This is the seventh week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again.
Since last week was Return of the Triple Doubles, it seems that this week is the Twenty Mile Menace. Or maybe I should stop naming these after Star Wars Episodes (nah!).
Monday: 7 miles + 6 strides. One thing I meant to do was see if these were supposed to be 7 miles including the strides or if the strides were in addition to the mileage. Since strides don’t add a lot and I’m too lazy to change the workouts in Garmin Connect, it stays. Ran this in the park on what was not the hottest morning. Because of chafing, I used a belt pack for water (which I don’t like). 7.71 miles in 1:05:37 (8:31 min/mile pace). Began this one with form drills, ended it with some strength exercizes.
Tuesday: 12 miles. Since it wasn’t supposed to be a major thunderstorm in the evening, I took two miles off and ran 10, leaving two for a race. Also kept this in the park. Worse, I looked at my watch at 9 miles and I was somewhere around 81 minutes after a slow start. I thought “I can finish this in 90 minutes” and ran fast for the last mile. 10.12 miles in 1:29:33 (8:51 min/mile pace).
Tuesday Evening: 3.2k XC Race. Ran a modified NKU Valhalla course in 14:44. It was a tough race. It was very warm, and a zillion percent humidity. My PR for the unmodified course is 14:14, so lost a little. The humidity was so bad that as I looked down the course as some of the later finishers were coming in, I saw fog just rising up from a valley off to the side. I did win my age group (it looks like they’re using 5-year groups – two people in their late 40s finished ahead of me, but they were 47 and 48).
Wednesday: It was supposed to be 10 miles with 6 at HM pace, but since I ran a race last night, I decided to just go the distance and take it easy. I stayed in the park again (partly because I got up late). I decided to hand-hold water because I hate the belt pack. 10.02 in 1:28:05 (8:47 min/mile pace).
Thursday: easy day! Ran 5 miles in the park, with form drills before and strength after. 5.01 miles in 44:44 (8:56 min/mile pace).
Friday: long run. After getting in bed too late and up too soon, I ran 20 in the park and surrounding subdivisions (2 laps park, 4 laps in the larger subdivision, and 2 laps in the smaller, and then 2 laps in the park). I was not at all fast, although I did speed up a little as I continued. Fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gels at miles 7 and 14, and hydrated with water and lemon-lime Gatorade Endurance. 20.01 miles in 3:08:00 (9:24 min/mile pace). Wore my vest and got chafed again.
That’s it for the week. 54.8 miles. Most in a while. Hopefully these summer miles will make fall smiles!
Coming up:
Another tough week
Saturday 8/17: Bulldog Blast 5k
Saturday 9/21: Hudepohl 14k Brewery Run
Sunday 10/20: Columbus Marathon