Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training: Week 14 Recap

Weeks that challenge you make you stronger, right?  The challenging part of this week was being sick.  I am still not 100% - this sore throat is NO joke, complete with the ITCHIEST eyes - but was able to complete the mileage due to reallocating missed mileage from mid-week across my remaining runs.  This strategy worked well - I increased my Friday run by a mile and my weekend runs by 2 miles.  ONE MONTH FROM TODAY IT IS GO TIME!  AHHHHH!  I am getting really excited, especially after watching Boston and London!

Monday Apr 17
Plan Says:  2 x 3 mile at 7:05/mile pace with 1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down and 1 mile recovery between splits.

What I did:  I have been using my Sense sleep system alarm which wakes you up at the most optimal time in your sleep cycle within 30 minutes of your alarm time.  This sometimes means that it wakes me up much earlier than my alarm.  This morning was one of those instances.  My 4:30AM alarm became 4:09AM.  I didn't realize this until I had dressed and was about to put my contacts in.  THAT is officially the earliest I have gotten up to run.  

1 mile warm up:  8:38

3 miles, 20:36 (6:51 avg pace) (Mile splits: 6:57, 6:45, 6:52)

1 mile recovery: 8:28

3 miles, 20:30 (6:49 avg pace) (Mile splits: 6:48, 6:51, 6:49)

1.05 mile cool down, 9:11 (8:44 avg pace)

Total: 9.08 miles

I felt SO GOOD during this.  SO GOOD. And check out those recovery miles?!  I have figured out how to relax a bit :)

Tuesday Apr 18

Plan Says: Off

What I did: 0 miles.  I attended a sports nutrition seminar at a local running store (Performance Running Outfitters) led by Annie Weiss.  It was a great seminar.  My favorite part was getting to taste the Honey Stinger waffles, which are amazing, as well as other gels.  We were sent home with a free goodie bag, which, of course, I also loved.

Wednesday Apr 19

Plan Says: 9 mile tempo run at 7:15 pace, with 1 mile warm up and cool down.

What I did:  I needed to be at the office by 7 AM at the latest to catch a bus to Madison for our annual Advocacy Day event.  Another 430 alarm.  I ran a warm up mile (yay me!) and then headed into the tempo.  I struggled through this.  My legs felt heavy which I kept reminding myself that they were supposed to feel heavy, as that is how Hansons Marathon Method works.  They also may have felt extra tired because I was running FAST.

1 mile warm up, 8:21

9 miles, 1:02:41 (6:58 avg pace)

Mile splits: 7:16 / 7:06 / 7:07 / 6:52 / 6:48 / 6:54 / 6:50 / 6:53 / 6:55

1 mile, 8:10

This was the 3rd and final 9 mile tempo.  Next week, I bump up to 10 mile tempos for 3 weeks.  Here are my 9 mile tempos:

1:04:10
1:03:53
1:02:41

Progressively getting faster? I'll take it!

Unfortunately as the day progressed, I was not feeling well.  I initially thought my allergies were just really bad and that being out of the office + hard morning workout + early wakeup time was making me extra tired.  I got home, ate dinner with my family and went to bed at 7:30.  No joke.

Thursday Apr 20

Plan Says: easy 5 miles

What I did:  My alarm went off at 5, or so my app says it did.  I have no recollection of turning it off.  My husband's alarm went off at 6AM and I felt like I had been hit by a bus.  Really sore throat, swollen glands and body aches.  YAY!  I spent the day in bed, opting for an epsom salt bath mid-afternoon.  By the time dinner rolled around, I could at least be mobile but again went to bed early - 8 PM.

0 miles.

Friday Apr 21

Plan Says: easy 8 miles

What I did:  I set my alarm for 430 hoping that I would feel good enough to get some miles in.  It was definitely hard to pull myself from bed, but it was a great improvement from the morning before.  My goal was to at least get 5 miles in as I thought I would just shift all workouts one day.  The first two miles were no joke.  I ALMOST abandoned ship but then felt like I got in a rhythm.  My watch beeped 5 miles, and then I felt like I could do one more mile.  At some point after 6.5 miles, I switched my plan in my head opting to try to do the workout I was supposed to do for the day - 8 miles - and if I could squeeze a little more in, then maybe I could reallocate Thursday's 5 missed miles across all of my easy-paced runs this weekend.  I ended up with 9 miles.  They were slow, but they are done.

9 miles, 1:14:46 (8:18 avg pace)

Saturday Apr 22

Plan Says: 10 miles at long run pace - 7:54 for me

What I did:  We had planned to participate in our city's Earth Day event all morning so my alarm was set for 5 AM to get this done beforehand.  I was still zonked and my throat was raw so I turned off my alarm.  This gave me a chance to run in sun and heat again as it was 60 degrees by the time I got out in the early afternoon.

I ran by feel - easy and relaxed.  It turns out that today easy and relaxed was still faster than the 7:54 pace I should have been running.  I also wanted to do 12 instead of 10 to make up for some of the miles lost on  Thursday.  I tried a different gel from my goody bag halfway through this run and had zero problems so maybe the PowerBar gels are for me?  For the last two miles, I finished my podcast and switched to music and let it rip.  Maybe not smart but felt good to fly.

12 miles, 1:25:36 (7:08 avg pace)

Mile splits:  7:10 / 7:28 / 7:33 / 7:29 / 7:08 / 7:10 / 7:14 / 7:21 / 7:13 / 7:03 / 6:25 / 6:20

Sunday Apr 23

Plan says: Easy 7 miles

What I did:  My goal was to do 9 miles, again to make up for the miles lost on Thursday.  I set out after waking up at our normal 6 AM and it was a gorgeous morning. I was comfortable temperature-wise in tights and a long sleeve.  I hit play on the podcast and just ran.   This was a bit difficult to get into - my legs were definitely tired from Saturday - but my goal was just keep moving forward.  Goal accomplished.

9miles, 1:13:24 (8:08 avg pace)

Weekly Total

Plan says: 50 miles

What I did: 50.09 miles

Sleep

My sleep was decent this week.  I started the week low (6.5 hours) but ended high due to being sick (Wednesday night alone I logged 10.5 hours of sleep!).  My sense system does not account for naps, which basically Thursday was one long in/out nap in my bed.  Still I was able to log a bit more sleep than last week which is good.

Avg nightly sleep duration this week:  7.8 hours (8.1 during week, 7.2 during weekend)

Avg sleep score: 79 (out of 100)

Sleep depth percentages:  60% deep, 35% medium, 5% light

Podcasts I Listened to On the Run

I tried two new-to-me podcasts this week - C Tolle Run and Real Talk Radio with Nicole Antoinette. 
1.C Tolle Run.  I listened to her interview with Kara Goucher and the interview with Kate Grace, two running idols of mine.  And...Kate Grace responded with emojis to my Instagram post.  #DayMade

2.  Real Talk Radio. I started listening to Nicole Antoinette interview Kelly Roberts.  It is a good interview and it definitely helped me through my Sunday run.  I am looking forward to finishing it and diving into some of the other interviews.