Monday, Sept. 19th:
Day off. Recovery from yesterday's hard long session.
Tuesday, Sept. 20th:
5:15 am, 61 degrees, 85%, 0-15mph. Maple Shade Loop (S). Nike Pegasus 27+ (Red).
5m rejuvenation pace - 8:05 average.
Took it nice and easy. Felt surprisingly spry and fully recovered from Sunday's long workout. Hard to believe I have just two weeks of workouts left. I feel the wave building.
Wednesday, Sept. 21st:
4:45 am, 59 degrees, 100%, calm. Neighborhood. New Balance 890.
1.5m warm up, 5x1mT w/2:00 jogs (5:49 53 49 50 49), 1.5m cool down.
Very humid, foggy morning. Took the entire warm up for my left heel to settle down. It was a shock to my system to have to run at 5:49 pace that first mile, but I recovered quickly after each rep and settled into the pace of the workout from reps 2-5. Had to work hard on the last one, and bagged the planned 6th rep due to the humidity. Felt great on the cool down, and overall felt strong when I finished, rather than feeling overly spent. Solid workout.
Thursday, Sept. 22nd:
5:00 am, 70 degrees, 95%, calm. Kilmer Loop. Nike Pegasus 27+ (Red).
6m rejuvenation pace - 8:22 average.
Super warm/humid morning, especially after the cool days we have had for the past week or so. My left heel was sore all of yesterday, and was noticeably sore the first 1.5m of this morning's run, to the point where I almost bagged the rest of the run. I did warm up from there, but took it cautiously and ran super slow. Will monitor progress today - may take some additional time off if it doesn't start improving. I definitely AM NOT going to be missing this marathon.
Friday, Sept. 23rd:
5:45 am, 70 degrees, 95%, calm. Moorestown. Adidas Marathon 10.
8m easy - 7:35 average.
Complete turn around. Heel and lungs both felt 100%. Running with the gang in Moorestown was a big help - first time I had company on a run in two weeks. Last mile consisted of 4xhill (Washington St.): form up/easy down. Felt fully controlled with tons of spring in my stride. First day that this has actually felt like a taper.
Saturday, Sept. 24th:
5:15 am, 71 degrees, 95%, calm. Hialeah-Kilmer Loop. New Balance 890.
7m easy (BOF) - 7:56 average.
Stiff lower back and mild soreness in the left heel to start the run. Loosened up after 3 miles. Felt great from that point on until the finish. There was an awesome glowing crescent moon hanging in the sky this morning - made me smile. Practiced a lot of positive mental training strategies (cues, mantras, form, focus).
Sunday, Sept. 25th:
7:00 am, 70-75 degrees, 90%, 0-5mph. Breakneck Road. Adidas Marathon 10 B.
17m easy - 7:20 average.
Group run on the hills of Breakneck Road. Handled the first 12-13 miles very well, completely in control, powered up hills, relaxed on the flat sections. Last 3 miles were on my own, got very hot very quickly, overheated in the sun, made a wrong turn and became terribly lost. Thankfully a good samaritan offered me a ride back to the parking lot from where we started - I was 5 miles off course! Lesson learned - always know the route and take extra fluids/gels for emergency situations. There won't always be nice ladies to rescue you. Aside from the navigation mishap, still a high quality long run.
Weekly Total: 52 miles
Kind of a tough week - my body is definitely still recovering from all the build up work and adjusting to the taper. However, I feel my mind is stronger than ever. One more workout next week, and then everything (aside from strides) is marathon pace or slower until the race. For the first time, I don't feel anxious or worried about an upcoming marathon - I am confident that I have put in all the work, prepared myself for many different strategies/situations, and that everything I can control will go according to plan.
Three weeks to the marathon.
No comments:
Post a Comment