This is it! The final week of training is on. Erie marathon is Sept 8th, so close! I don’t have many workouts on my calendar for the upcoming week. Let’s recap what I did last week! The miles were cut this week. Woohoo taper, right? Nothing left to do other than exist in bubble wrap mode, and reflect on my training successes (ignore those failures!!) and previous marathons for a potential race day strategy.
- Miles run: 35.2
Monday – 5 easy miles. Getting up in the dark is getting to be a grind. Why do we have to lose that summer early morning sun?? I’m trying to finish out my training runs for Erie outside as much as I can, so it was another glowy vest day.
Evening run? NOPE! I skipped our Ready for the Race training group due to school open house.
Tuesday – 6 miles, intervals, treadmill. As these final weeks before the race are happening, my training plan is getting kind of sketchy. Not sure I want to stick with the rest of my plan, or hop back to what I did back in 2014 & 2015 when I BQ’d at Erie. Seems like it must have worked then, so why not repeat it?? I had some short, fast intervals on my schedule, but I bailed on that because I don’t want to anger the hammies. I decided to just run some random ½ mile intervals with ¼ mile recovery. Good enough!
Wednesday – 3.5 easy miles. I’ve been struggling with feeling run down this week, and this morning I felt pretty decent waking up. Although my cat woke me up at 5:22am when my alarm was going to go off at 5:30am. Ugh. Come on, you’re killing me!!! The cat is going to be spending the night in the laundry room very soon if this behavior continues. The moon was an amazing little sliver and the stars were out. I’m glad I got out the door in the dark!
Amazing sunrise after that beautiful moon!
Evening run – 1.7 miles. The regular training plan was tackling hill repeats tonight, I asked to be put with the beginners instead, who were doing run/walk, with no hill. Can’t risk twisting an ankle on the hill or angering my hamstrings at this point! Glad I did. The runners looked like they were working hard!
This popped up in my social media feed today. So timely 😉
Thursday – 7 miles, pace miles. I ditched my workout which was supposed to have fartleks during it. No thanks. So, I opted to just make this a faster pace run. Avg pace was 8:36. Very good! But…. exhausting. Am I asking too much of my body to run a marathon at 8:53 pace? Maybe so. Fun part of my run – I was trying out a new sports bra. It’s really comfy, but it was bit warmer than my current bras. I got overheated!
I even made it to the gym to lift some weights this afternoon. Felt good to pump some iron 🙂
Friday – 12 miles “long run”, 9:06 avg pace. Earlier in the week I was stressing a little about my upcoming marathon, so I booked a running date with my friend. We haven’t ran together since our Glass City marathon training back in March. It was great to catch up with her! The miles went by very fast, and I was surprised to see a decent pace. Wish she was running with me at the race!
Saturday – Rest day! My only athletic achievement for the day was running over to see my daughter racing at her cross country meet! The girls varsity squad did well again – they took 2nd place in a tough meet. Woohoo!
Sunday – Rest day again!! Nothing going on today. We all slept in at our house which made my kids pretty happy 🙂
I ended August up with 189.8 miles for the month. That’s pretty random! I’m glad I just figured that out or I probably would have pushed that to 200 for the month! I guess the next time you hear from me I’ll have completed marathon #14. I hope to be sharing some great news with you then!!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Kick butt in Erie! Hopefully we are both happy after the race!
I sure hope so!!! 🙂 We can do it!
Cheers to race week! I’m excited for you. I love that the temps are cooling down but the reduced daylight is depressing. Have a great race! I think 8:53 is totally doable for you. 🙂
Some days I think the race pace is doable, and a lot of days I think it’s totally nuts! 🙂
I can’t even imagine running that many miles in one month.
I think a lot of us are feeling run down. SInce I can’t claim high mileage, must be the changing season.
LOL about the bubble wrap. I usually want to be put in an actual bubble before a goal race so no one can breath on me. 🙂
This week I won’t even wear high heels to work. yikes! That’s how serious I am!! I’ve been thrilled to be able to keep up with the mileage. A few years ago it would have been doubtful.
Good luck in Erie! I love that course. Two absolutely flat loops with plenty of aid stations. I ran my first BQ there; although, as we know too well, in a cruel twist of irony, my BQ was about 17 seconds over the cut for 2015. Hope you smash your BQ by at least 5 minutes. When I first started chasing the unicorn, a BQ actually WAS a BQ. Those days are gone forever.
I think 3:53 is the best I can hope for, which was my PR back in 2014 & 2015. So that’s the best day scenario I’m shooting for. Also hoping that would be enough over my BQ time of 3:55, so that’s another gamble. I just don’t realistically see me going faster than that. I’m thinking that with the new times the cutoff will be lower again!
WOW, that monthly mileage! I marvel at people who can do that because my body wouldn’t be loving me much LOL Thankfully, the low/moderate mileage is my jam. It’s exciting that your race is almost here!!! Wishing you all the best as you spank that 8:53 pace!
Thanks! I thought 6 days a week of running would drive me into the ground at the beginning of the year, but overall I think it’s really worked out well. My hamstrings seem to like the consistency of moderate load.
Woohoo! So excited for you! I have enjoyed following your marathon training journey on your blog. I know you’re gonna crush the Erie Marathon! 🙂
Thanks for the positive thoughts!! I need them 🙂 I’ll be thinking of all of my blog friends out on the course.
Good luck at Erie! I can’t wait to hear all about your race.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie recently posted…Weekly Eats: Adults Only Edition
Another great week and month for you! Sounds like you are ready for next weekend. Good luck and have a fantastic day out there
You are so ready for your race! Good luck!
angela @ happy fit mama recently posted…Last Week’s Workouts
Looking forward to hearing how you do in Eerie! Fingers crossed you get that BQ! Rooting for you 🙂
My reply has vanished again! A good week, best of luck for your last taper week and the RACE.
Liz Dexter recently posted…Sedate lady running 26 August – 01 Sept 2019 #amrunning #running
Another great week of training for you! Good luck in your race- can’t wait to see how it goes!
Wow! You’ve really crushed this training cycle. Good luck on the race and fingers crossed for that BQ!
Enjoy this week of tapering before the big event!
Good luck in your race.
I chuckled at your bubble wrap comment 😉 You are ready for this – best of luck! Looking forward to hearing all about the race!
You had a great month with that mileage! I am a huge fan of taper time. Run 3 miles and not 6? Definitely. 🙂 Good luck in your race and I look forward to hear about it.
Zenaida Arroyo recently posted…Tuesday Topics: My Fall race schedule
Good luck on Sunday! I’m sending lots of positive and speedy thoughts your way!
Debbie @ Deb Runs recently posted…Catching Up Over Coffee: Plastic Surgery, Missed Ubers, and Airplane Detours
Thanks!!
I feel like being exhausted in the final cycles of marathon training is normal. You’re pushing your body hard! I hope the race goes well for you!
As for the cat, I totally get it. Mine likes to wake me up right before my alarm all the time. Or if I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night he thinks its time to play. Sometimes he spends the night in the guest room when I really need to sleep.
Montana @ Pretty Lil Mudder recently posted…St Pete RunFest Dolphin Double Training Week 2: 8/26 to 9/1
For some reason, I could not comment on your marathon post, but I seriously would think about running another marathon this fall. You already are trained up, you already put in the work. Look for something with cooler temperatures and lower humidity. Worked for hubby and me! I BQ’d 2 months after an absolute disaster marathon.
WordPress is not behaving! I do have a half marathon in 5 weeks, so I’m hoping the work will pay off there. I’m still licking my wounds from Erie, not in redemption mode quite yet 😉 I’ll give a few weeks!