This week was 62 miles of running, 17 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
This was my first week of marathon training. I felt sluggish and run down for a lot of this week, which I initially attributed to poor recovery from the Houston Half. As I think about it more, it's also due to an uptick in land mileage this week. My four weeks previous had been 42 miles, 53 miles, 38 miles, and 39 miles as I rested and tapered and raced and recovered. And my only long run during those four weeks was the Houston Half.
When you look at it that way, it's no surprise that I'd feel a bit tired from bumping my mileage back up to my norm and adding in long runs again. I didn't feel awful though, and I've been sleeping well, which are indications that this was the "good" tired - a temporary symptom of increased workload. Insomnia and difficulties focusing at work are the warning signs that I'm overdoing stuff and need to back off.
I did feel better as the week progressed, and by Sunday I felt pretty good, with a solid long run that felt very controlled. So that was nice.
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I'm targeting Boston as my spring marathon, which requires runners to wake up fairly early to catch a bus, only to wait for several hours at the start line before starting at 10 or 10:30 am. More than one of my teammates who have run Boston have told me that they regretted not practicing the long wait/late start. And more specifically, how to eat in preparation for a race with a 10 am start but an early bus ride.
So, I decided to learn from their example, and practice the late start. This weekend's long run made sense to use as practice - 16 miles is long enough to test my eating plan (i.e. did I have enough energy? Did I need to make stops mid run?), but short enough that the late start wouldn't mean committing my whole Sunday to long run and recovery.
On Sunday I woke around 5:30 to take my asthma meds and eat my "first breakfast." I then hung around home for a while before eating "second breakfast" around 8:15 am. Then started my long run at 10:15 am.
This worked very well from a digestive standpoint. However, I did feel sluggish at the start of my long run, which I attribute to eating too much sugary stuff plus a bit of caffeine for my first breakfast - 4 hours was just long enough for the sugar/caffeine to wear off, resulting in a crash. So now I know - first breakfast needs to be light on sugar and caffeine, saving that stuff for closer to race start. I'll probably use my second 16 miler at the end of the cycle to test this out.
Dailies:
Monday: Yoga and 6.5 "miles" pool-running; foam rolling at night..
Tuesday: 11 miles, including 2000, 4x800 in 7:46, 3:02, 2:58, 3:00, 2:57. Followed with injury prevention work and 1250 yards of recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:06) to yoga, yoga, and then 6 miles easy (9:05), followed by drills and strides. Foam rolling at night.
Thursday: Upper body weights and core plus 10.5 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 10 miles, including a 4 mile tempo in 25:58 (6:43/6:30/6:24/6:22). Followed with injury prevention work and 1250 yards of recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 10 miles easy (8:45), followed by drills and strides, and then upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.
Sunday: 16 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles averaging 8:45 pace; next 5 averaging 7:38; last 6 averaging 6:48. Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling in afternoon.
I do remember the eating thing to be a little weird for Boston. I don't exactly remember what I did, but it involved two breakfasts and didn't work out great anyway. The whole 10am start thing was just strange for my body in every way.
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