Boston Marathon Training Update - Week 9

Once again, I allowed my overly sensationalized saga surrounding a weekend race to prevent me from delivering this training update in a timely fashion. Be that as it may, I did a really good job of holding myself back this week mileage-wise. I’m somewhat proud of the fact that even though I did half the distance I had planned for the entire week in the first two days, I didn’t blindly follow through with the rest of the workouts, but instead locked up my shoes for a few days to prevent myself from overtraining. Of course, it was an extremely busy work week for me as well, so the extra rest really came in handy. Perhaps that’s why I went out like gangbusters right from the opening guy and almost ran the race of my life. I said almost because there’s a space on my mantelpiece that looks a little empty right now, but I digress…

Week #9 (2/16-2/22)
What I Planned:

[Speed Intervals: 6 total miles with 3 x 1M at 5:58 pace]

Tempo Run: 9 total miles with 7 tempo miles at 6:34 pace

Recovery Run: 8 total miles at easy pace

General Aerobic Run: 14 miles at 7:05 pace

Hill Sprint Workout: 6 miles

Cherry Tree Ten Miler: 10 miles at race pace

Total week 9 distance: 44 miles

What I Ran:

Monday Flyers Group Run: 12.4 miles at 7:39 pace [Avg HR 132]

Treadmill Tempo Run: 8.3 miles with 7 miles at 6:25 pace

General Aerobic Run: 14.3 miles at 7:00 pace [Avg HR 153]

Cherry Tree Ten Miler: 10 miles at 6:20 pace [Avg HR 153]

Total week 9 distance: 45.0 miles; avg pace – 6:58 min/mi

How I Ran:

After an enjoyable 21.6 miler last Saturday, I took Sunday off in preparation for a series of speedy workouts this week. I had planned my Monday run to only be about 6 miles, but due to some laughable miscalculations, ran more than double that distance. I was a little tentative about speedwork the next day (given that I’d just ran 34 miles in less than 3 days) but was pleasantly surprised when my legs didn’t feel as sore as I had anticipated. Sweet!

For speedwork this week, I was staring at a bunch of interval miles while a long tempo run was scheduled for the follow week. However, since I was planning for a ten-miler this weekend and a 5-K the following weekend, I decided it would more appropriate to flip flop workouts so that I’d be prepping for the 10-miler with a long tempo run this week and prepping for the 5-K with short intervals the following week. Truth be told, I was exhausted in the middle of the tempo miles due to the substantial volume of training the last few days, but was able to hold on for a stellar 6:25 min/mi average pace for the entire 7 miles.

After a much needed rest day, I fought a tough windy battle with the West Side Highway for 14 miles. The pace was a bit fast but gave me extra confidence heading into the Cherry Tree race. Still, because my legs were sore and I could almost feel the beginnings of some Achilles’ tendonitis, I took two days off, which would have been unheard of in a marathon training cycle just as mine. But because I had done that, I was able to run my 10-mile race a bit faster than I anticipated. The rest, as they say, is history.

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Oh and just in case you thought this past week was all about me, surprise, surprise, it was not. I’m happy to announce that I’ve been recruited by two new runners (one a blogger and the other a friend) to be their new running coach. One of them will be running her very first half-marathon in April while the other will be running her second half-marathon in May in preparation for her first full marathon in October. They are both so very excited to have spanking new training plans designed by me to play with. Little do they both know just exactly what they’d sign up for. Poor souls.

So, fellow runners, if you have any advice for these hapless individuals about to embark on their own journeys toward becoming half and full marathoners, please be sure to leave some nuggets of wisdom for them in the comments. I’ll be sure to pass them along. God knows how they’ll be hanging on to your every word like they’ve doing to mine.

Have a good rest of the week all!