Marathon Training: Workouts Week 9

This was one of those weeks when I really had to talk myself into doing my runs. I’m committed to doing the work regardless of what my feelings are, so I did the work.

Here’s how things went down during week nine of training for the Philly Marathon.

Monday: Flywheel

Through classpass, I signed up for a spin class at Flywheel. I think I had the resistance a little too high because my legs were feeling it on Tuesday.

Tuesday: 5 x 800 = 7.6 miles + Core

I did not want to do this workout. I don’t like 800’s and I was curs
ing myself for putting them on my schedule. Reluctantly, I forced myself to do these. They felt slower than last week’s intervals, but they were actually a tiny faster.

Wednesday: Easy 5

My desire to run was even lower than the day before. My husband went with me and we ran all the major hills in Central Park. If he hadn’t been with me I probably would have only made it 4 miles.

Thursday: Rest (glorious rest)

Friday: Long Run – 14 easy + 2 tempo + 1 bonus mile = 17 miles + 45 Minutes in the Normatec Boots

This is the first run I’ve had all training season that actually made me think my goal for the race isn’t crazy after all. The cooler temps and lower humidity level made a huge difference. I still have a ton of work to do, but I’m feeling a little more hopeful.

I’m really horrible at doing math, counting or doing anything that has to do with numbers during a run. This was suppose to be 16 miles, but somehow I thought mile 16 was mile 15 so I decided to keep going. I’m not really sure how that happened, but at the very least it’s proof I don’t stare at my garmin during my runs.

Saturday: 5th Avenue Mile + 4 = 5 miles

I can’t explain how all these miles came together. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen or what my plan was for the Fifth Avenue Mile, so I went out and ran three miles earlier that morning. I was doing some coverage for Women’s Running, I wanted to make sure I got in at least four miles and doing this way worked.

Before the race I decided I needed to do a bit of a warm-up instead of start cold, so I jogged .98 (ran out of time). For the race I decided to start at tempo effort and ramp it up every 1/4 mile. I new I wasn’t in any condition to full out race after doing my long run on Friday. I ended up with a solid 6:29 for the race, which is my fastest mile since running the race last year.

Sunday: Rest again!

Total Mileage: 34.7

Weeks until race day: 11

I’m really happy with how things ended up this week. Despite the fact that I was reluctant to get out for my runs, I still put in a good effort. This week I need to focus more on what I’m eating and on strength training.

If you’re interested in following my exact training you can connect with me here on Strava.