Week in Review

90 miles
3 doubles
2 days in DC
3 medium-long runs (15, 14+, 13+)
6x10 mins. core

This week was bookended by several long-ish runs, beginning with a solid 15-miler in DC and culminating with a 1-2 medium-long punch over the weekend. On Saturday, Jordan and I joined our boss, who's training for his first marathon, for one of his early long runs. Despite plenty of hills and wind, he cruised at an 8-minute pace average for over 14 miles (during which I managed to injure myself while vacating a port-a-potty, but that's neither here nor there) and even saved enough energy to make us breakfast and cappuccinos afterward. On Sunday, we joined Emily, Jenn and Justin for another solid effort out at the Battle Road trails. The good news is the snow was almost entirely melted and the trails were quite clear. Unfortunately, we discovered the bad news halfway through the run--one big, open, low-lying section called the Great Meadow was more or less completely flooded. I immediately suggested we turn around, but once Jordan tromped through the first ankle-deep puddle the size of a long jump pit we all reluctantly followed. We finished the run looking like we'd survived one of those extreme obstacle races instead of just an easy 90 minutes, but even I had to admit the adventure was a lot of fun.

Showing Dad the "secret" monument on Teddy's Island

 

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Week in Review

32 miles
3 days off
14 miles at Battle Road
1 AFD (new record!)

Autumn at Battle Road

I probably shouldn't have run 14 miles today, but there was great company (Jordan, Terry, Jenn and a BAA crew) and a great venue (the always pleasing Battle Road) and, well, the loop is 14 miles. I could've turned around by myself at the five-mile mark before the Great Meadow section, but what's the fun in that? However, by the final 30 minutes my legs were screaming righteous indignation and my hamstrings felt tighter than at any point during last Sunday's marathon. I need a day off and a massage, both of which are in the plan for tomorrow. And hey, if these are my biggest gripes one week removed from Philly, I can't really complain.

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Battle Road Long Run/Fartlek

60 mins. easy
60 mins. w/1x 1 min. hard; 2x2 mins.; 3x3; 4x4; 3x3; 2x2; 1x1 all with 1 min. rest
5 mins. easy
Total: 18 miles

For the third day in a row, I awoke to cool, dreary weather. Emily and I had plans to meet at Battle Road, but the second I stepped outside and saw how hard it was raining I immediately longed to be back under the covers enjoying a rare lazy Sunday morning. Instead, I steeled my resolve and began the 30-minute drive toward Lexington. No sooner had I flipped on my wipers and inched out of the parking lot than I received a plaintive text from Emily: "Have you left yet??" If she'd reached me five minutes earlier things might have turned out differently; instead, the two of us met as planned and resolved to enjoy some social time together despite the inclement conditions. The next hour passed quickly and with little effort, but the entire time I was mindful of the hard running to come. Since Emily had tempoed the previous day she just planned to go 10 easy, so we reluctantly parted ways at the 60-minute mark.

One aspect of marathon training that I really want to focus on this segment is running hard and fast while tired. Anyone should be able to hit marathon pace or faster after a light warmup, but that won't really be of much help when you're two hours deep on race day. Today, though the first hour of running had flown by easily, its effects were instantly palpable once I embarked upon the faster segments. Despite the weekend's incessant rain the trail was mostly dry, but as the run progressed and the rain intensified yet again it became necessary for me to incorporate some modified steeplechase water pit tactics. All a part of the training stimulus, I suppose. Though I never felt great or even good during this workout, I executed it to the letter and continued to push despite the temptation and freedom to do otherwise. Count it a success!

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Battle Road Long Run/Uptempo

Target: 15-16 miles w/60 mins. easy, then 5-6 miles uptempo cutting down to 6:10
Actual: 15 miles incl. 8.5-14 @6:25, 6:18, 5:56, 6:05, 6:02, 3:00 for 1/2
(1:32 for 14 + 10 mins. easy)

When I got the invite for this run from Jenn Donovan earlier this week, it sounded right up my alley. I love the shaded soft-surface trails at Battle Road and was eager to test my mileage-laden legs with some forced uptempo running. Even better, the morning dawned with the coolest and least humid weather we'd seen in weeks. Despite some residual fatigue from Thursday night's quicker-than-expected 5k, I was overly confident from the outset that this run would be great--and, surprisingly enough, that prediction actually came true! By 40 minutes in, our group was already clipping along at sub-7:00 pace, but once we crossed the one-hour threshold Jenn instantly kicked things into a different gear. I should've known that her conservative "working down to around 6:10 pace" prediction was too good to be true; after all, the weather was perfect and she just ran 34:30 for 10k on the roads. My legs were handling the pace shift just fine until the third mile, when things felt palpably more difficult. I was quickly getting discouraged until my new friend Kevin's Garmin beeped and he simply laughed instead of reading off a split. Clearly we were rolling. The mostly uphill fourth mile found me steadily slipping farther behind the group, my legs sinking and spinning into several especially loose sections of dirt, but I was proud of myself for staying mentally tough and focused on their backs long enough to regain contact at the top of the hill. As our parking lot came into view, Jenn and I realized that we'd be finishing up in between miles, but we were tired and satisfied enough at that point to be okay with it. Jordan, Kevin and Jenn's fiance Justin continued on for another hard mile, while she and I paused to catch our breath before finishing out with an easy 10 minutes.

Overall, I was quite pleased with today's run. Finishing hard on tired legs is exactly the organic sort of workout I need to begin gradually incorporating into my high mileage summer training. And if I can do it with good company on fantastic trails, then all the better!

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(Triple Digit) Week in Review

100 (!!) miles
4 doubles
20 mile long run
18 boxes unpacked

Wow, what a difference a week makes! Last Friday I was coughing and staggering through a brutal 50-minute run on the Mall, convinced my odds of collapsing prostrate next to Mr. Washington's monument were as good as not. This week, my ailing leg magically repaired and the remaining vestiges of illness slowly leaving my body, I felt like a completely new runner. I haven't finished up morning runs feeling this crisp and strong since before the Trials. There's no logical explanation for it, but I'm certainly not complaining!

Sipping a glass of vino at Jordan's favorite spot in our new hood on Friday night (which, incidentally, is also where I'm typing this blog--clearly we're well on our way to becoming regulars), I approached the weekend with 66 miles under my belt but still planning to top out in the upper 80s or low 90s as indicated in my most recent post. We planned to meet Brett, Teresa and a few other BAA girls at Battle Road on Saturday morning for a long run, during which Brett planned to log 20 miles. Buoyed by my weekday success but with memories of countless recent labored runs still fresh in my mind, I was cautiously optimistic that I could hang on for two hours. For where I'm at right now, that would be big. But once we settled into a comfortable clip on the fantastic shaded dirt trails, I watched in amazement as an hour ticked by on my watch, then two, with no ill effects. My body felt just as fresh and strong at the end of our two-and-a-half hour jaunt as it had at the beginning, despite temperatures rising into the mid-80s with the sun beating down. Yet again, I found myself at once utterly baffled and supremely grateful.

You know where this is headed. 86 miles down, one day remaining...of course I had to reach for the triple digits. Jordan and I slept in, not stepping outside until well after 9am. Just like Saturday, it was already 85 degrees and blindingly bright. (Allow me to clarify that I am not complaining. The objective here isn't to incite comments about how it is "xx degrees hotter in Charlotte/Dallas/DC/Atlanta right now." I'm well aware. My point is not to illustrate how super badass tough I am for running in 85-degree weather, but rather to note how surprisingly easily I find my body adapting to it. I guess all those summers I spent wilting in the South did yield some benefits!) By halfway through the run around the familiar terrain of the Marblehead Neck (which, thankfully, is still running distance away from our new place in Salem--albeit long running distance) I could feel the week's accumulated mileage, neatly punctuated by yesterday's longest effort since February, descending full force upon my legs. The final 30 minutes weren't my most impressive, but I hung in and successfully finished the run--and the 100-mile week. I can't describe to you what an exhilarating, relieving feeling it is to have my old familiar legs back under me after struggling for almost a month and a half.

One week down, eight to go in the Summer of Malmo!

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