I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’m on week 9 of 18 in my slightly modified Pfitz 18/55 plan. The marathon is on April 28, 2019. I’m a few weeks into the Lactate Threshold + Endurance Phase.
Monday: Recovery 8 miles. Not really sure what I’m supposed to be recovering from, but I’m building an office in my basement so I was recovering from sanding drywall. 8 cold miles in the park and subdivison next to it in 1:11:21 (8:54 min/mile pace).
Tuesday: 8 miles with 5 x 800m @ 5k pace. They say if your goals don’t scare you, you’re doing it wrong. The goal pace for these kinda scared me – 6:55 – 7:15 min/mile. Ran at the park at lunch, nailed the paces (6:51, 7:01, 6:48, 7:11, 6:54 min/mile). Then, on the cool down, I tossed my gloves near a playground next to where I park for the last half-a-lap or so. By the time I returned, they were gone 😡🤬 . They weren’t great gloves, and I hope some do-gooder didn’t take them to the township building (I really don’t want some innocent person smelling those things). Overall, 8 miles in 1:05:01 (8:08 min/mile pace). And better replacement gloves ordered.
Wednesday: Recovery 5 miles. It was a clusterfuck of a day that started off with weather too cold for old gloves. I went running before lunch and stayed in the subdivision. Of course I didn’t give myself enough time to do what I needed around lunchtime, but that’s another story for another blog. It was warm and sunny, though, which was nice. 5 miles in 42:50 (8:33 min/mile pace).
Thursday: 8 miles + 8 strides. It was a little chillier, and gloves were a necessity. I waited as long as I could before ultimately taking my throwaway gloves and going up to the park. I ended up running in the ice rain, which starts to sting after a while. 9.12 miles in 1:16:26 (8:23 min/mile pace).
Friday: 14 miles. I had to pick up my Bockfest packet, so I went downtown and ran everyhwere I used to run – Friendship Park, Sawyer Point, Smale Park, Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, Covington Riverfront, Suspension Bridge, Purple People Bridge, and the Taylor-Southgate Bridge. 14.15 miles in 2:04:58 (8:50 min/mile pace).
Saturday: Bockfest 5k. Had to get to Bockfest early because of part of Wednesday’s clusterfuck – I had to drop off beers for a homebrew competition. After getting the bottles where they needed to be, I found a place in the tent to hang around and talk with a homebrewer from my club. The race went without a hitch (from my point of view, at least). No PR likely because of the long run yesterday. Alexandria Brewing Slayerator and Schoenling Bock for the after-race libations. 3.1 miles in 23:15 (7:30 min/mile pace).
Overall, that’s 47 miles for the week, nothing to sneeze at. The year’s shortest month, February, came in at 179.2 miles, which is probably my longest ever. Next week will be an interesting one, culminating with a 20 mile run next Friday.