Marathon Training Week 8

I'm coming off a three-day weekend that just didn't last long enough. After my long run on Saturday morning, I loaded up my kids and dog to spend the rest of the weekend at my parents' vacation house near Port Saint Joe. It's just a 2-hour drive down the coast from our home, but it's not a major tourist destination. We enjoyed quiet times, uncrowded beaches, and a bonfire with roasted marshmallows. We came home Monday afternoon and enjoyed our own beautiful South Walton beaches. I slept terribly Monday night, with nightmares of crazy busy work deadlines and crazy hard speed workouts. I really ought to start buying lottery tickets, because if I had the opportunity to drop one of the balls I am juggling, work would be the first to go. But this is not a blog about the challenges of practicing law, this is a blog about the joys of running, so I'll get to it...

Week 8 of marathon training included some rewarding speed work, and pushed me to 171.48 miles for the month of August, which is a new high for me. It certainly doesn't feel like that many miles, because I haven't had sore, tired legs like I have before during marathon training, and I haven't felt exhausted during the day. Hopefully, this means I'll be ready for a strong race come November.

Monday: An easy short run. The heat and humidity eased up a bit, so this was a beautiful start to the week. 3.45 miles at 9:35 pace.

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: I ran 7 miles with my favorite running partner. Running with a friend is the icing on the cake. When else would we have a chance to take an hour out of our busy days and just chat with no interruption? 7 miles at 9:12 pace.

Thursday: My favorite run of the week -- a track workout with my BRB -- two days in a row, that's got to be a record for us! We ran 800s. I ran 5 ranging from 3:52 to 3:54, and I felt like I could have kept it up at least a few more laps. If I could run 10 800s at that pace, I would supposedly be looking at a sub-4 hour marathon time. That's not my goal for this race, but it makes me want to run a nice, flat marathon in the spring to see what I've got then. Total mileage, including warmup, cooldown, and recovery: 5.03 miles.

Friday: Another easy relaxing run. I could feel my right quad talking to me, a little sore from the track workout, but not too bad. 3.25 miles at 9:24 pace.

Saturday: I was dreading this run: 16 miles with the mid 10 at marathon race pace. Running near the beach, there are sometimes little pockets of extra intense humidity. I hit one of those about two miles in, and by 2.25 miles I was drenched and ready to go home. I stopped at a beach access to reset my attitude, and by the time I started running again, the humidity was a little better. Picking up the pace to marathon goal pace wasn't too bad. My goal pace is 9:14, but I found myself running a little faster, more in the 9:06-9:10 range. Focusing on pace for so much of the run was tiring, as I normally love the opportunity to zone out and just run. Instead, I was constantly looking at my watch to make sure I was on target, and I knew the slightly faster pace I was gravitating toward would eventually catch up to me, as it did in the last couple of pace miles. I managed to maintain the target range for 10 miles, but it required a couple of convenient store stops for icy-cold water. I took a break when I got to the end of the 10-mile segment, and it was incredibly hard to get back running. By this time, the sun was high in the sky and the humidity was still brutal. My clothes were soaked through and my brand new shoes were squishing with every step. I took several walk breaks and turned off my Garmin during those breaks, so while I am certain I covered 16 miles when you include the walk breaks, my official total was 15.55. Average pace 9:24.

Even with a less-than-stellar long run, I'm feeling good about the training. I'm not quite half-way through the plan, and I am still feeling strong and most importantly, healthy. The upcoming week is heavy on speed training, which will be a challenge, but it's always a confidence-booster. And with Labor Day behind us, I can almost see the light at the end of this humidity-ridden tunnel that is called running in Florida.