Countdown to Ogden: Week 7

First things first! Don't forget to enter the ProFoot Miracle shoe insert & moleskin giveaway! I will contact/announce the four winners on Friday.

And now... recapping my first peak week for Ogden.

Ogden Marathon training, week 7

Monday:
Goal: Rest
Actual: Rest

Leave me alone, I ran 17 miles the day before. I also really needed to spend the evening with my former Nuun Hood to Coast teammate, XLMIC. We had some last-minute business to take care of. ;)

XL, me & late-night shenanigans

Tuesday:

Goal: 12 mi. w/ 7 mi. @ 7:25-7:35
Actual: 12 mi. @ 8:15

I couldn't do this workout. I don't know if it was too close to running hard on Sunday, but my legs wouldn't turn over. Instead I ended cruising at a casual speed and picked it up at the end, finishing my last few miles a hair under my MGP of 8:00.

Wednesday:
Goal: 12 mi. @ 8:30-9:00
Actual: 12 mi. @ 7:46

I did it! I switched a bunch of workouts around this week to accommodate social activities, and I knew that attempting back-to-back 12 milers would take a toll on me, if not just mentally. In the back of my head I wanted to re-try Tuesday's speed workout, but I also would be satisfied if I did the back-to-back double-digit days. Instead of starting with a couple warm-up miles, I tried starting fast to get the 7 miles @ 7:25-7:35 out of the way, and then end with a 5-mile cool down, so to speak. This ended up working out for me, and I cannot believe this workout happened.

7:29, 7:21, 7:25, 7:23, 7:27, 7:06, 7:26, 8:19, 8:31, 8:26, 8:13, 8:00

Thursday:
Goal: 5 mi. @ 9:00+
Actual: 5 mi. @ 8:56

I met up for a casual lunchtime run along the Embarcadero with PavementRunner, who just happened to set a MASSIVE PR at the U.S. Half Marathon last Sunday! He kept pushing the pace at lunch (okay, so it might have been me talking too much & not keeping an eye on my watch), despite me telling him I needed a recovery run... Thanks a lot, Pavey.

Friday:
Goal: 6 mi. @ 9:00+ pace w/ 6 x 100m sprints
Actual: 4.17 @ 8:37

I moved Monday's workout to Friday... and holy angry lead legs. Thursday's recovery run didn't seem to do much for me, as I could barely move my legs or motivate myself to run this. I ended cutting my run short to foam roll & chug a bunch of water instead. I had a long run with high hopes in store for the next morning, and that was more important to me. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Saturday:
Goal: 20 mi. @ 8:30-9:00

Actual: 20 mi. @ 8:06

TAKE THAT, LEAD LEGS!

A 20-mile PR!!!

I started off somewhat casually, but knew in the back of my head I wanted to hit some pace miles during this run. After two "off days" this week, I knew for my own sanity I had to push this run a little bit. I stuck to mostly flat terrain and tried to keep my pace hovering between 8:15-8:30 for the first half of my run. Once I hit the halfway mark, I tried picking it up a little more and move into the 8:10-8:20 range. With 5 miles left, I attempted to hit pace miles. I am not quite sure what Coach Z-Bar is going to say about incorporating some speed in this run, but it felt AWESOME. My legs felt a little tired but not defeated!

This was a very confidence-boosting run for me -- it makes me think that holding an 8:00 pace at Ogden will be a huge challenge, but perhaps not entirely impossible.

8:16, 8:14, 8:10, 8:22, 8:19, 8:14, 8:06, 8:01, 8:12, 8:13, 8:07, 8:20, 8:16, 8:11, 8:07, 7:54, 7:56, 7:59, 7:37, 7:40

Sunday:
Goal: 10 mi. @ 9:00+
Actual: 10.03 mi. @ 9:16

Nothing to this -- just a nice recovery run on a beautifully cloudy San Francisco day.

Overall, I finished week 7 with 63.20 miles of running. This week definitely had some low & high points, but overall I'm feeling good about it. I wanted 65 miles but I'll absolutely take this -- I do believe this is a new record-high mileage week for me, too. :) I'm going to be cutting the miles down next week to ramp up for peak week #2 right after that.

Just 5 more weeks until Ogden... and one more day until Boston! Good luck to everyone running! :)