Weekly Workouts 12/30 - 1/5 (Marathon Training Week 16)

Another week of training down! I feel like a broken record, but I honestly can't believe how fast the last 16+ weeks have gone by. I never thought I'd say this, but marathon training has truly been fun. I don't know how soon I'll want to do it again, but it has definitely been worth it. I'm so excited that the marathon is getting closer and closer!

This week was my first week of taper. My max mileage weeks were weeks 11 and 15 at ~37 miles, and this week was 26. Not a huge decrease in mileage, but enough that I was like, "This is...easy?" Welcome to the the point of tapering, I guess. I managed to only freak out a little bit on Tuesday/Wednesday. I have to admit that by Thursday I was thankful for the not super crazy mileage.

My week looked like this:

Monday: 5 way-too-fast miles at 8:58 pace.

Tuesday: an (eventual) hour on the trainer after some technical difficulties + weights and working on a pull-up!

Wednesday: 4 moderate miles at 9:49 pace. Not the 10:00 pace I was going for, but close.

Thursday: same story as Wednesday, but 5 miles this time.

Friday: REST!!! :)

Saturday: So strange not going to bed at 9pm the night before, not being awoken by a 4:30am alarm, not leaving the house as the sun comes up. Just strange. Since I only had 12 miles - there I go again with the "only", hahaha - on the schedule, I didn't think it was necessary to get up and do my usual routine. I would have, but not having to gave me the flexibility to go watch/help my husband teach 15 7-12 year olds about computers and circuits:

Photo credit: 757 Makerspace

And going later in the day meant I was able to get these two to join me:

We did 12 miles with no pace goals (and no planned route...hence how we ended up running the tallest bridge in the area). I really didn't fuel or prepare for this run at all. Our pace ended up being 10:47 per mile - factoring in running across and back over the bridge, making a few stops to shed layers and pee, and my lack of preparedness, that's not too shabby!

Sunday: Yoga for Runners + weights

And so begins the big taper week and my last full week of training. This week is really it, as next week will be spent running a little bit here and there and getting ready for race day! 12 days to go!