Marathon Monday

For the remainder of this training cycle, I thought it would be fun to recap marathon training on Mondays. It gives me a regular deadline and it gives you something to look forward to on Monday mornings.

Monday - 5 mile easy group run
Tuesday - rest day, bike commute to work
Wednesday - am strength circuit, 75 min run
Thursday - Speed work: 6 x 1000m with speed play
Friday - 22 min short & easy run, 20 min strength - burpees/squats circuit, push ups, etc.
Saturday - 17 mile long run before yoga, bike commute downtown
Sunday - Blackberry bRamble 62 mile ride (supported cycling event) + 2 mile run w/ friend after

Miles run: 40

I'm always kind of shocked when a running pic turns out.

Last week was a pretty tough one in terms of training. I threw a few different things into my schedule, which were challenging.

1. I decided to run a mid week longer run. So Wednesday after work, I dropped the car off with the manfriend with the plan of running about 75 minutes and ending up at home. While 8 ish miles doesn't seem all that bad on a weekend, after a full work day and feeling particularly exhausted and hungry, it wasn't a walk in the park.

2. I signed up for the Blackberry bRamble bike ride, which required me to fit my long run in on Saturday. And because I love Kira's yoga class so much, it required me to start my long run at 6:15 am. #youch! Luckily, this run felt pretty good until the last few miles and even then my pace didn't tank.


Running at 6 am also allows for a peaceful meandering through town with little car or foot traffic to be seen. 

3. I rode 62 miles after pretty much not riding at all for at least a month other than a little bike commuting here and there. Felt pretty strong most of the ride by some miracle. But now, the knees and body are pretty much wiped.

Blue is my favorite color, in case you couldn't tell. 

The Challenges
Training this much means I'm always hungry. It also means I tend to overeat because I probably think I'm hungry when I'm not. Marathon training is always a constant battle of trying to stay fueled, but not too fueled. There were definitely days where I just felt heavy and blah this week.

Additionally, this amount of exercise often has me on the verge of a cold after long, hard weekend efforts. It's like balancing on a tight rope to make sure I get my long run in, but then take care of myself. And what does that mean? Lots of water, smart food choices, legs propped up AKA don't do a million other things the day of my long run, and ideally some napping.

This week will probably be a bit of an ease back week for me so I can stay healthy. I know I need it whether or not I want to. 

How was your week? Anyone else feel like you need a weekend to catch up from your weekend?

P.S. The manfriend rocked his first ultra relay clocking in 36 miles! Their team came in 1st of 11 ultra teams and 14/175 total teams with a time of 28h 40m 53s for 216 miles total. Wowzas!

Comments

missris said…
I love your biking outfit, and I'm seriously impressed with all your various activities this past week!
Tasha Malcolm said…
Great training week for you! I am impressed that you still wanted to run after a long bike ride like that. I would have skipped the run!
You look great in that running action shot. I miss my Monday training recap posts. I am starting to feel like I will NEVER run again. No, really. Not even being dramatic. I can't even walk pain free now as my 'good' foot is now acting up. Probably due to over compensating for my weak one. Who knows.

Anyways, enough about me! You got a great week of training in. i can't wait to watch you and the man friend on race day!

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