I had 16 miles on the schedule for today.
Halfway through the week Glenn emailed me with a marathon pace workout for the long run.
It looked like this:
Alternate between marathon pace (MP) and normal long run pace (LRP) using a ladder format as follows:
1/2 mile MP/1/2 mile LRP
1 mile MP/1 mile LRP
1.5 miles MP/1.5 LRP
2 miles MP/2 miles LRP
1.5 miles MP/1.5 miles LRP
1 mile MP/1 mile LRP,
.5 miles MP/.5 miles LRP
With a two mile warm up this would give you 18 miles and 8 miles at MP.
I only had 16 on the schedule, but I was OK with adding an extra two. I haven’t yet done a 20 miler since Rehoboth Beach in early December and have been a little anxious about that. (I haven’t because for a quick second, I decided not to do Shamrock (March 17) and just do Carmel (April 20). After that quick second, I then decided I might get too burnt out before Carmel, and I’m sooo ready for a new PR, so Shamrock is back on and I’m probably going to do Carmel as well five weeks later. I’ll decide if I’m going to try for a PR at Carmel, based on how Shamrock goes.
I liked the idea of this workout he gave me, because it is SO broken up and there is nothing better than having a way to break up your long run…. am I right? (YES, I am)
My plan was to get up around 6:30 and start running around 7:15 to have my run done before the 10:00 Back on My Feet (BoMF) race. Obviously, the BoMF race would be much more enjoyable if I’d already finished my long run.
I fed Marshall at 5:15 and went directly back to sleep- when my alarm went off at 6:30, all I could think about was how it was 17 degrees out and dark and my bed was amazing. On the other side of the bed, I had Glenn saying “I didn’t know I was married to a slacker, get up, stop being lazy” I told him to be quiet, I wanted to sleep and there was no reason I couldn’t do the run after the BoMF race. So I slept in until 7:30, when Marshall decided it was time for everyone to get up.
At that point, the decision was to enjoy the morning with Marshman and get the run in after the race.
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| Joe, Barb, Tom & I before the race. |
I ran the BoMF race (The Winter Run 5K) with Joe- he’s around a 9 minute miler, so it was a nice little warm up. I miss running with these guys in the morning. Right now I’m lucky if I get out there once a week, I am looking forward to being at the very least a once a weeker once I’m done working. Right now, it’s just hard to balance everything. And I certainly miss running the races with them. It was refreshing to run with Joe- I asked him what his favorite part of running was and he simply said “just getting out here and doing it.” You can read more about Joe here.
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| Joe & I finishing the 5K |
I then tried to recruit someone to run my workout with me after the race. No takers. At that point I had planned on just taking off and running from the race location. BUT, after standing around taking pictures, talking to everyone, I went to my car to put my camera away and it felt so warm in there that I decided to drive home and run from there.
THEN, I got super toasty in my car and walked in the house and decided to just make friends with the treadmill. 90% of the time, I make no excuses for my long run and always do it outside. But no one was home, and it was warm and the treadmill invited me to run inside. So I did.
By this time it was 11:30 and all I had eaten for the day was a piece of toast with PNB & Jelly and a banana. I knew it wasn’t enough but I didn’t want to eat anything else because I didn’t want to deal with bathroom issues. So I cranked up the TM, put on netflix (The League– our new go to funny show, seriously it’s hilar) and downloaded a new mindless read on the kindle.
And here’s what I ended up doing for the day:
3 Mile warm up with BoMF
1 Mile warm up on my own
1/2 mile MP/1/2 mile LRP
1 mile MP/1 mile LRP
1.5 miles MP/1.0 LRP
2.5miles MP/2 miles LRP
1.0 miles MP/1.0 miles LRP
MP- 7:24
LRP – 7:47-8:00
So I missed out on:
1 mile MP/1 mile LRP,
.5 miles MP/.5 miles LRP
(I had a hammer gel around mile 5.5- was still hungry though)
I took out a half mile here and there in the LR pace because I had warmed up 4 miles, which was extra. When I was running my second to last mile MP part, I started feeling really nauseous and my legs were seriously shot. All I had to do was cool down one mile to hit my original mileage of 16 for the day. So I decided to do that and call it quits, I honestly felt like crap.
I think I made a few big mistakes (knew I was doing them and did them anyway)
- My legs were fatigued because I ran my tempo on Wednesday way faster than the plan called for
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Was scheduled for 6 at 7:14- but despite a terrible nights sleep I felt good and ended up adding a mile to the tempo and picked up the pace quite a bit after two miles.
Mile 1- Warm up
Mile 2- 7:14
Mile 3- 7:14
Mile 4- 7:08
Mile 5- 7:03
Mile 6- 6:53
Mile 7-6:40
Mile 8- 6:53
Mile 9- Cool Down - At the 1.5 MP part of the ladder workout, I thought I’d have some fun and speed up my marathon pace to 7:19 and add some hills in the “break” the run up even more. Based on my early leg fatigue, I probably should have just left the speed and old incline alone…there was still a lot of running to do
- I didn’t eat enough
- I took way too much time in between my BoMF run and my actual training run- a good hour at least. I should have taken off soon after the run… OR gone with the original plan and ran early… OR had a bite to eat and waited to run in the afternoon outside once the sun warmed everything up.
I’m only dissapointed that I missed that 1.5 miles of MP running and feel a little discouraged about how bad my legs were feeling at the MP. While that of course makes me nervous about holding that pace for 26 miles, what I have to remind myself is- I had already ran 42 miles this week, wasn’t properly fueled and wasn’t totally mentally in the game and this won’t be the case on race day.
I’ve never recorded my miles so precisely until this training, but I’m almost certain it’s the highest mileage I’ve ever ran in a week. 58 for the week so far- and I think I’ll do 3-4 recovery miles tomorrow, which would put me over 60 for the week.
While I’m not totally discouraged, it did feel like a bit of a workout fail. This week was a lot of miles at decent paces on some days, quite the difference from my oh so cozy rest week last week. Moving on though.
So anyway…. after the run, we went over to my sisters to help her move a little (Glenn helped, I fed Marshall and hung out) and then went to the store. (We actually made a menu plan for the week… first time for everything!) Marshall is enjoying being able to ride as a big little human in the front. Toward the end of the trip though he kept falling over because he was so tired. 6:30 is too late for this 7:00 bedtime guy to be out and about.
We made enchiladas with our own special homemade sauce and everything- it was DELICIOUS and now I’m on my third bud light lime, ready to read a chapter of half the sky, then watch something that will make me laugh and hit the hay.
We made enchiladas with our own special homemade sauce and everything- it was DELICIOUS and now I’m on my third bud light lime, ready to read a chapter of half the sky, then watch something that will make me laugh and hit the hay.
And, I’ve got 20 on the schedule for next Saturday… with 14 progression, that should be a fun one.
Happy weekend everyone!
Did you run long this weekend?
What did you tackle? (running or non-running)
Have you watched “The League”- what’s your favorite show that makes you laugh for real?