Boston Training: Week 12 Summary

When I finished my 20+ miler at a 7:32 pace this morning, my legs said, "Oh, yes. Now we remember what a 67 mile week feels like." Actually, I feel really good. Nothing is particularly sore, just fatigued which will be helped by a day at the pool tomorrow. This was my highest mileage week and it is just a confidence booster for me. Do I NEED to put in that many miles? Maybe not. But, it makes me feel good. 

TOTAL:  67 miles

3/19 (Monday) - Pool Running 1.5 hours
The diving well was full of CAR pool runners (Allison, Cristina, Amy, Maria, Jessica and Ann) this morning. A lot of people are in recovery mode from last weekend's races. It was fun to talk about the weekend. Many different experiences in one race! 
3/20 (Tuesday) - 8 miles EASY AM
No intervals today as I recover from this weekend's race. I saw some pretty serious lightening along the Mt. Vernon Trail as I was headed toward DCA and right at the turn around point, it started raining - hard. It felt good, but I pretty much looked like a drowned rat when I finished.
3/14 (Wednesday) - 8.25 miles EASY AM; 5 mile EASY PM

My body feels really good, but I am just a little emotionally drained. I have some family stuff going on and it is hard to be away from home - especially as my parents are aging. I got some more easy miles in today though. Since I was feeling a little uninspired, I decided to listen to some music this morning. I turned around at Lady Bird Johnson Park and then ran into Mason, a CAR teammate who is also running Boston. I felt sloggish the first half of my run but running with Mason helped me to pick it up a bit and I felt good for the rest of my run.  Again, I was a bit grumpy and pouty tonight for the Fun Run, but the 5 miles felt great. My mood was lifted with the purchase of a new pair of speedy race shoes!

Do these look speedy?

3/22 (Thursday) - Pool Running 1 hour AM; 7 EASY PM
I joined Jessica Chin for a pool run at Washington & Lee this morning. She is a little firecracker of a runner and a great, supportive CAR teammate. I can't wait to see what she does in future races! Then, this evening I just did an easy 7 in the mid-summer-like March heat. Ha. We are having some crazy weather.
3/23 (Friday) - Tempo AM; Lunch Time Yoga
My tempo runs this training cycle have been confusing for me. I used to love tempo runs and my past couple have been pretty tough. Needless to say, I was nervous to see what I had in me for the one this morning. I wanted to focus on staying relaxed. One thing that was not relaxing me was my watch. It kept beeping. It has been doing this at the track lately. This beeping caused me to keep looking at it, which then kept me focused on the pace instead of on how I felt. After mile 2, I tossed my watch to the coach. Enough already. Even though I do think that a lot of my personal racing/training success over the past couple years can be directly attributed to being aware of my pace, I think it is holding me back now. It stresses me out and defeats me. I did a 4 mile tempo feeling pretty good the whole time in 29:16. Right on (or a little below) goal pace! This was a confidence building run. The shiny new speedy shoes didn't hurt either. I met Crystal, yet another CAR teammate, for Lunch Time Yoga at Pure Prana this afternoon. Crystal ran the full RNR marathon this past weekend and crushed it! The Yoga class was just what I needed. I would even almost classify it as a restorative class. Easy, nice, long stretches. I felt very refreshed after the class. I think I may have dozed off during Savasana which would explain why I felt so refreshed.
3/24 (Saturday) - 10 miles
I was excited that Amy was running 10 today. I like running with her. She manages the pace well. Also, I felt like I needed to be around some positive, uplifting running energy which she is always good for. We started at Fletcher's Cove and ran on the Capital Crescent Trail up to Bethesda. Even though it was only about 60 degrees, it was super muggy and I was drenched by the time we got to the turn around point. The tree pollen was also so thick. It made breathing challenging, but we still managed to have a really great run. We ran a little faster than what we had planned and that may have been my fault. I have been told two times this week to stop pushing the pace - which I appreciate because I don't realize I am doing it and I don't want to be a pain to run with. 
3/25 (Sunday) - 20.56 miles
This was the last 20 before Boston! Woo hoo! We lucked out with the weather. I thought we would get rained on, but it was pretty clear and cool the entire run. I started out with Melody and Dan joined us at about the 10 mile mark. I was determined to keep up with them until at least 14 miles. Miles 7-14 of the run, I really should be running about an 8:30-8:40 pace, but we were running in the 8:2Xs, a couple 8:1Xs and then one 8:0X. I felt good though. I think it may have caused me to run a little slower the last 1/3, but I still felt awesome and my last 5 miles were at or under race pace.