Week 11

Here is my training log for week 11/18 of my marathon training program. My goal is to finish as close to 3 hours 30 minutes as possible and break my previous best time of 3 hours 51 minutes.

Monday - Interval Workout 6x1 mile intervals with a 400 jog in between.
Total Distance - 9 miles
The times for the miles were as follows 7:05, 6:53, 6:47, 6:55, 6:53, 6:48. 5 of the miles were run at the local track and the last mile was completed on the treadmill because the track closed. I also ran a 1 mile warm up and walked a half mile to cool down. The first mile was slow and I struggled to find my pace consistently during the 4 laps. The remaining miles were tough and all were run in either lanes 4 or 5 on the track so some may have actually been a little faster than the time shown for a 1600. It was humid and after I was finished there were several people who asked me how far I was planning to run. The track at the high school is great for running.

Tuesday - Scheduled rest day

Wednesday - Unscheduled rest day 
I didn't run today due to fatigue and some foot issues in my left foot. It feels like pressure whenever I run so I made sure to ice it twice and decided to go ahead with the planned tempo run tomorrow

Thursday - Tempo run 8 miles at 7:53 pace or faster
Total Distance - 9.25 miles
This run was definitely tough but I managed to keep the correct pace. I had to take a brief break between miles 7 and 8 to fix my shoe, but I finished well. The run was tiring but it felt good to hold a sub-8 pace for 9 miles. 2 months ago I ran  a 51 minute 10k race and today I kept a pace faster than that for a workout. 

Friday - Easy run 5 miles
Total Distance - 5 miles
I finished this run at a local rail trail. The run went well and I feel good in preparation of my first long run of more than 13 miles in more than a year tomorrow. All injuries feel okay and I am glad I took that extra day of rest.

Saturday - Long run 16 miles (goal)
Total Distance - ??? maybe 18 miles
I decided to complete my first long run of the training cycle at Croft State Park. I've run there a lot in the past and have spent many hours trail running, so I thought I knew the mileage around the park. As I entered hour 3 of the run, I realized that I had misjudged how long my run was. I had run farther than planned and was still 2-3 miles from the car. I also used different socks and finished with 2 amazingly tender blisters on the big toes of both feet. I finished the run in about 3 hours and 31 minutes. My quads were definitely sore from the downhills and I need to work more on downhills before the marathon. I am most likely not running tomorrow because of the extra miles run today. 

Weekly Distance and Reflection - 41.25 miles
This week went well despite misjudging the distance in Croft and earning 2 blisters on my feet. I handled the long run pretty well but I forgot to take some food with me and ended up running without anything but water. I also ended up running out of water with about 2 miles to go so that kind of was horrible too. I want to try this run again and see how it goes again before the marathon like a fitness test. The other runs went well and next week I up the tempo run to 9 miles but step back with a long run of only 10 miles. The goal mileage for the week will be about 50 and I will see how my legs feel. Right now my lower left leg is very tender on a spot just above my shin and I want to make sure it isn't anything too serious. 

It's summer so get out there and run, walk, bike, whatever you choose but get moving.