I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’m on week 7 of 18 in my slightly modified Pfitz 18/55 plan. The marathon is on April 28, 2019. I’m two weeks into the Lactate Threshold + Endurance Phase, and it feels like 💩 just got real… again.
Monday: 7 miles + 6 Strides. Ran in the township park, keeping mostly on the pavement. Since it’s one of the two shortest runs this week, I did my form drills (that I normally do on Tuesday and Thursday… which are normally the shortest days of the week) and skipped squats (I’ll do those tomorrow and Wednesday on the two longer-but-not-longest days). 7.71 miles in 1:07:16 (8:43 min/mi pace).
Tuesday: 12 miles. Like I said, shit got real. This felt more like a swim through East Fork Lake State Park than a run. There was a torrential downpour the entire time, and half of Williamsburg Community Park was underwater – that’s where I tend to turn around. I did see more wildlife than normal – a few deer and a rabbit. 12 miles in 1:47:00 (8:55 min/mile pace).
Wednesday: 10 miles w/ 6 miles at HM pace. The rain finally went the 🤬 away, to be replaced with cold and wind. There was a tree across the path at the township park (and it was immobile – I tried to move it). Ran around the park and the subdivision next to it. 10.2 miles in 1:23:00 (8:08 min/mile pace). The 6 miles was at a 7:49 min/mile pace, which is the upper end of where I wanted it. The first 2 miles felt good, it did start feeling tough after that, but I wasn’t sprinting and it was manageable.
Thursday: 5 miles. Kept it in the subdivison, and ran at lunch. I got up to run in the morning but decided to hold off until it got warmer. It was warmer, but windy. I wasn’t trying to go fast knowing that tomorrow is a 20 mile run, but my watch kept clicking off mid-8 miles. 🤷♂️. 5.02 miles in 42:31 (8:28 min/mile pace).
Friday: 20 miles. With my truck being basically broke down, I ran in my subdivision, the neighboring two, and the park. The run started with 50-degree weather that got colder as I continued, down to maybe 45. Within the first few miles I started noticing a very strong wind that normally was pushing against me. It was not my fastest run, but it was largely good otherwise. The weird thing was clicking off an 8:25 mile 19, which may have been partially fueled by flipping off and yelling at some asshat in a Kia Soul that passed me very close. 20.1 miles in 3:03:55 (9:09 min/mile pace). I’m kinda disappointed in going slower than 2:57 for that 20 miles, but looking at Wednesday and Thursday, it’s fine.
Post 20 mile selfie. 
The mud from going from subdivision 2 to 3…
The week total is 55 miles. That’s A LOT of miles! In a few weeks, I’ll have another 55 mile week (that might hit 5 miles). After that week are a few miles in the low 50s, and then I start going down in volume for tapering. This is a tough plan! 🍻