Week thirteen finally ushers in taper! Increased final long run from 20 to 22 miles. Overall, coming out of this week feeling accomplished! As they say: all the hard work is done. Now it’s time to start lowering mileage, keep up pace, and rest up for race day. 20 days and counting.
Monday: Rest day.
Tuesday: Intervals. Running commute in the form of 400 m repeats to get to Body Conceptions by Mahri class at Lolë Showtique. Cool, drizzly weather was perfect for today’s run. Felt good hitting interval pace. Unfortunately, only had sufficient time to do short warmup and finish intervals, but not cool down.
- Total = 5.74 mi – 43:35 – 7:36 min/mi avg pace
- Plan = 10 x 400 m @ 6:38 min/mi
- Actual splits = (1) 6:26; (2) 6:48; (3) 6:32; (4) 6:35; (5) 6:31; (6) 6:30; (7) 6:23; (8) 6:34; (9) 6:42; (10) 6:35
Cross-training. Body Conceptions by Mahri for one hour. Mahri’s workout had a killer abs conditioning series today. Doing this workout immediately after my intervals, thought I’d collapse in a puddle of exhaustion. But the workout was amazing! Again, the stretching and lengthening moves had my legs feeling good by the end of class.
Wednesday: Cross-training. Spin class for 45 minutes. Nice, fast-paced class with Melanie G. Speed intervals and hills. Good arm series.
Chi Running class for one hour. Focus on uphill and downhill running form.
Thursday: Rest day.
Friday: Tempo run. This run was to be 8 mi at marathon pace with a 10-minute warmup & cool down. Due to time constraints and some fantastically cool weather, ran all 10 miles at sub-marathon pace. Thought to slow down. Then thought faster pace has its purpose to make make marathon pace feel more comfortable & controlled. So be it. Ran hilly route and felt comfortable with pace throughout.
With a tank, shorts, & gloves, felt cool even while sun ducked in. Good wardrobe trial for race day.
- Total = 10.01 mi – 1:19:46 – 7:58 min/mi avg pace
- Plan = 8 mi @ 8:23 (marathon pace)
- Actual splits = (1) 7:56; (2) 8:04; (3) 7:55; (4) 8:08; (5) 7:53; (6) 7:56; (7) 8:07; (8) 7:58; (9) 7:51; (10) 7:54
Saturday: Rest day.
Sunday: Long run. Three Bridges Run part II. Two weeks ago, ran this same course with 9:00 min/mi pace group. Today, went out with 8:30 min/mi group. Was a challenging, manageable run. Good indicator of how race day pace may feel. Jess and I wound up being at the front of the group and were definitely pushing a low 8 min/mi pace at times. We crushed the 59th Street Bridge today, running it nearly 45 seconds – 1 min/mi faster than two weeks ago!
Body felt good on this run. Legs are tired post-run, but to be expected. Overall, weather cooperated and body cooperated. Nice way to send off the bulk of training and ease into taper.
- Total = 21.96 mi – 3:01:56 – 8:17 min/mi avg pace
- Plan = 20 mi @ 8:38 min/mi
- Actual = 21.96 mi – 8:17 min/mi
- Splits = (1) 8:25; (2) 8:15; (3) 8:28; (4) 8:28; (5) 8:27; (6) 8:22; (7) 8:29; (8) 8:25; (9) 8:20; (10) 8:44; (11) 8:23; (12) 8:16; (13) 8:18; (14) 8:03; (15) 7:57; (16) 8:19; (17) 8:03; (18) 8:16; (19) 8:07; (20) 7:59; (21) 8:02; (22) 8:07
Total weekly mileage: 37.71 miles
See all weekly training recaps here.
