Welp, the moment we’ve all I’ve been waiting for–RACE WEEK!!!
Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30
But first, last week’s numbers…
Monday, October 24th –5 Easy Miles @9:41 avg. pace
A little faster than “easy pace” miles with a friend. But like always, a good convo makes the run go by faster.
Tuesday, October 25th –8 miles: 1 mile WU, 5 miles @Strength Pace (w/400R), 1 mile CD
Strength pace is 8:35/mile and each mile of this workout was way faster than that. I have no idea how that happened. It was dark out when I started (at 4:45 in the morning) so I only saw my splits when the mile would beep. Each time, I would look in disbelief as I didn’t feel like I was pushing or working myself. I’d try to adjust, only to see the next mile be almost exactly the same.
I was running with a buddy who is usually meticulous with pacing but even he was off. We were just chatting along. It was cool to see this be a sort of conversation pace for me as I’d had had an awful training week the week before. Nevertheless, I knew that I should be more disciplined with my pacing so close to marathon day.
Wednesday, October 26th –Rest Day
Milked it. I knew I had a hard run the next day.
Thursday, October 27th –12 miles: 1 mile WU, 10 miles at Tempo/Race pace, 1 mile CD
I was a little worried about this run, not gonna lie. Last week’s tempo run was awful so I was going into this one not very optimistic.
But it went GREAT.
It was crazy o’clock in the morning again (4:30 start time) and I got in 3 miles on my own before meeting up with my run club. Then I ran with my Tuesday pacing buddy and it was deja vu. Each mile was faster than what it should’ve been and again, it didn’t feel hard. We chatted the entire way and then he left me on my last two miles.
This run was the confidence booster I needed. I was a little sad after last week’s struggles and this week’s two big runs (Strength & Tempo) had gone so well, it really helped ease some of the race anxiety I had already started to build up.
Friday, October 28th– Rest Day
This was an unexpected race day. I slept in with the intentions of running in the evening but then I remembered later that my book club had it’s monthly meet-up and that sounded so much better. I didn’t even feel guilty about missing a run.
Saturday, October 29th–8 Long Run Miles @9:22 avg. pace
I met up with my NYC training buddies for this run and it was just so much fun. Relaxed, social, and it flew by before I knew it.
Sunday, October 30th–6.2 Easy Miles @9:53
It was my Moms Run This Town’s Halloween run and by buddy and I made our own little 10k out of it 🙂
six point two witchy miles
Which brought me to a grand total of 39.2 miles for the week. I seriously can’t believe that race week is NOW. I’ve already started packing and mentally preparing myself–trying my hardest to keep the nerves at bay. I keep thinking about the bridges and the hills and getting scared, but I know I’ve worked hard and what’s done is done. All I can do is show up confident with my training.
I’ve never worked so hard in my life and I definitely know I’m a different runner than I was 5 months ago. Geeze…..5 months. FIVE months of training.
Holy cow.
–How do you keep the racing nerves at bay?
–It’s been 90 degrees+ here. There’s no way I can prepare for NYC weather.
(I realize that ^ wasn’t a question, lol)
–I’ve been hydrating like a mad woman, carb loading smartly, resting as much as I can–what else should I be doing?
