Week 12 – Glenn Monumental Training
75.4 Miles
9 runs
2 workouts
Going into the week, I was really only focused on 2 runs: Wednesday’s mile repeats and Saturday’s long run with MRP miles…with really the focus being Saturday. It was going be another 20 miles with my first set of marathon race pace. Up until this point in my training cycle I’ve kind of been dicking around. Yeah I have a plan that I am following but I’ve been trying to be less obsessed with certain things and letting the feel of the day take over. I have had mileage, workouts, and run goals but just trying to be more relaxed about it. The focus has been getting my miles and runs up and playing around with shorter speed stuff. No real marathon strength work. Saturday was going to change that and I was curious to see how my fitness was going to stack up coming off 215+ miles in the proceeding 2.5 weeks.
Monday – 5.1 miles. Recovery. 8:15 miles. Ran in Bloomington from staying the night for Giovanna’s birthday party. The plan was to run again after work, to get in a full 10, but we had the fan clutch go out on the Trailblazer so $450 later and an unexpected PTO day I didn’t run again.
Tuesday – 11.9 miles. Easy. Felt pretty tired to start. About 7:25 miles.
Wednesday – First run: 8.7 miles total with 5×1 mile repeats with a 75 second jog as rest. Happy with the effort. It was perfect day early on the Monon with the group. Summer has been kind this year in Central Indiana. Miles: 5:36, 5:39, 5:39, 5:36, 5:33. Second run: Ran Marshall in the stroller after work for 4.2 miles.
Thursday- Morning run. Easy 11 @ 7:51. Nice aerobic day. Not too tired from the miles the day before. Afternoon run with Marshall for a random 5K route to the park since the Children’s Museum was already closed.
Friday- Short run for 7.1 miles @ 7:32. Nice and easy day with a freshness check sprinting the Holcomb Garden hill. I wanted to test how Saturday would feel. I felt strong.
Saturday- 20.1 miles with 9 @ MRP. Slept in thanks to Lindsey coning me to not leave before Marshall got up so we warmed up 2.5 miles together as a family. She turned to finish her seven and I continued toward the Monon to begin my workout. It was raining and a little chilly getting wet but a good day to run. Started bringing the pace down and felt a little tight so figured well lets see how this goes and if I feel off I can just shut it down early. Turns out that was a little bit of a red herring as the workout went very well.
Miles 1-6 warm up
Miles 7 – 15 MRP workout: 6:17, 6:18, 6:21, 6:19, 6:28 (water at a fountain), 6:19, 6:16, 6:13, 6:14. To be honest, a little faster then a wanted…was really wanting about 6:22 so I’m in the ballpark. Very happy with the effort and how I felt.
Miles 16 – 20 cool down
Sunday- Rest day run with Lindsey for 4.3 miles @13:25. It was rainy when we started and the trail was pretty slippery so pregnant girl was being extra careful not to fall. We went to play around at Town Run in the woods since Marshall was in Bloomington with Lindsey’s Grandma. A great refresher to flush out Saturday and get ready for another 80+ week.
Overall, a very good week of work. I’m happy with the volume, effort level, and how I feel. As Monumental is quickly approaching, the intensity is going to come up as well as I try and dial in the focus. The marathon is a strength activity. Yes it is an endurance event but at it’s core you need strength to run X:XX pace for 26.2 miles. You have to be strong. As I get closer to the race, strength is the name of the game. How do I get stronger? Workout like Saturday. Race pace work. Tempos. In my opinion, as the training peaks the speed stuff because much less important and the strength work takes over. We’ll see if it works for me in November…it is for now.