Maria's Running Blog

very easy recovery run, 36:50 (9:09 pace). Started off feeling stiff and tired, but felt better towards the end. Shorts weather again, 48F. 54 miles for the week.

Did aerobic fartlek today, 5x4' + 1x2' with equal jog recovery. I planned on running ~7:20 pace for 4' intervals, but they ended up faster. In general, I felt strong today, it was a good run. One strange thing happened in the park, though: on one of my faster segments, there was a group of teenagers standing on the path. One of them waited until I was passing them, and executed a karate-style kick that ended inches from my face!! I didn't have time to get scared, but I was startled. But since I was running fast, I just continued, not paying attention to them. Even if they decided to pursue me, I don't think they could run 7:00 pace for very long! But it was one of the stranger incidents that happened to me. Total time 1:09:50. 

Time, min.	Distance, mi.	Pace, min/mi.
4:01	0.55	7:18
4:01	0.56	7:10
4:01	0.57	7:01
4:00	0.55	7:14
4:03	0.57	7:04
2:05	0.31	6:45

Did 40-minute tempo today. I felt the same as last wek, but ran 5 sec/mi faster, 5.07mi (7:54 pace). Afterwards did 4x100m strides and ran home. Total time 1:12:22, not counting strides.

In the evening, we all went to the opera, and not knowing if they had dress code or not, I wore my high heeled boots. My feet were killing me! I can't wear heels at all. Turns out, they don't have dress code, so I suffered for nothing. Hopefully, my feet can recover for tomorrow.

I finally got to doing mile repeats today. My feet were sore due to stupid high heels, as I was afraid they would. Warmed up 2.6mi and ran 3x1mile with equal time jog between. I ran on the non-standard track that is 387m long, so I tried to run extra 45m but it was hard to tell. I also decided to wear HR monitor today just out of curiosity. Here is how it went:

Distance	Time	HR
1.02	7:19	162
1.00	7:05	168
0.99	7:00	170

I felt much harder effort on the second repeat, and on the third I really felt bad the entire time, but the pace stayed the same, and I even was able to accelerate the last 300m. Hard workout, but I felt pretty strong, all things considered. Total time 1:13:03. Again, I had 3 quality days back to back. Tomorrow is just an easy day, finally.

I felt tired today, but it was another shorts day - 54F. Unbelievable! I remember how I struggled with my training last winter, running so much of it on the treadmill due to snow/ice/cold. This winter conditions are so much better, I have no excuse whatsoever to slack off.

Ran very easy, 54:30 (8:56 pace). I hope I recover enough for tomorrow...

Marathon pace run on another shorts running day with temps still in the 50s. I started out feeling not too fresh, not surprising after the whole week of training, and several weeks in a row of over 50 miles. Ran 6 miles easy, took my first gel (I'm starting to take gels at the same intervals I'll be taking them in the marathon, and in Rotterdam, they will have water stops only every 5K - not ideal, but I'll have to live with it.), and started on the marathon tempo. Since I had to run 8 miles at MP, the longest I've ever run it as of yet, I decided to start conservatively (8:10 pace) and see what happens. If I felt good, I would speed up naturally, if not, I could maintain this pace, and still run MP. So, I started at 8:10, and it did not feel particularly easy. My breathing was perfectly fine, but my legs were tired. I assume it's just cumulative fatigue from training. Nevertheless, gradually, my pace dropped, first to 8:06 average, then to 8:01 average, and finally, after 6 miles, to 7:57 average. I was surprised as I did not increase the effort consciously. I took the second gel 6 miles into the MP segment. My legs started to tighten up towards the end, but overall I still felt good. My stomach was cramping again, but not too bad. After I finished MP tempo, though, it cramped up big time, I guess it didn't like change in pace. Jogged home another 3 miles. Total time 2:27:28. Now 17+ miles do not seem so long, after I did 20 last week. Oh, and I ran in DS Trainers again - no problems whatsoever.