a really nice, pleasant run for the first half... and then we were combating 15-20mph winds that I'm pretty sure would have pushed the stroller backwards if I hadn't been pushing it forward. 

Friday

Did: 4.05mi w/stroller @ 9:54/mi avg

Easy sunrise run with the littlest before we headed back home.

Saturday

Did: 7.06mi @ 9:29/mi avg

Family run in our usual spot this morning. There was a small charity race going on, so we picked the pace up a little towards the end, but nothing crazy. 

Sunday

Did: 14.53mi @ 9:47/mi avg

I felt so on top of things this morning. We started late (hahaha, 6am is late in my world, at least), so I had plenty of time to prep a cold protein shake, pack it in a thermos/cooler, remember to bring extra water for the ride home, and even rock out to some Hamilton songs in the car since I arrived a few minutes early.

... but I'd forgotten my handheld at home, in the fridge. 

Ugggghhh. 

So, I had to run with my keys in my shorts pocket (uncomfy), snack in my hand (uncomfy), and no water (also uncomfy, but in a different way). Ugggggh. 

I was grateful for my training buddies today, though. Lots of stories to share and catch-up on after a week away from them made the miles go by... eventually. I think I checked my watch four times in the first 5mi and kept getting depressed by how few miles we'd run.

Total Weekly Mileage: 42.6

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Whelp, when I wrote "13/16" on last week's blog out of nowhere, I convinced myself this was a 16-week plan... But it's not. It's 18 weeks, I have no idea where the 16 came from, since I had it right the past three months... 
• This felt like an easy week, which is pretty great since it was still over 40mi
• After a week at the beach, I was definitely out of practice for Sunday's group run through hills. Instead of putting tape on my back (for chafing), I put on sunscreen (out of habit from last week). Oops.