Last week was an intense week! It was the third week of building mileage in a row, following a “recovery week” which involved a half marathon. This week my coach and I decided to add one more run per week in order to build mileage and keep the long run at a lower percentage of total weekly mileage (for example, during week 11 I ran 50 miles but the long run, at 20 miles, was 40% of weekly mileage which is really high! Ideally, the percent would be closer to 25-30%).
Monday: 6.2 mile tempo run. The workout was 3 x 12 min with the first two at marathon goal pace and the final at half marathon goal pace (should be 8:00 and 7:40 ish). Actual paces were 7:53, 7:54 and 7:47 – it was hard to get them exact given the timing of the hills but I put more effort into the last repeat. He left out any mention of recovery on my plan so I didn’t do much – just stopped for the restroom after the first and a photo on the second. This felt pretty good!
Tuesday: ABC Extreme (one of the 21 Day Fix Extreme bonus workouts – it’s basically a core and leg workout) in the morning and 10 miles easy later. My new Tuesday running buddy Ashley wasn’t able to meet me so I had to do this alone. I had the worst thing happen to me on this run – I dropped my key fob IN A PUBLIC BEACH RESTROOM TOILET – THUNK! It was pretty horrifying, particularly given that there was no sink to wash my hands in afterward. I ended up running as fast as I could to a coffee shop and copying the Grey’s Anatomy doctors by washing my hands and entire arms in the hottest water I could get. Yikes! 
Wednesday: Group speed workout – 8.5 miles. We did 40 minutes of hill repeats (hard up AND down the hill, recovery was based on time, not distance) with not much recovery in there and then finished with 2 x 800 (7:29 and 7:28 avg pace) and 1 x 400 (6:53 avg pace). This was a tough workout but I felt really strong and my friend Miranda and I stuck together and pushed each other (I pushed her on the declines/flat and she pushed me up the hills – hills remain my weakness)! One of my best workouts.
Thursday: 50 min easy. An easy stroller run on the coast with Siena. The secret to stroller runs for use at this stage is to bring a snack and hold off on giving it to her until she really seems to be getting antsy.
Friday: Upper Fix in the early morning and 5 mile trail run later. We added in a 6th run starting this week and Jim told me it HAS to be on a soft surface, aka the trails. I went out by my house for a nice and easy run.
Saturday: 18 miles with 7 @ marathon goal pace. I didn’t know that this run would have marathon goal pace miles in it. I’m glad I didn’t becuase my legs were tired and I think I would have been pretty nervous for the run had I known. This was my last very long run with Kelly becuase she’s running the Big Sur Marathon. It was nice to catch up with her but when we got to the marathon goal pace section, we split up. A large portion of this run was on the trails (over 50% I’d say), including the race pace. I was really happy that I was able to maintain around a 8-8:10 pace for the last 7 miles! Once I got off the trails it felt a lot easier, and I was able to finish with a final mile at 7:38 pace! Not bad!
Sunday: 30 min yoga. Siena joined me for some recovery yoga from the Beachbody on Demand Yoga Studio before we got ready for a big Easter! We had brunch with Mike’s family and Easter Dinner and a big egg hunt with my extended family.
Weekly Totals:
- Miles Run: 52
- Strength Training: 1.5 hours
Overall I was really happy with this week. I didn’t do a great job recovering over the weekend though – I ended up cleaning and working during Siena’s nap on Saturday instead of resting and then we had two easter parties on Sunday. I could definitely feel it and I was tired Monday. Recovery really needs to be a big part of my plan, especially how jam packed my days are chasing around a toddler.
How was your Easter? What is your favorite recovery method?
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