2016 Boston Marathon Training – Week 10

Confident in my endurance when Sunday’s long run wasn’t completely miserable, I started layering faster miles into my workouts this week.  I’ve been trying to go to bed earlier to get more sleep and that seemed to help my training.  By mid-week, I was mostly dealing with cold and rain.  But since nothing says it won’t rain on Marathon Monday, I dealt with it.  My legs finally felt willing to run hard but now my feet and heels were rebelling.

Training Schedule
February 21 – February 27

Sunday: Specific Endurance Run.  24 miles easy.
Monday: 6 miles easy + hill sprints (AM), 4 mile easy (PM).
Tuesday: Specific Endurance Intervals. 3 miles easy, 6 x 800m @ 5K pace w/2-min. active recoveries), 3 miles easy.
Wednesday: Specific Endurance Run.  14 miles easy.
Thursday: 6 miles easy.
Friday:  Threshold Run.  3 miles easy, 3 x 10 min. @ half marathon-10K pace w/4-min. active recoveries, 3 mile easy.
Saturday: 6 miles easy.

Mileage Total: ~80 miles.

Adaptations:  Instead of 24 miles, I ran 22 miles for my long run.  On Monday, I skipped the double and ran 8 miles as a single.  On Thursday, I ran 9 easy miles instead of 6 to get in the 4 miles I missed by not doubling on Monday.

Details

Specific Endurance Run.  22 miles w/1 hour moderate [Log Details].

I woke up at 4:30am and headed to Georgetown to start my run.

I felt pretty sluggish at the start but chalked it up to the rolling hills on the Custis Trail.  I experienced some GI distress and decided to take a pit stop.  I went off the trail to use the bathroom only to see a sign that it was closed during the winter.  Grrr!  A little bit down the road on the W&OD Trail, I found an open facility.  Once I was back on the trail, I felt confident enough to take my first Clif Shot.

There was a group of runners just behind me talking.  I don’t think they were talking loudly but I wanted to hear my podcast.  It spurred me to run faster but  I couldn’t quite lose them so I decided to let them go ahead.

I was a little winded as I headed south towards Alexandria.  But, listening to a funny episode of Jillian Michael’s podcast kept me going.  (I’m forious!)  I crested the hill on Braddock Road at the 1:40 mark and stopped for my second gel.

A few miles later, I  arrived at the Mount Vernon Trail.  The last time I ran this route, I had hoped to run some moderate paced miles but had no energy.  But, on this day, I felt pretty strong!  At the 2:30:00 mark, near the airport, I stopped and started my last gel.  I ate three gels!

I crossed the 14th Street Bridge back into the District.  I felt like running even harder but my stride wouldn’t loosen up.  My butt and hamstring were tired.

I felt pretty good after the run – tired, but not destroyed.

Moderate pace segment=8:36.  Overall pace=8:52.

Specific Endurance Intervals.  3 miles easy, 6 x 800m @ 5K pace w/2-min. active recoveries), 3 miles easy [Log Details].

I slept soundly the night before but only got about 7 hours.

It was a miserable run because it rained the entire time.  During the warm-up, I found myself thinking about 5K pace and how that used to be so much faster.  That’s dangerous thinking!  I ended up running the first four intervals very hard – about as hard as I could.  Then, it caught up with me and I had to slow things down.  I felt like a spark was set off, though.

Marathon pace miles= 3:19, 3:23, 3:25, 3:21, 3:28, 3:31.  Average= 3:25 or 6:50 pace.

Medium Run.  15 miles, moderate to hard  [Log Details].

I got 8 hours of sleep the night before and headed out the door full of energy despite the pouring rain.

I wore gloves and mittens to keep my hand warm but the mittens were soaked two miles into the run!  I put the gloves in my shirt pocket thinking I would keep them as dry as possible and wear them later, but surprisingly, the mittens kept my hands warm throughout so I didn’t use the gloves.

This was supposed to be an easy run but when I found myself running low 8:00 pace on the Mount Vernon Trail, I decided to just go with it.

Surprisingly, I felt pretty fresh during the rolling hills of the Custis Trail.  Recalling the days when I ran this section of trail at 7:50 pace, I pushed harder when I hit the mostly downhill section of the W&OD Trail.

At the end, I felt spent but happy with the hard effort.

Overall pace=8:30.

Threshold Run. 3 miles easy, 3 x 10 min. @ half marathon-10K pace w/4-min. active recoveries, 3 mile easy [Log Details].

I kept the warm-up pretty comfortable.  I stopped to take a picture of the air traffic control tower when I reached National Airport.

It was a windy day so I chose a route that would have me running into the wind at the start.  Still, the first repetition felt comfortable. The second felt a little harder because I was running solidly into the wind.  For the third, the wind was solidly at my back or side, so despite my fatigue, the pace wasn’t much slower.

When I saw the Garmin data, I was surprised by how consistent the pace was despite the changing conditions!

10 minute segment paces=7:25, 7:25, 7:25.  Average=7:25.

Other Running-Related Activities

Racing Schedule.  I bought my tickets for Ragnar Cape Cod but I still haven’t purchased my flight for the Boston Marathon.

Nutrition.  For this week’s long run, I went to a couple of local running stores looking for the Accel Energy Gels but none of them had it in stock.  So, I had Clif Energy Gels.  Of course, the Crank Sports e-Gels I ordered arrived on Monday.  I’ll take them on tomorrow’s long run.  I also tried the Bonk Breaker bar from my December Stridebox.  It tasted like a standard nutrition bar.

Media of the Week

Song.  Vogue by Madonna.  “You’ve got to just, let your body go with the flow.”

Podcasts.  Jillian Michaels, Holy Ha Long Bay.  Jill’s story about her Vietnamese butler had my laughing out loud during my 22 miler.  I’m a little mad that Janice made her cut it short.  I also enjoyed the Runners Connect episode with Dick Beardsley.  I read Duel in the Sun a few years ago and knew some of what he talked about but he’s such a dynamic speaker that I enjoyed hearing it again.

The Week Ahead

I’d like to do another solid week in the 70-80 mile range.  Hopefully, I can mix in some more miles in the half to full marathon pace range.

Inspiration.  “Good is not good when better is expected.” – Vin Scully