Of... maybe marathon training.
If you ask me right now, I will 100% be toeing the line of the Toronto Marathon on May 1st. The week that I had went so well and ended with one of the most confidence boosting runs I've had in a long, long while. Of course, have the great support of my friends and the social media community on Instagram and Strava really help a whole bunch. Here's how things shook out.
Monday: It was a coooooold morning to start the week. -19c with wind chill or something stupid like that. I was ready though:
So I hit the road bright and early and was able to NAIL my workout of 10x100m. I actually used the workout feature on my Garmin 910XT for the first time and it was awesome to just run hard or slow down once the watch buzzed. I don't know why I haven't used this feature before. HAHA. 13k, 1:15:56
Tuesday: Rest day. I had a 45 minute trainer ride on the plan, but my son's had hockey and we didn't get home until after 730 and I still had to eat dinner and prep everyone's lunch for the next day. That's the way it goes at times.
Wednesday: An even EARLIER morning with the 0420 alarm, but the plan called for 16k. I had a great run and was very happy to run by a friend twice on the run as it gave me some much needed boosts to know that I wasn't the only crazy early bird getting my run on. 16.64k, 1:34:23. As a note, this is a 5:40/km pace. These runs are supposed to be "aerobic" however the prescribed pace is low for the work my heart is supposed to do, so my attempt will be to nail these runs at 5:40-5:45 pace.
Thursday: Upper box and abs at the gym at lunch. I really don't like lifting weights all that much, but I know that upper body strength will go a long way to helping me run a successful and quick marathon, so I suck it up and go. 40 minutes in the weight room. Once I got home, I hoped on the trainer and road the 45 minute ride I had skipped on Tuesday. It was a good ride and I got in 17.85k
Friday: Rest day! My goal is to keep Friday's as rest days as much as possible.
Saturday: Bring in the reinforcements! Sam and Ivanka agreed to meet in Milton to run the 21k we had on plan. I knew Henro is usually happy to join in as well and to my surprise, Gerald (my friend from my Running Room days) messaged me looking for a run as well. So, the ladies started at my place and ran 4k to meet up with the men. At that point, the work began as the plan called for 13k at goal marathon pace (5:20/km), the run was a big loop and having a group plus running around Milton in the daylight helped to make it fly by. Before we knew it, we were back at the meeting point having nailed our pace work and running the 13k at 5:13/km on average! WooHoo! Only 29.2k more like that and we'll be booking our tickets to Boston! 21k, 1:53:18 (I think this is the fasted half I've run in almost two years).
Sunday: I had big plans for the pool on Sunday, but my bed was way more comfortable. I've decided to only swim if I really want to. I'm NOT training for a triathlon (though it would be nice to try one this summer) and the goal is 100% the BQ, so no guilt on missing the third sport. Instead, I had a relaxing morning with my family, watched Fergus' hockey game, went grocery shopping and then came home and rode my final ride of the week, Monitor 30. Brutal (yet rewarding as Emma says) workout of 4x6 minutes in the sweet spot with only :30seconds of rest. I nailed it. The mental game I'm gaining on the bike is really going to help me during those tough runs as well. 12.5k total
And that's it. Week two. All workouts were done and executed well. If today was April 1st, I'd be signing up for the marathon. However it's not and I plan to keep up the work over the coming weeks so that I am in a place to do so at that time.
Total: 81.01km (50.3mi), Time: 6:38:37
Run: 50.66km (31.5mi)
Bike: 30.35km (18.9mi)
I hope your training is going just as well as mine!
Nice work lady!!!
ReplyDeleteHahaha you used Steve's link! He'll be so happy. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, mental benefits from the trainer definitely carry over to the run. So so so happy you had such a great run on Saturday. Well on your way!
Great week a s great confidence booster for dure.
ReplyDeleteAwesome week. You always amaze me!
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