Six weeks down, six more weeks to go! WOOT!
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: 13 x (1 min on/1 min off). Nothing like fartleks to wake up dead legs. ~5.5 miles (this is when my Garmin’s GPS was still busted, so I’m not sure about the distance or pace)
Wednesday: 60 minutes easy. Reality check: despite fixing my Garmin, I was still running 15-30 seconds/mile slower than I thought I was. I have to remind myself that I’m in the heavy load of marathon training and not to worry about pace. 5.75 miles @ 10:59
Thursday: 4 mile tempo run. For those who are actually paying attention, you’ll notice a theme: every Thursday morning, I’m nervous about the prescribed workout. This week was no different. To be honest, I’m always nervous about a tempo run, and 4 miles is a long one! I decided to ignore the McMillan paces (8:22-8:30/mile) and aim for something between 10K and half marathon pace (8:26-8:55). I end up running: 8:41, 8:40, 8:47, 8:35. I’m happy with the splits and also my heart rate, which was solidly in the threshold range. Yay! 6.2 miles @ 9:25
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: Fast finish long run – 17 miles with last 6 at marathon goal pace. I still don’t know what marathon goal pace (MGP) is at this point, so I aimed for 9:15-9:30. The first half mile of the run was kinda rough; I started getting that abnormally high heart rate feeling again (like last week). So, I decided to slow it WAY down. It was better to take it easy for 11 miles and save my effort for the fast finish. I ignored my pace and just ran by feel, and by the end of the first mile, my heart rate returned to normal and I was breathing smoothly. I ran the first 11 averaging ~11:00/mile.
During the fast finish section, I have to admit that the first 3 miles felt tough (9:39, 9:37, 9:31). But then, at some point, I realized that I felt OK. I mean, I was working hard, but I was nowhere close to actual suffering. So I pushed a little harder through the remaining miles and ran negative splits the rest of the way (9:24, 9:17, 9:05). I finished feeling tired but satisfied… also, somewhat relieved that this long run went much better than last week’s awful 20 miler. 17 miles @ 10:29
All dolled up for a friend’s wedding in Healdsburg Saturday night.
Sunday: 60-75 minutes easy. After a late night Saturday, I tried to sleep in but was unsuccessful. We had brunch, ran some errands, and then I took a nap…before I knew it, it was the late afternoon and I still hadn’t done my run. I was really tempted to skip it, but since I didn’t have a legitimate reason (my schedule was open, my body felt fine), I got myself together and went out the door. It ended up not being as bad I had imagined. A new podcast also helped! 6 miles @ 10:42
Total mileage: ~40.5 miles
How I’m feeling: This week was 10x better than last week in terms of running. It helped to get my Garmin fixed and to have shorter runs during the week. Also, even though I’m technically only halfway done with the training cycle, I’ve made it over the hump in terms of long runs – only 5 more until CIM! This week, I signed up for 3 half marathons: 2 that I’m pacing with the Trivalley Running Club (Oktoberun & Dream Mile) and one as the last fast long run before CIM (Berkeley Half). So, it feels good psychologically to have those long runs planned. I’m still super duper tired though, and I’m already looking forward to post-CIM R&R.
Looking ahead to next week: A high mileage week ahead with a midweek long run on Tuesday, 3 x 2 mile intervals on Thursday, and a 20 miler on Saturday (pacing Oktoberun Half + 6 miles).
**
So I wanted to briefly mention a few of my new favorite things lately, some running-related, and some not:
New podcasts: I downloaded the NPR One app and it introduced me to two new podcasts that I’m enjoying – Hidden Brain and Accused. Hidden Brain is a psychology podcast focused on what goes on in our subconscious minds. Each episode is about 30 minutes in length. Accused is a true crime podcast covering the unsolved murder of Beth Andes. I’m only 2 episodes in, but it’s already got my attention. I highly recommend both!
New shorts: I know lots of people love the Lululemon speed shorts, but I just recently bought a pair and I’m definitely a convert. I’m still a Rogas fan, but the speed shorts just feel lighter and more breathable. They’ve quickly become my go-to long run shorts.
Speed shorts make me feel happy & freeeee
New energy bar: Taos Mountain bars. I got a free sample in my Tiburon half goodie bag. From the outside, they look a lot like Clif Bars. However, they’re the best bars I’ve ever tasted – super moist and made out of 100% natural, whole ingredients. So far, I’ve tried 3 flavors – caramel pecan, toasted coconut, and almond agave – and I’ve liked them all. Unfortunately, they’re quite pricey at $3/bar, so I’ll be saving these for special occasions.
What about you? Anything new in your life that you want to rave about?
Howdy! My name is Jen and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to eat, run, and blog, but not usually at the same time.
Running Tangents 
You’re doing awesome!!! It sounds like you have a plan that is working for you and one you enjoy!
Definitely don’t worry about paces when running easy. The goal for those workouts is usually aerobic endurance and active recovery, and the pace should be based on how feel for that day (be sure to run relaxed).
If you are really tired all the time, keep an eye on your nutrition and sleep. Big training requires big fueling in order to maintain the strong efforts and avoid injury. If you are really tired and get to the point where you are unable to produce the efforts you expect during the key workouts (or have an elevated resting heart rate), maybe consider adding another day of rest in place of one of the easy runs to give yourself some additional recovery (or reduce the time of the easy runs to 30min).
Thanks for sharing so much of your journey! Keep up the great work!!!
Thanks, Danielle, for your encouragement and advice. I’ve been careful to not worry about pace for easy runs and also go to sleep earlier during the week. The one weak spot in my training is nutrition. I’ve got to get better about fueling my body with the good stuff!
You’re rocking this and your race photos are way too good!!
LOL. Thanks, Cathryn! You must’ve already forgotten my horrible finish line photos at Healdsburg?
Yay new podcasts! Also, I’m doing a fast finish long run at Berkeley as well.
I dunno, though. I’m kind of over this training cycle & ready to be done. CIM can’t come fast enough!
Dude, I’m with you. I’m so ready to be done with training! Taper is just a couple of weeks away, thankfully.