Weekly Rundown-Boston Training Week 7

Last tough week in the bag. I could definitely tell I have been working hard. The hills all left me feeling less than stellar this week and Sat/Sun were the only mornings I got in my run first thing because I just kept hitting the snooze. Guess I will put lots of sleep as a priority the next three weeks (Note that I got plenty of sleep but it involved doing all my runs at lunch or in the evening rather than the preferred AM run)

Ate way better than my big week two weeks ago (two weeks ago I think i consumed more than my fair share of chicken wings, burgers, cookies, pie, you get the point). This week involved plenty of inventive salads, sushi, and my fair share of healthy portions of lean meats and only a few cookies and one ice cream cone, so I rewarded myself with a Chipotle Burrito this morning which I surprisingly only consumed half of and will save the other half for a treat tomorrow or late tonight if I get hungry.

Onto the mileage.

Monday- 1.5 mile walk with David

Tuesday- 6 mile recovery run with Salty at NC 9:15 pace

Wednesday- 11 miles with track workout
Stayed on my home turf and tried out a track down the road in the evening.
5 mile warm up ~9 minute pace

6*1000 aiming for 3:52 to 4:00 (5k pace)

1st repeat I had to dodge 2 geese that decided to camp out in lane 1 but thankfully they moved for the rest of the repeats. This workout didn't look that hard on paper but it was tough to execute. I was a little shaky on pace and had to push the last 200 of each 1000 to get in on time but I was happy with the effort. 2 minute rests in between each so I jogged 300 meters between the 1-4th and 200 meters between the 5th and 6th (got lazy!)

4:03
3:59
3:52
3:55
3:53
3:53

1.5 mile cool down

Thursday- 2:07:30 Medium/Long Run Effort

Planned to run at SC but weather was going to be sketchy in the evening so I took a long lunch and ran around downtown.

Warmed up 1.5 miles then ran with JK to a downtown track, ran 3 miles while he did repeats (7:59, 8:15,8:16). Ran back to the place where I picked up JK then toured the flats and Browns stadium to get in another hour. Figure the run was between 14.5 and 16 hopefully it was right on at 15. Legs were definitely trashed on the uphills.

Friday- Went to ECR to get in my 9 miler. I always struggle to determine if the mileage at that park is accurate once it evens out but my splits definitely make it clear that the half mile markers are not true. Started off super slow and felt sluggish running uphill. Didn't look at the watch at all and tried to just run a steady by feel run. Ended up picking up the pace significantly and finishing out the run around 7:30 pace for an average around 8 for the run. Started at the bottom and ran 2 miles up, then 2 down, 2 up and 3 down and back to the car to round out 9.

Saturday- Easy 6 miler at NC with Salty slowed way down and did all miles slower than 9 min pace

Sunday- My one and only 20 miler. Plan was to go in at 20% slower than marathon race pace and work my way down to 10% slower or race pace if I felt good.

I think I executed the run pretty well. The first 10 or so miles averaged 8:25-8:30 and the last ten average pace was 7:42-7:48. Last 2.5 miles were between 7:20 and 7:40 so I was pretty happy with that effort. It was on the faster end of what I thought I could do. The course is a good Boston simulator with some rollers and it was windy today which can definitely be a factor at Boston so I think this run set me up pretty well! I did have company up through mile 16 or so so I am sure that helped, but I was glad I ran the last few miles strong even when all by myself.

Stomach threatened to stitch but I held it off. Took in two gels and could tell my stomach didn't quite agree with the second one, I just had to grab some Gus last minute though so I think once I am taking my standard E-Gel stomach issues won't be a problem. Drank only water today and that seemed to work out fine. My legs felt good after the run and I wasn't too dehydrated. Another bonus I made it through the whole 20 miles without a bathroom stop. I'm really hoping this will be the case at Boston. I don't want to waste any race time in the bathroom!

This week the load lightens up a bit and I get to try my hand at a 10k race. I'm hoping I do well as I could use the mental boost. Focus this week is on recovering from the past week and showing up to the 10k fresh. Also started in on my Boston mental prep. Got my booklet and it looks like I am towards the back of wave one in corral 11. I'm debating requesting permission to move to the front of the second wave. I am a little nervous about the crowds in corral 11 and I don't really fancy walking for 12 minutes to get to the start line. I think I may rather wait an extra 20 minutes and get right up front of the second wave.