Marathon Training - Week 7

My legs were tired after last weekend's 5K and 14 mile run, but I dragged myself to the track on Tuesday for my Speed workout. I made sure to warm up and stretch longer than I typically would and wore my Calf Guards as a precaution. I broke the runs in to 100m splits so that I could make sure I was running at the correct pace throughout the run and it seemed to work well. I didn't feel any issues with my calf during the workout, but my legs were definitely tired when I got home.

The week at work was stressful this week, and when it came to my Tempo run I certainly didn't feel relaxed at all. I had worked long hours all week and before I knew it, it was 7pm and my window for running was closing fast. I stretched a little and set out on my easy pace first mile trying to relax my body whilst warming up. The warm up mile was a slow 9:21 and I hadn't managed to loosen my tense shoulders at all - at that point I knew the tempo miles were going to be tough. 7.52/mile pace is typically relatively easy for me, but I found it more difficult than normal - my splits were all slower than my goal pace and my entire body was tight and achy by the middle of the 5th mile. I decided I'd finish that mile and then call it a night. There was no point pushing through an extra 2 miles when I felt like I was going to pull a muscle somewhere on my body if I took another step. I walked back home, stretched and got a good nights sleep.

Saturday was the 2nd annual Run For The Heroes 5K in Raleigh. I had no intentions of running hard as this race was not part of the Second Empire Series and I had a 16 mile run scheduled for Sunday. I ran with Ken and Steph and we finished with a clock time of 24:22 (my watch said 24:12 - we had chips, so I have no idea what happened to the chip times).

We had a fairly late night on Saturday, and I slept in until 9:00am on Sunday. By the time I had eaten my breakfast and was ready to go, it was 10:20am. It was overcast, but 70F and humid. My right calf and hamstring had felt tight during the 5K on Saturday, so I had no idea whether I would be able to get through the 16 miles. I set out and felt relaxed and comfortable. I had to really focus on holding my pace at the 8:55/mile pace, which for the first 8 miles felt like I was running with one foot on the brake. My calf (and the rest of my body) felt great. When I got to 10 miles, the sun came out from behind the clouds, I felt my body begin to get tired and the 8:55/mile pace became about all I could manage. I dug deep mentally, and pushed through the final 6 miles to complete my longest run both in distance (14 was my previous longest) and time (2 hours 4 minutes was my previous longest). I walked the 1.5 miles home as a warm down and rested in a cold bath for a while. I wore my compression socks for the rest of the day to help my muscle recovery.

Overall, I am really pleased with this week of training. I knew it was going to be hard as I started the week with tired legs and planned to run on 4 days out of 7, but everything went as well as could be expected and I have a new longest run under my belt.

Speed
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Plan: 10-20 min warm up, 1200m (5:01), 1000m (4:08), 800m (3:16), 600m (2:26), 400m (1:36), 200m (0:48) (200m RI), 10 min cool down
Actual (Tuesday @ 7pm, 70F, sunny): 1600m warm up, 1200m (4:59), 1000m (4:09), 800m (3:14), 600m (2:28), 400m (1:34), 200m (0:41), 1000m cool down.

Tempo
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Plan: 7 mile run: 1 mile easy (8:57/mile), 5 miles @ long tempo (7.52/mile), 1 mile easy
Actual (Thursday @7.30pm, 65F, getting dark): 5 mile run: 9:21, 7:59, 8:12, 7:55, 8:08 - Click here for Map/Splits

Long
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Plan: 16 miles @ Marathon Pace + 45 (8:55/mile)
Actual (Sunday @1oam, 70F, sunny): 16 miles @ 8:52/mile: Click here for Map/Splits

Extra
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Plan: Run For Our Heroes 5K
Actual: Run For Our Heroes 5K - 24:12 - Click here for Map/Splits