This week I’ve essentially been on the road and trying to continue my training. As you may or may not know, I’m headed back to Virginia (home) and hope to get back tomorrow night. Though if I don’t, no big deal as I don’t have a time crunch to actually get back there. That’s why we have spent the last week on the road and just taking things as they come. We make awful time, stop at multiple places along the way and run a lot. I fully enjoy it. It’s nice to not have any pressure to get back quickly.
| Monday: Home | OFF: Recovery from last weeks 100 mile week…I didn’t move from the couch for about 8 hours besides to eat and use the rest room. That is not an exaggeration. I should have been packing to move but didn’t even have the energy for that. |
| Tuesday: Home | 13.2 miles untimed |
| Wednesday: Houston, Tx | 12.63 miles untimed |
| Thursday: Louisiana | 13.1 miles untimed |
| Friday: Pensacola, Fl | 13.67 miles (8:30 with 2 miles 7:30) |
| Saturday: Atlanta | Haunted Hustle XC 5k (19:15) total: 11 miles |
| Sunday: Charlotte | 16 miles progression (8:04 overall pace) |
| Total: | 80 miles |
Thoughts:
The first three days were spent solely not caring about pace and just getting through the miles. I took Monday off because I needed to recover. I honestly felt like if I didn’t take Monday off I would have done damage to my body. I also don’t think I could have actually run as I was so exhausted. I enjoy rest days (when they come because they are needed) and having easy days. I fully enjoyed bonding with the couch (and avoiding packing) all day long.
The rest of the week was spent just getting in the miles. I knew my body was going to be tired. I had no incline to push the pace, the goal of this week was to get high mileage while traveling and no injure myself. Friday, I added some quicker miles to prepare me for my first 5k in close to 3 months.
The race in Atlanta was about how I expected it to be. It was a cross country 5k and I haven’t run anything in the low 6 minute pace since my arm broke in August. I haven’t run a cross country race since early June either. (I love cross country though!). It was nice to shock my body into it and after driving 1200 miles and not being rested (or tapered) it was about how I thought. I knew it wasn’t going to be a PR but still a great time.
My long run went perfectly. It was in a cross country park in Charlotte and the weather was beautiful. I started around an 8:30 pace and then progressed to a 7:30.
Next week/Taper Thoughts:
I’ve never fully tapered for a half marathon and never run a full marathon before. When tapering for swimming championships I had a mix of having the best race of the season post taper as well as having slower races then in the season. I plan to slowly cut down my miles and hopefully my legs will feel fresh for the race. I don’t know how this taper will go but I have my life to run marathons. If this isn’t the best race ever then I can train and try new things next year. Though my goal has been 3:10 this entire process, finishing a first marathon is truly an accomplishment in itself.
Questions for you:
Do you do deal well with taper?
Are you a good traveler?
I’m not, I’m a really high maintenance traveler. I always need to stop and use the rest room, am hungry, thirsty and everywhere in between. I don’t know of anyone who enjoys traveling with me.
Good Luck with the NYC marathon! i am adding that to my bucket list!
I like to focus on the positives of tapering, like allowing my body to rest and heal and use my extra time for sleeping or watching TV. I also read Hal Higdon’s book and he had some great tips on tapering…
http://luvwhatyoudo.net/2013/09/26/trust-the-taper/
Good luck and enjoy your down time!
I can’t wait to see you rock this marathon. I just KNOW you’re going to kill it. And even if you don’t really have a goal other than finishing, I just have this GREAT feeling for you. 😀
I think you’re going to nail NYCM despite all the moving you’re doing. Hell look at those impressive miles you continue to put up even though you’re driving cross-country. You rock!
When swimming taper was the best word ever & came around so seldom. Most time I responded well to my taper but there were a couple disasterous seasons once upon a time. It also was hard to time tapers between state & nationals because I wanted to place at state but wanted to be on my A game at nationals.
Crazy miles again this week, you are a power house. I am really looking forward to your race recap!
I would have been on the couch for more than one day after 100 miles. 🙂 Amazing. Awesome 5k, too!
I avoid tapering by simply skipping my long runs, lol. I paid for it this weekend!
How did it go?!
Slightly slower than expected, ended up with a 4:27:39. My splits were 1:55 and 2:32. Broke down the mile pacing here (http://ironrugger.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/i-still-cant-feel-my-legs/), including one especially impressive 18 min mile, haha.
I think you’ll be fine in NYCM. Probably really smart of you to taper because of your high mileage though. My taper was a little too long because I got sick 3 weeks before it. I was only planning on a 2 week taper because it’s not like I was running a whole ton of miles to begin with when training, just that I was only running 4x a week due to the heat.
That’s really smart to take a day off and just veg on the couch after the 100 mile week too. I really need a day to veg around a lot, running or not sometimes rest does us all good. Hooray for the 5K in Atlanta too, you have a lot of states to add to your running resume too.