Highs and Lows- Week 16

The end of this training week marks the beginning of the rest phase.

I feel like I'm already tapering. Maybe I'm not. I dunno...Welp, those 11 words were total waste of your time.

 

The Columbus Half Marathon brought some excitement to my training. I've learned this year that it's important for me to schedule other races into my training for the "big race." Whether the race is good or bad, you learn something from it. The Columbus Half provided an opportunity for me to practice my race pace. It gave me the confidence I needed to mentally tackle this full marathon in two weeks.

 

The fact that I'm so close to race day makes my training weeks more tolerable. Honestly, things feel so much easier (it probably helps that I'm finished with those crazy track workouts!). Here are my highs and lows for this week:

 

LOWS:

• Another week without lows! If I had to put one, it would be the fact that Marion hasn't been able to run. My sweet, fast friend finally has some answers about her health, and we're all hoping to join her for a run very soon!

 

HIGHS:

• Speed Workout. I did this week's fast workout on Tuesday. I planned to do it later in the week in case I needed a little more recovery from the race, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run with Theresa. Of our core group of running partners, she and I (along with Jackie and Amanda) are the only ones that have to do speed work because everyone else ran their goal race. This week, we had 8 miles total [4 mile warm up, 4 miles @7:40]. As usual, my initial reaction is WTH! I didn't admit to T that I was unsure about this workout until she admitted it to me first! LOL!!! We both felt a little sluggish during the warm up, but we sucked it up and ran our fast miles in 7:34, 7:27, 7:35, and 7:22. The average for the 8 miles was 7:54! We even mixed in some hills.
  

  

  You know, it was REALLY early and I have no idea what we are doing here. Apparently ,it seemed like a good idea, or maybe even comical, at the time.

• Easy 6 with Amanda. Sadly, we missed out on time with Karen and Jackie. [side note: Karen just ran her 21st marathon! Holy crapoly!! We decided she is our marathon queen.] We ran a mostly progressive run (last mile +3 seconds) and averaged 8:15. Go us.
• Easy 6 Mile Stroller Run. After solely training with a stroller last year, I've come to appreciate the times I get with my boy this year. Yes, it's easier and more convenient when I can run without it, but I love a fun, easy 6 miler with James. He loves the wind blowing through his hair, the cars, saying hi to people...and eating snacks, of course! We averaged 9:01 and even dipped into the 8's for three miles.
  

  

  James doesn't understand the running selfie obsession. It's ok, son. Most of society doesn't understand either.

• Last Long Run. Crap starts gettin' real after the last long run. Two more weeks until race day! Theresa and Dani needed 10 miles so Amanda and I met early for the extra four. It was a stressful week for many of us. We made it a point to save 30 minutes for coffee afterwards to talk about everything that was not stressful. I finally bought my Endurolyte tabs at Front Runner. I spontaneously purchased a Spibelt while I was there. I wanted to see if I could tolerate wearing it for my race to make it easier to carry my gels and tabs. I honestly forgot I put it on. I'm planning on wearing it for every run the next two weeks to practice taking my fuel out of it.
  

  

  I felt a little more tired than I wanted to, but that was probably because we were running a little faster than I had planned in my head. Nothing a few donut holes can't fix!
  

  

  Theresa, Amanda, Dani, and me. They were shocked to hear that I've never cooked a turkey.

• The Dynamic Duo Run. Jackie was the first person I ever ran with...EVER. I never wanted to run with others because I didn't want to hold anyone back. Since J's my original partner, duet runs with her are special. I didn't look at my watch the entire time but Jackie was all over it! The girl has skills cuz she managed a progressive run (mostly). Only one of the miles was a second slower than the one before it...I'm pretty sure that still counts. [8.1 miles averaging 8:47, progressing from 9:28 to 8:11]
  

  

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This week, I decrease to 30 miles and follow that up with race week! I'm so close!!! My one and only concern at this point is what the weather will be like on race day. You can get ANYTHING in November. I'm pretty sure I can tolerate most temperatures as long as it's not precipitating. I'll just hope for the best! Either way, I know that Jackie, Amanda, and I are ready to conquer Indy!