Week 14

Monday: 7 miles (7:16)
Tuesday: 9.38 miles (7:11)
Wednesday am: 12.5 miles (8:58)
Wednesday pm: 5.21 miles (8:56, coaching)
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: 8 miles (8:30)- 1 mile warm up 4x1 mile uphill (0.5 mile recovery): 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 1 mile cool down
Saturday: 30 miles (8:24)- 7.x solo miles, 20.x miles coaching, 2.7 solo @ 6:28
Sunday: 10 miles (7:15)

Total: 82.09 (8:09)


This was a very solid week of training! Not really sure when I decided to run 6 days instead of the usual 5, it just sorta happened. Tuesday's run was faster than I had planned so I took it super easy on Wednesday's runs.

For Saturday's LR, I ran 7ish miles solo before our training group met, 20ish with the group and 2.7 solo @6:28 pace to close out. I felt super strong during that last solo effort. To be honest, I was almost ready to call it good at 27 miles. Even though I had planned on 30 for the day, 27 seemed ok.

Then I started thinking about wanting to be fast at my 50 miler at the end of the month and I thought about a quote from NorthFace ultra runner Rob Krar "You have to be ready to go to a dark place and embrace it". This was from an interview where he was talking about his ability to run fast at the end of an ultra (specifically the last 4 miles of the UROC 100k which he ran at 5:16 pace). Its not enough for your body to be capable, you have to be mentally willing. In the past, I think that has been a huge part of why I haven't ran sub-3 in the marathon yet. So, I pushed for the last 2.7 miles and I couldn't be any happier with the result.

Fueling for the run was much better this time around (compared to my other 30 milers). Started off with a bagel and a bottle of Perform about an hour before running. During the run, I had 3 PowerGels, 1 Energy Blend and 1 Harvest Energy Bar. Immediately after the run, I had a TripleThreat protein bar and a bottle of Recovery.

Oh, I finally figured out the best placement for my HR strap too. Wore it for the whole run with no chaffing issues. For those of you new to this blog, I have a minor heart condition so I like to wear a HR strap during long runs and workouts to make sure I'm not pushing more than my heart can handle. Sometimes everything else feels great but my heart doesn't cooperate (see my post about this past fall's Portland Marathon).

Fueling and recovering smartly from Saturday made today's run awesome. A solid 10 mile effort with one PowerGel at mile 4. I slept in a bit this morning, worked on lectures, had lunch with my amazing wife and then went for the run. During the week, all of my runs (minus coaching Wednesday night) are super early in the morning. During Pigtails, I'll be running at all hours so I want to get some more daytime runs in when I can.

Going forward, my weekly plan is: Monday-Rest, Tuesday-Run, Wednesday-Double, Thursday-rest, Friday-Run, Saturday-Long, Sunday-Double. That should let me punch my mileage a bit higher; looking to hit 90+, 100+ and 80+ before tapering after the Tacoma City Marathon.

Non-running wise, the week was pretty good. I was able to get ahead a little in my lectures (mostly from this morning), class went well on Tuesday/Thursday night, taxes got filed and I got to spend time with my wife.

#PBTE