Colfax Marathon Week 9: Halfway There

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!!!

I have reached the halfway point of my training plan. That means the Colfax Marathon is less than 9 weeks away and while I’m certainly not ready to go out and run it tomorrow, I do feel like running it is possible… eventually. I had a great week of training with the highest mileage I’ve ever run. I hit my paces, kept things feeling strong, and ate like everything ever in my house. Seriously, marathon training is bad for my food bill.

In all honesty, I feel like the time has passed way too fast. When I started training, the race felt forever away, but now it’s coming up. My first 20-miler is in about two weeks and things are getting real. In reality, I only have 4 more runs left that are over 14 miles before the taper. It’s amazing how much my definition of “running really far” has changed during this training cycle.

Monday: 6 miles Goal MP Tempo

This was a pretty uneventful run. I kept it at the right pace and it felt easy and short. I went around town and dragged Frank out with me for 3 miles of it. I was still a little sore from the backpacking trip, but my legs warmed up really fast and the soreness went away right after the run. I did some yoga after to keep myself from feeling too tight. That was it. Easy peasy.

Tuesday: 6.2 Hills + Some intervals

I was planning on doing an easy run, but I woke up feeling great. I decided to go out and do some hills and intervals. I warmed up for about a mile, went up and down a pretty sizeable hill four times and then did some intervals on tired legs. I ran around a park near the hill that is just over a quarter of a mile and used that as the interval. I ran 4 times around at a comfortably fast pace (we’ll call it 5k pace) and in between ran around the park at a very easy pace. I managed a negative split on the intervals with my final interval being the fastest, which was impressive given how tired my legs were feeling from the hills. I ran home to cool down.

Wednesday: 6 miles easy

This was just a chill run at a chill pace. I didn’t feel sore from the day before, so this felt nice and easy. I decided after to go to my friend’s fitness class, where she subsequently kicked my butt using kettle bells. I must say, I was not meant to be a weight lifter! I did some yoga after to stretch out so I wouldn’t be sore the next day.

Thursday: Rest! Did some yoga though

 Friday: 8 miles Goal MP Tempo

I went for a 1 mile warm up and then did 6 miles at goal MP. There were some hickups here or there because I was going over a hilly area of town, but I basically kept the pace controlled and close to pace. In the middle of the run, my mom called, so I talked to her while I ran. I’m pretty sure everyone running by thought I was insane, but whatevs. It’s like having a running partner when you run while talking on the phone!

Saturday: 16 miles LSD

Always the most important and hardest to get out the door run of the week. I went out in the morning despite the gloomy weather to check out some new terrain around town. I went down a few roads I had never seen, which turned out to be kind of hilly. Overall, it was a pretty good run, however, I did have a weird pain in my foot. I decided afterwards to retire the shoes (I have no idea how many miles were on them) and switch them out for the shiny new pair in my closet. So far, everything feels great again!

Sunday: Rest – Went camping Saturday night and hiking Sunday morning!

Total Mileage: 42 miles (Holy Cow!!)

So there you have it! I had my biggest week yet and it is followed by another big week… but so far everything is going great. Luckily I do have nice cut back coming up and I am looking forward to it!

How has your St. Pats day been? Do you have plans to celebrate tonight (I will be hanging out with a few friends as their DD, since I am afraid any amount of alcohol is going to completely derail my training)?