Sunday, July 25, 2010

Marathon Training Week 9 of 23

Week nine was good. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night so on Monday morning I completely blew off my 50-min run. But the rest of the week was marvy! If you remember last week I was lamenting how much I hate the cross-training thing. Well, this week I did it all. I'm glad. I still don't like it, but I'm glad I did it.

Highlight of the week: Again, it was the long run. Because of my "run a mile, walk a minute" strategy, my long runs are actually a wee bit longer than they would be. Since you're already here reading this (week 9, *and* you made it this far down the page) I'm sure you will want to know the details -- so here they are. When I ran my last half-marathon in the run-a-mile-walk-a-minute plan, it was 13.1 miles, like all half-marathons are. When you cross the finish line, you're done. But yesterday my "12 mile" long run was more than just a 12-mile course with a finish line. It was, to me, an opportunity to do 12 run-a-mile-walk-a-minute repeats. So, with the 5 min warmup and 5 min cooldown walks, plus the 12 walk-a-minutes, my overall distance was just over 14 miles. That's the farthest I've ever propelled myself on my own two feet. And the last 2 miles were negative splits! My last mile was under 9:00!

Challenge of the week: It was hot, but I hit the road around 0615, so it wasn't too bad. I stayed well-hydrated and felt really good the whole run. Until about 1/2 mile into the 11th repeat when my nipples just couldn't take it any more. (Sorry for the blunt image to the side of your brain -- I'm quite sure you weren't really expecting me to talk about my nipples, but there they are in all their chapped glory). I use body glide, and am glad I do. But I've long suspected that I use too much -- since many of my tech shirts have big dark stains that look like I'm lactating. So yesterday I used the body-glide sparingly...a little *too* sparingly. So since I was otherwise feeling good, and even though I don't have the bod to go running around town without a shirt (although I am proud of the changes I've made) I went for it and figured I'd do the last mile-and-a-half shirtless. It felt great! Until I looked at my watch and it said "08:14:23 am". Not that a watch telling the time is a bad thing but this meant somehow my super-special GPS heart-rate-monitor watch had been dinked with in my act of removing my shirt. I tried to put it back to the "monitor my run" mode, but it wouldn't go there. SO, I had to re-start my workout, then quickly "lap" through to catch up to where I was supposed to be. Harrumph! So while, in the end, I ran an extra 1/2 mile, and my watch *did* capture *both* pieces of the run, I have no single-entry documentation of my longest run ever. Good news: In a couple weeks when I do 14 repeats, I'll have another chance.

Here's the boring stuff:

Week 8 totals:
Running Distance: 24.7 mi
Running Time: 04:15:35 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Max Speed: 12.3 mph
Avg HR: 152 bpm
Max HR: 179 bpm
Calories burned: 3,295

Cycling Approx Distance: 28.5 mi
Cycling Time: 01:30:00 h:m:s
Approx Avg Speed 19 mph
Avg HR: 127 bpm
Max HR: 142 bpm

And here's the links to part 1, followed by part 2 of week 9's long run of 12 miles.

Sum totals so far:
Running Distance: 199.57 mi
Running Time: 34:47:52 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Max Speed: 12.8 mph
Avg HR: 149 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm
Calories burned: 26,383

Cycling Approx Distance: 175 mi
Cycling Time: 09:12:48 h:m:s
Approx Avg Speed 19 mph
Avg HR: 127 bpm
Max HR: 153 bpm

Monthly Running Mileage Totals:
May: 23.68 mi (24th thru 31st)
June: 95.02 mi
July: 80.87 mi (1st thru 24th)

Previous week's totals:
Week 8 totals:
Running Distance: 22.41 mi
Running Time: 03:54:49 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Max Speed: 12.5 mph
Avg HR: 152 bpm
Max HR: 176 bpm
Calories burned: 2,944

Cycling Approx Distance: 10 mi
Cycling Time: 00:25:17 h:m:s
Approx Avg Speed 19 mph
Avg HR: 121 bpm
Max HR: 135 bpm

And here's a link to week 8's long run of 10 miles.

~ Keith

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