Week 7

No winter weather to deal with this week! There was quite a bit of rain but the temps were in the 50s or higher so no big deal. On Monday, I started out with an 8 mile run with some strides. It felt nice and comfortable and came in at 7:59 pace. Tuesday was the last and longest tempo run of this training cycle! Tempo runs are mentally very hard for me and I’ve had days where I worried about them all day long. This one was 12 miles total with 7 at tempo. I like to keep tempo at 15k to half marathon pace so 6:59-7:10. I didn’t feel great at the start of the run but I didn’t feel bad either. I did 3 miles to warm up and then got stated. The splits were 7:10, 7:03, 7:01, 7:04, 7:03, 6:55 and 7:03. 7:03 pace over all for the tempo section. I would have rather been just under 7:00 for all of it but I can’t complain about that effort. From here on out it is all speed work. I don’t love speed work but it is mentally easier than long sustained tempo runs so I’m glad to be past that part of the training. Wednesday brought temps over 70 degrees and lots of sun. I felt like I was melting on my 14 miler. 70 isn’t that warm, especially for someone that lives in the south but the extreme change was hard for me. The Wednesday before I was getting rained and sleeted on in 32 degree temps. It was also pretty windy for the 14 miler which wasn’t helping. I got through it in 8:06 pace so it wasn’t that bad. I was covered in salt afterward though and you’d have thought I ran in 90 degree temps. I got up at 5 am on Thursday for a 5 mile recovery run. I did it nice and slow at 8:26 pace. It was 50 something and lovely! After a rest day from running on Friday, I set out for 21 miles on Saturday. This is the longest training run I’ll do. It was drizzling and in the 50s. I actually kind of like that combination. The worst thing was lots of puddles as it has been raining pretty steady here for the last few days. I did a long loop all around my town with some hills but nothing too crazy. It was my birthday and I was a little checked out mentally. A couple of times I had to turn my ipod off and really think about what I was doing. I felt pretty good but I was kind of tired of being out there. I was happy with the effort though in the end. I did 8:08 pace which I think is plenty fast for a long run. At some point, it really is just about time on your feet and I certainly got that with this run as it was 2 hours and 50 minutes long! Brian had to work on Sunday so I got up early once again to do a 6 mile recovery run. It was tough. My legs didn’t want to get going and it was still dark when I left. My tummy wasn’t too happy with me either since I was pretty indulgent for my post long run/birthday dinner. I ended up with a pretty sluggish 8:36 but I'm not worried about it.

Post run/birthday hydration!

I’m feeling good. My aches and pains are minimal and my blisters are gone thanks to my Injingi socks. I was able to make it to yoga twice this week. Once for my usual power class on Thursday and then to a 2 hour yogathon on Friday with my two favorite instructors. I hadn’t seen one of them in a while and she commented that I was looking lean. This always makes you feel good but I’m especially glad to know that my hard work can be seen by someone other than me. I’ve done really well with my nutrition this training cycle and I’m hovering just a few lbs above my goal race weight for Boston.

Next week’s plan:

M-General Aerobic + Speed 7mi w/6 x 100m strides

T-VO₂max 9mi w/5x600m@5k race pace

W-Med Long Run 15mi

R-Recovery 6mi

F-Rest

S-Spring Fling 5k 8mi total

S-Long Run 18mi

The mileage is 63 total so a little bit of a back off from the last few weeks. The week after this will be my highest in total mileage with 70 planned and then the taper will begin! Getting so close to being done! The Spring Fling 5k is a net downhill and not really a favorite of mine. The plan called for an 8k race. Those are hard to come by and the Spring Fling is a Grand Prix race so it will do.

Reading wise, I finished Looking for Alaska by John Green. I liked it. There is a great prank involving a male stripper that makes the entire book worth reading. I’m now on the second Game of Thrones book. These books are long. So.Very.Long. I do like them though so I’ll press on. I’m only about a third of the way done with it and I’ve been listening to it most of the week.