ATL Publix Marathon Training (5 Weeks til Race Week)

Week beginning thoughts: Uh, yeah? Running? Yep, that's what I'm doing.

Monday
Did: 5.17 mi easy
I've decided on weeks where I bike Sunday, then I'll do some easy miles on Monday... this has been the pattern the last couple of weeks. If I end up running Sunday at some point, I'll plan to lift Monday and run easy Wednesday. Hooray built-in flexibility and adaptability. :)
This was a nice run - it's supposed to be gorgeous all week, so hooray, will get some sunshine miles in. I will say it got WARM really fast... I was in shorts + t-shirt and was definitely toasty. Not super uncomfortable but it was enough to notice. I took it easy (or told myself to) and went out on the cross-country trails to force myself to go slower. Kept it around a 9:00/mi pace which is nice and steady. Stretched after.

Tuesday
Did: track ladder workout, 7.16mi @ 7:45/mi avg
Met up with Matt and his friend for an early track workout this morning. I'd decided on a ladder workout, so after we trotted down the swamp rabbit trail for our warm-up (1.6 mi at a sub-8 pace... some "warm-up"), I set off to do 400/400/800/1200/800/400/400 with 400 rest in between. I didn't have target paces in mind for each split, just wanted to feel like I was working hard.
400s: 1:38, 1:41
800: 3:34
1200: 5:32
800: 3:33
400: 1:39
Only had time for one 400 to finish, but felt good that my pace hadn't deteriorated any through the workout. Hooray! I can tell I'm cardio-limited at this point on the high speeds - those long slow miles don't really push the heart rate much. Cool-down was 1.6 mi back to the car at 8:17/mi pace.

Wednesday
Did: strength  nada
Work. Blergh.

Thursday
Did: 5.1 mi @ 8:39/mi
Ran solo downtown early this morning and my GOODNESS it was humid! What in the world, it's FEBRUARY. Also seems there's something wrong with my heart rate monitor since it says I only burned 200 calories.... I certainly can feel when my avg heartrate is above 125 bpm... ??? Regardless, happy to get this done early and actually felt good to be solo. Also ran in a new pair of shoes today because it's tiiiiime to get some new ones in rotation...

Friday
Did: strength
I did the smart thing today and knocked this workout first thing upon arriving at work this morning. Did a combination of core, weights, bodyweight exercises, and other random things. Felt good! The gym was a little crowded with the morning bootcamp class, which meant I didn't use the machines, but thankfully most of what I do is easily adaptable to free weights, or at least there's enough I can do to substitute exercises. Went easy on the legs since tomorrow is long run day buuuuut I'll still probably be sore anyway.

Saturday
Did: 20.03 miles @ 9:23/mi avg. WITH. A. STROLLER.

Granola bar in hand, ready to roll.

I had no idea how well this would go... D did great with last week's 18-miler, but every day is different. It was a chilly and breezy day, too, so I was concerned about keeping him warm through the entire journey. I packed tons of snacks and blankets, bundled him up, and off we went from the zoo parking lot. The section of the trail is still closed, so we had to loop around and back to access downtown and other parts north. It's fine, though, because that meant our turnaround point seemed closer.

D was upset when we didn't stop at "the biscuit place" (aka Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery) when we passed it around mile 5... my plan was to make it a stop on the way back. I quieted him with PB&J sandwich. We continued to Furman and arrived at mile 9 just entering the campus, which is perfect because the loop around the lake and back through campus is right at 2 miles. Plus I needed to pee, so we stopped at the amphitheater bathrooms, and then continued on our way. It wasn't long after we started our return trip southward that I realized D was asleep - huzzah! He continued to sleep as we arrived at the Grocery, I stopped and got scones as promised, and marched onward.

Zonked.

Still out.

I was definitely fatiguing as we closed in on downtown and made our way back through the park, but knowing the end was close (Less than a 5k! Less than 2 Miles! Just one mile to go!) gave me enough fuel to keep moving. I know I didn't eat enough during this run, but it's been challenging to really space things out, especially since I eat a FULL breakfast beforehand. Anyway, super happy to have this milestone run out of the way... and already eye-balling the 22-miler next weekend. WHEWWWWW.

Sunday
Did: nada

Week-ending thoughts:
37.46 miles run - still not hitting my 40 mpw goal, but ya know what, it is what it is. I don't like that I had 2 total rest days this week... oh well, tomorrow is a new day.