The Little Chemist That Could: Tobacco Road Marathon Training

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!!