Holy crap, you guys!! Can you believe that it’s been 10 weeks of training? It feels like I’ve been doing this for 2 straight years. Oh…wait…I haven’t stopped marathon training since I started training for Dopey 2018…which means…September 2017.
That’s two years of, dare I say it, injury-free training. I mean, yeah…I fell down 3 times, but those were bruises, scrapes and just some minor inflammation. My training has become smarter, more challenging, a bit more demanding at times…but for 2 years, I have been chasing a time goal and I’m finally ready to hit the mark.
We inch closer. In fact, next week would have been the marathon I was going to run to attempt a 2020 BQ before changing it over to 2021. And while its still early, the current temps for Erie look PERFECT. I will NOT be bitter.
So, let’s jump into this week of training, shall we?
Monday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN – GOAL 7 MILES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN
That’s right. My usual Monday run. I had heard rumors that we were supposed to have some cooler mornings. This was not one of them. It was around 73 degrees. I wasn’t loving that. But…it was just an easy, recovery run. But, it was also supposed to start raining. With no thunder or lightning on, and the rain light…I just went for it. Easy pace. My left hip flexor was still niggling at me from my Thursday treadmill run. MEH. It didn’t bother me while running though. I actually, because I run with my watch covered, lost track of my mileage and went one extra mile. That was not intentional. But, hey, the easy pace and the misty rain actually felt good so I wasn’t mad at it. 8 miles to start off the week. I did my extra hip strengthening exercises with my stretches. And then I met with Corey for a TON of fresh hell training moves that included box jumps. Box. Jumps. This girl isn’t much of a jumper. But, he got me through it all.
Tuesday: INSTRUCTIONS: BASE RUN – 6-8 MILES – 6-8 MILES + 4-6 STRIDES – GOAL 7 MILES – EASY EFFORT – TRY NO WATCH AGAIN
Another morning in the low 70s. MEH. And I felt like the humidity was back in full swing too. Oh, and a chance for rain was back as well. I hate wearing a hat, and here I am starting off my week with a hat on my head to attempt to keep that rain off my face. I don’t think it even rained at during the time I was out there. This was the same distance as Monday, but I fell into stride easier. I felt better rested. My hip flexor felt a little better. I ended up with 7.5 easy miles…then got to blast out 0.6 miles of strides. My first one felt a little stiff, but my legs got moving after that and I managed some 5:00 paces. LOVE THAT!! I love it when my legs cooperate with me. And I felt good afterwards. But whenever my coach throws strides at me, that means speed work is coming. And you know…with only one day during the week, that means the weekend holds some paced runs. OY! But Tuesday went well, and I fit in the second day of additional hip strengtheners with my morning stretches.
Wednesday: SPEED WORK – MONA FARTLEKS W/ 1 MILE HARD EFFORT
If you are new to my blog, you might not be familiar with Mona Fartleks. Don’t worry, I wasn’t either until I started working with Daniel, my coach. They work like this: 2 mile warm up, 2×90 sec, 4 x 60 sec, 4×30 sec, 4×15 sec (with equal recovery after each at a pace faster than base pace), 1 mile hard effort, 2 mile cool down. Of all the speed work that I can get assigned during the week, this one is my absolute favorite to do. I don’t know why. The intervals work out to be just over 3 miles. In the end, I end up with 7 miles total. That being said, my first push felt a little off. But I soon found my stride, and while it did feel a bit harder this week, I ended up having one of my better attempts at this workout. The humidity in the air that early in the morning did make that 1 mile push a bit of a struggle. I finished it up and was thankful to have those cool down miles to reign it in and just polish up the workout. I was happy with this. I met with Corey again for my personal training session and he had me working those “fast twitch” muscles. It was pure hell. But I made him laugh a few times. WINNING!
Thursday: INSTRUCTIONS: NO WATCH ALLOWED! FOCUS ON THE GOAL OF THE RUN = RECOVERY! GO AS FAR OR SHORT AS YOU NEED, AS FAST OR SLOW AS YOU NEED, WALK OR RUN AS YOU NEED.
You are correct, my fellow readers…this is usually my Wednesday run. But, as I told you…my weekend is pretty stacked as far as long run and workouts go. So I had an early session and my usual do whatever you want however you feel run…moved to Thursday. I slept in an extra 30 minutes. It was glorious. It was also 57 beautiful degrees this morning. That, too, was glorious. I loved it. I loved how good it felt. My easy pace was actually faster than I thought I was moving. I loved finding that out at the end too. I was just going with the flow. Breathing. Letting my legs do what they felt while not working too hard. After all, recovery was still the most important part of this run. I honestly could have run further. Longer. And I would have still felt great. But I knew I needed to really just get this body recovered for the weekend. So, I did my usual 4 miles. My quads were feeling that training with Corey from the day before…so I figured not to press my luck. But, damn…it felt amazing out there.
Friday: You know the drill by now. Friday’s are made for rest. Friday’s are made for sleeping in. Friday’s are made for reading. Stretching. Eating well. Getting to bed early. Except that early bedtime wasn’t happening this time. After a relaxing morning, and getting through the day at the office…it was the last of the weirdly timed Louisville City FC soccer matches. Friday night. MEH. But, I will show up and cheer and hopefully get enough sleep before attempting my first of 2 paced long runs this weekend. And for the record…we tied in the soccer match. It was scrappy.
Saturday: INSTRUCTIONS: 11 – 13 MILES WITH 3 MILE FAST FINISH – EASY DOES IT UNTIL FAST FINISH AT THE END
I thought I had this one planned out perfectly. Mindless and a bit challenging throughout, even with the fast finish at the end. There is a race that does a 5 mile loop near where I live, so I set out to run that twice, and then run fast down the street to the halfway point (this involves some rollers) and then back up (same rollers) to finish it out. But, what I didn’t count on was that the community park I’d run through would be having some paving done. Thus, it cut my first loop short at 3.3 miles into the run. Adjust. I turned around and ran back the way I came, then set out to run the parking lots at the university before heading back toward my home with the fast finish. This actually was a perfect morning for running. It was 71 degrees to start, but there was a lot of cloud cover and a nice breeze. The fast finish was miscalculated and I needed some extra, so I turned down a nearby road, and into lines of cars from a yard sale going on. Extra level of difficulty. I got out of there, made a loop and finished up in the parking lot at my apartments. I successfully got it done. My fast finish got a bit faster with each mile, so that’s a win. Even with the rollers, the hill, and the cars. Pretty happy with how this one turned out. It was a perfect morning for a run. Then, I got to go hang with my friend, Laura, and grab (magic) sushi for dinner. Setting up for my next challenge the following morning.
Sunday: INSTRUCTIONS: 1 MILE WU; 3X4 MILES MP; 1 MILE FAST FINISH; 1 MILE CD – TAKE 2-4 MINUTES BASE PACE/RECOVERY BETWEEN SETS AT MARATHON PACE
Seriously, my coach must be trying to kill me. This is the 5th time he has thrown this workout at me…and this time he added some fresh hell. The one mile fast finish before the cool down. OY!! Thankfully, my friend Ron was feeling the need to be tortured for a little while and said he’d give this workout a try this morning. We met up at The Parklands and got started after I had a Facetime with a friend of mine who is in the hospital. I hope to go see her tomorrow and bring her some good vibes and love. This run was definitely for her. We started off with an easy warmup and then hit the first set of marathon paces. He was really good at reining me back when I picked up too fast and after the first interval, he said he felt good enough to go to the turnaround point with me. So, we started the next interval and made it to the turnaround and was able to hit it once more. With the sun creeping higher, he warned me that he might fall back on these last intervals. We started them up, and on a hill, I went and he didn’t. But he did VERY well running those paces with me and I was so happy to have the distraction. I turned around at the parking lot to head back out for the last interval, recovery, and fast finish before my cool down. I turned around at the halfway point. Overall, this run got me a total of 16.75 for the day. Whew. It was a hard weekend but I came through it, and definitely NAILED this workout this time. I am thankful to have the assist from Ron. It was a HUGE help!
With the labor day weekend upon us, I am totally looking forward to Sunday evening with my friends, Melissa & Paul (and Carrick by default). We have a tradition of cookouts and just enjoying these long weekends together. A year ago we were in Hawaii together getting ready to run the Kauai Half Marathon. And then, tomorrow, off to go visit my friend in the hospital. Busy weekend. But I love my friends and love having time with them…under very different circumstances.
Happy Labor Day Weekend, loves!
The Celiathlete 