This was a big week and my highest mileage EVER in a training cycle (during CIM training my peak week was 54.5 miles). There were highs and lows this week, mentally and physically, but overall I know that it got me closer to my goal of having a strong race on May 28th.
Monday: 7.33 mile early morning tempo run. The tempo portions in this run were short but fast this time, so its as less of a tempo run I guess and more of an interval run. The tempo was 3 x (3 min @ 10k pace, 1 min easy, 2 min @ 5k pace). Actual paces for the intervals: 7:29, 6:54, 7:18, 6:46, 7:15, 7:05. Nailed it!
Every month Beachbody rewards coaches for certain milestones and this month Beachbody sent me a sampler of the Performance line which included Energize, which I’d never tried before. Since my run was at 6 a.m. and was going to be hard, I took it before it and I definitely think it helped! It has 100mg caffeine so I’m sure that was a big part of it!
Later I did Dirty 30 Extreme, which is a full body workout. I was thinking it wouldn’t be too hard but I forgot how hard this is! I’ve been doing yoga for a couple weeks – it felt really good to lift weights again, but I was very sore for two solid days afterward. I also tried the Beachbody Recover Drink (Orange) and really liked it! I knew I’d need it after two hard workouts.
Tuesday: 11.1 miles easy with my friend Ashley. My legs actually felt ok for this and having company really helped!
Wednesday: Started the morning with Upper Fix, 5 Min Core on the Floor (from Core de Force), and Post Workout Stretch (10 minutes, from the Beachbody Yoga studio). It always feels so good to get workouts done first thing! I’m obsessed with all the yoga workouts in the yoga studio right now and have found I’m way more likely to stretch if I watch a video. 
My legs were still sore from Monday’s 21 Day Fix workout when I arrived for my group speed workout. This was a great example of why I love the fact that I don’t know what the workout will be until I arrive – we did 7 x 1 mile repeats (with a hilly warm-up) with 1/4 mile recovery, starting at marathon goal pace and descending to 5k pace, for a total of 11.5 miles of running! It was a tough one! My legs were sore and my stomach was kind of tied in knots throughout. The first couple of miles felt easy and I felt like I was holding back at goal pace, but as it progressed, you guessed it – it got harder and harder. My coach challenged me to run a 6:40-50 pace for the final mile (which should be my 5k pace) and I just didn’t have it in me. I tried my hardest, which I’m happy with, but didn’t quite hit it! Funny because had he not said that, I would have been happier with this workout at the time. In retrospect, it was a great workout either way!
Miles: 8:00, 8:05, 7:48, 7:47, 7:30, 7:37, 7:14
I knew this run was going to be tough so I brought a shaker cup with water and ice in the car and immediately mixed in the Beachbody Performance Recover (Chocolate this time) and Creatine so that I could immediately start the recovery process.
Thursday: 45 minute/3.7 mile trail run. They always say you’ll never regret a run, but I actually kind of wish I had skipped this one! I was so tired and actually fell asleep on the bed while “resting my eyes” before I headed out. It felt really bad, and the stomachache I’d had the day before was still there. I usually run this on a hilly route and walk up a giant hill so it’s always a slow one, but this was extra slow!
Friday: 5 miles easy on the trails. This one felt WAY better than the prior day’s run. 
Saturday: 18 mile long (and hilly) run. My coach warned us in advance that this wold be a 3 hour run (about 10 min/mile) and he was right – my pace was 10:06 for this run, as it had over 2,000 feet of climbing. Mentally, I was kind of in a bad place for this run. I woke up not excited to run, I continued that feeling throughout and then on the final big hill, kind of mentally gave up and let myself complain (including cursing my coach for making us run up this giant hill multiple times) and consider how much easier it would be to run the half marathon (ha!). We were supposed to pick up the pace after the last hill for the final 2 miles and I found that as soon as I got onto flat ground and committed to actually picking up the effort, it was fairly easy to run in the low 8s – clearly my mind was holding me back on this run, not my body. After the run I decided that I needed to just relax and not think about running for the rest of the weekend, and that’s what I did. It was really nice! We didn’t have plans so there was a lot of lounging, relaxing and attempts at napping for the rest of the weekend. 
Sunday: 60 minute Deep Stretch Yoga Class at Yoga 6. I haven’t been to a yoga class in a studio all year! It felt nice to get away and be completely distraction free for this class.
Weekly Totals:
- Miles Run: 56.6
- Strength/Yoga: 2.25 hours
I felt tired last week. I felt ready to be done with training. It’s been a long training cycle with a lot of long runs (this was my 7th long run over 18 miles in the last 10 weeks). The good news is, this week I’ve been feeling a lot better and stronger. I think the mental rest helped!
Do you use supplements when training for running races? Which ones do you use?
You are such a bad-ass!! I can’t even fathom the mile repeat work out. You totally nailed it!! Awesome week!!