(not my) Marathon Training: Week 15/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Oh, hey, it's not week 15 of 16. It's week 15 of 18. Kind of a let down...

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: rest

Ate sooooo much.

Tuesday

Scheduled: 2 miles WU, 6 x (800m uphill at HMP + 1 min rest at the top, 800m downhill at MP) with 2 min rest between sets, 2 miles CD

Did: as scheduled = 10.47mi @ 9:08/mi moving avg

I maintain that the way these workouts are written makes them seem deceivingly easy... Like, "Oh, it's just 6 800m hill repeats. 800m is short, and there are only six"... but then you realize that your training partner's coach just prescribed a 10mi workout where you're having to run really hard up for 3 miles.

This one felt much easier than the 800m hill repeats we did a few weeks ago. Part of that is the weather, and the other part is that my effort wasn't quite there today.

8:14, 8:07, 8:14, 8:21, then I got my act together....

8:00, 8:05

Wednesday

Scheduled: 4-6 easy

Did: 5.04mi @ 9:51/mi avg

Nice easy run in some cooler temps :) 

Thursday

Schedule: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.12mi @ 9:49/mi avg

Another easy morning run. 

Friday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 6mi @ HMP, 2mi CD

Did: as scheduled (8:15/mi avg HMP) = 10.01mi @ 8:53/mi avg

I was NOT feeling optimistic about this HMP thing today. In fact, I was just hoping to hold onto an 8:45, maaaaybe 8:30. 

...but I NAILED it, and felt SO FREAKING STRONG. 

Which was a bonus, because I had a sick kid when I came home, and my entire day got thrown for a loop.

Saturday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 4.06mi @ 9:48/mi avg

I could tell by mile 1 of this run that I was sick. F...

Kept the pace easy, but it didn't help. Post-run, I crashed for about five hours, then was useless the rest of the day. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 10 WU, 8-10 @ MP, 2 CD 
Did: nothing

Today was hard. After over twelve hours of sleep, I woke up and still felt blergh. I knew it was a good call to not run, but, man, it was mental anguish to not. Today was supposed to be the culmination of ALL the training. Today was "long run day", "hump day", the day before the taper, whatever you want to call it. Since I'm not actually running the marathon, I've always viewed this day as my marathon for this training cycle. 

So, to not be able to run it... well, it sucked. 

I slept more, battled a headache, muscle aches, and sore-ish throat, and felt angry and icky all day.

Total Weekly Mileage: 38.6

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Really having a hard time accepting Sunday.