Marathon Training Week 4

Monday: Planned: Rest - Actual: Rest
The 8 mile run at the end of Week 3 really seemed to take it's toll on my body and my legs ached all day today, so I was cautious and took a complete rest day today. I did manage to get to the running store an purchase a new pair of New Balance Minimus Road in a larger size in the hope that my toes would start to feel better.

Tuesday: Planned: 3 miles - Actual: 5 miles
Jack slept until 7am this morning, so I ran without the Baby Jogger. Maybe it was running without the Baby Jogger, but today's run felt easier. The temperature was down slightly (73F) but the humidity was still quite high (90%). The new shoes felt good and my toes felt like they had plenty of space to move around. 
Stats: 5 miles, 38:40, 7:44/mile average pace


Wednesday: Planned: 6 miles - Actual: 6 miles (Baby Jogger)
After running a little too fast yesterday in new shoes (which upset my calf muscles), I decided to make a conscious effort to run slower today and ran with my calf sleeves on. It was slightly more humid (95%) but still nicer than last week. I ran with Jack and apart from one mile (8:19) we ran all of the miles at around 8:30/mile pace, which I was much happier with.
Stats: 6 miles, 51:07, 8:31/mile average pace

Thursday: Planned: 3 miles - Actual: 5 miles (Baby Jogger)
Jack and I ran at the NCRC Social run this evening and had a great run. It was hot (97F) but the sun was behind clouds for most of the run, so it didn't feel too bad. I wore my calf sleeves again as my calf muscles still felt upset from wearing the new shoes (which I found surprising as they were exactly the same as I had been wearing, just a size bigger). We couldn't do the route that the rest of the group ran as I wouldn't be able to get the Baby Jogger up the steps on the Greenway, so we ran our normal route out towards Shelley Lake.
Stats: 5 miles, 41:12, 8:13/mile average pace

Friday: Planned: Rest - Actual: Rest
I did an upper and lower body workout today consisting of 3 x 10 toe raises, 3 x 30 seconds balance on one leg, 3 x 10 single leg squats, 3 x 10 dumbbell curls, 3 x 10 overhead presses, 3 x 10 standing rowers, 3 x 10 press ups, 3 x 10 squats and 3 x 25 sit ups for a full body workout.

Saturday: Planned: 6 miles @ Marathon Pace - Actual: 6 miles (Baby Jogger)
I had mentioned last week that I wasn't enjoying running the entire length of the Greenway twice on the 6 mile run days, so today I decided to go and run in a different area (Falls River and Bedford). I knew that it was just over 3 miles from Durant road to the the new Upper Neuse Greenway entrance and that early on a Saturday morning would be quiet enough for me to run with Jack on the road (in to traffic of course). It was warmer (81F) but less humid (71%) than it had been for the last couple of weeks and there was also a nice breeze that made it feel like a great morning for a run. I had driven along the route before, but had never run along it and I was surprised that it wasn't as flat as I thought. In fact, the 3 miles out are mostly downhill and the 3 miles back are mostly up hill like a set of stairs. Pushing Jack up hills is no fun, and it certainly wasn't easy getting him up the last few, but overall the run was more enjoyable than running on the Greenway. Towards the end of the run I felt a blister beginning to form on the bottom of my right foot and when I got home I found out why - there was a small manufacturing defect in my shoe that had an additional piece of fabric that hadn't been trimmed correctly. I decided to return my shoes and get another pair (as they were brand new) instead of trying to fix it myself. I ended up not being able to get the same size (10), but ended up with a half size smaller (9.5) which still gave my toes the room they needed.
Stats: 6 miles, 48:57, 8:09/mile average pace

Sunday: Planned: 13 miles - Actual: 13 miles
Today Steph, Christopher and I headed out to Umstead to run part of the Marathon course. We plan on running in Umstead as much as we can on "Long Run" days and this was our first trip together. We started out a little later than normal at 8:45am when it was already hot (75F) and humid (90%). We ran at an easy pace through the entire hilly run (nearly 1000ft of elevation gain) and took a few walk breaks to recover after climbing some of the more difficult hills. I was drenched from head to toe in sweat after the first few miles but apart from being annoying, it didn't have any adverse effect on my running and we completed the full 13 miles that we had planned for the day. We made sure to stay hydrated and refill our water bottles whenever we passed a water fountain and made if back to the car just as the heavens opened and dumped what felt like a months worth of rain in just a few minutes.
Stats: 13 miles, 2:16:45, 10:31/mile average pace

Total for Week 4: 35 miles