Marathon Training Week 14

Monday: Rest
Wow, my legs and lower back were tight today! 20 miles on concrete on Sunday certainly had an effect on my body, but all of the aches and pains subsided as the day went on. The problem left calf felt exactly the same as the right calf - tired, but that was about it - which was great news! I managed to squeeze some gentle stretching in today, but it was a busy day and I didn't do as much as I'd hoped

Tuesday: Rest
I probably could have run this morning, but I stuck to my new plan of just 3 running days per week and lots of rest after a long run.

Wednesday: 6 miles @ 7:57/mile
I was raring this morning but surprised myself by being able to start out slowly (8:39 and 8:44) before deciding that everything felt great and that the cooler weather (it was chilly enough that "I'll need gloves on race day" crossed my mind) was too good to miss. I picked up the pace and ran 7:32 and 7:18 before easing back on the hills (8:02) and finished with a 7:27. It felt great to stretch my legs and push the pace!

Thursday: Rest
Stretch & Foam Roll

Friday: 6 miles @ 7.57/mile
I ran at a much more even pace today: 8:23, 7:50, 7:56, 7:41, 8:06, 7:46. I wouldn't say I was struggling to hold the pace, but the sub-8 pace felt harder than normal today. I just let my body work as hard as it wanted and didn't push. Not doing anything stupid and getting injured was constantly on my mind.

Saturday: Rest
Stretch & Foam Roll

Sunday: 18 miles @ 10:04/mile
Scheduling problems for next weekend meant that we decided to move our last 20 miler to this weekend. Steph and I headed out to Umstead and flew though the first 13 miles at an average of 9:20/mile before some stomach issues caused Steph to have some trouble and after a few of miles of run/walking we decided to cut our run short at 18 miles and walk back to the car. We started today's run at 11:30am, which proved hard from a fueling point of view. I am fairly set on my pre-race food and drink for a run before about 9am, but 11:30am is difficult as I couldn't really eat lunch at 10am, but knew I wouldn't be home until after 4pm! I didn't have any energy or hunger issues during our run, but obviously Steph's body didn't handle it quite as well. Luckily, the Marathon starts early and we won't have these issues on race day.

Total miles for Week 14: 30