Tobacco Road Marathon Training - Week 7/11

Week 7

Monday

Did: 1 mi walk at lunch

Definitely needed to take it easy today, and enjoyed a short walk during lunch at work. Lovely sunshine!

And a rainbow in the fountains

Tuesday

Planned: track workout

Did: 7.28 mi @ 8:08/mi avg

Got to the track on time today for once! Did Yasso 800s x6 - the idea with these is you run an 800 in your goal marathon time (so, for me... goal is 3h30m marathon time, so I targeted 3:30 for each 800).

Was a few seconds fast on each one, but didn't feel like too much of a push! 

3:21, 3:25, 3:27, 3:24, 3:24, 3:26

Been a while since I've gotten more than 7 in a track morning, so I was really happy with this run!

Wednesday

Planned: EZ 6

Did: 6.04 mi @ 9:53/mi avg

Super easy pace today, and the legs definitely needed the recovery. Beautiful morning on the trail and views of Paris Mtn at the beginning & end of the run.

Thursday

Planned: Altamont

Did: 1.33 mi walk at work

Wasn't able to join the morning crew for the Altamont run today since S is traveling (therefore could not leave D at home alone to go run). Decided to switch up the schedule for the remainder of the week a bit to accommodate that, so today became a day off from running.

Friday

Planned: off

Did: 5.01 mi @ 8:49/mi

D had the day off from school, so he spent the day with grandparents. I got out for a run midday and went through Green Valley for a nice loop. Not quite a replacement for the Altamont climb, but definitely some nice hills there!

Saturday

Planned: 12 mi run

Did: 30 min weights

Well, supposed to have a solo morning to run but D ended up getting sick Friday afternoon, so I brought him home to spend the night instead of him staying with the grandparents. He was fine by morning, so we proceeded with our other plans for the day and I got in a nice strength session in the afternoon.

Sunday

Planned: 6 mi run

Did: 12.34 mi @ 9:26/mi avg

Did my 12-miler today to make up for Saturday's missed run, and worked in a climb up Altamont too! Felt good, but definitely not fast. Looking forward to picking back up the speed next week.

Somebody needs to repaint the 'YOU MADE IT' line!

Don't get to climb this in the daylight very often... 

Week-ending thoughts:

This last step-back week was needed, as usual, and I'm excited and a little nervous to do my final "peak week" next week! Then it's TAPER TIMEEEEEE. 😵

Tobacco Road Marathon Training - Week 6/11

Week 6 - Peak #2 of 3

(Whoops, totally forgot to blog all week! Writing this all Monday Feb 14th...)

Monday

Did: 30 min weights + 10 min yoga

Good to start the morning off right! Mostly upper body and core, with some resistance band leg work. Then stretched it all out with a short yoga sequence.

Tuesday

Planned: track workout

Did: 6.56 mi @ 8:25/mi avg

Had a good workout at the track this morning... 4x1k repeats (4:18, 4:15, 4:12, 4:18). Training plan indicated a target of 4:18 per 1000m so I felt good about these results!

Wednesday

Planned: 10mi EZ

Did: 10.23 mi @ 9:49/mi avg

Had to do this run in the late afternoon and mannnn my body does not like to run at this time of day. UGH I had so much G.I. distress and ended up feeling quite terrible the rest of the evening. Had to stop for a couple of emergency breaks (thank goodness for the Furman Lake restrooms!) but made it home OK just after dark.

Distant sunset

Furman at twilight

Sure is a pretty time of day to run but not so great physically,

Thursday

Planned: Altamont

Did: 5.67 mi Altamont climb

Wheeee back on the mountain for a lovely morning climb. Man it felt hard, but never regret doing this run!

Friday

Did: 1.4 mi walk

Had to get new tires put on the car, so I took a little walkabout while they were doing that... wandered through some nice neighborhoods in Greer and enjoyed the cool sunny weather. The legs were thankful for a rest day before a big weekend.

Saturday

Planned: 20 mi 

Did: 20.01 mi @ 8:31/mi 

Nothing makes a long run feel not-quite-as-long as having a variety of friends to share it with! Started off solo from Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery, ran south to meet a group downtown, then headed back north along the trail. Had lots of friends new & old, and even a pup joining the run! Picked up Kyle when we passed SRCG and continued northbound towards TR. Folks turned around at various points, and Kyle hung with me all the way up to the center of TR before we ran back south to SRCG. I picked up the pace (sub-8) for a couple miles (around mile 16.5-18.5) and felt surprisingly great for those faster miles! 

Finished up and was shocked to see my overall pace... holy smokes! Couldn't believe it. Walked a bit and enjoyed my SRCG breakfast sandwich & coffee at the end.

Sunday

Planned: 10 mi race pace

Did: 10.03 mi @ 7:44/mi 

WOW this was a hard run. Legs were sore and tired before starting this run, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I made note of my turnaround point and made the decision that I would not keep a close watch on my pace - I ran by feel and perceived effort. There was a pretty noticeable headwind on the uphill portion as I ran up towards TR, and I was quite happy with the "cruising speed" on the return trip... it was certainly a hard effort but did not feel like an all-out push as it has in past weeks. Feeling awesome!!

💗

Weekly miles: 52.5 miles

Legs are feeling it but man, I do feel great overall with these long and fast miles! 😁😄

Tobacco Road Marathon Training - Week 5/11

Week 5

Monday

Did: 1.9 mi walk

Definitely happy for a recovery day today. Whew. Hard but successful week last week, legs were pleased with a walk at lunch time!

Tuesday

Planned: track workout

Did: 6.77 mi Track Tuesday

Got 8x400 at the track this morning, felt good to push hard for short distances. Pretty consistently on the target of 1:37 per 400, with the slowest (the first one) at 1:41 and the fastest (the last one) at 1:32. 

Wednesday

Planned: EZ 6

Did: 3.13 mi @ 9:40/mi avg

Yep, I'm sick. Woke up feeling kind of "bleh" with a not-really-sore-but-dry throat and just an overall blahhhhh energy level, and by the time I went out to attempt an easy 6 mile run, I didn't even want to do that much. I got 5k done and walked back to the car.

Thursday

Planned: Altamont

Did: 15 mins stretching/yoga

That's all I could muster. Congested and sneezy and BLEGH.

Friday

Did: 1 mi walk

At least got out of the house and walked in the neighborhood at lunch, but not much energy for anything more.

Saturday

Planned: 12 mi EZ

Did: 12.02 mi @ 9:14/mi 

Ok, feeling 85% better and decided to go for an easy 12 miler in the morning. I didn't put any fast miles in the plan today, just hold steady and hope for close to a goal of 9:15/mi pace (which, turns out, I nailed). Happy with this recovery effort, and thankful that's all I had to do.

Sunday

Planned: 6 mi MP

Did: 4.09 mi hike + 6.02 mi @ 7:22/mi avg pace

Did a lovely hike in the morning with Super D and John - waterfall, freezing but sunny weather (perfect) - great time on the trails.

Got home and headed out to the Swamp Rabbit for a quick-as-I-could 6 mile run. Turns out that was pretty quick... I knew the 6 miles felt fast, but I didn't glance at the watch the entire time (only checked for distance). Wowza! Looks like this was more of a tempo run than a race pace run.

Week-ending thoughts:

Well, despite feeling like I skipped an entire week of training due to sickness, I really only missed 1.5 runs (Altamont + cutting short the Wednesday run). I have to remind myself of that! 

Hoping for a more normal week coming up... another hard "peak week" ahead. Here we gooooooooo.