Isn’t it amazing what a change of view can do for the soul (and running)!? Florida was such a wonderful time away and much needed for both us. Especially for Wes once his boards were over.
Running went really well this week and I think the change of scenery and reset of my mind was the cause of that. I hope I can ride that into the final weeks of marathon training.
Here is a look into week 8 of Boston Marathon training:
Monday – 8 miles total (4 miles steady)
Monday was my first workout down in Florida. I made up my own workout since i knew I wouldn’t be around many hills. I also knew that I’d have to run with the stroller so I decided to do a simple workout: 2 warm up, 4 steady miles, and 2 cool down.
My splits for the steady miles ended up being: 7:50, 8:04, 8:02, 7:59. I was really surprised how well I felt and even though it was much more difficult with the stroller it felt nice to run quick on flat ground (too many hills in Virginia). Total of 8 miles for the day.
Tuesday – 4 miles easy
Tuesday was the day my husband had to take his oral boards. I dropped him off and hung out with E until he was done. He ended up getting done a little later expected and by the time we got back to the hotel it was 12:00 pm.
Wes offered to run with me which hasn’t happened in such a long time! We headed out with E and did 4 super easy stroller miles. We switched off every mile with the stroller so I got a bit of a break from pushing the stroller all the time. It was such a wonderful time together and we got to celebrate his passing of his boards!
Wednesday – 7 miles total (1 mile on/1 mile off)
Wednesday I moved to a workout day since I was moving my long run to Saturday for the week. I started out with 1 mile easy and then did 1 more harder effort. This run started off pretty rough as I was running into the wind, someone soaked my foot with their car splashing through a puddle, but I tried to focus on my goal and in the end had a great run.
My “on” miles ended up being: 8:20, 7:29, 7:30. The second two intervals felt a lot better and without battling the wind in my face I felt pretty good. 7 miles total for the day.
Thursday – 5 miles easy
Thursday was an easy day and my legs were toast! I remember feeling completely dead as I started out. I tried not to let it bother me and just focus on going slow and easy. This was one of those days where I was so thankful to have my little running partner with me to help push me along.
Friday – 5 miles easy
Friday I was in for a treat when I got to run with Danielle! If you don’t follow her on Instagram – make sure you do! She is super motivating. We both met through being Garmin ambassadors and soon bonded over running through pregnancy and now postpartum.
When I found out we were going to FL I asked here if she’d like to meet up some time. We finally got time on Friday and had a great 5 mile stroller run! She definietly motivated me a lot and it was so nice to have someone to chat with throughout the run!
Saturday – 13.1 miles
After our run on Friday, Danielle offered to run my long run with me! I knew I’d have to do it with the stroller and I knew it could be tough so I was more than excited to have someone to come along with me!
We met around 8:45 in the morning and decided just to go for it. It is truly amazing how much quicker the miles go when I have someone to talk to instead of being out there by myself the entire time.
We went through a bunch of neighborhoods but had no real plan for the course which helped to keep things interesting! 13.1 miles in 1:52 which was an 8:35 average. I was really impressed with myself with the pace, but most of that was because I was trying to keep up with Danielle! She truly is an amazing runner!
We had such a fun time and it was so wonderful to have her and our boys with us! I finished off the day with a dip in the pool with my little man. The perfect way to end a week of great running and tired legs.
Sunday – Rest Day
We are traveling back from Florida so once again I moved my rest day to Sunday. It’s much needed but I’m am feeling really great about how things turned out in week 8!