Last week was a great running week. After the half marathon on Sunday, I wasn't sure how the week would go. I ran some easy miles towards the beginning as recovery and my legs were feeling good.
On Thursday I picked up the intensity and ran an 11 mile tempo run. If you've been following my blog you have seen that all my tempo runs have been windy and my last long run included 50 MPH headwinds. Thursday was no different! I set out along the river and planned to run 2 loops taking me past my car to grab a drink if needed. As I started on my warm up, I was being blown backward.....this was not a good sign! I realized that my planned loops would have me running the majority of the LT miles into the wind....you have got to be kidding me! I quickly started thinking about ways to avoid this wind and luckily I found a way. I finally caught a break on a tempo run and only had to run the last mile into the wind! The tailwind was helpful too making the 6 LT pace miles at an average pace of 7:57....not bad!! I finished with a 2 mile cool down.
On Saturday I ran my first 20 miler of this training cycle. I decided to meet up with some friends running Boston to run with their charity teams. I got to Fitcorp at 6:45am...too early for a Saturday!! It was cold (26 degrees) but sunny and the winds from Thursday and Friday had died down some. We loaded onto school buses and rode out to Framingham to about the 7 mile mark of the Boston Marathon. Getting up early was so worth it to have water stops every 2 miles and not have to carry my own water! As I started out, I was feeling good. I had to really be careful and conscious with my pace because I kept trying to run too fast. I ran the first half around an 8:55 min/mile pace and I was feeling great. I turned onto Comm Ave and started up the hills....still feeling great. I started picking up my pace slowly over the next couple miles and hit the last 5.5 miles at an average pace of 8:27. Overall my pace for the 20.5 miles was 8:40....my fastest long run ever! I probably pushed it a little too hard, but I was feeling so good I just wanted to keep going!!
Back at Fitcorp while stretching, it was fun to hear the first time marathoners talking about their first 20 miler. I remember how excited Janette, Steph, and I were when we finished that run this time last year. Coming through Wellsely, I was runing behind a group of three girls....a blond and two burnettes (just like us) and they were gabbing away (again, just like us!).....it reminded me of my girls and how great it was to share that experience with them.
On Easter Sunday, Bryan and I slept in some (much appreciated!!), headed to church, and then out to brunch. We took it easy during the day doing some much needed spring cleaning around the house. Later in the afternoon we headed out for a recovery run together. I told him it would be a slow run and that I was planning 5 miles. It was such a beautiful day out and Bryan decided to run the whole thing with me.....that's the longest he ran in a while so I was very proud of him!
I am definitely feeling stronger now than I have at this point of training in the past. I have a recovery week on my schedule for this week and I am very excited about it! Things are going well now, but I need to make sure not to push too hard on the long runs and leave my marathon on the training course.
Total miles for the week = 54.15 miles
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