60s!

Training week of August 22-28, 2016

Mileage: 61.1 - wheeee!  First week in the 60s, after 10 weeks in the 50s.  Keep in mind that I peaked in the low 50s in my 2015 marathon training cycle and most weeks were in the 40s, so I am hoping that the extra mileage will pay the bills this time around.  Increasing my mileage makes me nervous since I'm injury-prone, but I know it is probably what I need to go from being able to run 23 miles (almost 24) at 6:50 pace to 26.2 miles at that pace.  Well, that and optimal weather might do it as well! My coach thought I could handle it, and the way he's set it up I have been able to and have felt good.  I only have one more week at 60, along with a few more high 50s. I am only 6 weeks out now - both exciting and scary!

This was in one of my devotions this week - my favorite verse!

Monday - Cross-training Monday with 30 minutes on the elliptical to warm up then 60 minutes of HIIT bootcamp.  I was able to stay for the entire bootcamp class this time because I had to take an hour off work on Monday morning to take my car into the insurance adjuster/repair shop for an 8:30 a.m. appointment after we were hit on Saturday evening.  Being in a car accident always sucks, but this all went as smoothly as a bad situation can, because no one was hurt, it was not our fault, the other driver had insurance, the car was still driveable, and the insurance company had a one stop shop for assessment, repair, and rental car pick up.  And I guess the other benefit was that I got to do the entire bootcamp class, haha!

Tuesday - 11.3 miles total with 8.2 a.m. (7:19) and 3.1 p.m. (7:19) - I couldn't have done that exact same pace across runs if I tried, it was just a coincidence!  I caught Albani's back to school cold, and it really reared it's head overnight Monday (drainage and sore throat from the drainage).  I produced a lot of snot on these runs, but I felt fine enough. 

This was also my first day of adjunct teaching, but luckily my class is from 3:30-6:00 p.m. (not 5:30-8:00 p.m. as in the past), so the second run wasn't too late.  I wouldn't have taught this semester had my 8-5 gig at The Arc not been okay with me leaving a little early on Tuesdays in order to do so, because it's just too much. But me teaching benefits The Arc as well because we have some agency collaborations with Missouri State, plus we can recruit the top students for practicum experience and to work for us when they obtain their BCBA certifications and licenses!  I enjoyed the first class, and the best part was one guy who came in at the beginning then when I mentioned "ABA Masters program" said, "wait, what class is this?" then left.  I told him I hoped he had great semester!

Wednesday - 12 miles base pace on my Highland Springs/Millwood loop (7:31), with 6 strides in the last mile.  I don't run this course often because of the monster hills in the middle, and I've justified that this season with the ole "my goal marathon is flat so I should run flatter routes" excuse, but I decide to venture onto it for this run and I'm sure it was good for me.  I've been mixing up my courses a lot lately, mainly due to running everything solo (this should be my last week of that for awhile though - yay!).  I felt a bit puny on this run - not awful, but not strong like I had been - and I blame the cold.  Thanks a lot, back to school germs!

Thursday - 10.6 base miles, with 7.5 a.m. (7:48) and 3.1 runch (7:14).  I wanted to take it easier on the morning run to reduce the stress on my body while I was  getting over my cold.  It was supposed to be 7 miles, but I had to add a little out and back on the partial loop course, and my math was off on that so it became a little farther.  I had an evening work appointment so ran my second run at lunch, after signing some closing documents on a piece of land we are buying as investment property at a closing company conveniently located close to the Y (it's too hot to run at lunch without a rinse off shower still!).  I think I was just kind of in a hurry to get this done and get back to work, plus I was hoping I'd be able to pick up my car from the repair shop on my way back to work from this run (that did not work out, as it wasn't finished as expected).  I also think I didn't eat enough between runs, along with the cold, because I felt like crap after my second run and barely made it until 6:30 p.m. at work. 

Friday - 3 (7:45) - threasy for a nice little recovery day.  Typically I go to bootcamp on Fridays also, but after feeling so yucky on Thursday afternoon I decided I needed to take it easier on Friday to try to get over the darn cold.  I also didn't set an alarm for the sake of more rest, and slept until 6:15 a.m. - giving me basically just enough time to do this run and still get to work on time.  I kind of felt like I ran this run in my sleep though!

Saturday - 18.1 miles with 15.1 a.m. (7:45, final mile 6:37) and 3 p.m. (7:26).  This was the first time in my life that I've run 3 doubles in a week (earlier in this training cycle was the first time I'd done 2 doubles in a week!)!  This was not what was planned today, but after much debate it was what I decided to run.  After base miles all week, I had a workout scheduled:  3 miles warm-up, 10 mile tempo at 6:20-6:30 pace, 1 mile recovery, 1 mile in 6:08-6:12, 3 miles cool-down.  But I still had the cold and was feeling puny - not bad enough to not run, but off enough that I knew that pace goal would be tricky to hit and that the run would take a lot out of me and likely delay my recovery from being sick. 

There was a lot of debate and back-and-forth on what I should or shouldn't run.  I've always trained through pretty much any illness, but back in January I got pretty sick, including wheezing, and it took me quite awhile to shake it and to get back to full strength with my training.  The nail in the coffin at that time, that seemed to turn a more minor illness into a more serious one, was a 10 mile tempo run.  Cue paranoia!  I knew if I got that sick again, my training would be jeopardized for over a month, Prairie Fire would be out as a goal race and Bass Pro would be questionable.

With the input of my husband and my coach, I decided that the risk of running this workout outweighed the benefits - especially because my 20 mile workout last week had shown me that I was in top shape so possibly I had more to lose than to gain from trying the workout.  I decided to still run the mileage, but not the intensity, and to split it up into 2 runs so it would be a little bit easier on me.  I also carried fluids and gels on the 15 miler in hopes that if I stayed in front of things on my hydration and fueling, it would take less out of me.  I didn't set an alarm so I could sleep a little extra, but woke up around 5:50 a.m. on my own.  I started around 8:00 pace and feeling kind of blah, but as the run progressed I felt better and my easy pace sped up.  I didn't push until the last mile, which I was trying to run at marathon goal pace but ended up a little faster.

I felt great on the second run, which was a pleasant surprise.  I'm sure it helped that I laid around in compression socks and didn't do much between the runs!  It's hard to know if I did the right thing with skipping the workout; I think it was probably better to err on the side of being conservative, but that is not my usual M.O. so it feels odd!  I figured out 3 other dates in September that I can incorporate this workout instead, my preferred date being in 2 weeks during a scheduled base pace 17 miler, so I will ask my coach what he wants me to do and hopefully still get a crack at this confidence-boosting workout.  I ran this same one before Dallas, so I plan to run it on the same course and see if I can run faster this time.

Sunday - 6 miles base pace (7:21) with Casey to round off the week.  This was my only run this week that I felt strong on!  I was probably 90% - not quite perfect, but stronger than I had been feeling.  I think training makes me really in-tune to my body so I notice when I'm a little off.  I still questioned whether or not I did the right thing with skipping Saturday's tempo, and I guess I'll never know for sure, but I walked away improving from my illness and am happy to be feeling well.  I will likely feel fine about that workout once I get it rescheduled!