32 Days to Go (Dogs Days of Spring, No wait Winter, No wait Summer, No wait Spring... Ok, I'm officially confused, which season is this???)
Some extremely bizarre weather this week. It's really getting hard to know which season we're actually in. Some days it feels like spring, then summer, then winter. It's making it tough to adjust to any specific weather condition. Let's see how the week went...
Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)
3/30/16 - W - Medicine Ball Workout (MBW)
3/31/16 - R - 1.5 miles @ 9:28 min/mile + 9 miles @ 7:52 min/mile + 1.5 miles @ 9:32 min/mile (7/9)
4/1/16 - F - 7 miles @ 9:32 min/mile (4/7)
4/2/16 - Sat - 8 miles @ 8:53 min/mile (6/8)
4/3/16 - Sun - 17 miles @ 8:33 min/mile (13/17)
4/4/16 - M - 6 miles @ 9:32 min/mile (4/6)
4/5/16 - T - 1.5 miles @ 9:47 min/mile + 2 x 3 miles @ 7:42 min/mile with 800m RI @ 9:40 min/mile + 1.5 miles @ 10:08 min/mile (2/2)
Total mileage = 60 miles
Number of intervals within pace = 36/49 (72%)
Thursday was about as good as it gets. The pace was slightly slower than desired, then at desired, and then finished with faster than desired. A good simulation run of how I would like to run my race.
Friday went as expected, maybe a bit too fast, but about what I expected out of a slow run this close to marathon day.
Saturday the goal was to get out there before the wind started. Looked at the weather Friday night, and decided that the run had to be at 6:30am to avoid the strong winds (+30mph). Woke up at 4:30am to eat breakfast and then after I was mid-eating I was like, oh maybe I should check the weather. Well darn, now the wind was suppose to start closer to 6:30am, and what the what?!?! is that snow?!?!? Yep, there it was a snow storm starting around 6:30am. Oh well, I tried avoiding the weather but "you never know what race day will bring". The run went fine, took it a little slower than normal, but overall it was good. Well, I thought the weather was bad for my run (20 degree WC + WIND + some SNOW), but later it was VERY WINDY and VERY SNOWY, but later it was VERY WINDY and 77! Yep, it was snowing and 20 WC in the morning and then 77 in the afternoon. A friend went running that evening and when she left it was 57, when she finished 2.5 hrs later it was 22. Just a crazy weather day.
Sunday the goal was to get out there before the wind started. Huh, that sounds familiar. I just wasn't looking forward to 17 miles in heavy winds. So now it was wake up at 4:00am and start running at 6:00am. The 2nd of the 17 mile max runs of the training cycle. The last was two weeks ago and went really well. Thankfully, this one went the same. Nice comfortable and everything I could hope for in a max run. The last mile felt comfortable and was naturally picking up the pace (probably excitement to almost being done).
Monday was up and down in pacing, but overall what I would expect an easy run to feel like at this point.
Tuesday was the peak of the Strength runs (2 x 3 miles). As a reminder, this is a simulation to the end of the marathon. You've got nothing left and you just need to dig deep and sprint to the end. Simply put this is how my effort based pacing felt (1st 3 mile segment - 23:19 and 2nd 3 mile segment - 23:18). Yep, only one second difference over the course of 3 miles in two separate segments. Feeling good about it.
I can see the proverbial training cycle finish line. The Strength segment is now on the down swing. Only one more 17 mile max run left. The peak of the Tempo runs start not this week but the next. I'm starting to get fatigued from the constant training, but that's alright because that's the point. Crazy to think I'm only 32 days away.
Hope yours was better!
