Carmel Marathon Training: Week 14 aka Race Week

Race week!

Going into this week fresh off of the previous week's food poisoning episode left me cautiously optimistic towards race day. I was feeling fresh from not working out much due to being sidelined form the sickness and for once, I had no complaints about my physical well being. I just had to make it through the week unscathed from dumb injury and I would be ready to run The Carmel Marathon.

In the days leading up to the race I wasn't particularly confident about my ability to pull off my secondary goal of sub 3:30 (or 3:32) which would enable me to register for Boston 2017 with enough cushion. The primary goal I had was to feel good for at least 85% of the race. We all know those later miles can be tough.

I felt under trained and that overall, I could have done more to prepare. I was self trained this time around and created a hybrid Hanson style plan mixed with some of the plan I will follow for Ironman. I was working out way more than previous cycles, but I was only running 3-4 days a week for around 30-50 miles(with most weeks around 30). All of the runs I did were quality though. (One day of speed work of 8+ miles, 2 back to back long runs of either 10/10 or 10/16+ with both days having GMp thrown in) Honestly, I had no idea how this very different style of training would bode for me on race day. Spoiler alert: I got my BQ with plenty of cushion to register for 2017. I must have been doing something right.

Workouts:

Monday: 1 mile run, 7 mile cycle

Tuesday: rest aka walk the pup in the cold

Wednesday:5 mile run. With 2x 400's @ 1:34, 1:34, 1 mile @ 7:47, 2x 400's @ 132:, 1:30

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 2 mile shakeout run, half with the pup and half without.

Saturday: Carmel Marathon! 26.2 miles!

Sunday: Rest aka begin #slothmode

Total: 5:09 for 41.2 miles

Running: 4:38 for 34.2 miles

Cycling: 31:00 for 7 miles

Snapshots:

Took CB for a walk on Tuesday and froze my ass off.

My last significant run of the 2x400's, mile, and 2x400's went so well before work. I was flying and felt amazing. I wore my new shorts for this run to make sure they wouldn't take a chunk out of my thighs during the marathon and they felt great!

CB was extra happy to see Fido To Go this week.

Thursday night L and I went to Aurelio's and I ate some mushroom ravioli and they were delicious with a single glass of red wine.

Friday morning I ran with CB to his boarding place and ran back. He was happy.

Friday we drove to Carmel because packet pickup was only on Friday since the race was Saturday morning. We passed a lot of farmland and one hue wind farm on our way.
We went to the expo and it was a a bit larger than I thought. There were many races and vendors present. I bought the red long sleeve at the expo because it had all the marathoners names on it! There were separate shirts for each distance. I initially didn't buy the shirt and had asked the ladies manning the register if they'd be at the finish because I only wanted the shirt if I had a good race. 20 min later I went back into the expo with Jenny and realized I needed to write my bib# on my bag to check it, so I went back for my bag (which was with L in the rec center) and after writing my # on the bag, I bought the shirt. I had come to the conclusion it would be a good race regardless.
We checked into our hotel and I squealed with delight at the decor of our room- the 3 black n white photos were of the sidewalk in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro. We went to dinner at Napolese at 4pm and had delicious prosciutto wrapped asparagus, and a pizza margherita with an egg. I also had one glass of wine to help calm my nerves. We had dessert at Pinkberry, because fro-yo.
Soon it was time to go to bed- I hydrated with Osmo pre-load and got all of my marathon shit set up for the morning.  Vicky had given me a beautiful card earlier in the week, I reread it again and went to bed.

I only had one more thing to do on Saturday morning, and that was to believe in myself.

Next up: Carmel Marathon Race Recap!



-Xaarlin