Mississauga Marathon, Training Week 17!

Each run this week served to solidify my goals for the race next Sunday. I have embraced the taper and have enjoyed all runs. The tipping point came yesterday on my drive to the Running Room where something clicked and I knew that I could go out and go for my A goal (details coming, but likely not surprising).

Monday: Rest. Calves were still a bit sore.

Tuesday: 0515 run before the sun rose. I wanted to get race pace for this, but did not and really I didn't mind. 6k, 33:50. That night, I went for a physio massage and got my calves and legs worked on. She did some active release on my Achilles tendon and things were feeling good. I booked a follow up appointment for April 30 and a post race massage for May 7.

Wednesday: Running Room free run.  Which inspired this post. We were all grumpy and just wanted to get the damn thing over with. Which we did. Quite quickly. 12k, 1:06:07

On Thursday, Phil text me and asked if I wanted to join him for Streetsville Hills. I asked him to join us at the Running Room instead for an easier run around the man-made lake. I was so happy when he joined us and I think that Wayne was glad to have different company as well. Man, Phil and Wayne run fast when the distance is under 16k. 10k, 54:04.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest. I was feeling horrible all day on Friday with some lingering effects on Saturday, so I skipped the easy 6k run. Yay, taper!

Sunday: We were back to the Running Room with the masses and started our last 16k run at race pace. Wayne and I knew that we were running too fast the whole time, but it was hard to reel in. We kept chatting about the race and frequently said, "If we feel this good at Xkm, it'll be awesome." I wore my planned race outfit again and was perfectly comfortable in it. Chris caught us with about 7km to go and he started to push out pace down a bit more. We both hung on and the last KM was the fastest for me. 16k, 1:26:33

Total KM: 44, Total Time: 4:00:34, Average pace per KM: 0:05:28.

Well, there is nothing more I can do this week to help me prepare physically. I'm hydrating with my new best friend never far away:

I've printed out the race route to look at from time to time at work. I'm building a playlist (though I don't know how much of the race I'll run with music) and I'm continuing to hold on to that feeling that came over me yesterday while driving.

Six days left. I'm ready.