Marathon Training Week 13

Another week of marathon training is in the books. A lot of it was not very pleasant, and I am hoping that it's mostly the weather and the fact that I have just been having a low motivation week.

This week was also the highest mileage of this training cycle - 43.22 miles!

Monday: Cross Training. I was lazy and only did a half hour of yoga instead of the hour that I try to shoot for.

Tuesday: 5 miles. I took it easy after the half on Sunday, though I was surprisingly not sore. 5.09 miles @ 9:30 pace.

Wednesday: 8 miles. This run started out super slow, I was pretty much trudging. It was still hot out when I left the house, but once the sun went below the trees I was able to pick up the pace and finish a little stronger. 8.10 miles @ 9:32 pace.

Thursday: 5 miles. This run felt awful, I even walked for part of it. My watch was off - the park by our house is 1.1 miles from the house, it just is - my watch said 1 mile about halfway past the park. I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but it really bugged me at the time. 5 miles @ 9:55 pace.

Friday: Rest day. You know I'm great at rest days - get me a crown and call me the queen of rest days!

Saturday: 5 mile pace run. I should have checked the weather and the humidity level before I set out for this run. Maybe then I would have had more realistic expectations. Or, you know, I could have left earlier in the day, but you know that's not my style. The humidity made this way harder than it should have been. 5.03 miles @ 9:04 pace.

Sunday: 20 miles. My final long long run of the training cycle. I went without headphones and generally felt pretty good, other than on a few of the hills. My Wave Riders started to rub on the arch of my foot around mile 17, but luckily I didn't end up with a blister. And I'm also glad I wasn't planning on wearing those shoes on race day. It probably doesn't help that they have a ton of miles on them. 20 miles @ 10:26 pace.

I'll leave you with this stunning picture that the race photographer took on Sunday. I was really happy, can't you tell? I laughed when I saw it, and it's a good reminder to suck it up and smile at the finish line, no matter how the race goes.