Marathon Training: Week 3

Well, looks like I am ONE week closer to CIM. 3 weeks down, 9 weeks to go! :-) This was another great training week. I am surprised at how well my body has responded to training. I don't remember training the training for Portland or Boston being this easy. Well not easy, but you know what I mean.....

Monday: OFF

Tuesday: 6 am SJ class (thankfully there were no massive amounts of lunges)

Wednesday: 6 X 800 repeats at 2:58 with 90 second recovery. 20 minute WU and 10 minute CD. I dislike intervals, actually I hate them. Even though I don't like them, this was a good workout. Instead or working out in the morning, I ran this at the track after work. Not the ideal time for me to run, but with the husband gone I had to improvise. The 800s were good- I ran them all below my target pace. Running intervals on the track is a million times different than the treadmill. It was a nice change of scenery.

I did get fairly disgruntled when people were WALKING in lanes 1 & 2 on the track. Doesn't everyone know about track etiquette??? I finally had to politely (while gasping for air) tell people to move out to lanes 5 & 6 or else I was going to plow over the top of them. I did notice several signs telling people which lanes were for walkers, but apparently people in Spokane don't know how to read or they don't think the rules apply to them.

Thursday: 6 am SJ class. I contemplated taking Maisy for a run or going to FI, but decided to just rest after work.

Friday: 8 mile tempo run, 6 miles at target pace of 7:00/mile. I really, really struggled through this run. I ran it after work (bad idea...again) and I was exhausted from the week and it was on the warm side of 85 degrees. I barely, barely came in under 7:00/mile by finishing my 6 miles in 41:53 minutes (6:57/mile pace). I literally (no joke) wanted to lay down on the sidewalk and just sleep once I hit the 6 mile mark. I felt awful- my stomach was killing me, my knee was throbbing, my shins hurt, and heck my shoulders were even throbbing! I shouldn't necessarily say that I struggled because I was still below my target pace, but it just felt difficult to maintain.

Saturday: OFF

Sunday: Long run day! Technically, I had 19 miles to run, target pace of 8:11/mile, but I was feeling like an over achiever and decided to make it 20 miles. It was a pretty good run and I was glad that I was able to get it out of the way in the morning. I was smart and brought my water with me and 3 Clif gel packs. I consumed all 3 gels, which I typically wouldn't have done, but I think that it helped me. I took my first gel at mile 5, the second at about mile 12 and the third at mile 16.5. Having the 3 gels really helped me and I figured that it will be a good habit to get into prior to CIM. I had to stop once at a McDonald's to fill up my water because the water fountains in the city parks have already been turned off for the season. Other than that, I powered through and felt really great.

Last week when I ran 17.41 miles on Sunday I wasn't sore on Monday. Today, I am proud to report that after a 20 mile run, I am not sore. :-)

My 3 positive things from this last week:

1. I tried something new on my long run (3 gels) and found out that it worked well for me.

2. The weather was awesome all week and I got to do all of my runs outside- so much more refreshing!

3. On my long run I ran under a BQ pace...pretty much awesome!

Total Mileage: 34.37

--Tasha