Last week was peak week in terms of long run mileage, but this current week is also a very important (and tough!) week, so I hesitate to say that the hay is in the barn….because it’s not! I’m reducing mileage this week but I still have some key workouts to get in.
That being said, this past week went well! I started out a bit tired from the previous week’s faster 20 miler ever, and ended on a high note with a 5k PR.
Monday:
Rest Day. Kickball was canceled because our opposing team didn’t have enough players (automatic win!). After work Mike and I went for a walk but that’s about it!
Tuesday:
AM: 7 easy miles with Mike. Nothing special, just some slow miles with my running buddy husband.
Lunch: Pilates Level 2. This was only my second time with this teacher and she was great! A lot of new moves that I hadn’t done before and I was quite sore the next day.
Wednesday:
AM: 9 miles with final 6 progressing from MGP + 20 sec to MGP. This run didn’t go well. I wasn’t upset, because this training cycle has been FULL of GREAT workouts and very few bad ones. It wasn’t terrible,it just wasn’t great. My legs were tired/sore from the previous weekend’s hard effort plus Pilates the day before and it was early. I ran 3 miles easy and immediately could tell my legs were not going to cooperate. As soon as I turned around at the 4.5 mile mark, I was greeted with a really strong headwind. I ran the remaining 4.5 miles into a headwind, with a net incline. There were some tough moments! I couldn’t for the life of me get my legs to move faster. I wanted to hit close to an 8 min /mile for the final miles and I couldn’t until the final mile when I was more protected from the wind. My legs started to wake up and somehow I got out a 7:53 mile, although it seemed like the same effort as the 8:36 mile I had done. Overall I averaged 8:19 on the 6 miles and my splits were: 8:28 (net incline), 8:22, 8:15 (net decline), 8:36 (net incline), 8:23, 7:53.
PM: After work I tried the new Club Pilates “Arm and Abs” class. I liked it! Although there was definitely still some legs – including quite a long bridge portion which I had to rest a few times during because my legs were tired!
Thursday:
Rest day. I was planning to do 5 miles easy but wanted to sleep in. After work, I was too tired and hungry to go out and run in the dark alone. Overall, I think it was a good call. Those miles were junk miles.
Friday:
AM: 10 miles Zone 1-Zone 2. My legs were back to feeling refreshed for this run! I ran a really easy to moderate pace on this run and felt like I could run forever. I felt great and my legs felt fresh. It’s crazy how easy 10 miles runs have become.
Lunch: Club Pilates FIT Level 2 class. Again, this is mostly traditional pilates but with a little more intervals to get the heart rate up. The hardest move was a segment where we did a blank on the bosu ball, jumped our legs up to it, lifted it over our head, jumped back down into a plank and repeated. Then we’d do a long series of mountain climbers while planking on the bosu and then repeat the sequence again. Sweaty!
Saturday:
Fit Foodie 5k! I treated this as a tempo run but it ended up being a really successful one as I pulled out a nearly 50 second PR! Total of 6.5 miles including warm-up, cool-down and race. Race report here.
Sunday:
22 mile long run. This run was a bit rough. I told myself I wouldn’t do 22 (my plan actually called for 23 which is what Mike did) if my legs felt too tired from the 5k, but when I started the run, my legs actually felt pretty good all things considered. Mike and I ran together for the first 4.5 miles or so and then he went ahead. We ended up meeting up a few other times on the route because he stopped for water more often than I did, but I ran the large majority of the run alone. The time went surprisingly fast but it was HOT. Somehow, San Diego pulled out a 76 degree, sunny day in mid-November. The goal of this run was endurance, not pace, so I kept it easy (mostly low 9s). Toward the end, my legs were really tired and I started to shuffle a bit but I made it to the end.
The highlight of Sunday was tracking my friend Brooke as she dominated her first Ironman! She finished 5th in her age group (25-29) with a time of 11:25:49. Brooke jokes and calls me her coach and my one regret as her coach was telling her to change her clothes in transition! She was so close to 3rd place and her transition times could have made up that difference. But to Brooke, none of that matters – she had a great day and is so proud of how it turned out. I’m so happy for her!
Weekly Totals:
- Miles Run: 54.5
- Stretch/Strengthening: 2.5 hours
- Total Time: ~11 hours
Do you usually start the taper 3 weeks or 2 weeks out?
Awesome week! That’s so cool about your friend’s ironman 🙂 I am putting in one more solid week this week too, so I guess that’s more of a two week taper than three. Same as you though, my long run won’t be an increase. You’ve put in some amazing milage!! It’s awesome!! I was supposed to get a peak week in the high 50s maybe even a 60 mile week, but a little foot thing knocked me back a bit. But what’s done is done 🙂
Have you checked out the pacers bio page on the CIM website? Are you planning on going out with a pace group? I’ve used pace groups in halfs before, but my full marathon there wasn’t one close to my goal time (or if there was, I got confused, lol!) so I’m still working out my plan for CIM.
I just checked it out! I’ve never actually stayed with a pace group although I always think about it. However, I am considering going out with the 3:30 pace group assuming they run the pace and not much faster. I’d like to cross the half marathon mark right around 1:45 and then either keep it up or at least have some cushion. I do think I have close to a 3:30 in me so I don’t think it’s too risky to go out with them. What about you?
I’ll keep ya posted, still deciding! I’ve even thought about going out suuuuper conservative with the 3:35 group. Have to talk it over more a bit, just checked out the info last night. I like the idea of not needing to check my watch constantly those first few miles, worrying about going out too fast. But I’m all over the place with my goal time – anywhere from 3:28 (best case scenario, based on my half last week and just training paces in general) to 3:35 (still seems sooo fast to me, but I’m new to the “trust your training” concept) Going into the half last week I felt REALLY confident I could hold 7:30 pace and I pretty much did… So just gotta get my head and heart wrapped around what I know I can do for the full and go for it! Sorry, totally rambling here now! 🙂
You can do it! Mentally I don’t like starting with the 3:35 group (although that pacer looks really good) because it freaks me out when they go out too fast and pass me (such as at my last marathon). Either way I think we will be out there together and I think we both have this!!!
I’ve never ran with a pacer, but I think it would be tough. I personally feel like it’s easier to run your own race instead of someone else’s paces mile after mile. You know how sometimes you want to go just a little faster or slower? I sometimes even feel like that during the odd race Kelly and I run together.
I’ve also seen pacers way off and then have to really speed up at the end, or they take you through the first part too quickly.
My two cents, as I know a lot of people run great races with them!
I emailed you about your shoes because I need new ones and I want to try Nikes again! Which model are they???
Just wrote back 🙂
Yay for such a strong week! A 5k PR in there is so awesome with the mileage you’ve been putting in. How do you feel after the 22 miler? That’s a looong way to run in training!
How is Mike’s training going?
Yay for Brooke- so awesome (and speedy)!
Great week!!! Hard week too! You got this!! You are totally ready!! I can’t believe how hot it is there! Lucky and not lucky at the same time!! 🙂
I do a 2 week taper usually! It is totally a mental thing for me!!