Saturday, March 3, 2012

Marathon Training Week 16

My plan for the week was cross-train, run 5, 6, and 5 miles, rest, 4 mile pace run, and 12 mile long run. First week of taper. Sweet, sweet taper. My mileage is still high enough that I haven't reached taper madness yet, but we'll see what happens in the next couple weeks.

Sunday - yoga class, plus calf raises and lunges. I held crow for the first time and then did it again 2 more times. Woot!! I've been trying since July and couldn't quite get it. I thought it was all about arm strength. But then someone told me it was more about core strength. Yep, that was the trick I needed to master it. For the record, my upper arms were sore til Tuesday.

Monday - 5.7 mile run in the AM. Easy pace. Fairly chilly. First morning run in a long time where I didn't need my reflective gear. The sun was just about to rise as I was heading out. That will change in a couple weeks when Daylight Savings Time begins, but I'll take it for now. Did abs and lower back exercises in the evening.

Tuesday - 6.3 mile run. Took advantage of the sun being just about to rise to head to Brown University and back. I can only run to Brown in the morning (before it gets crowded by students) and when it is light out. It was pleasant and reasonably quiet. Didn't really pay too much attention to distance or pace.

Wednesday - 5.6 mile run on the treadmill, plus upper body strength training and squats. Did planks and pushups in the evening.

Thursday - Rest. On Wednesday, I fell asleep watching TV before 9pm and then slept for almost 9 hours. I guess I was tired!

Friday - 4.4 mile pace run. How is it that this was the last pace run of this training cycle?? I wanted to kick some asphalt outside, but it was icy at the time I wanted to run. Ice and thunderstorms are the only weather conditions I absolutely will not run in. I ran the first 2 miles at a 7:47 pace and the last 2 miles at a 7:30 pace, just to see what that felt like. It was hard. 7:47 wasn't so bad, but 7:30 was challenging. Good to know. I am so beyond done with Nike+. Yes, it's worth mentioning one more time. It ate 1/4 mile while I was running at a 7:30 pace. Why does Nike+ always do that when I am running fast? It seems to happen on one particular treadmill, and it is always worse at faster paces. I compared the distance and time from the treadmill against the time on Nike+ and the mile splits I thought I ran. The two times were only off by 7 seconds. That's a very reasonable margin of error. So I am pretty sure the treadmill is calibrated correctly and Nike+ is being fussy.

Saturday - 13.2 mile run. In mist and light rain. Did and out-and-back to Brown University and the edge of downtown Providence, then a loop and a half on my regular running route. It actually wasn't too bad. I was dressed appropriately so that I didn't get too cold or too hot. I was planning on having a pitstop at my house around mile 7, but I had been rained on for an hour and didn't want to stop and get cold. My shoes were dry til mile 10. I must have had a lot on my mind because there were large parts of this run that I just don't remember. Even still, I hit 5 miles within 5 seconds of marathon goal pace without even trying. Score.

Total Miles: Scheduled - 32 Actual - 35.2

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