I’ll be the first to say this week hasn’t been the best week training wise or nutritionally for me. Not that I’m going crazy (for nutrition) but with traveling down to VA (wedding planning), cake testing and eating on the go I found myself feeling the effects of that. I’ve actually eaten in restaurants more than at home this week. We all have those weeks and there is no need to stress.
I got another deep tissue massage on Tuesday which ended everything I wanted to do regarding consistency. Would I say I’m bummed? Of course I’m bummed, my only goal was to stay consistent and I didn’t do that. But I know I one week won’t make or break me so I’m moving forward. I needed the deep tissue massage more than I needed to run on Tuesday (That’s obvious).
I’m planning on running (not racing at all) the Harbor Lights Half Marathon as my long run. Since this will be my longest run if I feel any weird pains, aches or of that nature I will stop. It’s also a stretch from my longest run last weekend. My only goal is to have fun with my friends down here and enjoy it. I didn’t come to Virginia to run this race but it happened to work out that way.
| Monday: | 5.85 miles |
| Tuesday: | Off deep tissue massage |
| Wednesday: | 5 miles |
| Thursday: | 7.25 miles |
| Friday: | OFF |
| Saturday: | 5.3 |
| Sunday: | Harbor Lights Half Marathon (1:44) |
| Total: | 36 miles |
As far as training goes, I have one less mile than last week (as well as one less running day). My training was not where I wanted but I expected to have some no progress weeks. I don’t consider it a failure by any means but it’s not a week that I say I made a lot of progress.
So in summary, this week was more of a “stand still week” versus “increase mileage” week.
Next week I plan to take a down or rest week. I’m going to let my body rest, recover and absorb the mileage I’ve put in the last month. After that I’ll get back to staying consistent with my mileage.
Question for you: Have you ever done a race as a long run?
When training for the SF marathon, I did a half marathon in there as a long run. It was a crazy hilly half in the Santa Monica Mountains so while I took it slow it was one of the best long runs/training runs of my marathon training cycle! If you ran the half this morning, I hope you had run!
A rest week sounds like a good idea. Sometimes stand still weeks are necessary.
Ugh, You had me at cake! I literally think wedding cake taste testing is my heaven on earth!
Sorry your week wasn’t quite what you were hoping for, but I hope that it was mileage related, not injury related!
I have run races as long runs! I paced the Charleston half marathon last year as a long run and also ran a half in May as a long run for 10K training. Using one as a long run when training for a full marathon is a good idea too, could add a few miles on in the end or before the race.
It looks like you had a solid week regardless of it being a mile less and one running day less. You had travel and also wedding stuff in there and sometimes real life is more important :).
Yes, I have run races as long runs! I have done a few half marathons as training runs for full marathons. I just ran a few extra miles afterwards. It’s a good way to practice your fueling and get hyped for your race as well.
Good for you for listening to your body. It’s definitely more important to rest when you feel like you need it, than to try to push through it cause damage.
Outside of running, do you do any strength training, core work or yoga? I’ve never done a race as a long run, but I’ve done a couple 5ks just for fun. Those are great just to talk with friends the whole time!
I sometime do. I don’t care for yoga but I’ll do some core work, etc. It’s something I do need to get back into.
I have done a race for a long run before but tend not to do it too much as I am way to competitive!
Iv also done the weekly local ‘park run 5k’ as part of my threshold session and taken a few minutes rest then done a few more efforts threshold afterwards :).
I think it’s best to keep ‘races’ as races though and to save them for special occasions 🙂
Charlotte
Doing races *for fun* (without pressure and expectations) is a lot of fun. Sure, I had a time goal for this weekend, but I smiled for 12.5/13.1 miles, which is awesome.
I love using races as training runs (as long as they’re not ridonkulously expensive and a million miles from where I live…then there’s no point). It’s nice because it’s like a catered training run with loads of friends and people about. And people cheer you on, which always helps. Far more interesting than running on your own AND you get a medal. And no major painful “omg I’m going to die” feeling because you’re not pushing it. Best training run ever I’d say!