I CAN MOVE THIS WEEK. Let me tell you, I was so freaking excited to be able to move and breath this week. I started out the week with an easy run Sunday evening with a couple of friends, and it felt amazing to finally be back on the pavement. We kept the pace nice and easy, and I had some residual tightness, but that faded into nothing throughout the rest of the week. This week had a lot of travel; I went to Austin for work Monday afternoon, came back Thursday evening, and then went to Harlingen Saturday after my long run for a quick visit with my husband’s family. I was not great this week about stretching and core work. I can say it was all the travel, and that’s partially true, but I was also really tired. After having an very low mileage week last week, jumping back in to 60 miles was pretty exhausting. This was my first 60 mile week (ever), and I was really excited that most of my runs went really well. But I know this is exactly why I need to put some good effort into my recovery over the next couple of weeks. 60 miles is not for the faint of heart, or the week of core, but I am LOVING the high mileage programming. With my marathon less than a month away, after this week I have one more big week, and then it’s time to taper. Exciting things to come for sure!!!
This Weeks Workouts
Total Miles: 60.5!
Hansons Marathon Method, Week 13
How the Runs Felt
This week was a tough one for me. My strength run went well, but the last half mile of the last fast set was really challenging. It was probably the first time I’ve felt like I’m barely hanging on to my pacing in the strength runs. I know after almost a full week off, it’s a major adjustment to ask your body to just throw down fast sets of two miles, so I’m keeping that in mind. Next week’s plan calls for 2 sets of 3 miles, which is super intimidating, but I’m trying to keep reminding myself that I’ve been able to get through so much more than I expected on this plan, and as long as the weather keeps holding up, I think I can get what I need to get done.
My tempo run was a completely different story. I was staying in an area of Austin that has a nice long sidewalk close by, so I had planned on doing my warm up and first few miles on the treadmill, and then finishing up outside once the sun started to rise. My warm up and first two miles were done on the treadmill, without much excitement, and I headed outside to get the rest done, and quickly realized the weather was a mess. It was low 40’s, with consistent drizzle. As much as I love running in chilly weather, I HATE running in cold, wet weather. I know there’s some mental strength that comes from making it through difficult weather conditions, but I am just not for running in cold, wet clothes. I stuck outside for a little over five mile, but once it started to get pretty sloshy, I called it quits and finished inside on the treadmill. My last several marathons, I have seemed to pick up an upper respiratory infection or flu right before, so I justified my decision by telling myself I was trying to avoid getting sick, which I’m genuinely ok with. What I’m not super happy with is that my pacing was fairly inconsistent for most of my outside miles. Austin is hilly, and that definitely does give a challenge that I don’t face much in my home town currently, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t frustrated that my paces were inconsistent. Only one mile was out of my goal range, but I just didn’t love how up and down I was.
My long run this week, though, was absolute, pure bliss. It was mid-40’s and sunny and I soaked in every minute. For a lot of my long runs, I often feel rushed to finish up, as I want to get back home to spend the weekend with my boys. This week, however, I knew I needed to take it easy on my body, and my husband encouraged me to just run as relaxed as possible, so that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t have my usual running buddy with me, so I listened to a new podcast, and was so grateful to be able to run long again after last week. I’m SO happy to report that keeping the pacing a bit slower than I have been also meant that I didn’t experience any pain in my pelvic ligaments that have been bothering me lately. Big reminder that there’s a reason the plan says to run your easy runs easy. If you’d like a little more information on the ligament issue I’ve had on and off, you can catch up here and here.
How the WODs Felt
I kept all of the WODs this week pretty easy going, especially on Monday. I could have gone heavier on the strict press, but didn’t want to put too much on my back, so I kept it light. Wednesday’s drop in WOD was primarily focused on cardio and applying an even effort and pace, which wasn’t difficult for me. By Friday, my legs were feeling a little heavy, and after the medium weight back squats, they were about 30% useless. Normally I would have pushed myself to include heavier deadlifts during the WOD, but given my tired legs, I didn’t want to risk poor form and flare my back up. I also knew I had 16 miles to run the following day, and I didn’t really want to relive my open experience of running around like a new born elephant. Overall, I was pretty happy with my effort and the fact that I didn’t allow my ego to push me to do something I would regret later in the week.
What I’ve Been Listening To
I’m still listening to both A Murder in Oregon & Urge to Kill. A Murder in Oregon has been a little slow for me, but I’m still engaged and interested to hear just how corrupt this legal system was. I have really loved listening to Urge to Kill; I think anyone who likes true crime will really love this podcast. It’s a pretty unique story, and very well done. I’ve also been listening to Your Own Backyard, which covers the disappearance of Kristin Smart in the late 90s. I have some vague memories of this story from my childhood, and from what I’ve listened to so far, the investigator has done a great job digging into information available.
What Went Well
I had zero back issues, and after last week, I felt like that was a miracle. My nutrition was pretty on point throughout the week, even while traveling. I managed to get in all my workouts, and didn’t over-exert myself, and I finally hit 60 miles without any injury in sight. I was also really happy that I didn’t experience any pain or discomfort (outside the normal leg fatigue) during my long run. This week wasn’t perfect, but it was approximately 476% better than last week.
What Went Shitty
As usual I didn’t get great sleep while I was traveling. Normally I get to make up for this over the weekend, but that was not the case for me this week, since we were also traveling Saturday and Sunday. As I write this up on Sunday evening, I cannot tell you how excited I am to pour myself into bed at 9:01pm. I also didn’t do as much stretching and core work this week as I would have liked, but that’s not been unusual for me while I am out of town. Compared to the shit show of last week, I’ll gladly accept a little negligence in the accessory department and some lost sleeps.
Plans to Improve Next Week
With the next down week on the horizon, I plan to push it a little more in the box this next week, within reason of course. I also know that my sleep will be better, and I do think I’ll be able to reincorporate my daily stretching and 3x a week core routine. I took Friday off of work, so I’m looking forward to sleeping in a little later and still getting in my workouts that day. We’re planning on spending some time at my dad’s house early next week, so I am really looking forward to getting in some runs in the hill country, and taking a little more time to relax.