2019 Cleveland Marathon – Week 3

Essentially, this was a repeat of Week 17 from my 2019 Boston Marathon training only this time, I finished it feeling race-ready! I constantly wondered whether I’m adequately recovered, though.

Training Schedule
May 5th – May 11th

Sunday: Long Run. 10 miles
Monday: Easy Run. 8 miles
Tuesday: Interval Run. 6 x 1 mile @ MP – 10 sec. w/400m recovery jog
Wednesday: Rest or Cross-Train
Thursday: Tempo Run. 12 miles w/10 miles @ goal marathon pace
Friday: Easy Run. 7 miles
Saturday: Easy Run. 8 miles

Total: ~56 Miles

Notes. I added four miles to my long run on Sunday but otherwise followed the schedule.

Workouts

Long Run. 14 miles [Log Details].

My motivation was pretty low when I woke up.  I hadn’t slept well the night before and it was raining outside.  But out on the roads, my body actually felt pretty good!  Running fairly hard through neighborhood streets to the Custis Trail, I averaging just under 8:30 pace.  I stopped for water at Nelson Street and got out of the rain for a while.  Looking down at my soaked shoes, I thought, “The rain is washing away the mud from Hopkinton.”  On the Mount Vernon Trail, I got down to 8:20 pace sloshing through puddles.  I finally started to feel tried by the time I reached Humpback Bridge and slowed down to an easy 9:15 in Crystal City and Pentagon City in the last three miles.

Overall pace=8:31.

Interval Run. 6 x 1 mile @ goal marathon pace – 10 seconds [Log Details].

During the warm-up, I tried to keep the pace very slow.

I started the intervals on the Four Mile Run Trail and ran out to the Mount Vernon Trail and back, turning around at the pedestrian bridge on near National Airport.  The first two repetitions were strong.  But, after the fourth, I had to walk during the recovery.  The gradual fade told me I hadn’t recovered enough.  When I checked my splits from Week 17 they weren’t too much slower.  I guessed that I would probably equal my time at the 2019 Cleveland Marathon.  The best thing I could do between now and the 19th are a) let my muscles repair, and b) get some glycogen.

1 mile splits=7:38, 7:46, 7:38, 7:49, 7:57, 8:09.  Average=7:50.

Threshold Run. 12 miles w/10 miles @ goal marathon pace [Log Details].

I got approval to telework alternating Thursdays so I didn’t need to run-commute and felt less pressure to squeeze this workout in before work.  Like last week, I chose to run this workout on a loop for some variety that would give me some brief breaks rather than an uninterrupted flat out-and-back.  The weather was okay – not too warm, not too cold.  I ran up a local street, taking a bathroom break a few minutes before starting the goal marathon pace segment.  The first few miles were uphill or rolling hills on the Custis Trail, so I ran by feel rather than pace.  When the terrain flattened out on the Mount Vernon Trail, I didn’t really push – still trying to find a pace that I thought I could run on for 26.2 miles on fresh legs.

Looking back at Week 17, my average pace was slightly slower even though it was a flatter course.

Splits=8:14, 7:54, 7:47, 7:47, 7:26, 7:54, 7:56, 7:50, 8:01, 7:42.  Average=7:52.

Health

Injuries.  My legs didn’t feel as sore as they did at the start of my last taper but I continued having tightness (plantar fasciitis?) in my left foot.

Sleep. I didn’t sleep well at the beginning of the week – under 7 hours on a few nights.

Weather

During the work week, the temperature was consistently around 50 degrees in the morning and the skies were mostly overcast. It rained on Sunday and the air was damp again on Saturday

Routes

Construction.  It must be construction season! I ran into caution signs on three of my runs this week.  On Sunday, it seemed the Memorial Bridge-related construction area on the Mount Vernon Trail expanded.

On Thursday, I encountered construction at the “Intersection of Doom” going from the Custis Trail to the Mount Vernon Trail.  And on Friday, during my easy run, I turned around after a construction sign on the W&OD Trail near Walter Reed Drive.

(My Guide to Washington, DC Area Running Routes)

Media & Motivation

News. Websites and Blogs.  “ All of Your Questions Answered on the Caster Semenya Controversy,” Science of Running.  I almost wrote about this last week but thought better of it because I realized I don’t know enough about the issue.  This article breaks down various aspects of the debate in a reasoned way.   (The chart the author links to showing the different variations of Difference of Sexual Development convinced me that I was right in that previous assessment.)

“Eliud Kipchoge Plans to Go Sub-2:00 in the Marathon This Fall,” Runner’s World.  Last time, it was the night before the 2017 Eugene Marathon.  He missed the mark by 26 seconds last time.

Music. “Jump,” Kriss Kross.  This song lifted my spirits this week.  Last Friday, I spent the day consoling a dear friend after a death in her family and the evening breaking up with the guy I’d been dating since February.

(My “Songs of the Week” on Spotify)

Motivation.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”raised” width=”800px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”4″ border_color=”#ec5614″ rounded_corners=”false” outside_shadow=”false” ] Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. – Mark Twain [/dropshadowbox]

I thought a lot of death, loss, and regret at the end of last week and it spilled into this one.

Racing Schedule

Future races.  I finally booked my flight to Cleveland, Ohio this week.  Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of low-cost, non-stop options left so I decided to fly there early on Saturday morning and return early Monday evening.

I also found a course video.  Over the next few days, I plan to dissect it so I can break down the race.

Next race: 2019 Cleveland Marathon on Sunday, May 19th.

(My Racing Schedule)