4, 7, 4, 16
Rain... though shalt not defeat me! Both the medium and long runs were done in light rain. Most likely not a coincidence, these were both also the fastest I've run those lengths. It is not because I want to get out of the rain quicker, because after running through the rain for an hour plus I'm not going to get any wetter if I'm out there 2 minutes longer. It is because I don't get as warm and dehydrated which just exhausts me. Supporting evidence is that I drank a lot less during both of these runs and I felt just fine. Yes, I still re-hydrated plenty but did not need to do as much during the actual run.
This week I only did the medium, second short run, and the long run. As I mentioned in the last post, I was aiming at 13 miles for this long run since I didn't want to jump from 10 to 16. However, I couldn't do just 13 miles since that pesky 0.1 miles to make it a half marathon was just too tempting. It was a great run. I started off stiff and a bit sore, but once I got in the flow then things just went well. With the aforementioned rain, I was able to do my 10 mile check point in 1:56:ish and the entire half marathon in 2:31:48. While I'm not overly concerned about pace, I was happy that it was 11:35 over the course of the entire thing.
Next Week
5, 8, 5, 16
My true goal of this training is to complete the marathon without seriously injuring myself. To that end, I will not be doing the first short run this week either. My body has expressed the need to take that extra time to recover. Along with the gradual ramp-up of the long runs, that one will only be 15 miles since I do want to limit how much I increase every week. Therefore since the medium run and the short runs both went up a mile, I'm not bumping the long run as much. A realistic plan for this week is 8, 5, 15. As a note, the 8, 5, 8 is the longest short/medium run set that the program sets out. It's definitely starting to level out.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Weeks 6-8
Week 6
4, 5, 4, 11
I completed all 4 runs as planned and started seeing my run times coming down. Most of that is related to the weather cooling down.
Week 7
4, 6, 4, 12
I only did the middle runs of 6 and 4 this week. The first run did not happen due to physical illness. The long run did not happen since I chose to spend the day volunteering at Jamestown. Every weekend there is something going on that I would like to be involved in. However, this was the last one that I will do until after the marathon. It is to the point where the prep, run, and recovery are taking more than 4 hours and that is only going to get longer. Plus I tend to be sore/tired for the rest of the day. Therefore I cannot schedule anything on the same day and it would be best not to wear myself out the day before and risk not completing the run.
Another challenge that I started to face this week is the darkness in the mornings. Getting out of my soft bed is hard enough on its own, but when it is still dark out I want to obey my instincts and sleep. For the 6 mile run I ended up doing it during my lunch break at work (yes we have a shower there) so that I didn't need to do half the run in the dark. I did do the 4 mile run while the sun was still coming up.
Week 8
4, 6, 4, 14
This week I only managed the medium and a long run. On both of the short runs I was ill - though with different things. In addition, my long run ended up only being 10 miles since I was still recovering and didn't want to push my body so hard that I relapsed.
To follow up on the darkness issue, I did both of my runs this week well after the sun was up. Though my medium run was after work and I ended up facing the opposite problem where the sun was actually already setting. I chose to do that run through campus since I know it is well lit and figured there would be a few students out. Wow... there were a LOT of students out to the point where running on the sidewalk was actually somewhat difficult to weave in and out of them.
Next Week
4, 7, 4, 16
Those are the mileages put forth by the book and the 16 miles is the first of 3 weeks at that distance. Given that I haven't done more than 11 miles (on purpose), I think for this week I will try to do 13 miles, the following week do 15, and the one after that get up to the 16. I will still do the appropriate short & medium runs.
4, 5, 4, 11
I completed all 4 runs as planned and started seeing my run times coming down. Most of that is related to the weather cooling down.
Week 7
4, 6, 4, 12
I only did the middle runs of 6 and 4 this week. The first run did not happen due to physical illness. The long run did not happen since I chose to spend the day volunteering at Jamestown. Every weekend there is something going on that I would like to be involved in. However, this was the last one that I will do until after the marathon. It is to the point where the prep, run, and recovery are taking more than 4 hours and that is only going to get longer. Plus I tend to be sore/tired for the rest of the day. Therefore I cannot schedule anything on the same day and it would be best not to wear myself out the day before and risk not completing the run.
Another challenge that I started to face this week is the darkness in the mornings. Getting out of my soft bed is hard enough on its own, but when it is still dark out I want to obey my instincts and sleep. For the 6 mile run I ended up doing it during my lunch break at work (yes we have a shower there) so that I didn't need to do half the run in the dark. I did do the 4 mile run while the sun was still coming up.
Week 8
4, 6, 4, 14
This week I only managed the medium and a long run. On both of the short runs I was ill - though with different things. In addition, my long run ended up only being 10 miles since I was still recovering and didn't want to push my body so hard that I relapsed.
To follow up on the darkness issue, I did both of my runs this week well after the sun was up. Though my medium run was after work and I ended up facing the opposite problem where the sun was actually already setting. I chose to do that run through campus since I know it is well lit and figured there would be a few students out. Wow... there were a LOT of students out to the point where running on the sidewalk was actually somewhat difficult to weave in and out of them.
Next Week
4, 7, 4, 16
Those are the mileages put forth by the book and the 16 miles is the first of 3 weeks at that distance. Given that I haven't done more than 11 miles (on purpose), I think for this week I will try to do 13 miles, the following week do 15, and the one after that get up to the 16. I will still do the appropriate short & medium runs.
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