One week out from the half marathon and 4 weeks to go until Boston
I am starting to get excited. I think a good tune up race will do that – increase the marathon excitement. No matter how the marathon goes, I’m thrilled with the race that told me I should be in good shape for the marathon. I’m thrilled with how I felt running that race. Now, all I can do is keep running, keep healthy and keep working towards a marathon. One mile at a time. Then run. and have fun.
Up until this point, I’ve been more terrified than excited about running Boston and all things that go with a race of that size. The terror of it all is dissipating and the excited anticipation is setting in. It’s going to be a good weekend. It’s actually going to be a racing weekend. The husband has a 50k that saturday and then marathon for me on Monday. I have no idea what my boston weekend plans are yet, but I know come tuesday, we will be quite a pair.
I had a good week of training after the half
Here’s what it looked like:
90 miles Total
Monday: 10 miles
6 easy am, 4 easy pm
Tuesday: 9.5 miles @ 7:00
Wednesday: 11.3 @ 7:00
Thursday: 15.2 miles total
AM – 11.2 with a 3 x 2 mile tempo
LATE AM – 4 easy with the husband. I said we were doing 8′s, he said no way. He was right. 7:30 pace.
The early morning tempo: I have not really done a tempo by myself in quite awhile. The last tempo I did was on a treadmill, so I don’t really count that as solo…there was a belt…making me run. My training partner couldn’t do this one with me, and I might have freaked a little bit. I pulled myself together and ran the darn thing.
The goal was to run a progressive tempo interval, 3 x 2 miles, 2 minute jogs:
Goal pace – 6:05 first set, 6:00 second set, 5:55 third set
Actual:
6:01 first set
5:58 second set
5:49 third set
Happy girl. Solo tempo done. Feeling good.
Friday: 10 miles @ 7:15 + Barre class
The Barre. Smashed my legs to pieces. If I actually completed half the class, that would be impressive. By the end of this class, my legs were shot. I usually do barre on Fridays, which is usually after 10 miles in the morning, which is the day after a tempo or some sort of longer workout and followed by a long run the day after. Thankfully, I was doing my long run on Sunday this week, one extra day to recoup from the barre beating I got on Friday. Every week I do this barre class, every week I’m blown away by how tough it is and how equally fantastic it is. I have noticed improvements in my strength, although my form is flipping terrible. I was not meant to be a ballerina.
Saturday: 10 miles @ 7:05
Sunday: 24 mile long run @ 6:55
The goal was to run 6:55 – 7:10
which reads to me as: RUN 6:55
so, I ran 6:55 average pace. I did the first 8 with my training partner, and the last 16 solo. I’ve been doing my long runs very hilly, but I kept this one on the not as hilly side so that I could do faster end of the pace range. It was about 1000 feet elevation gain.
I don’t know what kind of crazy pill I took when I planned the route, but I did the 24 miles on this one loop, around and around, back and forth, with some off-shoots. The loop was just under 6 miles, with a couple short out and back roads off the loop. There was a method to my madness. I really do like loop courses for long runs, and I needed to practice fueling. I don’t fuel on runs, but I use this one long run, the longest before the marathon, as an opportunity to try the fueling.
FUEL – I made a gel/paste out of the UCAN, by mixing just a little bit of water with 1/2 a scoop. I ate that 30 minutes before my run. I had a water bottle with UCAN on the corner of a road that I knew I would pass by, thanks to my ingenius loop course, and could take a quick swig of it on the way by and toss. I had about 6 oz of that mix. That was the extent of it today. I know UCAN works for me. All went well.
There is no reason that mile 7 is highlighted. It wasn’t a super special mile. It was just mile 7 
I’m pretty happy that run is done. 24 doesn’t seem like a heck of a lot more than the normal 20ish mile long run, but it really is. I love long runs. One of my favorite parts of training. I look forward to them every week. I was looking forward to this one, and it was definitely a workout.
That run finished my third 90 mile week. Last year, at this time, I didn’t think I would ever be more than a 60 mile a week marathoner. I wasn’t sure I could handle more than that because I was struggling to keep that together. I’m pleasantly surprised with how comfortable I feel with 90 miles. Slowly, steadily and patiently getting the miles up there.
Recovery for me is key. I will probably do a post on recovery and my nutrition at some point. I do credit much of my own ability to run more miles on the proper recovery and good nutrition. It’s all a piece of the training puzzle and I’m slowly figuring out what works for me.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
