My First EVER 60 Mile Week!!

It has been quite some time since I was able to blog a race recap. Life, as it is presently, is unbelievably busy. I attempted to blog about my VA Beach Rock n’ Roll half marathon, from the first weekend in September, but I never got past the first paragraph {cliff notes on that race—long training run of 15 miles total, in the humidity that is always that race; didn’t break 2 hours, yet again, so I am doing the 5K next year! Ha!}.

Some time ago, I prepared the “bones” of my 16-week Marine Corps Marathon training plan. I knew some things would change, as the weeks progressed, but at least I would have goals & plans for each respective week. One week in particular scared the crap out of me—the week before taper time. For many people, this is the highest mileage week of the marathon training cycle. This held true for me & my plan.

About a year ago when I trained for the Richmond Marathon, my maximum mileage week was just over 45 miles. This time, I will have SIX weeks that exceed that mileage. Not only that, but practically EVERY week of this training cycle has been filled with more miles & ultimately, more confidence—compared to when I trained last year for my 1^st marathon. My endurance base is growing! The actual running itself hasn’t necessarily all been faster, but overall, I do feel faster—there is that philosophy holding true on “train slower to race faster”.

On average, I am running 13 miles more per week compared to Richmond {27 miles then, vs. 40 miles now}. Most runners can understands how HUGE that mileage difference is. Although I am not an elite runner logging upwards of 100+ miles per week, I am certainly proud of all of my training, especially this last week.

Since I have no idea of when I plan to log another 60 mile week, & since it’s record-breaking for me, I thought a blog post would be fun! Enjoy!!

Run #1 (Monday): Speedwork – 6 miles (8:56/mile avg pace). This workout consisted of intervals – 1000m, 1000m, 2000m, 1000m. Intervals ended up being run at paces of: 7:08, 6:45, 7:12, 6:53. The 2000m felt like it would never end & was super tough, but otherwise a great workout! I pushed myself by running at Mt. Trashmore, so I would not be able to use the excuse of traffic, road crossings, etc. Keepin’ myself honest! It was nice to see solid paces when the humidity was still so high!

Run #2 (Tuesday): Mid-Week Long – 12 miles (9:20/mile avg pace). The dew point was 72—need I say more?! This run was so-so. Thankfully I had my BRF (best running friend) Julie to complain to—when my legs got heavy & I felt like moaning & groaning. She of course was a real trooper & took my complaining with such grace! I did the first 4 miles solo, & then she joined in for the final 8 miles. These mid-week long runs have really grown on me!

Run #3 (Thursday): Easy – 7 miles (9:12/mile avg pace). I had planned for this run to be outside—one of my last evening post-call runs (medical lingo for “worked the night before”)—but real life had other ideas. When hubby was not able to arrive home from work on time, I loaded up the twins & we headed to the YMCA. The treadmill would have to do. I kept the pace super easy & drank water at every mile—since I knew what the following day would hold. The boys LOVE the Stay&Play area at the gym, just about as much as I love the sweat a good stress-relieving run produces! Once we left the Y, we headed to YNot Pizza for a yummy dinner, followed by sharing of a gelato cup—YUM!!

Run #4 (Friday): Long – 22 miles (9:18/mile avg pace). Originally, I had planned to log the longest run of my training as part of the Crawlin’ Crab half marathon (8.9 miles pre-race + the 13.1 race). I had also planned to run a good portion of the distance at marathon pace. But, Mother Nature thought otherwise! For you see, the East Coast has been harassed this last week by a storm—identified as Hurricane Joaquin. NOT fun. Nope, not at all! But, in true runner fashion, the weather did not stop us & many impressive folks threw down some awesome times, especially considering the un-ideal conditions!! They are ALL rockstars in my book! My run was 100% spent in the pouring rain, solo, & with puddles everywhere you looked. At some point, I just went numb & into auto-pilot mode. Luckily, I ran from the boys’ school, so they were my motivation—I HAD to get back to the school so I could retrieve them. I certainly didn’t want to get a “Mom of the Year” award by not showing up at pick-up time! I arrived back, with 2 minutes to spare. Talk about intense—it’s just what mothers do though. Change gears in 2 seconds from a runner who just pounded the pavement for 3+ hours, into mom-mode of two wild 3-year-old boys! Mother runners are the strongest people I know (okay, maybe second only to the preemies I take care of)!

Run #5 (Saturday): Easy – 5 miles (9:22/mile avg pace). The legs were definitely heavy for this run, rightfully so with the prior days’ run, but no worries since this was just a fun, easy (albeit humid!) run with Julie. Afterwards, I rewarded myself with Starbucks—and the hubby too since he has the boys each morning when I am pounding the pavement!!

Run #6 (Sunday): Tempo – 8 miles (8:29/mile avg pace). For some reason, I went into this run with fear. Not sure if it was because of the conditions outside (25-40mph wind gusts will make anyone a bit fearful!) or because I had never logged 7 consecutive miles at tempo pace. Well, I guess I have on race day! Regardless, I was bound & determined to do 2 things—get those tempo miles ran AND complete my 60 mile week! My goal going forward is to attack more runs. As a mentally-defeated runner at times, I have a goal of pushing the fear aside & moving out of my comfort zone. Miles for this workout ended up being very even: 8:20, 8:20, 8:14, 8:13, 8:15, 8:12, 8:13. Although it was not the progressive tempo run I had planned for, it did meet my goal of all 7 miles below marathon pace!

So there are just 3 weeks left—and about 90 miles to be logged before race day. I may adjust my plan slightly—I certainly don’t want to get injured or burned out at this point! BUT, I also don’t want to slack off & not utilize the speed & confidence that I have gained over these last 13 weeks. Taper time is here & I am excited to see what DC has in store for me, as well as the 30,000+ other runners, on October 25^th!! Bring it on! OORAH!