You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[DopeyBadger]

That makes a lot of sense. I did put some MP intervals in my second 18-miler, but maybe I'm better off doing that one easy too.

I'm trying to remember who I read it with, but they like to have the last long run fast finish (like the above) no closer than six weeks to race day (maybe McMillan). This way it gives you ample time to recover from it. I know Hansons tends to put in progression runs as a mid-week SOS when a long run fast finish occurs.

The way you have your plan structured isn't necessarily conducive for doing a much slower long run at a longer duration. Once you get close to the event, specificity matters more. I think you'll be fine either way because you're doing a decent volume elsewhere, but it's just something to consider.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

October 2 - 8, 2023
Marathon training week 9 | 49 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which the weather is confusing

Scheduled

ID: This week's schedule

Actual
Monday
Easy: 5 miles, 54:47 (10:52), max HR 157, avg. 142, 100% Z1-2

My legs were feeling pretty stiff when I started, but by the time I ran about a mile, I was fine.

Pilates

Tuesday
Progression: 2 mile WU + 3 miles steady (8:09/8:00 GAP) + 2 min RI + 2 miles @ LTP (7:51/7:46 GAP) + 1 mile CD
8.2 miles, 1:17:37, max HR 190, avg. 163


ID: Strava workout analysis chart

That was definitely harder than I wanted it to be, although it was also warmer this morning and I did 7 miles at MP only two days ago, so those probably contributed. I also didn't sleep well. Anyway, I did it, but it was a struggle at the end there.

At least my pacing wasn't awful overall (aiming for 8:07 for steady and 7:46 for LT). I did start out too hot on the LT segment, which probably didn't help with the fatigue at the end either.

lower body strength

Wednesday
Easy/strides: 6.27 miles, 1:04:42 (10:19), max HR 172, avg. 144, 96% Z1-2

As is often the case after a hard day, it took a bit to work out the kinks, but then I was fine. I wasn't planning to do strides, but I was listening to a Together Run and I was actually in good spots for them when they came up, so I just went ahead and did them.

core
mini upper body strength

Thursday
off

Friday
Medium-long: 10.14 miles, 1:52:38 (11:06), max HR 158, avg. 148

You ever have a run that just sucks for no obvious reason? My legs were fine. My lungs were fine. I had plenty of water and gels. I was just dragging. Blech.

Bike: 51 min

Headed over to the expo to pick up my ATM packet.

mini lower body strength

It was good to have a resistance band routine instead of weights because my legs were tired.

Saturday
Easy/strides: 7.21 miles, 1:14:09 (10:19), max HR 166, avg. 147, 99% Z1-2

I did my strength routine first because I was avoiding the rain, but when I finally made myself go outside, it was actually just a light drizzle. I felt much better than Friday, thankfully, despite the slight increase in precipitation later in the run. I did have a bit of achiness in my R ankle/knee at various points.

upper body strength

Sunday
Long: 17.89 miles, 3:00:18 (10:05), max HR 175, avg. 152, 91% Z1-2

7.5-ish and then the Army Ten-Miler. I didn't quite make it to 18, but I'm okay with that. Will post a separate recap tomorrow.

Totals
Running: 54.78 miles, 9h 24m
Strength/mobility: 1h 45m
Bike: 7.97 miles, 51m
Total: 12h

I can't even put the chart up because I had too many things on Friday. But I remain less exhausted than I was the couple of weeks after the half, so I'll take it.

Coming up

ID: Next week's schedule

Okay, why did I put these two workouts in the same week? My pacing is not precise enough for there to be a real difference between LTP and 10KP (7:46 vs. 7:38). I may switch out the Friday workout - hills? MP? Hills and marathon pace? I do appreciate a multi-pace workout...

 

[Scootin'By]

Confusing is a good to describe the weather this week. Another way would we to say we hit all of the seasons, except for fall.Today was just downright cold!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Race recap: Army Ten-Miler
Arlington, VA and Washington, DC | October 8, 2023

Pre-race
Expo
I went to the expo, at the DC Armory, on Friday. There was a bit of a line to get in - you had to go through security - but otherwise it wasn't terribly crowded, which was good. The shirts were nice - long-sleeved tech shirts in army green.


ID: ATM race shirt

And the discount running store was indeed there! I found some Endorphin Speed 3s and Ghost 14s in my size at a moderate discount, and they even had Endorphin Pro 3s for almost $100 off, which was exciting. So now I have some backups for when my current shoes wear out. I biked there and back.

Race eve/race day morning
So, I planned to have a relaxing evening and go to bed early. What actually happened was that I put off all my chores and things as long as possible and then had to cram everything into the evening and went to bed later than normal I woke up at 4:30 , took the dog for a short-ish walk (he was upset that he couldn't keep going), and had some coffee and zucchini bread for breakfast. I managed to get out the door around 6:30, which is about what I had planned.

The challenge with starting a run in the dark on a clear day is that I have to decide whether I want to wear sunglasses while it's dark or not have sunglasses for the sunny part. I decided that the former was preferable since I would only be running in the dark for a short time. It wasn't too bad

I was a little sad that I wasn't trying to race the 10-miler, because the weather was great for it. In my long sleeves (WDW marathon shirt!) and shorts, I was a little chilly for the first couple of miles, but after that I was pretty comfortable. I figured it was a good opportunity for marathon testing, so everything but the shirt and shoes was what I planned to wear for the marathon. So far so good

The run to the start line was pretty unremarkable, other than being dark for the first few miles. It's about 6 miles from my front door to the Pentagon, and then I ran around for a bit near the starting area until I decided it was time to head to the corrals.

The race
There were a LOT of people there, and it wasn't always totally clear where you were supposed to go. Eventually, by following the flow of the masses, I managed to find my way. Their setup reminded me of Disney: there was a big area where everyone could go and then they had a runners-only section towards the actual staging area. Also like Disney, they had corrals that were a bit of a walk away (not as bad as the M/HM at WDW though!). My corral (wave 3) supposedly headed to the staging area at like 7:30, but when I made my way over there around 7:50, I was still easily able to make my way to where I was supposed to be.

I had left my watch running because I wanted a single 18-mile activity and not separate 8-ish mile and 10-mile runs. It was very confused by the walk to the corrals and then start line, though - it kept pausing and starting again because I was moving so slowly but I was moving. Those miles look interesting


ID: ATM start line

My wave started around 8:10. It turns out that the way to make sure you don't go out too hard at a race you're treating as a catered long run is to run approximately 7.5 miles right before it The first few miles were a lot of highway - actually that was kind of most of the race - but at least it meant there was a decent amount of space for all the runners. Since I hadn't quite made it to 8 miles before the race, I ran the anti-tangents, trying to make the course as long as possible.

Because the course went over a couple of bridges, there was some elevation change in there, but nothing steep, so that was good. It was pretty quiet for the most part but there were some good crowds out around L'Enfant Plaza and near the finish line. I found, as usual, that it was easier to keep up the pace with a bunch of people running around me, so my pace during the race was definitely a bit faster than the pre-race portion, but still mostly easy. (I will say that my HR monitor once again sucked, but it felt easy.)

Water stations were about every two miles, so I was glad to have my handheld. I did time it kind of poorly, though, finishing my Skratch just after one water stop and then having to wait another two miles to refill it.

One of the few issues with the course was that it narrowed in the last mile and people got a little packed in, which would have made it hard to race. Fortunately I was not racing I had some soreness in my right ankle again for a few miles in the middle of the race, but by the end I actually felt really good, which I took as a positive sign for marathon training. I got to the end, decided I was close enough to 18, and stopped my watch. Oh hey, I just realized I never checked my official time! Apparently I ran a 1:42:24. This includes one bathroom stop.


ID: Splits from Strava. Miles 1-almost 6: commute to Pentagon; miles almost 6-7.5-ish: running around the parking lot and then making my way to the start line; miles 7.5-ish to 17.8: 10-miler with anti-tangents and slightly-off-course bathroom stop

Post-race
At the finish line, volunteers were handing out water bottles, but then it was quite a long walk to medals and snacks. I ate my Lara bar on the way. I am just now realizing that the medals (technically they are challenge coins I guess) are pentagons because the start/finish was at the Pentagon and it's the army. I am slow


ID: Front and back of the Army Ten-Miler medal. They handed them out in these nifty plastic sleeves with kind of a ziploc closure - Disney should talk to them about getting some for their medals.

The finish was at the opposite end of the Pentagon from the start line and Metro station, and the Pentagon is really big, so they had buses to take people back to the start. After wandering around for a bit, I finally found the shuttles and waited about 15 minutes in line for one - it was pretty chilly once I'd stopped running.

They hired some of those hop-on, hop-off tour buses, and I guess the drivers too, because our driver, Mr. Kelly, kept us very entertained on the 10-minute ride to the Metro! He asked us, what's the smartest state in the US? Can you guess?

Anyway, between the shuttle, the Metro, and walking, it took me about an hour to get home, at which point my dog was like, "Where have you been all day??" He forgave me pretty quickly after I bribed him, though


ID: My dog waiting longingly for permission to eat a banana and then chomping said banana like a T-rex

Fueling
In addition to trialing my marathon-day outfit on one of my longest runs of the training plan, I thought it was also a good idea to try out a potential fueling strategy since I didn't need a hydration vest. I started out with Skratch in my handheld and carried a bunch of different gels and a Lara bar in my Flipbelt. I meant to have a UCAN gel around 4 miles in, but I forgot and didn't remember until I was in the corrals Off to a great start.

Due to the awkward water bottle refill timing, I didn't have my second gel until around mile 4 or 5, I think. That one ended up being a caramel macchiato GU. I was feeling hungry a couple miles later, so I grabbed another gel, this one a Maurten. That took me to the end - I could have refilled my water again, but they weren't set up super well for refills so I didn't.

Reflections on this fueling plan:

• I think it will work to start out with Skratch in my handheld and then switch to water once that's done. I wish races would have a dedicated table for refills, though - I had to find someone with a pitcher which they then filled from a line trash can filled with water before pouring into my bottle I'm not sure I wanted to know that's where the on-course water comes from
  
• Does anyone have a good strategy for remembering when to take gels? I feel like I do fine with it on solo long runs, but the second there's stuff going on (e.g. a race), I have a tendency to forget.
• I also need a better strategy for grabbing the specific gel I want when I want it. I like having a variety both so my taste buds don't get bored and so I have ones that I can take with Skratch, but I was digging around in my Flipbelt and having trouble finding what I was looking for. If I knew in advance when I wanted to take each gel, I could just put them in that order, but I kind of want to leave room for making decisions in the moment, so I don't know.

Final thoughts
Overall, I liked this race. It was generally well organized and a good course, and it was a good opportunity to try out some of my plans for the marathon. I think I will probably do it again next year - it will be especially helpful before MCM because it covers part of the MCM course. 8/10, would recommend.

 

[avondale]

Great job on the race! I need to do more races as supported training runs, but then I remember that I don't like to get up for them.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Great job on the race! I need to do more races as supported training runs, but then I remember that I don't like to get up for them.

It is a very early morning for a long run! I really like them for those extra-long training runs, though - I think I felt a lot better finishing up almost 18 miles crossing an actual finish line than I would have if I'd just done 18 miles by myself.

 

[striker1064]

I totally forgot this race was happening until I saw posts on Strava.

Does anyone have a good strategy for remembering when to take gels?

Are you able to set timers on your watch? That's what I do on my Garmin, I set an alert every 30 or 45 minutes depending on the interval I'm going for.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Loved your race write up. We were thinking about running this but it was the week after our local 10 miler which of course got cancelled. Maybe another year, sounds like a good one!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Are you able to set timers on your watch? That's what I do on my Garmin, I set an alert every 30 or 45 minutes depending on the interval I'm going for.

I can definitely set timers on my watch; I just don't know how they'll work with tracking a run at the same time. I will give it a try though - good idea!

Loved your race write up. We were thinking about running this but it was the week after our local 10 miler which of course got cancelled. Maybe another year, sounds like a good one!

It was pretty good! I liked it better than the cherry blossom 10-miler even though the start/finish was way less convenient for me. (I am still mad at cherry blossom for the fiasco of their bib pickup this year.)

 

[WillRunForPizza]

October 9 - 15, 2023
Marathon training week 10 | 42 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which it's actually fall and voila, suddenly I am faster

Scheduled

ID: This week's schedule

Actual
Monday
Easy: 4.67 miles, 44:54 (9:37), max HR 163, avg. 149, 100% Z1-2

After running almost 18 miles on Sunday and then doing quite a bit of walking between the dog and errands (my watch said my walking/running total for the day was 25 miles), I expected my legs to be pretty tired and/or stiff for this run. Surprisingly, though, what I got was a faster-than-usual easy run with no residual issues whatsoever. I did have a few twinges in my right knee, which usually just means I need to adjust my form, but I was relieved to have no ankle soreness. A good surprise!

Pilates

Tuesday
LT intervals: 2 mile WU + 2 x 12 min @ LTP (7:46)/3 min RI + 2 mile CD
Interval split paces/GAP: 7:47/7:36, 7:51/7:45
7.57 miles, 1:09:55, max HR 183, avg. 157


ID: Workout analysis graph from Strava

This felt way easier than the last couple of LT workouts - hooray for cooler weather! I am glad, though, that I didn't have to run first thing in the morning - that was a little TOO cold for me right now.

No ankle issues during the run, but it was a little sore afterwards...

lower body strength

I haven't done this one in a while, and it was tougher than I was expecting!

Wednesday
Easy/strides: 5 miles, 50:37 (10:08), max HR ??, avg 146-ish

Another great morning for a run! (Fortunately, because this time I did have to get it done first thing in the morning.) I did another Together Run and did the strides along with that even though I hadn't planned them. And my watch once again failed at measuring my HR during the strides

mini upper body strength
core

I went and got my covid/flu shots at lunchtime so it hopefully wouldn't affect my training if I had any side effects.

Thursday
off

I was glad I did the vaccines on Wednesday, because my arm was pretty sore all day and my resting HR was higher than usual.

Friday
Workout: 1 mile WU + 1.3 miles @ MP + 5 x ~45s uphill hard/jog down + 4 miles @ MP + 1 mile CD
8.28 miles, 1:14:00, ??


ID: Strava workout analysis (GAP) graph

My resting HR was back to normal, so I felt like I was good to go. As I remarked on last week, I for some reason decided to schedule two workouts at almost the same pace this week, which I guess isn't really terrible but that didn't seem all that fun. So I improvised! The reason it's a little weird-looking is because my actual plan was as follows:

- Warmup (1 mile)
- MP to the hill
- Uphill hard/jog back down a few times
- MP to about mile 7
- Cooldown (1 mile)

M pace definitely felt harder after running up a hill several times. The hill repeats averaged around 7:45 actual/5:35 GAP, so I was working. But I think I actually overestimated how hard MP would be after hill repeats, because I started out running around 8 flat pace (~HMP) instead of 8:28 like I was supposed to and kept having to slow myself down. Which is...good? Maybe? We're going to say that's good.

And naturally, I got zero HR readings from the hill repeats

mini lower body strength

I think I like this one better than Kelli's other short resistance band video.

Saturday
Easy: 9.25 miles, 1:31:56 (9:56), max HR 170, avg. 152, 93% Z1-2

Oops? It was raining in the morning, so I did my strength training first and then headed out into only a slight drizzle at that point. (Why do we keep getting rainy Saturdays?) I decided to try running around East Potomac Park, which I had mixed feelings about. It was nice and quiet (at least on a damp morning), but for some reason there aren't really sidewalks. Also it was a bit farther than I thought - hence the 9+ miles instead of the 8 I was supposed to do. I was relying on water fountains for my hydration - an unfortunate choice because half of the fountains I passed didn't work. I guess it's good that there was plenty of water coming from the sky?

upper body strength

Sunday
Long: 11.22 miles, 1:52:39 (10:02), ???

After a week of nice weather (except Saturday), Sunday morning was particularly windy. I was freezing in my sweatshirt and leggings walking the dog, so I stuck with long sleeves for my run. I'm not sure that was the right choice but also not sure it wasn't. Since it was just 11 miles (marathon training makes for these hilarious statements) and cool, I brought a gel just in case but planned to stick with Skratch, which is what I ended up doing.

This run was pretty fine until my Shokz died just after I turned around. How do people run without something to listen to?? I just checked my watch a million times, which wasn't that helpful because my watch sucked at recording my HR again, and glared at the people who think they should be able to listen to whatever they want even without headphones (they are wrong). So now we have learned: if the Shokz say low battery before a long run, they will no longer last through the run. They used to when I first got them a year ago, but I guess not anymore.

Also maybe I need a chest strap? I can run by effort but it's helpful to have numbers to check in with, and my watch becomes increasingly useless as the weather gets cooler (as you can see from this week). How do you wear a chest strap with a sports bra though?

Totals
Running: 46.00 miles (score! ), 7h 24m
Strength/mobility: 1h 27m
Total: 8h 51m


ID: Strava weekly training log

It was about time for a cutback week. That's most of the reason for the much-more-reasonable training time this week, but also one of the consequences of running your easy runs by effort is that when fall finally comes around, you are suddenly 30-60 seconds per mile faster - surprise! I will enjoy this brief window of nice weather while it lasts.

Coming up

ID: Next week's schedule

The window of nice weather will indeed be likely brief because this time next week, I will be on my way back to Orlando for a while! Because of that, my rest day will be Sunday instead of Thursday (it was too much work to adjust the spreadsheet just for that). And then it'll probably be summer again

 

[azrivest]

This run was pretty fine until my Shokz died just after I turned around. How do people run without something to listen to?? I just checked my watch a million times, which wasn't that helpful because my watch sucked at recording my HR again, and glared at the people who think they should be able to listen to whatever they want even without headphones (they are wrong).

Good question. I need distraction too, or my brain will go into "Why am I doing this???" mode

How do you wear a chest strap with a sports bra though?

I wear it directly underneath the elastic. It helps to keep the strap in place

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I wear it directly underneath the elastic. It helps to keep the strap in place

It doesn't chafe when you do that? I feel like that's where I have the most chafing as it is...

 

[jmasgat]

How do people run without something to listen to??

I have never run with any kind of music, etc. My brain keeps me pretty busy, so I just listen to the voice in my head! I like when it starts doing old tv theme sings/commercial jingles.

 

[RuntheMouse]

How do people run without something to listen to??

I have never run with any kind of music, etc. My brain keeps me pretty busy, so I just listen to the voice in my head! I like when it starts doing old tv theme sings/commercial jingles.

I don’t run with music or anything else. It’s the only time my brain settles down so I enjoy the quiet tremendously.

 

[GollyGadget]

I usually train with music or audiobooks but my brain is never quiet. It’s always thinking about something, it’s quite annoying.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I usually train with music or audiobooks but my brain is never quiet. It’s always thinking about something, it’s quite annoying.

Yeah, I usually listen to podcasts but can miss large chunks because I got distracted thinking about something else. But for some reason apparently not listening to anything at all is not conducive to thinking for me!

 

[GollyGadget]

Yeah, I usually listen to podcasts but can miss large chunks because I got distracted thinking about something else. But for some reason apparently not listening to anything at all is not conducive to thinking for me!

Same same. My audiobooks are all biographies. I could never listen to a book that required my full attention.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

October 16 - 22, 2023
Marathon training week 11 | 34 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which a leak poses a problem

Scheduled

ID: Last week's schedule

Actual
Monday
Easy/strides: 6.23 miles, 1:01:50 (9:50), ??

I went out in the afternoon, so it was pretty nice but still quite breezy. The wind was at my back on the way out and in my face on the way back, which is sadly typical. But otherwise I mostly felt pretty good.

Pilates

I did this one as a warmup for my run.

Tuesday
10K/MP workout: 1 mile WU + 4 x 4 min @ MP (8:28)/3 min @ 10KP (7:38)/5 min @ MP/2 min @ 10KP/3 min RI + 1 mile CD
10 miles, 1:29:53, max HR 187?, avg. 162?


ID: Workout analysis chart from Strava

I got out of bed and my hips/glutes were sore and I was like, "Wait, what? No way 6 miles + strides made me sore." Then I realized it must have been the Pilates, which didn't feel all that hard at the time but was very focused on those areas. Who knew?

Anyway, this was a good workout! Just the right level of challenging without completely wiping me out. (Thanks to @DopeyBadger for suggesting a fix to whatever insanity I originally came up with, lol.) The alternating reps made MP feel easier and 10KP feel harder at the same time. I did, of course, have a little trouble finding my paces, especially at the beginning - you can see the bars are not exactly even

On the run I had half a liter of Skratch and then a UCAN Edge during the second MP segment of rep #2, which I guess I didn't technically need but I felt better after the gel so it was good.

lower body strength

Wednesday
Easy: 6.15 miles, 1:02:14 (10:06), max HR 161?, avg. 143?

I think my legs were a little tired, but generally I felt decent.

Who else has an Apple Watch? Do you also get annoyed with it when you run 6.15 miles and it tells you congrats on running a 5K?

core
upper body strength

Thursday
Medium-long: 10.42 miles, 1:41:12 (9:43), ??

This was a pretty comfortable 10-miler. My watch actually did okay measuring my HR early on, but then it got cadence-locked for like 3 miles, which was frustrating. I'm putting a chest strap on my Christmas list.

I tried out a new pair of shoes, Novablast 3s that I got on sale, and so far I like them.

mini lower body strength

This was probably half strength/half Pilates. I was going to use a resistance band for some of the Pilates exercises, but then I realized I'd already packed it

Friday
Easy: 7.1 miles, 1:16:21 (10:44), ???

Because I skipped my rest day and had a big long run coming up on Saturday, I tried to make this one super duper easy. On reflection, though, maybe I shouldn't have because I want that cumulative fatigue? Whatever.

As usual, my watch gave me very little in terms of HR readings, but what I got was in zone 1/very low zone 2, so that was good. Kind of boring though.

upper body strength

Saturday
Long-MP: 7 miles easy + 8 miles @ MP + 1 mile easy
16.07 miles, 2:29:00, ??

My parents were supposed to arrive around noon, so I needed to get out the door relatively quickly for this one. I did okay

I feel like I kind of forgot a lot about this run already, but the big "news" was that the..nozzle? What do you call the part you drink out of? on my hydration bladder cracked and was spritzing droplets of water with every step. I didn't think I was losing that much, but when I went to drink some water after taking my second gel, the bladder was empty Not good.

I did still have my Skratch in the flasks on the front, so I wasn't completely SOL, but I decided to skip my last gel at mile 12 since I didn't have any more plain water to wash it down. It was okay, but I did feel a bit tired by the end.

Aside from that, I think it went pretty well. M pace was work for 30% of a marathon, but not really hard. Since I ran 7 miles first, we're going to call this sort of the equivalent of mile 5-12 of the marathon. So I'm like...halfway there Like I said, things were getting a little tougher the last few miles, but I was also running into a headwind and the sun, which wasn't my favorite. My left hamstring had a couple of twinges, but not even painful, just sort of "hey, I'm not all that happy right now." Overall, not too bad other than the water issue.


ID: Splits from the run. "Hey Kate, why are you running faster than MP?" Because it was downhill. Ignore the HR; it wasn't working.

Sunday
off

We had a pretty smooth drive from DC to Orlando, but sitting in a car for 12 hours is just not fun however well it goes. My poor pupper, despite having done this twice before, is still a little discombobulated from the change. Also, it's still hot here.


ID: My dog sitting on my parents' balcony looking slightly disgruntled

Totals
Running: 56.01 miles, 9h
Strength/mobility: 1h 30m
Total: 10h 30m


ID: Weekly training log from Strava

For my highest-mileage week ever, that felt pretty good!

Coming up

ID: This week's schedule

Another big week, which is going to be more challenging because it's still summer here

I think the progression got pushed to Wednesday to give me an extra rest day between a 16-mile LR with 8 miles at MP and another big workout. But since I did the long run workout on Saturday, maybe I'll just try to go back to my normal schedule and do the progression tomorrow. I'm gonna have to check on the T+D adjustments, though, because my heat acclimation is all gone now and I need it...

Also Sunday's run is going to depend a lot on how I'm feeling after my friend's wedding on Saturday. I may be making some adjustments there too.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

October 23 - 29, 2023
Marathon training week 12 | 28 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which I "overcome" summer and a wedding

Scheduled

ID: This week's schedule

Actual
Monday
Easy/strides: 5.57 miles, 59:46 (10:43), max HR 172, avg. ?

Wow, yup, it's still summer here in Orlando. There goes 60s/mile. I did get a little more into the groove as the run went on, but I was very sweaty afterwards. I am telling myself it's for the best since my marathon is also in Florida.

Pilates

Tuesday
Progression: 9 mile progression (start at easy, last 3 miles at MP, HMP, 10KP) + 0.5 mile CD
T+D ~ 132-140 | Adjusted goal paces: 8:42, 8:17, 7:50
Splits: 11:17, 10:23, 10:07, 9:44, 9:25, 9:08, 8:38, 8:08, 7:43, 11:32 (0.5)
Total: 9.5 miles, 1:30:26, max HR 191, avg. 158


ID: Pace analysis chart from Strava. So pretty

This was another good workout. It was kind of a fun change to try to make each mile a little faster than the last with specific targets just for the last 3. I was actually surprised by how easy mid-9s felt halfway through given the conditions.

Then I turned around

Yes, of course I had a tailwind that whole time. So the second half was tougher than I expected, especially when it came to that last 10KP mile. But I did it. I added an extra half a mile at the end because I didn't want to run a mile at 10K pace and then just stop. It was a very slow half a mile for me

lower body strength

Had to make some modifications because one 20 lb and one 12 lb dumbbell had migrated elsewhere in my parents' house.

Wednesday
Easy: 6 miles, 1:04:33 (10:44), max HR 151, avg. 138, 100% Z1-2

I'm maybe getting there again on the heat/humidity - this run felt easier. I did get some cloud cover and a little bit of sprinkles, which helped. I meant to split the difference with Monday's run, but I am only slowly recalling the various iterations of the two routes near my parents' house, so there we are.

core

Short but actually not as easy as I was expecting.

Thursday
off

Friday
Medium-long: 10.09 miles, 1:33:39 (9:17), max HR 169, avg. 159, 80% Z1-2

Regular readers of this journal will know that I think easy is an effort, not a pace, and I typically run at the relaxed end of that spectrum anyway. But I was feeling pretty restless on Thursday, so I wasn't necessarily surprised to find that I had a lot of energy Friday morning. My resting HR and Strava's Fitness & Freshness metric agreed that I was way too rested for the middle of a peak week, lol. So when I found myself running in the low to mid-9s fairly early in the run, I just kind of went with it.

It actually went really well. It was mostly cloudy, so despite a T+D around 140, the run didn't feel hard. I drifted a bit into the bottom of zone 3, especially towards the end, but the last 6 miles were all at 4-hour marathon pace or below, and at the end my form was still good and my legs still felt bouncy. My VO2max, as measured by my watch, also reached its highest point ever (44.7). I always take that with a whole handful of salt, but it's correlated decently with my race performances in the past, so I'm not mad about it! I hope I feel like this on marathon day - and please god let it be overcast!

mini lower body strength

Saturday
Easy/strides: 7.06 miles, 1:13:10 (10:22), max HR 169, avg. 147, 98% Z1-2

I think I tweaked something in my right knee when I was stretching on Friday (pro tip: don't do legs up a wall using the edge of a pool table as your "wall"), and it was still bothering me as I was starting my run. So I started out a little slow and uncomfortable. Fortunately it stopped aching after a mile or two - a good reminder that running can actually help those little niggles sometimes. And then I was fine, if extremely sweaty.

upper body strength

I added a round of bicep curls/tricep kickbacks at the end.

Sunday
MP intervals: 2 miles easy + 5 x 2 miles @ MP/1 mile RI + 1(.35) mile CD
MP splits: 8:33, 8:24; 8:21, 8:34; 8:11*, 8:22; 8:50 , 8:24; 8:40, 8:07*
Total: 18.35 miles, 2:48:32, max HR 187, avg. 164


ID: Pace analysis chart from Strava

A bit of backstory before this run: as I previewed earlier, on Saturday I went to a friend's wedding! It was a great day and so much fun. As far as training-related takeaways go, I managed not to go too crazy on food or drinks (although I did snag a second slice of cake. They were tiny slices though! ). I did, however, spend practically the entire two hours the dance floor was open dancing. (Fun fact: after 12 weeks of marathon training, you can jump up and down while screaming the lyrics to "Mr. Brightside" with all the other thirty-somethings and not even feel out of breath. Focusing on what really matters here.) Anyway, between the dancing and the getting back to my parents' house around 11, I wasn't quite sure what this massive long run workout that I had scheduled for myself would look like.

Despite having gotten to sleep probably around 11:30, I still found myself awake a little after 6. I can't even blame my dog for this one; he was still in bed when I got up. I was hoping that would mean he was cool with a short walk so I could get out before it was super hot, but no dice - it took about 45 minutes. By the time I had fed him, eaten something myself, gotten all dressed and "packed" for the run, and done my dynamic warmup, it was after 8:30 and the T+D was already above 135

I had thought about the water fountain/gas station availability along my route and decided I could get away with carrying my handheld and refilling on the way. So I planned to treat this run as a race day dress rehearsal in terms of what I was wearing and carrying. Even down to my earrings and braids, everything was following the marathon plan. Except for my shoes - I did wear my Endorphin Pro 3s, but I think I'm going to go with the new ones on race day, though I'll give them a trial run first just to make sure everything is okay.

I forgot to check the T+D adjustments, but I was pretty sure it was supposed to be around 8:40 for MP, and going up from there. (Turns out I actually underestimated it slightly and was supposed to be aiming for 8:43 for T+D = 136-140, but that also ended up being not that relevant to me anyway because I'm still bad at pacing.) Between the conditions and my late night out dancing, I had also given myself a mental pass to cut the workout short if I needed to.

I started the warmup feeling slightly slow, sluggish, and headachy. The headachy part I eventually more or less solved just by loosening my hat a bit - I hadn't left room for my braids. The slow and sluggish feeling lingered a little longer, through the first MP interval (although it wasn't actually slow, just felt like it). I did have a slight hiccup in my plan in that the water fountain I had thought I would be able to use for my first refill did not have enough pressure to get anything into my bottle. But I still had some Skratch left, so I took a few sips from the fountain and crossed my fingers that my remaining hydration would carry me through to the 7-11.

By the time I hit rep #2, MP started to feel pretty good. Even though I was aiming for 8:40, I actually kept running around or even a little below my unadjusted pace of 8:28. One of my issues with pacing is that I find it really hard to slow down or speed up just a little bit, so I kind of tried to dial it back a bit but it didn't really work.

There's something to be said for long run workouts. I was thinking a lot less about how many total miles I had left and a lot more about the next 1-2 mile interval. I did add up how far I'd come a few times - I had to use my fingers. Thanks, running brain

I reached the 7-11 in the middle of rep #3 and got a water bottle to dump in my handheld. The cold water was very refreshing after an hour and change in increasingly hot, humid, and sunny weather! (And I wasn't really running an 8:11 mile; Strava just struggles with deciphering pauses sometimes.)

By rep #4, my legs were really feeling the fatigue of a night of dancing plus the 11+ miles I had already run. Somehow, though, MP actually felt easier than the recovery miles - I felt like I could barely get my legs to move running easy pace, but it wasn't that hard to run at 8:30 and my legs were way happier about it. Maybe that was the supershoes? That's the only explanation I've been able to come up with, although it's not very convincing.

Anyway, I had finished my water a lot quicker this time thanks to the heat and fatigue. I really should have stopped at one of the gas stations or fast food places I was passing, but I would have had to cross a busy street and my dumb, fatigue-fogged brain didn't want to wait for the light. So I kept going and stopped briefly for a few more sips from the crappy water fountain. I finally reached a functional fountain 0.25 miles from the end of my last MP interval, and I could have just finished the interval first but I was so so thirsty that I went for the water. I paused my watch to fill the bottle, and when I went to restart it again, I'm positive I hit Resume, but somehow it ended the workout.

ID: GIF of Baby Groot throwing a tantrum

ARGH! I spent a moment wanting to tear my hair out, then started a new run - at least I knew I only had a quarter mile left in the interval.

Because I had gone a little farther to get to the water fountain, I obviously had to cover that extra distance again to get back to my parents' house. At this point my legs were so tired that I was trying to run the tangents on the extremely winding but fortunately not busy streets of my parents' neighborhood just to make the distance a little shorter.

I finally stopped even though I was still a few houses away because my legs were just done. So done, in fact, that when I walked up a very brief and slight incline, they were like, "WhY iS mAkE tO hAvE pAiN???" I forgot to check immediately (again, tired), but I think the T+D at this point was around 148

After I finally got back and grabbed some more water (having already finished my refill), I hopped into the pool in my shorts and sports bra, and it was AMAZING. Why don't I do this after every run here? Then I had to walk my dog, of course. (Fortunately my legs felt a bit better by then.) But hey, I actually did the whole thing! I'm kind of surprised, and I'm also hoping that it doesn't take me too long to recover from this craziness. And now I know how to combine workout files

Oh, also forgot to mention that I tried @striker1064's gel timer idea and it worked! I was able to run my workout and timer at the same time and just reset the timer whenever it went off. So I had 2 UCANs and a GU at intervals of every 40 minutes. The dress rehearsal went pretty well too - a couple of slight hot spots I'll want to prepare for, but that's why I tried it BEFORE the marathon.

In conclusion, I did not mean to make this post so long. Thank you for coming to my TED talk

Totals
Running: 56.6 miles, 9h 10m
Strength/mobility: 1h 30m
Total: 10h 40m

A new weekly mileage record! Honestly I'm kind of surprised it didn't take longer


ID: Strava weekly training log

Coming up

ID: Next week's schedule

Hey look, a down week. Yesterday I told my mom with no irony whatsoever that I only had to run 11 miles next Sunday, and she looked at me like I was crazy. Marathon training, am I right?

 

[nancipants]

I’m giggling because I came back from vacation and was so happy about a 135 T+D after four solid months at 150+.