Boston Marathon Training 2018 {Week 9}

Week 9! {holy crap I’m done with the first half of training!}




Weekly Miles

Running: 57 miles, 07:54:54 hours
Cycling: 31.1 miles, 2:18:33 hours
Yoga/stairs: 44:35

Total Miles for this cycle
Running: 429.91 miles, 60:57 hours
Cycling: 171.46 miles, 13:36 hours
Yoga/stairs: 1:35 hours

Summary

I felt much better this week- I ran 57 miles, cycled 2+ hours (my trainer under estimates mileage so I go by time/heart rate) and did some solid stair workouts plus some yoga. Sleep was much better this week too- I really made an effort to go to bed a little earlier and it made a huge difference. Ze Pequeno woke me up at 12 and 3am one night which was awful, Thanks Ze!

I took more hot baths which also helped me feel recovered and relaxed. Thanks L for dog sitting!



Not much else to write home about- just another textbook week of workouts. I wanted to run outside on the weekend, but with all the snow we were getting I knew it was in my best interest to stay inside, because what benefit would it be to my training to get injured slipping on the path? Heat training FTW!

I like to take every opportunity to stay positive- especially this time of year when weather makes things difficult (yay raynauds, yay) because complaining is draining. It’s been great unfollowing people on social media who don’t have anything positive to add to the collective conversation {noise}.


Lowlight

Nothing to speak of. This week was solid.

If I had to write one thing it would be waking up Sunday morning feeling “good” muscle soreness. Saturday I ran 10 miles and did a bunch of stair work + cycled hard- so my quads were a bit trashed in a good way. Because of this I worried I wouldn’t be able to hit my fast intervals during the end of my 15. Spoiler alert, everything went according to plan.


Highlights

The weird ankle/lower leg thing has disappeared. I’ve been icing and massaging and doing loads of calf raises/calf pumps and i don’t feel anything anymore. Yay.


Tuesday Uniform taken to the next level with unicorn shorts

6x800’s @ 3:09 were a piece of cake. I felt strong and in control.

8 mile tempo turned 7 miles @ 7:13 with small pauses (can’t call that a tempo) to do calf raises went smooth.

15 mile long run on Sunday was also good. First 9 miles were at an easy pace and then I did 8x3 min at 7:13/mile, 2 min @ 8:30/mile which made the time on the tread go by quickly.


Thoughts




Cycling through the lava fields in Zwift

It was a great week of training- I’m happy to have cycled this week too. I joined Zwift and know it will help motivate me to {cycle more} push more while on the trainer which is important since post Boston and CPH, I’ll be focusing on training for Ironman Louisville. The bike is one area where I feel I could make huge improvement and take a significant amount of time off because I was solidly bottom of the barrel mediocre at IMWisconsin.

Being half way through my 18 week plan is also pretty sweet. I feel mentally engaged and excited for most of my workouts. Even when I’m feeling meh about going for a run, I remind myself of my goal and the progress I’ve made and just go and get shit done. No dramatic social media posts about it to waste time and energy here.

Looking Forward

For the next 7-8 weeks remaining before taper, I’ll continue to make sure I am in a great spot mentally and physically.



My coaches contribute greatly to my happiness

I’d really like to test my fitness in a 5k, but I doubt that will work with my schedule. (My 21:00 PR is from 2015 and is super stale and likely will be obliterated). Until then, I’ll just keep crushing workouts. I didn’t race at all during training for my half PR and I nailed that goal, so I’m sure with the hilly half, and shamrock on tired legs, I’ll get some chances to push myself and see some new PRs.

I’m enjoying cooking new to me recipes and am currently at 18/52 for 2018. A continually updated list is {HERE}



Days to go: 63! 🦄


-Xaarlin