My Latest Workouts, Weather Talk, And a Summary of this training cycle.

I'm in the middle of the taper and I wanted to do some navel gazing and talk about my race goals. But, I think I will save the goals post for next week.

I would like to run a sub 3:30 marathon but, I think it's still to early to talk about race goals and strategy.  I think it would be cocky of me to say that it will be a given and that I have trained enough to meet my goal.  When in reality I'm second guessing my training and wondering if I have what it takes to break 3:30.

My Latest Workouts

 I live in the Las Vegas Valley and it has been warmer than usual.  On Halloween the daytime high was 88 degrees.  The very next day in typical Las Vegas (We have two seasons hot and cold) the temps dropped almost 30 degrees and the daytime high was only 62.  The mornings have also dropped into the high 40's.  I have about a week and a half to get acclimatized to running in colder weather.

Saturday 11/1-  Rest

Sunday 11/2  9 miles with some Tempo pace.   I had planned on running between 10-12 miles, but I got pretty excited watching the NYC marathon pre-race and the start of the women's race.  I left the house really pumped up and I wanted to hurry up to come back and watch the race unfold. The first mile felt a little sluggish but, once I warmed up I felt great and the last mile I kind of eased off a little bit...  I ran a route that was pretty flat. Here's the data.

I ended up stopping my watch at a long stop light
I normally try to cross when I can, but there was
too much traffic to do it safely

Monday 11/3  3 miles @ recovery pace. I feel like I have so much extra time in the morning because of the time change earlier this week.

Tuesday 11/4   3.5  miles- Tempo Progression Run. Here are the split times 8:56, 8:25,8:02, 4:02 for the .5)
This week I'm trying on different outfits trying to figure out WTF to wear for the marathon.  I've always been a, "I don't race in capris / tights person", but temps in the high 40's are making me question my judgement.

Wednesday 11/5  4 miles.- I could have ran 6 miles on my lunch break, but I really don't want the cold weather to be a complete shock to me next weekend.  For the past few mornings I notice during the first mile of my run, that my stomach cramps up a little from breathing in the colder air.  After the first mile or two I'm okay.  At first I didn't know if it was my breakfast bothering my stomach, but I usually have no probably running in the heat with food in my belly.  Then I realized that it's the cold air.

Summary of this training cycle

I can honestly say that I started training for this marathon around July 2nd.   I spent the month of June doing speed work and weight training for a 1600 meter race.  That race didn't go as well as I hoped and I began to ramp up my mileage for the fall half marathon season.

I didn't really tell my husband that I was going to do a marathon until after I raced the Saints and Sinners Half Marathon.   I have been married to my husband for a very long time.  He has been very supportive of my running over the years but, we now have two small kids to take care of, and my running can cut into some of that family time.

I've done my best so that my running doesn't take away from them too much on the weekends.  I did most of long runs by taking some vacation hours at my work and by dropping off my kids at daycare.

I can't imagine trying to race more than  two marathons a year....

Mileage by the months:

July-           124  -Approx 28 miles per week
August-    137.5  Approx. 31 miles per week
September   120  (This month included a taper for a half marathon)
October       139.5  Approx  31.5 miles per week...

Some weeks had higher mileage than others, Like one week would be 28 miles and the next week would be around 36. etc...

Each week included two days of rest.  Each week included at least a 10 mile long run.  During the months of August and September I did quite a bit of speed work and tempo runs.   The month of October was all about adding in some long runs.

My monthly  averages are kind of low for marathon training and that worries me.  But,   I couldn't realistically fit any more training into my schedule, without giving my family the shaft, or without driving myself to the point of injury.

I was looking over some of my past training logs of past marathons and I have realized that I really am not a high mileage runner.   I usually top out in the low to mid 40's and it has seemed to work for me in the past.

I hope that training  through the hot Las Vegas Summer has given me some mental toughness.  The hardest part of a marathon is the last six miles.

Thank you for reading.