National Marathon Training week 13

Monday: Had five easy miles today, but had to run at home since the girl was off for mlk day and I was staying home with her. Running from home is never easy as the neighborhood features some big hills. I wanted to stay in hr zone 3 today but I knew the last mile that was not going to happen due to one of those aforementioned hills. So I started off nice and easy and really concentrated on easing up going downhills so my hr would lower enough to not peak too high on the uphills. Only went into zone 4 for a few minutes on that last hill, and felt pretty good today.
5 miles with a 10:30 ave pace.

Tuesday: Today was supposed to be a track day, but the snow made that impossible so when I got up and saw it coming down hard and already 2 inches on the ground, I broke out the cross country shoes with the spikes, got bundled up and headed out to do my 2 mile warmup. It was awesome, except for the fact that the snow stung my eyes, it was perfect. Then headed into the house for some speedwork on the treadmill. Did 4 x (4 mins fast / 2 easy / 2 faster / 4 recovery), then only did a half mile of my 2 mile cool down as the kid really NEEDED to go out in the snow and wanted to take the cat for a walk in it.

Wednesday: another snow day, so no biking outside was possible, so I stayed inside and did a 45 min spinnervals dvd and a core/Resistance workout.

Thursday: Still snow on the ground, but I thought umstead would be ok, so cindy and I headed out for our normal 10k loop, she was going to cut off at the 5 mile spilt and I was supposed to negative split the last 2 miles. We got to umstead after 2.5 miles and it was covered in snow and I saw a sign that the trail was closed. I just thought they meant the hiking trails so proceeded into the park. got about 50 yards and the snow was hiding ice underneath so we decided to just turnaround and run back. Then I got the joy of trying to negative split miles on a mostly uphill very hilly campus. Needless to say that didn't occur, but the workout was supposed to build strength, so really pushing on those hills, I'm sure, did the trick.

Friday: day off, it was great, but getting a little nervous about the 18 on Saturday.

Saturday: Started off with temps in the low 40's so after last week's 18 degrees, it was a joy. Still cold on the black creek trail but after about 3 miles I was warmed up, then at mile 5 the fleece top came off and I just ran in a short sleeve running shirt. The first part of the run was going great, I noticed my hr was up from the previous 16 I did on the same route, but we were going faster, and still I felt pretty good. At the 16 mile mark we were at a 10:40 pace compared to 10:44 the last time I did 16, but I still had 2 miles to go. I was really hurting but decided to just do the 2 miles in survival mode, I sent Erin on ahead as she was feeling good and I didn't want to slow her down, or have the pressure of trying to keep up. Mile 17 was harder as it is a slight uphill and I walked twice, but after the turn around, I started feeling better with the slight downhill and only had to walk once. Once the run was done, it was real struggle to get up the hill back to the car. Then finally we got to breakfast and I was starving, wanted to just keep eating, but had to leave to get home.

Sunday: it was tough going this morning, right knee was buggin me, both legs sore, and I was a little tired and dragging, but I still got in the pool. it helped that I cranked the heat last week and it was probably 90 degrees. Swam 1.2 miles in about 30 mins, with a little kicking that really helped the knee.


weelky miles = 35, next week is my first 40 mile week ever and the first 20 mile run of this training period.