Less than a week to go until CIM!! It seems so surreal. I’ll draft a race preview sometime later this week, but in the meantime, here are some random thoughts:
- My right ankle has been bugging me since the Berkeley Half Marathon. This is the “bad” ankle, the one I had surgery on 8 years ago. I think it was a little swollen from my new shoes – I didn’t tie the laces in the same way and so my foot kept sliding forward. That, in combination with the rain at BHM, rubbed a spot on my ankle raw. It was pretty tender for a while…luckily, it stopped hurting during my long run yesterday.
- I’ve been eating like crap for the last few weeks and it finally caught up with me in Week 11. I’m committed to eating my fruits and veggies this week!
OK, enough rambling. Here’s what happened during Week 11:
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday: 10 x 1 min on/1 min off. Last set of fartleks before CIM! 6 miles @ 9:54/mile.
Wednesday: 40 minutes easy. Felt like crap after eating too much junk the day before. 3.7 miles @ 10:55/mile.
Thursday: Tempo intervals – 3 x 2000 m with 400 m jog. I did this exact workout in Week 4, averaging 8:20/mile for the 3 sets of 2000 m. On Thursday, I averaged 8:02/mile. Satisfying progress! 6 miles @ 9:04/mile
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: 50 minutes. Rainy day treadmill run. 4.7 miles @ 10:33/mile
Sunday: Fast finish long run (FFLR) – 12 miles with last 6 at marathon goal pace (MGP). For the second time this week, I totally failed at pre-run nutrition. I binged on Indian food for dinner and had too many sweets on Saturday. My stomach was NOT happy with me. I started off very sluggish and had the feeling that this long run wasn’t going to be pretty. Instead of focusing on the negative, I decided to turn it around and decided to use the run as mental training. The physical stuff (hay) is in the barn anyway, right?
Even though the first 6 miles were sluggish (all around 11:00/mile), I savored each minute, knowing that I’d have to fight my way back in fierce headwind while attempting to run MGP for 6 miles (~9:30/mile). I started off OK, mostly because I ran the first 0.6 miles with tailwind, then turned around. The pace differential was stark: with tailwind, I averaged about 9:00/mile. Into the headwind, I ran about 10:00/mile. My splits were: 9:28, 9:39, 9:37, 9:43, 9:54, 9:50 (average: 9:42). At the time, I was disappointed with my splits. However, in retrospect, I know I gave it my all and to fight a headwind for almost an hour – that’s gutsy (if I do say so myself!). Not to mention, how I felt at the end of that run felt eerily similar to how I’ve felt at the end of several half marathons and marathons. It was definitely a good mental workout!
Total mileage: 32.4 miles
How I feel about it: This week had its ups and downs. I’m definitely in that doubtful taper mood of wondering when (and if) my legs will ever feel fresh again. I’ve been thinking back to the big workouts and strong long runs of this training cycle to build my confidence about Sunday.
Looking ahead to Week 12: Race week!! Short fartleks tomorrow, 4 x 1000 m on Wednesday, and then a couple of easy shakeout runs before race day Sunday. Can’t wait!
No good photos from this week, so here’s a pretty sunrise photo from a few weeks ago.
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 
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!111!!!1
So excited for you!
Thanks!!
BOO YAH. Not to jinx it, but the weather looks like it is going to be perfect. Good luck.
I don’t want to jinx it!! Seriously though, I don’t think it can get worse than when I ran it in 2012 (aka year of the monsoon).
Go Jen Go Jen Go Jen