Boston Marathon #127 Training (Week 4 of 16)

Monday

Planned: XT/off

Did: 1.75 mi easy

Early flight out for some work travel, so got in an easy loop through the neighborhood.

Tuesday

Planned: 6 easy

Did: 6.24/mi @ 9:04/mi avg

Planned for the weather up in Cleveland and headed out for a run in the icy dark around neighborhoods near the hotel where we're staying. Sidewalks were a little sketchy, so I opted mostly for side roads where I could run in the streets that were mostly clear. It was lovely and white all over the yards and trees, and lots of folks still have their Christmas lights up! I didn't make it up to see Lake Erie as I'd thought about doing, but it was dark and cloudy so I don't think I would have been able to see much anyway. Enjoyed a great and easy 10k!

Wednesday

Planned: intervals

Did: 8.05 mi @ 8:14/mi 

Based on the forecast for precipitation (snow/rain) I opted for the hotel treadmill to do some speedwork intervals. Ran 2x 1mi, 2x .75mi, 2x .5mi, 2x .25mi all at about a 7:00/mi with .25 mi recovery between each. 

Thursday

Planned: hills

Did: 5.5 mi @ 8:08/mi avg

Legs were actually SORE from the hard treadmill run Wednesday, so opted to skip the mountain today and did Lakeview Lollipop route instead. Definitely a good choice.

Friday

Planned: XT/off

Did: 3.12 mi @ 10:41/mi avg

Ran an easy 5k on the trail - cold morning! But lovely sunshine. :)

Saturday 🥳

Planned: 12 mi

Did: 12.1 mi @ 8:39/mi avg

I have got to figure out a way to slow these long runs down! I ran this one at what felt like a pretty easy pace, but I guess running with a group I always see to go faster than I would otherwise. Felt good and was excited for treats from the Bake Room afterwards.

Sunday

Planned: 5 mi MP

Did: 6.67 mi @ 8:22/mi avg

Headed out at sunrise to get the fast miles done... legs were definitely still feeling quite tired from the day before but I also knew it would help slow my goal pace miles down so they'd be closer to my ACTUAL goal pace. Ended up with pretty consistent splits for the pace miles!

Plus a beauuuuutiful sunrise 😍

Took a short walk before church while D was in sunday school, then did Vinyasa at Soul Yoga in the later afternoon. Good week! Only thing missing was a strength workout, but given that I was out of town for half the week, I'll give myself a break and be proud of the consistency I was able to maintain. 

Boston Marathon #127 Training (Week 3 of 16)

Monday

Planned: off/XT

Did: 2.35 mi @ 10:00/mi

Last morning in Florida, just a short run in the morning.

Intracoastal sunrise

Tuesday

Planned: track - 800m @ 3:15 each

Did: 6.26 mi @ 8:03/mi avg with 5x800m @ 3:15-3:22

Was only able to hit the target time on the first repeat, the others were all right on 3:20 except the last which slipped to 3:22. Better than last week but still kind of struggle bus! Plus, didn't get as many reps as I wanted due to shortage of time (aka I was running late).

Wednesday

Planned: 6 easy

Did: 3.08 mi @ 10:25/mi + 2.0 mi @ 9:26/mi + 16 min strength

Wonky schedule at work today, had to get in 3 miles in the morning then a bit more at the end of the day in the work gym. It is what it is.

Thursday

Planned: hills

Did: 5.79 mi @ 9:55/mi Altamont 

Absolutely struggled on the mountain this morning... had to walk several times, just had no energy in the legs. Woof. Almost turned around before getting to the top but decided I was going to do the whole thing even if I had to walk it all. Felt much better by the end!

Friday

Planned: off/XT

Did: 3.02 mi @ 10:33/mi 

Super easy SRT run this morning. Felt nice to take it super slow. 

Saturday

Planned: 8-10 mi long run

Did: 9.05 mi @ 8:48/mi + 3.11 mi @ 7:26/mi

Started off with a ~9 mi commute down the swamp rabbit trail to get to the start of the Greenville Run Downtown 5k race. Had time to stop at Spill the Beans for a quick coffee before the race started, which was just what I needed. Race went well, and felt quite strong for the run especially given the 9-mile warm-up. Happy with the 23:08 finish time!

Sunday

Planned: 4 mi goal pace

Did: 5.04 mi w/ 4 @ 7:35-7:41/mi + 60 min hot Vinyasa yoga

Ran this one during the afternoon rain, but felt great with the speedy miles. Ran them too quickly of course (7:36, 7:41, 7:35, 7:41), but also wanted to get it done due to the cold rain. 

Had a lovely Vinyasa class at Soul Yoga afterwards!

Almost 40 miles for the week and feeling good. 

Boston Marathon #127 Training (Week 2 of 16)

Whoops, didn't blog at all last week... writing this middle of week #3 so details will be spotty!

Monday

Planned: off/XT

Did: 1.7 mi EZ run + 30 min strength

Early morning loop through the neighborhood and work gym in the mid-afternoon.

Nails match the gym equipment. 

Tuesday

Planned: track intervals - 1000m @ 4:18 

Did: 6.22 mi @ 8:27/mi avg with 4x 1000m @ 4:20-4:35 

Sluggish around the track today but managed to do 4 repeats. Should have done more and none were as fast as targets, but it is what it is.

Wednesday

Planned: 5 mi easy

Did: 5.03 @ 9:27/mi

Lovely easy morning miles on the trail.

Thursday

Planned: hills

Did: Altamont, 5.79 mi @ 9:47/mi

Whew. Mountain.

Friday

Planned: off/XT

Did: 2.01 mi @ 10:26/mi 

Early miles before heading to the airport.

Saturday

Planned: 10 easy

Did: 10.76 mi @ 9:16/mi avg

In Florida for the long weekend visiting family. Took a morning run from the hotel, up to Mar-a-lago, across the bridge, down Flagler Ave, and back across the next bridge. Sooooo flat and quite windy, but a pretty nice run overall!

Sunrise

Intracoastal

Cold iguana

Stuck at the drawbridge (temporarily)

Sunday

Planned: 3 MP/tempo

Did: 5.06 mi with middle 3 at goal pace (7:48, 7:40, 7:32)

Felt great but the goal pace miles are already hard even though it was just 3 of them. 

A1A at sunrise

Week summary

Overall feeling pretty good!

Boston Marathon #127 Training (Week 1 of 16)

So, I have a plan summary chart as well as a weekly tracking... I'll post the week's plan at the beginning then the final tracking at the end of the entry.

The Plan

Monday

Plan: off/XT

Did: 60 min hot Power Vinyasa + 1.5 mi run + 6.1 mi hike

Started the morning with power vinyasa class at Soul Yoga, then took a short jog around Unity Park in the early morning fog sunrise. So pretty!

Then we used the last day of holiday break to take a family hike in Pisgah National Forest up to John Rock. It was a beautiful day and really just a perfect hike... D did really well, despite protesting and declaring he did NOT want to go hiking at all. This may have been his best performance yet on a hike, and one of the longest! We finished the hike in about half the time I'd allotted (based on past performance) and were able to enjoy the sites without any worry about running out of time. 

Started out on Cat Gap loop trail from the Fish Hatchery trailhead

It was a little chilly at the beginning, but quickly warmed up

Lots of fun creek crossings

Rhododendron tunnels 

View from John Rock!

View of Looking Glass Rock across the valley

Curious raven wanted our snacks

Tuesday

Plan: reps

Did: 8.13 mi @ 8:08/mi avg Track Tuesday

Wasn't sure how today's track workout would go after a big day yesterday and a not great night of sleep, but it turned out great! Did 9 x 600m repeats / 200m recovery, with each repeat in the 2:28-2:31 range (target was 2:30). Right on the money, felt great! So unseasonably warm today though, whew. 

Wednesday

Plan: 4 easy

Did: 40 min strength + 4.05 mi @ 9:18/mi

Rain and thunderstorms (???) through the entire morning, so waited until midday to do workouts. Got some strength workout done at home in the basement with the light weights.

Towards the end of the day, got in my scheduled 4 mile run even though it was still lightly raining. Of course, 30 minutes after I finished running, the sun came out. 🙃

Thursday

Plan: hills

Did: 5.78 mi @ 9:24/mi avg Altamont Run

Second week in a row back on the mountain, feeling good! Beautifully cool and clear morning, nearly full moon, great for a hard climb. I'm excited to have Altamont back in the training regimen. It's a hard one but it's so so good.

Friday

Plan: EZ/XT

Did: 1.6 mi @ 10:12/mi + 2 mi night hike

Just an easy loop through the neighborhood in the morning, and a night hike at Conestee Nature Preserve under a full moon with the family :)

Saturday

Planned: 10 mi long run

Did: 10.06 @ 8:25/mi avg

Got to run with a group of new folks today which was fun! A lot of locals who are training for various marathons, so everyone started together on an out-and-back then turned around when needed based on the individual mileage plan for the day. I had the shortest since I'm just starting my training, so I finished with several solo miles. Lovely cool morning, but no rain!

Sunrise over Unity Park

Sunday

Planned: 3 mi Goal Pace

Did: 2 mi walk, 4 mi run (1 WU + 3 tempo), 60 min hot yoga

Started the morning with a neighborhood walk near the church while D was in Sunday school. Always a pleasant solo excursion! In the afternoon, I ran on the Swamp Rabbit Trail before yoga class. Warmed up with 1 mile then sped up for what I planned to be goal pace (8:00/mi) miles but went out a bit too fast and ended up with more like tempo miles (7:21, 7:37, 7:37). Whoopsies. 

All on track currently!

One week til Unicorn Training starts! 🦄

I'm starting 15 weeks of marathon training next week (well really 16, but week 16 is just race day on Monday). Excited to jump into it... feeling good and strong but also fully aware that I do not have the ultra mileage under my belt going into training like I had this time last year. Still, got a good plan laid out and am excited to have some focus going into the new year!

This week will be rounding out the #RWRunStreak for 2022 :)

Monday

Did: 2.19 mi @ 9:35/mi avg

Short EZ miles today.

Tuesday

Did: 6.54 mi @ 8:16/mi Track Tuesday

Track Tuesday, 4x1000 (4:22, 4:19, 4:17, 4:18) + 400 (98s 🐢) to finish. Fancy new Garmin that I got for Christmas automatically understands intervals for me, which is pretty cool... 

Wednesday

Did: 3.04 mi @ 9:00/mi + 60 min Hot Power Vinyasa

Had a friend invite me to go to yoga with her at noon today, and I took her up on it! Decided a midday break would be a good thing, and it absolutely was. The sun was shining and it was a cool mid-40s outside, so I enjoyed an easy out-and-back on the trail before heading to the hot studio for an hour of power vinyasa. This one was faster paced and hotter temperature than the other classes I've been to recently, but I felt great with the more intense class! Loving being able to go to these classes more often. 

Thursday

Did: 6.01 mi Altamont run + 4.5 hours skiing

Started the morning with an Altamont run... it was hard after not having done it in a while, but felt good to work! Then we hopped in the car and drove up to Boone for a day of skiing which was a lot of fun!

Friday

Did: 3.1 mi EZ run 

My new Garmin watch has daily suggested workouts... usually I already know what I plan to do for the day, but when I went out this afternoon it suggested 32 mins at 10:25/mi pace as a recovery run. That sounded good to me, so that's what I did!

Saturday

Did: 10.06 mi @ 8:31/mi avg

Got out early and ran from the house, pretty similar route as what I did on Xmas morning... but man what a difference a week makes in the weather! Last week it was 15F, today it was 52F! Crazy. But felt great to get out and get done early. Feeling excited and energized for marathon training starting next week!

Sunday

Did: 2.74 mi @ 9:22/mi avg

Just a few easy miles around the neighborhood in the afternoon. Final day of the #RWRunStreak for 2022! :)

Miles this week = 33.7 

I don't plan to do a "year in review" post. I ran a lot, I qualified for Boston. Yay 🥳