Monday, March 23, 2009

Boston Marathon Training Update - Week 13

Well, if you’ve been following my blog for more than the past couple of days, you already know that this week wasn’t the best for me in terms of training. The silver lining is that the injury scare seems to have been just that, a scare, and the week ended with a great race effort and a huge PR (my first of the year!) Me thinks that this can only mean great things for Boston, even if the mileage total wasn’t nearly where I expected it to be.

Week #13 (3/2-3/8)

What I Planned:
Tempo Run: 10 total miles with 7 tempo miles at 6:30 pace
Recovery Run: 8 miles at easy pace
Marathon Paced Run: 16 miles at 6:52 min/mi pace
General Aerobic Run: 8 miles at 7:05 pace
NY Colon Cancer 15K Race: 9.3 miles at race pace
Total week 13 distance planned: 51.3 miles

What I Ran:
Tues – Tempo Run: 10.6 miles with 7.1 tempo miles at 6:21 pace
Wed – Recovery Run: 8.6 miles at 7:05 pace
Sat – General Aerobic Run: 7.1 miles at 6:58 pace
Sun – NY Colon Cancer 15K: 9.3 miles at 6:19 pace
Total week 13 distance: 35.5 miles; avg pace – 6:45 min/mi

How I Ran:
So, if you already read my injury account here, and my path to recovery and racing here, then you pretty much already know how I ran this past week. Although I cringed a bit as I was crunching the numbers, it really wasn’t as bad as it would initially appear. Considering that I ran 10+ miles more than I was supposed to the previous week, and missed essentially only one long run even as I was actively recovering, I am pretty confident that sitting out for an extra day last week was the right move…which, if you could imagine, felt like torture for me! In the big scheme of things, I think I’m going to just chalk up last week as a step down week, take the hammy strain as a reminder of the danger of overtraining beyond one’s capabilities and just move on. I consider myself fortunate that I only lost a couple of days of training through all of this and so far seems like there’ll be no negative consequences on my running going forward. Whew, crisis averted!
Looking ahead, there’s just one more 20 miler, one more long marathon paced run and one more long tempo run culminating in the final 50+ mile training week for me before the taper. And you know what, for once, I’m actually looking forward to the challenge of the quantity as well as the quality.
So as I say to my previous self who made this schedule way back when thinking half-heartedly that I'd NEVER make it this far... Bring. It. On.
Have a great week of running in this first official week of spring everyone!

14 comments:

joyRuN said...

I'm confident you'll meet your quantity AND quality goals.

Have a good training week!

Bill Carter said...

Hi LL

Great, great recovery week! Honestly, you can't listen to what ANYBODY else tells you to when it comes to your training. You have to listen to your body. I have read so many running books and am currently really into Daniels. His most basic tenet is that everybody's body is different and that what works for one runner may be counter productive or even hurtful to another. You have had amazing quality when it comes to your workouts and the gains you have made show that the total mileage is sufficent for you to improve. All while balancing the rest of your busy life.

Boston better be ready because we are going to tear it up!

Vava said...

Just read through your injury account, which makes this training week all the more impressive. A 7:05 recovery pace?!? Are you kidding me! You're running is most impressive indeed. Hope the hammy doesn't bother you again.

Spike said...

nothing like a hard week to look foward to :). And congrats again on the awesome 15K PR!

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with you! Our last hard training week culminating with a 20 miler this weekend. I'm anticipating the taper: phantom pains, anxiety, etc.

I just can't believe Boston is less than a month away!

It sounds like you've trained well.

J said...

I think its better to have taken time off to be safe instead of pushing through. It definitely is hard for me to take time off.

Thanks for the hill tips - I really enjoyed listening to Brad Hudson and his hill training stuff!

Anonymous said...

have a great week of training. Boston is so close. Glad the legs are feeling good.

Aron said...

yay i like the positive vibes at the end of this post :) glad you are feeling better and ready for the last big week before boston!! sometimes the little break is actually just what the body needs. i know when i got sick and had to miss a run i was not happy but really it didnt make any difference, i think my body appreciated the little break :)

good luck on your last week!!! boston here you come!

question... what are your thoughts on 20+ runs? do you ever run over 20 miles during training?

P.O.M. said...

Sometimes a little side-trackedness (totally made up that word) puts you back on track. I missed a long run on my last marathon (I think it was 16 miler) and I thought my plan was shot to hell. But it wasn't.

Wow, I can't believe Boston is just around teh corner.

X-Country2 said...

You sound like you're really going to finish strong!

jb24 said...

Great job on the PR! Glad to hear that your injury scare is over and you can concentrate on kicking butt in Boston.

Running and living said...

I agree with the comments made here. You put so much thought into all your runs, and even the recovery runs are at a fast pace. It is this quality running that gets you faster and faster. Have a good last week of running. I have one 20 miler, too, and am very excited to taper! Ana-Maria

Michelle said...

Yep

BRING.IT.ON!!!

sRod said...

It's amazing how you don't realize how bright eyed and innocent you are when you set out a trainign plan. I mean, you've been through the process before, but you still set out all those challenges.

It's actually one of my favorite parts of this running stuff.

 
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