The Training Week That Was... 3/24-30

A great week of training, and one during which I managed to do a good job adhering to the plan, except with Key Run #1 which was turned into a tempo run rather than speed workout due to my poor planning and inability to get to a track (inclement weather) or open treadmill (busy YMCA). Oddly, I really felt the training schedule adjustment in the workout two days later when I sensed a little sluggishness in my step. Lately, on days following a speed workout, I have a greater sense of revitalization in my tempo run which was absent this week.

All was forgiven during my long run (20 miles) on Sunday, as I began to employ once again the run-walk-run strategy and found myself going at comfortable pace. My pace (8:06) was one that, if I were to project the mileage and time out to the marathon distance, would find me only 3 minutes off my target finishing time of 3:30. (Still fifteen minutes of any hopes of a Boston Qualifying time--but that's not the goal in the race!)

By continuing to both train intelligently and avoid injury, I'm hoping to meet my marathon goal in eight short weeks!

In the recap below, the Key Run Workouts prescribed by the plan appear in parentheses. It is unclear what the total mileage I was scheduled to run this week is a little was, but I feel like I did pretty well:

Legend: R = Running, ri = recovery interval, ez = easy, mt = mid-tempo, wu = warm-up, cd = cool down, ez = easy

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: (Key Run Workout #1--10-20 min. wu, 2 sets of 6x400m, 400m ri, 5-10 min. cd) R 6.1 mi
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: (Key Run Workout #2--6 mi run: 2 ez, 3 @ mid-tempo pace, 1 mi ez) R 6.4 mi
Friday: Rest
Saturday: (Key Run Workout #3--18 miles) R 20 mi
Sunday: Rest

TOTAL--R 32.5 miles (+6.1 miles from the previous week)
Weigh-In*: 183.5 lbs. (-1.5 lbs. from previous week) [* @ 6:40 a.m. on 3/30]

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!