I’m so behind on posting, but trying to catch up! Week 7 was May 7-13; it’s now June and I just finished week 10. But humor me as we go back in time…
This week was a great one, as I was very happy with my three key workouts: Thursday tempo, Saturday marathon goal pace and Sunday long run. After a discouraging/too-hot tempo run two weeks ago and a disappointing goal pace run on too-tired legs last week, I needed those wins.
I continue to be amazed at how well my legs are handling six days per week of running (when I actually take my rest day on Friday, as I did this week!). That’s most certainly due to running easy most of the time, which I’ve never done in the past. So far, I’ve followed this training plan far more diligently that I ever have before, and I’ll be so much better equipped to run 26.2 miles as a result. I have three 20-milers to run, people! Three! And I’m not intimidated by that; just excited.
My only miss this week was accidentally running 3 miles on Wednesday instead of 4, but that’s no big deal—and I accidentally ran 8 miles instead of 7 last Saturday, so it sort of evens out.
I cracked the 40s for the first time this training cycle in terms of weekly mileage. I’ll peak at about 58 miles three weeks before the race. I’m not sure I’ve ever run that many miles in a week before, but here’s hoping my body will be ready when the time comes!
Scratch that—hoping won’t help at all. The only thing that’ll prepare me for the hard work is running, running and running some more.
MONDAY: 3-mile easy run at 9:37 average pace.
I needed to pick up a prescription for Evie and our pharmacy is exactly 1.5 miles away, so I ran an errand! My legs were t-i-r-e-d, so it was slow going, but that’s standard for these post-long-run shakeouts.
TUESDAY: 8-mile easy run at 9:19 average pace.
Aaron went on a bike ride right when we got home, then I was going to run right when he got back. Wouldn’t you know that the moment he stepped into the house, the skies opened up into a torrential thunderstorm! The streets of our neighborhood were flooded in just a few minutes. I resigned myself to an hour-plus slog on the treadmill, but after I put Evie to bed, it seemed as though the rain had stopped. I headed out onto my usual trail and miraculously didn’t feel a single drop of rain. Plus, there was no one else on the trail but a family of deer. Random thunderstorms have their perks!
WEDNESDAY: 3-mile easy run at 9:01 average pace.
I listened to Ali’s interview with Liz Plosser, editor-in-chief of Women’s Health magazine, and then wound up weeding my whole front yard so I could keep listening! You know something’s good when it gets me to do yard work. ☺ I’ve been slacking on my strength training these past few weeks, but I kind of count weeding as a workout… and it really needed to be done. Also, I was out of clean running shorts and reached back into my pre-pregnancy archives to see if my old Lululemon Speed shorts fit—and they did!!
THURSDAY: 5-mile tempo run at 8:14 average pace.
I finally redeemed myself for that too-hot tempo run two weeks ago! The weather was decently cool and I ran my comfortably hard miles in 7:51, 7:44 and 7:41—right where I wanted them and negative splits to boot. I finished just in time to enjoy a killer sunset, and all was right with the world.
FRIDAY: Rest.
SATURDAY: 8-mile goal pace run at 8:07 average pace.
I learned my lesson after going out too fast last week and used the first mile of this run as a warmup (8:26). From there, all the miles were under 8:10, but not as close to my goal pace (8:00-8:05ish) as I hoped. I’m still happy with it! I know I won’t hit my paces every single week, and it’s the consistency that counts. There was also a slight rise in elevation for the last half of this run, whereas I’ll be going downhill 100% of the time during the marathon, so hopefully the faster pace will come without much more effort.
SUNDAY: 16-mile long run at 9:19 average pace.
Happy Mother’s Day! Maybe next year I’ll sleep in and have breakfast in bed, but this year I woke up at 5 a.m. to start my run at 6. It was going to be a hot day, and I had plans later with my mom, so I had to get it done early!
Stephanie (who is also a mom!) joined me for the first five miles, and they flew by. I felt great through the halfway point, but as I turned around to head back after 8 miles, my stomach indicated I had “unfinished business” to take care of. Luckily I was near a popular trailhead with a bathroom, but even afterward my stomach never made it back to 100%. I’ve been staying away from added sugar, so I wonder if my splurging on a piece of cake at a birthday party on Saturday had anything to do with it?
Anyway, I survived the run; it just wasn’t very pleasant. It reminded me to be grateful for how good my stomach has felt throughout training, which I believe I owe to healthy eating. I need to keep it up, especially in the weeks immediately before race day!
Total weekly mileage: 43
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Dev on Running 