Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Boston Marathon Week 11 of 18: How Not to Plan Your Training Week

So, at least for now, it seems like I've gotten back to a normal training load, just in time to turn 37 last Friday. I decided against the Saturday 10K, for a lot of reasons, including 1) running 6+ miles at 10K race pace is REALLY DIFFERENT than a run-of-the-mill speed or tempo workout, and I don't want to risk my hip relapsing so soon after it's started to feel normal again; 2) I reallllly need to prioritize long runs right now given my distinct lack of them as of late, and racing on Saturday makes a Sunday long run potentially miserable or a bad idea or both (if not impossible); 3) $60 is pretty pricey for a 10K I haven't even really been training for; but mostly 4) I wanted to go out for a fun dinner on my birthday Friday night without having to worry about what I'm eating or drinking and going to bed early and getting up at the butt crack of dawn or feeling like crap at the starting line.

So. I'll race something else later. Right now we are seven weeks out from Boston and it seems prudent to keep one's eye on the prize so to speak.

As for week 11? Well, on the face of things, it looks like, "Hey, wow, a normal-looking marathon training load! Woohoo!" And there's some truth there. My hip has felt 100% completely fine (because you can bet your booty I wouldn't be running this mileage otherwise), and it DOES feel super good to complete all the workouts and finish the full long run and even hit all the paces. (I've even been doing the strength work!) So, in a lot of ways, #winning.

But there was also a little comedy of errors going on this week in terms of how I ended up running all those miles & workouts. So let us talk about how, in an ideal world, one would perhaps NOT structure their training week!

~*~*~ Boston Marathon: Week 11 of 18 ~*~*~

Grand Total: 56.3 miles
    * 27.6 easy
    * 3.7 speed
    * 9 pace/tempo
    * 16 long

Monday 2/19: 10.3 easy + strength work

    I don't do super well when I try to ski consecutive days, so I split this ski trip into three days of skiing interspersed with running. On Monday it had just dumped a bunch of snow and the temperature had dropped, so it was a much different run than two days before. There were deep piles of snow in places and I actually stepped ankle-deep into puddles of freezing cold salt water more than once. (Related: I highly recommend ski socks for running in cold/wet/snowy conditions!)

    I followed the same 10 mile out-and-back from Saturday and my hip felt much better--no pain at all. In fact I'd been thinking that I would just go ahead and make up that long run and see if I could get maybe 16 miles done, but then the wind picked up and despite all my layers I realized at a certain point that I couldn't really feel my face or fingers and that seemed like a bad sign. So 10.3 it was.


    Basically just picture 10 miles of this.

    On its own, there was nothing wrong with doing this run this day, especially since I hadn't done a long run the day before (which is usually why Mondays are my rest days).

Tuesday 2/20: Last day of skiing!

    I'm not sure why but I feel like I was skiing a lot better on this trip than I usual. I was a lot more comfortable on the blacks than I've been in the past and actually found myself getting bored on the blues. I also started trying to work on black moguls some; in the past that's scared the shit out of me but this time I was more like, "Hmmmmm, innnnteresting...." (I even ended the day with a run called Widowmaker, don't tell my mother....)


    Desperately trying to stay warm. It was 3°F when we got up but it warmed up to at least 10°F!

    In an ideal world, this is when I would have done my speed workout, but a) ice/snow/traffic lights/cars, and b) skiing.

Wednesday 2/21: 8 easy

    Since my hip had been feeling fine, I'd planned to do my big ass, 13-mile speed workout when we got home from the airport, which would have been maybe not ideal but still okay timing-wise. Unfortunately our flight was delayed and traffic was terrible so by the time we got home it was late, dark, and not to mention insanely windy and very cold for SF (low 40's). There was just no way I was running from home to the track, busting out a long ass speed workout, and then running back home, so I settled for 8 easy (cold, windy) miles & called it good.

    (In retrospect, if I'd done the math re: the rest of the week's workouts, I probably would have taken a rest day here but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)

Thursday 2/22: 2.5 warm up, 3 x 800m @ 5K pace / 2:00 jog; 40:00 @ MP+; 3 x 800m @ 5K pace / 2:00 jog; 1.8 cool down = 13

    So, the big ass speed workout got pushed off to Thursday. Not ideal with another workout and a long run still to go!

    I'm also not too proud to admit that I was shaking in my boots about it, far & away the longest and hardest run I'd have tried since my hip started getting better. I didn't feel like I was doing it out of nowhere, at least; last Tuesday's short, easy track workout had gone fine, and I think the easy 10 milers in Utah were important in laying the foundation a bit for longer workouts. So I figured, what the heck. Let's give this beast a try and see if my luck holds.

    These big ass speed workouts started showing up for me in RunCoach a couple years back, and at the time they scared the shit out of me. Double digit speed work??? Hard intervals and then a pace run and then more hard intervals?? What the actual F. But at this point I've done them enough times to know that they actually aren't all that hard; they just take freaking forever. All you have to do is break them up into chunks and (much like marathon training itself) eat the elephant one bite at a time.

    Warm up? Ain't no thing.

    3 x 800m @ 5K pace? Cool.

    40:00 at marathon pace? If you can't bust that out any day of the week there's a problem.

    3 x 800m redux? Not a problem. (I'm actually surprised by how the back intervals in these workouts often feel easier than the front ones, which I suspect is mostly mental since I'm getting to the end of the workout.)

    Cool down? Done and done.

    The only thing that really sucked about this workout was the weather. GODS it was cold (by SF standards, ie, low 40s) and insanely windy. Describing low 40s as super cold may seem silly after spending a week in mostly single digits or barely above, but in a way, I think that just added insult to injury: I'd been pretty excited about getting back to my tropical(ish) SF winter, & finding yourself instead shivering through a track workout and barely able to feel your fingers and constantly wiping snot on your sleeves (when it isn't blown right off your face) just blows.

    Also, nothing makes me more bitter than crazy wind during a workout. Considering I spent the back stretch of every 800m and about half the MP section feeling like I was barely moving forward, I'm kind of surprised it wasn't harder to hit the paces, and I fully admit to spending a lot of this time grumbling to myself about how this was *completely* unreasonable and there must be *somewhere* I could register a formal complaint. No joke, more than once I actually struggled to stay in lane 1 going around the turns because the wind was that ridiculous.

    But you know what? It fucking got done and I fucking hit every single pace and my hip didn't make a peep.

Friday 2/23: Strength work

    Normally I would have done a short easy run this day, but 1) wow, I REALLY needed a rest day between the 13 mile speed workout & the 9 mile pace workout, and 2) I started doing the math re: this week's mileage and realized it was already looking a bit scary as it was.

    Anyway, it was my birthday, so we had a lovely dinner at The Progress.


    And nocino cake for dessert :-)

Saturday 2/24: 2.5 warm up, 4 @ HM pace, 10 x 100m strides / 100m jog, 2.5 cool down = 9 total

    A great idea: Having a rest day between two workouts in a high mileage week. A less-than-great idea: Having no rest days between a workout and a long run. I know, I know, people do it all the time, and you do what you've got to do, but for me, personally, given the choice, I'd rather have a rest or easy run day between workouts (including long runs). "At least it's not double digits," I kept telling myself when I looked at this workout.

    Also yet another day that it was so windy I felt sure there must be someone I could complain to. I sort of expected to feel tired and crappy after Thursday's double digit speed workout, even with a rest day in between, but *just how* crappy I felt while trying to hit those 8:00 miles kind of amazed me until I remembered that, duh, headwinds make you slow. (Also hills, and there were some hills.) So realistically I probably worked harder on those MP miles than I should have but eh. Whatcha gonna do.

    Mainly, though, I was annoyed that I had worked out this run so that I arrived at the track *precisely* as I completed the last MP mile so I could do the 10 100m sprints, but NOOOO, the effing track had to be closed due to some kind of soccer game (BAH). You can't really do 100m sprints safely on an uneven sidewalk full of pedestrians (or at least I can't), even if you know how far 100m even is off the track, so I ended up cutting these. (Sorry, RunCoach, hope they weren't critical....)

Sunday 2/25: 16 long

    I felt bad about not being able to do my previous two long runs (18 & 20 miles respectively) so even though this week's assignment was only 16, part of me kept thinking, "Maybe I should go a little longer, just to make up for those in some way." That was before I did the math for this week &, holy crappo, I was already closing in on the highest weekly mileage I ran in my last marathon cycle, just going to 16.

    I mean. I know how to add & everything but I'd shuffled things around so much this week & just thrown in easy days here & there randomly, & somehow never actually stopped to count it all up. 56 miles is a reasonable marathon training week for me, but it is a little near the most I've ever run in a week and I had NOT been thinking that's what I'd do as I gradually ramped back up post hip drama.

    So. 16 was plenty, thank you very much. Sunday was windy so it was a bit of a chilly day for that reason, but otherwise completely lovely and I finished the whole thing on somewhat heavy legs but still feeling just fine otherwise. Too lazy to stop for pics so please see for reference every other run I've ever done through GG Park.



====

Boston Marathon Week 1 of 18: On your mark, Get set...

Boston Marathon Week 2 of 18: speed, snow, & vertical

Boston Marathon Week 3 of 18: Foiled By Weather & Travel

Boston Marathon Week 4 of 18: There's "hills" and then there's HILLLZZ

Boston Marathon Week 5 of 18: Not the greatest of weeks...

Boston Marathon Week 6 of 18: Winter Running: Take 2

Boston Marathon Week 9 of 18: Grumpy Hip is Grumpy

Boston Marathon Week 10 of 18: "altitude training" + should I run a birthday 10K?

1 comment:

  1. Hooray for a great week of training with workouts and a strong long run. I don't blame you to skip the 10K- 10Ks are hard to race and recover from and 7 weeks until Boston isn't a ton of time. Plus races are expensive, I am with you there, and birthdays are for enjoying. Looks like you had an amazing dinner out!

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