Hard to believe that there are only 4 weeks of training left plus a week of taper! Where did the time go? Yesterday wrapped up my 11th week of Cleveland Marathon training. It ended on Sunday because of the 20 Mile Drop (which I recapped yesterday!). This week went pretty great overall, even though I had some chaotic things going on this week and experimenting with carb depletion for this race as I wanted to try it out in advance for Cleveland. As recapped in my prior post, the race went great for me and the results of carb depletion seriously paid off. Special shoutout to fellow Cleveland runner @keenforarun for her blog post on how to carb deplete, which I used as guidance last week. So let's get into how the week went overall! Monday - Monday I ran a relatively fast run because I knew my legs would have time to recover before the race. I didn't necessarily get into speed work (since I didn't really drop into the 7s) but I did make it a negative split and progression run. The first mile was around an 8:30. The second was closer to an 8:24. The third was an 8:15. The fourth was an 8:05. The fifth and last .2 were 7:55. Total was 5.2 at 8:13 average. Followed up with plank streak day 58 for 5 minutes. This was day 1 of carb depletion and I thought it was hard until I signed up for MyFitnessPal and actually logged my meals and realized I was only consuming about 8% carbs (TOO LOW!!). Tuesday - Speed Work I decided to have one more day of real speed this week as I was planning an off day on Wednesday and would be taking slower runs the rest of the week. I set out for a speedy 10k. I went a hair long (6.3 miles) and ended up at 7:37/mile for the entire run. That pace made me really happy (though my face says otherwise). Plank streak day 59 - 6 mins. Wednesday - Recovery Swim I took the day off from running and opted for a swim workout instead. Since doing that the week of Rock n' Roll Arizona and having awesome results, I have made it a permanent part of my race week routine because it loosens up all of the muscles while getting in an awesome workout. 1.2 miles/30 minutes. Plank streak day 60 - 5 minutes. Thursday For once the wind was calm by the lake so I headed to a different park for my run (when the wind is bad, the route to this park has 30 mph headwinds) and I decided to explore since it was an easier run. I rarely do trails, but I was curious, so I ducked onto the trails for about a mile. I was so glad I did because I got awesome views and I knew the soft surface was good on my legs. I didn't exactly enjoy having to climb uphill, jump a creek, and run down stairs, but it was fun overall. 5.3 miles at 8:45/mile and plank streak day 61 - 3 mins. 1Friday After a hectic day of packet pickup, staying late at work, and running errands, I came home at about 7:40 and hopped on the treadmill for a short run, since I knew I had to get a run in because the day before a race is always a rest day. I also got my second run in on my new shoes to be sure they'd be good to go for the 20 mile drop. I did 3.5 miles at 8:19 to shake out the legs. Followed it up with a 3 minute plank for day 62. Saturday This was a rest day and finally putting a lot of carbs into my body. I spent the day relaxing (after an insanely stressful morning) and got my outfit organized as I could see the real feel at the start would be about 15 degrees. I headed to bed early because of the buses leaving at 6:30 for the race, meaning my alarm would go off at 4:30. Sunday - 20 Mile Drop For a full recap on this race, you can check out my previous blog post recap of this race. But for a short summary, this race was awesome! They changed up the course a little from the previous year to cut out some hills. The race in a nutshell involves 20 miles of net downhill elevation change. There is also a 10 mile version. Both are great for spring half and full marathon training. I planned to take this race at an 8:40-8:45 based on my discussion with my training partner and not wanting to burn out before Cleveland. When I got on tuhe course, I ended up befriending a couple of runners around me at mile 2, feeling great from the carb depletion and loading, and loving the downhill, so I started out a little faster. I ended up finishing the race in 2:50.56 (8:33/mile). Yes, it was too fast, but the downhill contributed to the pace and I felt great while doing it. My running partner said it was only about 4 minutes too fast so it wasn't a big deal and I would take this week lightly. I definitely had a blast at the 20 mile drop! Plank streak day 64 - 7 minutes. Another great week of training plus a race in the books! 45 minutes of planking last week and 40.3 miles at 8:21/mile. Ready for a light week this week!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
October 2019
Categories |