Pages

Monday, June 11, 2018

Grandma's Marathon Training: Week 17 Review - The Taper has begun!

Disclaimer:  I am running Grandma's Marathon in June as a BibRave Pro, which means my entry fee was covered for me. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!  

I had one goal for week 17 and that was to execute on the tempo run.  I mostly accomplished this.

Week 17 is a half/half week on Hanson's Marathon plan.  The first half of the week is like every other training week - HARD.  The second half of the week is the beginning of the taper.  The first few runs of my taper have felt hard.  My legs didn't feel like they were working correctly, I have had thoughts of, "How am I going to do this?" already...and thankfully, because I have documented all of my training before, I know this is normal and thus, I'm not worried about it.

It does feel weird that I am going to run a marathon in 5 days.  I still feel like it is so far away! 

Sunday, June 3
Plan Says:  Easy 7 miles

What I did:  7 miles, after the kids were in bed because we had a graduation to attend.  I allowed myself to sleep in this day because I was really tired after Saturday's long run + 5K run/walk + day at the zoo with my family.

7 miles, 58:54 (8:17 avg pace)

Monday, June 4
Plan Says:  6 x 1 mile with 0.25 mile recovery in between, 1 mile each - warm up and cool down

What I did:  Last strength workout!  I did not want to kill these miles...ok, well I did want to kill the mile repeats because I like this workout, but my goal was to run them as close to the prescribed pace as possible (6:42) to maximize my recovery for the tempo run.  I did ok with this.

1.13 mile warm up, 9:55 (8:49 avg)

1.  1 mile, 6:35 / 0.27 mi recovery 2:42 (10:09 avg pace)
2.  1 mile, 6:35 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:33 (10:11 avg pace)
3.  1 mile, 6:40 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:23 (9:35 avg pace)
4.  1 mile, 6:34 / 0.25 mi recovery 2:21 (9:29 avg pace)
5.  1 mile, 6:32 / 0.27 mi recovery 2:44 (10:03 avg pace)
6.  1 mile, 6:29

1.35 mile cool down, 11:47 (8:44 avg pace)

Tuesday, June 5
Plan Says: Off

What I did:  Off.  I was also able to squeeze in a 30 minute nap after work before the bus came home.  It was glorious.

Wednesday, June 6
Plan Says: 10 mile tempo with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down

What I did:   SHIT.  That is what I said when I woke up Wednesday morning.  I had a 4:15 AM alarm set because I had early morning meetings at work and my daughter's rescheduled piano lesson after work.  And who wants to do a 10 mile tempo run after the kids are in bed? NOT ME.

I woke up too late to get it in before work, so I left work early to get it in before having to pick up my daughter for piano. I did not have time to do the warm up or the cool down.  It was sunny and warm, but not overly hot.

I DID end up having to take a bathroom break around the 5 mile mark.  I had eaten my lunch fairly close to the time I did this run and spent the first few miles feeling like I was going to go to the bathroom in my pants.  I diverted my route to go past one of the park bathrooms - it was still locked.  I let out a few expletives and further diverted my planned route to go past another set of park bathrooms, which were thankfully unlocked. 

I was happy with my mile splits, which felt good and not forced, until the end.

10 miles, 1:08:33 (6:51 avg pace)
Mile splits: 6:42 / 6:49 / 6:54 / 6:48 / 7:08 / 6:51 / 6:53 / 6:52 / 6:47 / 6:48

Thursday, June 7
Plan Says: easy 6 miles - First run of the Taper!

What I did:  I wanted to make up for the missed warm up/cool down mileage from my tempo run so my goal was to do an easy 7 miles.  I was up early and running, and for the first time in a really long time, I again felt like I was going to go to the bathroom in my pants.  So after 2.2 miles, I went back in my house, used the bathroom and went back out there. 

2.18 miles, 19:28 (8:55 avg pace)
Bathroom break
5.02 miles, 43:57 (8:44 avg pace)

7.2 total miles

Friday, June 8
Plan Says: easy 6 miles

What I did:  Goal was to get to 7 miles to make up for missing my warm up/cool down mileage with my tempo run.  I still felt really tired on this run, but no bathroom breaks.  :)

7.0 miles, 1:00:58 (8:43 avg pace)

Saturday, June 9
Plan says: easy 8 miles

What I did: Got up early as we had a busy weekend planned (welcome to our summers!).  At this point, waking up at 5 AM no longer feels like a chore most of the time.  Got in my 8 miles and then some by doing one of my favorite routes. 

8.35 miles, 1:10:09 (8:23 avg pace)

Weekly Total
Plan says: 49 miles
What I did: 49.42 miles

2 comments:

  1. Okay, so I'm really behind in my blog feed and I know the outcome of the race. But it's really awesome to see you rocking the Hansons plan and having it pay off big time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The writing department could be rated on the worth of their romance magus. They could be gauged by the relent they produced. Whereas you did my thesis regarding the French monarchies, I could minus put the five joggers angular finishing it. It was burly lovely correspond persuasion's presented were option devoted. best tongkat ali supplement

    ReplyDelete