Boston Marathon Training-Week 15

Week 15

Monday
40 minutes on spinning bike (hr-127, easy recovery bike ride)
60 minute full body workout (including legs)  I did a lot of different squat and lunge variations.  I need to start incorporating more leg strengthening exercises in to my workouts.  I just don't want them to negatively impact the speed of my runs.

Tuesday

6.17 miles

7:23 pace

6.30 miles

7:17 pace

Two nice and easy recovery runs.  The pm run was insanely rainy.  It was probably in the mid 30s and was a very cold rain.  I ran right after work with what I brought, which was a cutoff t-shirt and shorts.  I love running in the rain, so I could have cared less.  Nice recovery day.

15 minute ab workout

Wednesday

16.00 miles

7:00 pace

Great mid week long run.  Probably a bit faster than I should have done, but I have been really trying to push the pace a bit now.  I am getting much faster and I think these mid-weeks runs are a huge reason why.

40 minute recovery ride (heart rate avg. 133)

15 minute ab workout

Thursday

6.13 miles (recovery run on the treadmill)

7:33 pace

I focused on form and maintaining a consistent pace.  This was the longest I have ever run on a treadmill.  I hate treadmills.

60 minute Upper Body Workout

Friday

12.25 miles (6 @ 6:38 pace)  

I just really upped the intensity this week.  The weather is getting nicer and a lot of times it just feels better running faster than at my general aerobic pace.  Weird.

Saturday

8.01 miles (w/6x100 meter strides)

This was a nice run with Jordan.  I ran a bit faster than I anticipated.  JBeezy is looking fast.  I love seeing people improve, it's awesome.

60 minute Upper Body Workout

15 minute ab workout

Sunday

22.50 miles (2:37:53, that's how long it took)

7:01 pace

15 minute ab workout
77.36 miles for the week (the most I've ever done!)

I decided that I was going to shoot for roughly a 7 minute pace, that is pretty quick for a long run, considering I am thinking of running around 6:45 pace at Boston (maybe quicker now, we'll see).  I really brought the pace in the 2nd half on my typical hilly route.  I could definitely feel my legs getting pretty drained from this one, probably just way too fast for a training run.  Lately, on some of my long runs I've just wanted to go crazy and run like 30 miles.  I think I'm going to after Boston.  This was my longest tune up long run before Boston and I'm feeling good about the possibilities in Boston.  I think I am capable of doing really well.  I just hope I can survive this taper.  I am now so used to running high 60 to mid 70 mile weeks and it's going to be hard running less than that for these next 3 weeks.  I've just got to keep my eyes on the goal.  During this taper it is important that I really watch my caloric intake, which will be hard because I have pretty much just been eating constantly during training, resist the urge to run a ton of miles and/or supplement running with biking and/or weightlifting, and lastly just be good to my body and let it recover and be fully ready to tackle Boston!

The Plan for Boston

Plan A-Sub 3 hours

Plan B-Sub 3 hours

Plan C-Sub 3 hours

Boston Marathon Training-Week 14

Week 14

Monday
40 minutes on spinning bike (hr-130, easy recovery bike ride)
60 minute upper body workout

15 minute ab workout

Tuesday

10.21 miles (w/6 x 600m repeats at 5k pace)

7:05 overall pace, heart rate avg. 153

I struggled to maintain 5k pace during this run.  It was very disappointing.  I should have ran must faster.  I am looking forward to getting to the track soon after Boston.

15 minute ab workout

Wednesday

14.01 miles

7:00 pace, heart rate avg. 148

Great run in the morning, however it was slippery and I was constantly slipping on black ice....fricken annoying.  Good overall run though.

50 minute recovery/quad workout bike ride (heart rate avg. 147)  I brought more intensity than normal.  I haven't been working my legs too much at the gym lately since I have really been picking up the mileage, so I wanted to give the quads a decent workout.

Thursday

8.30 miles (w/6x100 meter strides)

7:26 pace, heart rate avg. 142

60 minute Upper Body Workout

15 minute ab workout
Friday

5.10 miles (treadmill)  I focused on form and maintaining a constant pace.

7:32 pace, heart rate avg. 137

This is all I did for the day.  I really wanted to run more than this, but I held back because I wanted to do well at the 5k in the morning.

Saturday

Shamrock 5k

This was the unofficial start to the racing season around here.  It was great weather.  I was probably the only person wearing shorts and a cutoff t-shirt, but hey I'm crazy haha.  My expectations for this race were to pr and run a 17 something 5k.  I met my expectations, but I still feel like I could have done better and that I have so much more room for improvement.  I ran a 17:42 (well officially it said 17:44).  I haven't done much speedwork, but it's amazing what Marathon training can do for your 5k time.  I finished 6th out of 579 people.  

I ran a 1.5 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down then I drove to my parents neighborhood and ran 5 more miles.  I think I went overboard with that because I was pretty dead for my long run on Sunday.

10.61 miles total

60 minute Upper Body Workout

Sunday

20 miles

7:30 pace, heart rate avg. N/A (I didn't wear my HR strap because it hasn't been to accurate lately and it's annoying)

15 minute Ab Workout

Some days you don't have it mentally, some days you don't have it physically, some days you have both, and some days you have neither.  Today I had neither. Very disappointing run, even though before I ran I was already planning on running a 7:30 pace.  It doesn't happen very often when I just don't want to complete a run, but today was one of those days.  However, I had to get it done.  My legs were just dead from Saturday and I had been going pretty hard on my long runs the last few weeks.  Next Sunday however, I am planning on running 22 and at a 7:00 minute per mile pace.  I'll get it done.  Next week is also week 15, which means it's peak week (the last week before the taper and typically the highest mileage in the Marathon training).  I am hoping to put up high 70s for miles next week.  I will then follow week 15, with a taper.  My mileage for the remaining four weeks before Boston will be close to the following:

Week 14-68.23 miles (this week)

Week 15-76+

Week 16-62

Week 17-52

Week 18-32+the race