Week 12

Before I begin this entry, I wanted to say that many people probably read this and assume I am bragging about my running and showing off what I do each week. I wanted to say that my reasons for this blog are not meant to be that superficial (hopefully). First, my motivation to run every day isn’t always high, especially during marathon training, and updating this blog with accurate accounts of my runs helps me continue to follow the training plan by keeping me accountable to my friends and family. Secondly this blog allows me time to reflect on my running and have a better view of my progress. I can’t make goals and expect to meet them if the data doesn’t support them. I want to thank anyone who reads and follows my blog because you help me to remain motivated. Now on to the review from Week 12.

Monday – Recovery Day

I am still recovering from the long run on Saturday that went longer than planned. I hope to run tomorrow but I won’t force a run if I am not feeling up to it.

Tuesday – Rest day

Maybe tomorrow

Wednesday – AM Easy Run, PM Interval Workout

AM – 4 miles easy on the treadmill. I felt good when I woke up and decided to go for a morning easy run before the scheduled track workout after work. The run was at a nice pace and I was able to watch some Fraggle Rock during the run.

PM – I ran 4 1.5 mile intervals with an 800 recovery jog in between each interval. Times for the intervals were 10:22, 10:24, 10:34, and 10:19. Total distance 8.75 miles including warm-up and cool down. This run didn’t quite go as planned due to darkness and I wasn’t able to cool down as much as I should have. I also felt some tenderness on the top of my left foot. I think my shoe was too tight during the run.

Total Mileage 12.75 miles

Thursday – Easy run

2.25 miles barefoot due to tendonitis on the top of my foot at a local track. I hope it is tendonitis and not a stress fracture since I could barely handle wearing a shoe during the day. I also developed a nice sized blister on my right foot during the run. Hopefully my feet will heal up and I will be able to get back to full strength soon.

Total Mileage 2.25 miles

Friday – Tempo run

9 miles at 7:53 pace or faster at the Y. I completed this workout on the treadmill and maintained an incline of 1.5 or higher during the run. I had to adjust my shoes so I could avoid the sore spot on my left foot and it seemed to work well enough to allow me to run. As a bonus my heart rate never got above 160 during the run whereas about a month ago it was closer to 175 during the tempo workouts.   

Total mileage 10.5 miles

Saturday – Long Run

Today was a planned 5k race day and then I figured I would complete some more easy miles at the Rail Trail afterwards. That part was planned; what wasn’t planned was the blister on my foot popping midway through the 5k and then running even farther on it after the race. I finished the race in 21:18 and in 7^th place overall. My minutes per mile pace was about 6:58. It is about 2 minutes slower than my 5k PB but much better than my last few attempts at the distance. The course was very rolling and the last mile was mostly uphill. After that I enjoyed some post-race food and then drove to the rail trail for more miles. That decision wasn’t one of my better decisions even though I finished a little more than 6 miles at about a 9:20 pace. My feet were both hurting after this workout but the rest of me felt fine.

 Total mileage 9.5 miles

Sunday – Cross Training

3 miles on elliptical, 3 miles on stationary bike in 8:58

Took the day due to blister on my toe and lingering top of foot pain. I figured more running today wouldn’t really help my feet to get better so I got a nice workout in without any more pounding on my feet. The plan is to get back on track Monday and begin incorporating some alternative workouts to just running.

Total Weekly Running Mileage – 35 miles

Total Mileage – 41 miles including time on the bike and elliptical

Goals for next week – Aside from running regularly, I want to cross train at least 2x per week, include at least 1 sprint workout, and 1 plyometric workout. I hope to keep those going up until the taper for the marathon begins. Next week’s goal mileage is hopefully going to be in the 45-50 mile range again.
Countdown to Marathon – 41 days

Lastly, run, jog, walk, swim, bike, whatever just get out and get moving especially at this time of year but make sure to stay hydrated.

A picture of me running in a group during the April Half Marathon I finished.