Everything on this list--check, check, check AND CHECK. What's worse about the taper this time around is that, due to sustaining injury IN WEEK ELEVEN, I've basically been tapering for going on five weeks now instead of just this final week so I am seriously about to lose. my. mind. I have butterflies in my stomach. I can't stop wiggling my foot. I fret over every piece of food I put in my mouth. Weather.com is like a magnet to which I am drawn every 30 seconds (BTW I'm expecting everyone to do a rain dance Saturday morning at 7:30, okay?). My race outfit has been changed a zillion times and will probably change at least a dozen more between now and Saturday morning. I'm paranoid I'm not actually registered for the race (even though I am getting runner emails and my name has shown up all 5000 times I've checked the registration confirmation page). The amount of angst that went into planning my final week of training would have been funny if it wasn't so stressful. I deviated from the training plan I'm following (it seemed a little more intense than what I was comfortable with) and here's what I've got left:
Monday: 30-min spin (easy)
Tuesday: 1 mi easy, 3 mi @ race pace, 1 mi easy
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 2-3 mi easy
Much easier said than done! I hope the week flies by because my nerves can't take it.
Here's how the past few weeks have gone:
Week # 15
This was last week, the week before race week. During this week I went back to my regular training schedule, with the exception of switching around the "long" run and the tempo run.
Monday - Cross-train
Swim practice (1 hour)
30 min. core
Tuesday - Speed work
5 x 1000 w/ 400 m RI with 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown
30 min. core
I had company at the track for this workout, which was fun. Jeremy and Morgan came out to do their own workouts, and Keith did mine with me. The training plan called for the 1000s to be done in 4:09 (6:40 pace). I had back-to-back mishaps with using my watch properly (I'll spare you the lengthy explanation for what happened with the watch and how/why we ended up not really using my watch anyway), so the numbers for this workout are really skewed, but here's how it seemed to go:
4:03 (From Keith's watch--mine wasn't working the first interval)
4:12 (From my watch but not in interval mode--it didn't work right)
4:07 (From my watch in interval mode, but not starting/stopping with my watch)
4:10 (From my watch in interval mode, but not starting/stopping with my watch)
4:05 (From my watch in interval mode, but not starting/stopping with my watch)
This workout went pretty well. I was nervous about it because my first speed workout after injury (see below) was a little sketchy. For this one, my calf felt tight for the first two repeats, but then it went away. (Maybe my strategy for the marathon should be to speed up--ha!) The repeats never felt unmanageable and I felt pretty good afterwards--a little tightness in my hip/quad area on my bad leg, but nothing that stuck around.
Wednesday - Cross-train
Spin (1 hour)
30 min. core)
Thursday - 10 miles @ 8:03
Normally I do tempo runs on Thursdays, but I was a little concerned about running 10 miles at race pace just one week out from race day. (As I mentioned previously, I have really liked the training plan I've followed, but the last two weeks of training I found to be a little more intense than I was comfortable with, and so I've strayed from it a bit here at the end. Of course, I had to stray from it anyway while I was injured, so why I would even fret over it at this point is a mystery even to myself. ) Keith ran this one with me and I was really glad for the company. This run went really well, which I was really glad about because the previous week's 13-miler (which you'll read about below) was awful and I needed the redemption for a mental pick-me-up. Our splits were 7:59, 8:03, 8:05, 8:16, 8:01, 8:14, 8:00, 7:44, 8:07, 8:03 for an average pace of 8:03. My calf felt tight during a few middle miles, but there was no pain and afterwards the tightness did not linger.
I love getting hugs from this girl when I get home from my runs!
Friday - Cross-train
Spin (1 hour)
30 min. core
Saturday - Tempo
2 mi easy, 2 @ tempo, 2 easy
30 min. core
The run was supposed to be a 3-mile tempo @ 7:23, but much to my dismay my legs were really tired and I just wasn't feeling it. The mile splits for the run were 9:02, 9:02, 7:11, 7:29, 8:32, 8:58 for 6 total miles at an 8:22 pace overall. At first I wanted to fight for the pace and pull it out--but then I wondered why in the world I would expend that energy one week before race day when there was really nothing to gain from it. At this point in the training, nothing I do will do anything to help me gain fitness--by now I'm either in goal shape or I'm not. In fact, I debated whether to even attempt the tempo miles, for that reason--but decided I'd give it a go and just see how it felt. When I realized it wasn't happening, I just let it go and forced myself not to fret over it. Sometimes you just have to shake it off and move on.
Sunday - Semi-rest day
5-mile hike
20 min. core
Sunday was my husband's birthday! We celebrated by going on a 5-mile hike with the kids at Shaker Village. It was a perfect day for a hike--clear blue skies, sunshine, not too hot, the bugs aren't out yet--and we had a great time. My husband usually runs on these trails--this is where he did the majority of his training for the Yamacraw 50K, and he's done several of the races in the (Un)Pleasant Hill Trail Run series--so he enjoyed slowing down and taking in more of the scenery.
We also enjoyed Adam's favorite cake--my first attempt at baking German chocolate:
Week # 14
During this week I decided to give some of the runs on the schedule a try to see how things felt. I wanted to get a better feel for whether my leg was actually feeling better or not--and, I was getting really antsy about not running and just wanted some time on the pavement. However, I ultimately decided to ease back into any kind of speed or tempo paces on the treadmill--that way, if something went wrong and I needed to stop running, I wouldn't be stuck still having to walk back home from miles away. I also opted to switch some of the runs around, so that instead of jumping right into a speed workout I could do a steady distance at tempo and see how that went, then take it from there.
Monday - Tempo
1 mi easy, 5 @ tempo (7:35), 1 easy
7 total miles
I really eased into this run, starting at a 9:00 pace. I took it up a few notches every 200-400 meters until I was at an 8:20 pace to end the warmup. Things felt fine so I went into the tempo portion of the run, but was still cautious. The first tempo mile started at 8:00 for 400 meters, then 7:47 for 400 meters--testing the waters, so to speak--I wanted to make sure nothing crazy was going to happen at a faster pace before diving right in to the tempo pace--and finally settled in at 7:35. I kept waiting for something to start hurting, but everything felt fine. Since I was on the treadmill I stayed at 7:35 for the rest of the tempo--it was a bit of struggle the last mile or so, but I think that's because I was stuck on the treadmill and it seemed to be going so slow, not because the pace was hard. For the last mile I did a very easy 9:00-10:00 pace and actually walked the last .10 mile to be sure I was totally cooled down before getting off the treadmill. Then I spent about 10 minutes stretching. When I got home I did a 20-minute core workout. My calf was a little tight the next morning but no pain!
Tuesday - Cross-train
Swim
30 min. core
Wednesday - Pool run (2.25 hours)
This was a marathon pool session! This time I came armed with a swiMP3 player that had 1.5 hours of music loaded onto it--it really made a difference in how much more quickly the time passed! I had hoped to do 2.5-3 hours in the pool, to more closely mimic the time I would have spent on the 20-mile run I had missed, but it's hard to get that much time in a pool that matches your schedule. Wednesdays are the best days for me for pool running because I don't have to be to work until 2:00 p.m. on Wednesdays--but the pool doesn't open to the public until 11:00, and I have to be done by 1:30 in order to have time to shower and eat before going in to to work. So 2.5 hours was as good as it was going to get. I got in the pool right at 11:00 with every intention of staying in until 1:30, but as you can see I didn't quite make it. The first 1.5 hours flew right by thanks to the swiMP3 (thank you, Christy!!), but then it got a little repetitive. Plus, around 2 hours my IT band started to bother me a bit, so I decided not to push my luck. I feel like I got a really good workout, though, despite cutting it a little short. I think I finally got my form down and I had a higher turnover on "steps." Every few minutes I would count steps per minute and it was always in the mid- to high-140s. I'm still not sure if that would be a comparable road pace, but it was pretty tiring! A few times I counted 150s and once even 160-something! By the end I was definitely red-faced and sweaty and when I got out my legs were jelly.
Unfortunately, I began to have calf pain about 2.5 hours after the run. I had brought my ice packs to work with me and spent the evening icing while I worked.
Thursday - Swim practice (1 hour)
I normally don't go to swim practice on Thursday mornings because usually I do my tempo runs on Thursdays--but since my calf had been bothering me after my pool run I decided to push back Thursday's run (which would actually be a speed workout this time since I'd done the tempo on Monday) to Friday and cross-train instead. It felt nice to stretch out in the pool! Plus, my awesome friend and swim coach, Crystal, got to swim that morning with me which was fun.
Friday - Speed workout
I was a little nervous going into this workout because I was afraid it might be too much--but still, I had to try. I went into with the mindset that if anything started bothering me even a little, I would pull the plug. (I kept reminding myself that getting to the starting line is still the goal right now, and I wouldn't be able to do that if I injured myself again during a training workout.) The training schedule called for 5 x 800 @ 6:38 w/ 90 sec RI. I had wanted to do this on the track, but there was a meet that day and the track was busy with coaches and athletes prepping for the meet so after warming up on the track I went into the gym to do the actual workout on the treadmill. On the treadmill it was either 6:35 or 6:41, so I went with the 6:35 pace. The first few went pretty well, but during the third one my calf started to feel a little tight again. I probably could have finished the workout just fine, but I panicked a little and didn't want to risk it. Instead of calling it quits, though, I decided to run a few more 400s unless there was pain, in which case I would stop. So I finished the workout with 4 x 400 @ 6:22 w/ 400 m RI and a 1 mi cooldown. My calf still felt off during the 400s but it was never out-and-out painful. I did a lot of stretching afterwards and, again, more ice. The funny thing is, even though it was my calf that had bothered me during the run, it was my knee and glute that were throbbing afterwards. Lots of ice this night!
Saturday - Rest day
Saturday was a bit of a rest day. I'd not planned to do any running or cross-training but I hated to go another day without core, so I did a quick 30-minute core workout first thing in the morning. My husband was working that day, so the kids and I went to the Lexington Kite Festival and had so much fun! We met my sister and her family there and the kids had a blast running through the park fields, flying kites, and watching all the other kites in flight. It was a pretty cool sight to see all those different colors and shapes up in the sky! It was an absolutely gorgeous day with blue skies and sunshine and a light breeze so it was the perfect backdrop. After the kite festival we grilled out and made s'mores! Good times!
Sunday - Long run
13 @ 8:30
This was one of the worst. training. runs. ever. It was so ridiculously hot! I shot myself in the foot by sleeping in Sunday morning when the temps were still in the 50s and instead running around 1:00 p.m. when it was 75 degrees. I hate running in heat anyway, but this was especially rough because I started training in January and have been used to training in snow and nothing over 40 degrees. The first few miles felt fine but when I started getting hot I lost all motivation. The run was supposed to be at race pace (8:12), but I fell off pace pretty quickly and honestly had no desire to try and maintain. I just wanted to get the miles done. Not a good attitude, I know, but that's where I was mentally, unfortunately. I stopped every few miles for water and had an entire bottle of Sword at around 6 miles (at which point I also dumped a whole cup of ice down the front of my bra), but I was just beat. The really frustrating thing was that neither my calf nor my knee bothered me at all during this run! I just couldn't seem to muster the will or the energy to pick up the pace. Mile splits were 8:25, 8:25, 8:09, 8:24, 7:56, 8:24, 8:14, 8:57, 8:56, 8:26, 8:33, 8:59, 8:44. Ugh. It's definitely not the run I wanted just two weeks out from race day. In addition to this being my first truly hot run of the season, it was also my first "long" run in two weeks after being injured--so I tried to cut myself some slack, but it was a pretty big mental blow.
Two thumbs down for this run :(
Luckily, the next week of training went well and I gained back some confidence. And now, here we are in the final days leading up to the race! Wish me luck!!
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