Weekly Wrap-Up: October 3-9

This week, I went into uncharted territory with my mileage and my long run. I also had to swap my Saturday and Sunday runs to avoid Matthew.

I hit a milestone this week, 1000 miles for the year. I’m going to fall short of my initial goal of 1500 miles for the year, but I wasn’t expecting my ankle to blow up like it did, and *knock on wood* barring any further issues, I should end up with a respectable number of miles.

Weight Check: 162.6, up 1.1 pounds from last week. On the one hand, since I moved my long run to Sunday, my weight doesn’t include any long runs. On the other hand, I drank a ton of Mountain Dew this past week. All these miles are really making me tired, and that’s how I’ve been dealing with it. My eating hasn’t been terrible, really. I did have a beer each night when I went out with friends Tuesday and Wednesday. But for the most part, the problem is the Mountain Dew.

Total: 49.11 miles

Yes, that’s a new weekly mileage record. Part of me wishes I could have gotten it to 50, but I just barely got it to 49, so it’ll have to do.

Monday I got on the treadmill to give my legs a break. I don’t remember what the weather was like that morning, but I don’t think it was either great or terrible. The treadmill, of course, is still mentally excruciating, but it does definitely help my legs when they’re feeling beat up.

Tuesday’s workout was pretty simple. The weather was OK. In my notes, I described my legs as “functional.” All of my intervals were under the target pace, and the very last interval I managed to get my pace down to 8:49/mile.

Wednesday was a no good, terrible, very bad run. I have no idea what happened. Yes, my legs were tired, but they’ve been tired since August. I can’t blame the weather, either. 57 degrees, no humidity. Every once in a while I have a run like this where I question everything, and after the run I have a strong urge to take all of my running gear, throw it in a pile, and kill it with fire. (Obviously, I didn’t do that, since I had 3 runs after this one.) Like I said in my notes, let us never speak of this run again.

Thursday was almost exactly the run that I needed. It wasn’t great by any stretch, but I felt much better, even though it was 63 and humid. No need to burn my running gear…yet. Side note, Thursday marked exactly one month until the New York City Marathon. I’m not freaking out yet, but there’s still time.

Saturday, I could have attempted my long run when it was 68 degrees, raining heavily, and lots of wind. Instead, I swapped my long run for the 5 miler that had been scheduled for Sunday. I drove to the Y, and except for the trip from my car to the entrance (and sweat, of course), I stayed dry. It’s still mentally excruciating. Also, I really don’t like doing 5 miles on the treadmill, at least not at an easy pace.

Then came Sunday.

A little background. I’m using basically the same training plan as last year, making a few adjustments for the calendar, and for work, and my trip to Portland. Last year, when I was scheduled to run this workout, we got hit with a ton of rain, and I couldn’t reschedule my workout because I had to leave town the next day for a funeral. I tried to run in the rain and gave up after 2 miles, then ended up doing two treadmill runs of 6 miles each. So this is the only workout on my plan that I had never done. Also, since I only got around 14 miles on this run last year, I ended up with no weeks over 45 miles. So that’s why I said I was in uncharted territory.

I really lucked out on the weather. 50 degrees, coolest temperature since April 10.

I also got a late start. I hydrated a little too well, and had to find a bathroom before I could get started.

My warm up wasn’t too bad. My first 3 intervals were pretty decent. My paces were pretty consistent, ranging from 10:37/mile to 10:48/mile. I felt pretty good, all things considered, for these intervals.

For the last interval, I ran the first mile in 10:46. Again, not bad. The second mile, my legs started to feel a little tired, but I managed a 10:44.

Then there was the last mile. My legs were really tired, but I put everything I had into that mile, and I finished it in 9:40. That’s a really good pace for me.

Here’s the thing, though. I can afford to pour everything I’ve got into the last mile. But that wasn’t the last mile. I still had 3 miles of cool down to run. And those miles were brutal. Like over 14:00 each mile. That brutal. Granted, I stopped a few times for water, which doesn’t help, but still. The only thing that kept me from stopping early was this thought: The Marathon doesn’t stop at Mile 25. Somehow, that kept me going, and I finished those 3 miles (and even added in an extra .1 mile to get to 18.76, a nice round-ish number).

I’m left with two possible conclusions. Either I had a major breakthrough on that 9:40 mile, and as a result, I’m going to go up to New York City and crush it, or I just completely destroyed my legs, I’m going to limp (hopefully only figuratively) through the rest of training, and my performance in New York City is going to make my performance in the City of Oaks Marathon look like my performance in the 2016 Charlotte 10 Miler. OK, the actual truth probably lies somewhere in between. (I’m still rooting for “Crush it.”) The one good sign (so far) is that my legs are tired, but I’m not noticing any pain. If that doesn’t change, I might be OK. I guess I’ll get some idea when I get out there and run again and see how my legs respond.

One other note, I need to find some new band-aids for my nipples. One fell off completely, the other shifted down about a quarter of an inch, and I ended up with some irritation on one nipple, with a tiny amount of blood (not visible on a gray shirt, fortunately). If the new ones can get through my 20 miler and stay on, they’re keepers.

Next Week:
Monday: Easy 5
Wednesday: Easy 4
Thursday: Easy 7
Thursday: Easy 6
Saturday: 20 miles LSD

The 20 miler. The big one. 6 days away.

I’m not sure what (if anything) I’ll be posting this week now that I’m completely caught up on my race history. I’ve got a couple of ideas, I just need to find the time to make them presentable. And if I don’t find the time, well, see you for the next Weekly Wrap-Up.