Monday - Yoga
Tuesday - Power
Wednesday - Pilates / Speedwork (6.56 miles)
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Hills 8x (2.40 miles)
Saturday - Tempo (12.34 miles)
Sunday - Long Run (19.90 miles)
Total Mileage for Week =41.20 miles
The highlight of this week was the Saturday pace run. I ran a comfortable 12 miler which included 8 miles at 8:45 pace. It was better than my MP. With this, I was willing to run the next day's long run at an easier pace.
My favorite part of the training cycle hands down is right after finishing the last 20 miles. Why? Because it signals the taper period. All the hard work is done, the proverbial "the hay is in the barn" rings true. Now I didn't say the taper period is easy. Actually it is hard. Because now I have to make sure that I don't do too much.
I say that because, I tend to fall victim to the taper madness. Since the mileage is cut back way down, there's an over supply of energy. I start reading up on the marathon training and sometimes I get overzealous with what I can add. Not falling for that one this time. I've learned that trying to attain a new level of fitness or squeeze in that last magical workout in the taper period could only lead to a flat performance come race day.
I learned today, which happened to be my last long run, that easy does it. All week I've been pondering about what intensity my final 20 miler should be. I thought about inserting a goal paced run in the last third of the run to simulate the marathon. This would have been good if I were five weeks out from race day where there would be cushion to recover. With three weeks out, it's much too close for comfort. (This idea was further enforced by my fellow CIM running buddy, Linda.) This final long run should signal the taper period, not a last ditch effort to crank out a fast paced finish long run. There's a place for that in the marathon training puzzle; certainly does not fit in the taper phase. Man, can you say, I almost sabotaged my 4-month training?
For my last long run, I said I was going to only run 18 miles. I went back on that and ended up with 20. I thought since I was not adding a fast paced-portion to this run, I could just go the distance. If I were adding a pace run it would be a different story. For the 20 I ran an easy 10:12 pace using the hilly SLO course.
Here's to the three week taper period! Happy running!
I learned today, which happened to be my last long run, that easy does it. All week I've been pondering about what intensity my final 20 miler should be. I thought about inserting a goal paced run in the last third of the run to simulate the marathon. This would have been good if I were five weeks out from race day where there would be cushion to recover. With three weeks out, it's much too close for comfort. (This idea was further enforced by my fellow CIM running buddy, Linda.) This final long run should signal the taper period, not a last ditch effort to crank out a fast paced finish long run. There's a place for that in the marathon training puzzle; certainly does not fit in the taper phase. Man, can you say, I almost sabotaged my 4-month training?
For my last long run, I said I was going to only run 18 miles. I went back on that and ended up with 20. I thought since I was not adding a fast paced-portion to this run, I could just go the distance. If I were adding a pace run it would be a different story. For the 20 I ran an easy 10:12 pace using the hilly SLO course.
Here's to the three week taper period! Happy running!
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