There are a couple exciting things happening this week (that will be divulged in the very near future) so to say that I am a little excited that this week is complete is an understatement.
This week went by without much excitement. It’s officially week 16 of my training and I am anxious to get to the marathon now. I think when you finally see the end in site it makes you anxious for that day to get here.
Without further adieu, here is my workouts for the week:
Monday (11/3)
8 miles easy
It sure dropped in temperature this week!
Tuesday (11/4)
Warm up
10 x 800 at 7:20 pace
Half the amount of time for recovery
Cool down
10 miles total
Wednesday (11/5)
8 miles easy
Thursday (11/6)
Warm up
3 x 2 miles (7:47, 7:41, 7:30) with 800 recovery
Cool down
10 miles total
Friday (11/7)
Off
Saturday (11/8)
9 easy miles
Sunday (11/9)
14 mile long run
As you may notice right off the bat, I didn’t have a token tempo run this week. When I looked at adding weeks to my training plan, I knew throwing in an extra 10 mile tempo run probably wasn’t the best of ideas.
Tempo runs are one of the best training runs, but they also are tough on the body. On top of that, they are tough for a longer period of time. I knew adding an extra hour and 20 minute long tempo was just not good when I am trying to stay healthy for race day.
On Tuesday, instead of doing my normal strength workout I decided to throw back in some 800’s. Since I am nearing the time of my race, why not try some Yasso 800’s!
It’s amazing to me to think back at when I did these the last time I was training for a BQ (before my injury) and I could barely doing 6. On Tuesday I did 10!
Thursday morning I decided to sub out a normal tempo run for the strength workout I usually do on Tuesdays. However, I wanted to push the pace a little quicker since I was going shorter on the distance.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for me to run outside as I had wanted but I still needed to get it done. I ended up doing a warm up followed by 3 x 2 mile repeats. I progressively got faster on each one. I started at a 7:47, then 7:41 and then finally the last one at 7:30.
I actually felt pretty good on this workout. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was so happy it was Thursday or I just was fresh, but it was a great workout.
Saturday morning I did something a little different. My hubby had to be at the hospital at 5:45 am so he was going to be getting up at 3:00 AM to get his run in before heading in. My original plan was just to wake up as I felt like it and go run. However, at 3:00 AM when his alarm went off I wasn’t sleeping well.
I also started to feel sick on Friday, so I thought since I had the energy then why not just get up and get it done.
I ended up running just over 9 miles before 4:30 in the morning! I was SO glad that I chose to do this because as the rest of the day continued I just wasn’t feeling that great. I did go back to bed for another 3 hours after finishing, but I felt so happy o have it done when I got up.
I decided to move my long run to Sunday again, so check back for an update on that one! Instead of adding another 16 miler into the schedule I am cutting it down to 14 this week. I will drop back to another 10 next weekend, and then do my last 16 mile run 3 weeks out.
It’s crazy to realize just how soon race day will be here!
I will leave you with several pictures from this week. If you don’t like animals, well I’m sorry you’re about to get overloaded.
This guy was missing his dad one morning. He is a complete daddy’s boy!
Pipe was eyeing my bowl of corn flakes I was eating one night. She will eat ANYTHING!
Finally, this quote! I watched this movie again this past week and forgot how much I loved it.
Tell me something fun about your training this week!
That’s a great quote! Looks like your training is going really well, and very consistently so. You’re going to have a great marathon!
Thanks Michele! I really hope so!
I’m so confused! Why does it say Marathon on Week 15….but your on week 16 😛 Am I crazy blind, haha!
I had to add some weeks in. That is just my ORIGINAL training schedule but since I changed the marathon I had to add extra weeks. Your not crazy 😉 Just didn’t re-do the original excel sheet! HA!
Looks like a great week! I know what you mean about just being ready for race day to get here!
Yes I am READY!
Wow – a 3:00am workout is insane! Good job in getting up and doing your run.
I can say that I am extremely happy with Hanson’s. I have run since grade school, but just started marathon distance races this year. My first one was in March, and I completed it in 4:36. I finished the Ft. Worth Marathon yesterday in 3:49! I cut 47 minutes off my time and I (mostly) felt strong the entire way. I did experience cramping (again) during the last 10k which slowed me down as I had to keep stopping to stretch. I think I need to take more electrolytes during the race since I don’t seem to get enough from Roctane GU.
I still have a lot of work to do to shave another 20+ minutes off my time (45 seconds per mile) in order to BQ. I will do another iteration of Hanson’s plan for the March 1 Cowtown Marathon and see what kind of improvements I can make towards a 3:30 marathon.
-Run with joy!
Awesome job Greg!!!!! I hope I have as good of luck as you did when it comes time for my marathon!
I have a question – when you did your 9-10 mile tempo runs how did you feel during those in comparison to running that pace during the race?
Thanks Sara!
The long tempo runs were not that hard for me for a couple of reasons. First, I take Wednesday’s off as the Hanson’s plan calls for. So having that day of rest allowed for the tempo to be fairly comfortable. Second, my half marathon pace is around 8:00/mile, so running the tempo at 8:30 to 8:45 wasn’t overly taxing. On some of my early tempo runs, and a test half marathon I ran in August, I realized that I needed to alter my goal pace from 8:00/mile though. It exposed that I was aiming to high to hold that pace for 26 miles.
My game plan during the marathon was to run the first half at 8:45/mile and then pickup to 8:30/mile for the next 10 miles and then try to kick in the last 5k at something faster than 8:30 pace (whatever pace I could pick up to or at least hold the 8:30 pace to the finish). But the cramping that I mentioned at mile 20 caused me to stop a few times to stretch and as it turned out my average pace landed right at 8:44/mile. Overall, I was very happy with how it turned out compared to my first marathon. I still need to work on my fueling to see if I can stop the cramping issues I have had in both races.
-Run with joy!
Thats awesome Greg! The tempo runs so far have gone well for me! I’ve hit them (knock on wood) but they always stress me out! HA! Only a couple more before my marathon! Hoping for the best!!
Good luck figuring out the cramping! I have stomach issues a lot so I know all about how tricky nutrition can be before a race!
My most troubling/stressful day is Tuesday. I like speedwork, but coming on Day 6 of the week in this plan makes them more difficult for me to maintain pace, and sometimes my legs are very sore and tired.
I did much better on not having stomach issues this race. I drank a serving of Generation UCAN 30 mins before the race and then started the Rocktane GU at 1:30, with another one every 30 mins after that. I switched to Rocktane because it has a high level of Potassium. I was told that a shortage of potassium can cause leg cramps. I need to research easy to use electrolytes to consume to see if that helps.
If you have not tried Generation UCAN, you might want to buy a pack or two and see how it sits in your stomach. It was very easy for me to switch with no upset, and it does not spike your insulin like GU. They have free webinars to explain the product on their website. I swear by it now and I will work to start carrying it on long runs/races and stop using GU.
-Run with joy!