November 7 - 13, 2022
Marathon training week 8 | 56 days until WDW Marathon
In which we're livin' on a prayer
Monday
Planned: 45 min easy
Completed: 45:04 easy (10:42)
Total: 4.21 miles, 145 bpm
It was surprisingly (but not unpleasantly) warm again. My legs were still pretty tired after Sunday's not-race, so I kept it slow. Then later on I was listening to a podcast and the host mentioned that he did his easy runs in the 9-10 min/mile range as a 2:45 (I think) marathoner
. I looked it up and that's a 6:18 pace
So then I thought maybe I should be doing all my easy runs slower - I had been during the summer, but as it got cooler, my paces got faster.
Plus: core
Tuesday
Planned: 10 min easy + drills and strides + 12 min@LTP(8:14)/5 min easy + 12 min@LTP(8:14) + 10 min easy
Completed: 13:57 easy (10:57) + drills and strides + 12 min@CV(8:04)/5 min easy (11:03) + 12 min@CV(8:03) + 11:14 easy (10:57)
Total: 59:11, 6.29 miles, 164 bpm
I thought this one would be pretty easy, but I was wrong. It was a struggle. It was windy and my legs STILL ached. Plus I ended up running basically at CV pace instead of LTP like I was supposed to. I maybe should have eaten before as well, but instead I cleaned up several piles of dog vomit because SOMEONE thinks it's a good idea to eat napkins off the ground
(But he was fine afterwards.)
Plus: lower body strength
Me: My legs are tired.
Also me: Let's do a bunch of squats and deadlifts!
Also also me: Why do I hate myself???
I thought my legs might fall off.
Wednesday
Planned: 60 min easy
Completed: 1:01:34 easy (11:14)
Total: 5.48 miles, 136 bpm
Surprise, my legs were still very tired and a bit sore. They loosened up a bit as I warmed up, but I never really felt 100%. After the podcast I listened to Monday, I was planning to be slow, but I'm not sure I could have gone much faster anyway.
Thursday
Planned: 10 min easy + drills and strides + 3 x (4 x 30s@MAS(7:09) + 45s@LTP(8:14))/2:30 easy + 10 min easy
Completed: 10 min easy (10:33) + drills and strides + 3 x (4 x 30s@MAS+ + 45s@LTP-)/2:30 easy + 19:33 easy (10:41)
Total: 54:33, 5.6 miles
On Wednesday night I went out to dinner, had lots of fun, and didn't go to bed until 11:30. Then my furry alarm clock got his revenge for abandoning him for much of the day by still waking me up at 5:30. This is a normal wake-up time but also I normally go to bed around 9, so I was extra-tired.
Fortunately my legs were feeling a little better. The hardest part was definitely getting the paces right - 30/45 seconds is really too short to get good watch measurements. I ended up being consistently too slow on my MAS intervals and consistently too fast on my LTP intervals
My watch also failed to give transition alerts a couple of times early on because it was too busy giving me pace alerts again, so I learned to keep any eye on the time.
Thursday afternoon: bonus shopping round
My office was closed Thursday afternoon, so I went to the running store to try out some new shoes. The Asics that I bought in May were getting a bit up there in mileage, and they are so cushioned that I really only used them for easy runs. Very comfortable for walking; not so great for even a little bit hard running.
I tried on a few different pairs and ended up with New Balance 880s and Hoka Mach 5s.
ID: Navy blue New Balances with pink and yellow accents on the left and sunrise-colored Hokas with blue laces on the right, sitting on a blue-and-brown striped white rug in front of the door
I added them both to Strava so I can track how many miles I've run in each and not just guess.
Friday
Planned: rest
Completed: rest
Saturday
Planned: 45 min easy
Completed: 46:15 easy (10:32)
Total: 4.39 miles, 146 bpm
After my rest day Friday, I finally felt recovered on Saturday, so this time I actually practiced slowing down on purpose rather than because I was tired. It was the perfect morning for an easy run, warm and sunny but not humid. At last, I was off the struggle bus! I tried the NBs and they were nice and springy.
Plus:
upper body strength
Sunday
Planned: 13 miles easy
Completed: 13.14 miles easy
Total: 2:04:30, 9:28 per mile, 158 bpm
After a fairly nice week, it got cold again. And windy. Yuck. I did not enjoy the walk to the farmers market to drop off my food waste before the run, but once I got going it wasn't too bad. I probably did not need the fleece-lined leggings I was wearing, but I wasn't overheated or anything. I ran through Rock Creek Park to Beach Drive, always a favorite.
ID: A paved trail running along Rock Creek, curving under a bridge and then off to the left. A fence and some green(ish)ery separate the trail from the creek.
I did not try to run extra-slow even though it was supposed to be easy; that extra time adds up on a long run. But HR-wise, everything looked fine, except for one point when my HR got up to 185. No confusion this time, though - I just went, "wow, my cadence is getting really good!" I stopped trying to be quicker once I got to 170 spm, but it continues to improve, I think because of all the speedwork and running drills in my training plan.
I tried out the Hokas. They're quite light! The sides come up higher than my other shoes - I can feel them on my ankles - and I was a little worried about chafing/blisters, but I didn't have any issues. It felt a little odd because I wasn't used to it, but it wasn't uncomfortable.
I got home feeling pretty good. My puppy, as always, was delighted to see me:
ID: A Rottweiler lying on his side on a navy blue couch with his head on a pillow with a flower design. Truly the epitome of excitement.
Fuel
Pre-run: oatmeal and coffee
40ish minutes: birthday cake GU (YUM. Tastes like cake batter.)
75ish minutes: caramel macchiato GU
100ish minutes: Maurten gel
Post-run: honey yogurt smoothie
No issues here. I'm still trying to figure out the right timing for taking gels, but I'm moving towards something like one every 30-40 minutes.
Total
Mileage: 39.11
Time: 7:39:35
So close to 40! But not close enough that I could reasonably add it on to my long run. Halfway through marathon training and it was a tough week, but I think I got through the hard part. Of this week.
In other news, the medal from my SEPTEMBER half finally arrived. It is...colorful.
ID: A rectangular medal with a design like a yellow cow with pink spots. It says DC Half: Race the District in dark green in the middle and then 2022 in a dark green splotch on the right.
Coming up
I'll get to 40 next week assuming I don't miss anything. However, the weather is going from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cold
Dislike. And I can't skip any days because on Saturday I'll be spending the whole day in the back seat of my parents' car with the dog as we are headed to Florida for the holidays! Is it almost Thanksgiving already? Hard to believe - and only 8 weeks until the marathon!
Ohhhhhh...right.... :exaggerated wink:
I arbitrarily decided that anything slower than HM pace/180 bpm - whichever came first - was acceptable, and I pretty much stuck to that, although I caught my pace creeping faster a couple of times. It's just so tempting to catch people...
It wasn't that cold - probably mid-50s - but with the rain and the wind my hands and arms felt pretty chilled in my t-shirt, especially on the way back when I was running into the wind. I ended up picking up the pace around 9 miles in, not because I was feeling great but because I was just ready to be done.
