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Monday, September 19, 2016

Marathon training, week 11

Training for Twin Cities Marathon, October 9:

Monday: 9.8 total. This was 3x2 miles on the Chicago Lakefront! It was 80 degrees and full sun at 3 pm, but it felt so cool and delicious to me. This was the second week in a row with speed work on a windy beach! 13:27, 13:30, 13:25. The lakefront had perfectly positioned fountains so I could drink some water between repeats. 
Tuesday: Off.
Wednesday: 12.25 total. This ten mile tempo started out rough: I was up very late on Tuesday finishing school after flying home, and the return to humidity hit me hard. But I pushed through and, to my surprise, felt better by mile three. 7:12, 7:20, 7:11, 6:59, 7:09, 7:12, 7:08, 7:12, 7:09, 7:09.
Thursday: easy.
Friday: 10 easy. 
Saturday: 16 at 7:49 and felt like the worst thing ever. I left the house at 7:30 and it was 100% humidity. It got better when the sun rose all the way, but I was still sweating insanely. I took my shoes off and squeezed my socks out three times because the squelching was driving me crazy. One thing that's worrying me about Hanson's is that these long runs have all felt hard - and they're only 16 miles! I am particularly worried about hitting the wall, because I have problems with running out of fuel already. And every long run I've had to eat something. Normally I don't need any fuel for 16 miles if I'm working up to it, but with so few long runs and just ten mile long runs every other week, my body isn't trained to use alternate fuel efficiently. This was my last long run, although taper doesn't actually start until just ten days out from the race: yikes. 
Sunday: 7 easy. Eighty-four degrees, 84% humidity. So in other words, almost fall. Ha. 
Total: 61 miles.

Ack, I feel so unprepared for this race. Why does it feel so tough to do 16 miles? Why am I tired? Why did I decide that two of the most work-intensive MBA classes should be taken together during a 7-week session while I am also wrapping up marathon training? 

3 comments:

  1. Something I remember reading about the Hanson plans is that they're always like, "Remember, the 16 miles you run on your long run is supposed to feel like the LAST 16 of a marathon, not the FIRST 16." No idea if that really ends up being true or not. Anyway, I'll be super curious to hear how your race goes with this plan!

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  2. It's so hard to trust a new training plan. I'd be super paranoid if I was you as well but you have to just trust that you are properly trained. I really hope that you feel great on race day. The weather conditions SHOULD be wonderful as usually it's cool with low humidity in October.

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  3. I can imagine your anxiety, I'd probably be dying to do just one 20+ run, but you've got to trust the training. I know it's worked for others and you're a strong runner, so I have no doubt it will work for you.

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