Home Again, Home Again

After about 5 weeks of being away from home (other than 24-spurts here and there), I was back home for a couple of weeks.

Now that I was home, there were fewer excuses not to hit my marathon training targets.  Because I had swapped the 6-mile and 14-mile weeks, I had to move straight into a 16-18-20 progression.

Tuesday, Jan 26:

4.0 in 28:41, 7:10 average.  I did my first speedwork session of the year (and of the marathon cycle).... it's about time.  This run was after a decent amount of dinner and a nap.  My legs were feeling a wee bit used and inflamed, but runnable.  I nearly didn't do the run, but I'm so glad that I did.  My legs felt great and poppy, once they got going, and I decided to go for it and see if I could manage an intervals session, and it worked!  I feel like I was waking up the beast.  4:02 warmup for 0.5 mi, 3x[0.75 mi in 5:00, 0.25 mi in 2:00], then 1:41 for 0.25, and 1:57 for 0.25.

Wednesday, Jan 27:

Another workout!  My leg muscles were craving some exertion, so I fed it with 5.0 of hill intervals in 42:38, 8:32 average.  Average incline was 4 degrees, by alternating 5 degrees with 3 degrees, every mile, then ending with 4 degrees.  3 degrees feels flat compared to 5 degrees!  In the last mile, I started feeling the effects of digesting dinner.  It took mental tricks to do that last mile.  

Thursday->Saturday, no running, to let my body recover from all of the travel, and my parents were visiting, which throws of my usual schedule.

Sunday, Feb 1:

I had to get in 16 miles that day, especially after phoning it in a bit with 2 of the long runs for Boston training already.  My dad came along, and walked on the trail, while I ran my 0.87 mile one-way out-and-backs.  16.0 in 2:13:46, 8:21 average.  My first legitimate-distance long run of the cycle.  No water or food needed, since I had a cookie and chocolate immediately before the run.  Score.

Monday, Feb 2:

60 min body weight strength session.  Used it to flush out the metabolic waste from the long run.

Wednesday, Feb 4:

New Kinvara 5 running shoes arrived.  Now that I'm putting in more mileage again, I need some new cushiony shoes.  Tested it out during this 6.0 in 49:52, 8:19 average, 3 degrees of incline = 7:41 effort.  Still stiffer than I would've liked... I liked the Kinvara 1's the best.  My feet also swelled up and got numb during the run.  It does have reflective material over lots of the shoe, though, which is cool.  I'll have to see if the swelling happens again next time.  For the first couple of miles of the run, I was struggling to not fall asleep while running!  So hard to keep my eyes open.  You know you're tired when you're almost falling asleep while running.

 

Thursday, Feb 5: 

So hard to get myself out of the door after a nap.  The run dragged on forever, but I had to get in a second run of the week, with a day to recover before a hopeful Saturday long run in Los Angeles.  If you want time to stand still, try running when you're really tired.  4.5 in 36:38, 8:08 average, 3 degrees of incline = 7:31 effort.

Off to LA!!!