Marathon Training Week 11 of 23

Week eleven was especially difficult. The long run was physically challenging, but mainly week 11 was challenging mentally and emotionally.

My Monday run was a little short, as I was still on vacation -- and had less-than-24-hour-old tattoos on my feet. Word to the wise -- Week 10 of a 23-week training program toward a marathon is probably not the best day to get a tattoo on your feet. That being said, I am not sorry I did it!

I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night, so on Wednesday morning I blew off my 40 minute run and striders. Thursday I ran my 45 minutes, and then didn't sleep well again on Thursday night, so on Friday morning I must admit it was pretty easy not to do any cross-training. I also let my discipline slide a bit in the areas of nutrition and getting to bed on time. When I started this training, I'd decided to not drink alcohol on a night before I was training. That little rule has been broken a bit. A beer here, and a glass of wine there, no big deal, right? But it does effect how I sleep, and my inhibitions go down, so I eat more than I really want or need. And the quality of my food has gone down a bit. So -- at the half-way point, it is good for me to reflect and (similar to doing a little body-sensing during a run) pay attention to how I am doing, make a few minor adjustments to get back on track, and then see how things go over the next few weeks.

Milestone -- Today I ran a little over 15 miles -- the furthest I've ever done on my own two feet. Word to the wise, though -- when you're planning to run further than you've ever run before on a Saturday, it isn't the smartest idea to have a Friday night dinner of chorizo nachos, and an even worse idea to eat more than you are hungry for. Oh, and the whole huge ice-cream-sundae for dessert thing? Not smart either. Ummm, and then not getting to bed until midnight, and waking up at 5 to feed the cat then going back to bed at 6 after doodling around on FaceBook, and then getting up at 8 and (still feeling full from the chorizo nachos and huge ice-cream sundae) deciding not to eat anything before running...not bright at all. But, I did the run, and took a different route than I've ever done before, including an elevation gain of around 1/4 mile between mile 8.5 & 9.5, and then another 90 feet over the next mile, and then another 150 feet elevation gain in the last 1/2 of mile 11.

OOF!!!

And, as an added bennie, even though my pace slacked quite a bit on those hills, my last 3 miles were all negative splits, including a 9:15 for mile 12.

Week 11 totals:
Running Distance: 24.01 mi
Running Time: 04:14:45 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Max Speed: 8.7 mph
Avg HR: 152 bpm
Max HR: 177 bpm
Calories burned: 3,134

Cycling Approx Distance: 15.8 mi
Cycling Time: 00:50:01 h:m:s
Approx Avg Speed 19 mph
Avg HR: 132 bpm
Max HR: 146 bpm

And here's the link to week 11's long run of 14 miles. Check out the elevation graph!

Sum totals so far:
Running Distance: 246.82 mi
Running Time: 43:12:11 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 5.7 mph
Max Speed: 12.8 mph
Avg HR: 149 bpm
Max HR: 182 bpm
Calories burned: 32,597

Cycling Approx Distance: 191 mi
Cycling Time: 10:02:50 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: 104.11 mi
August: 24.01 mi

Previous week's totals:
Week 10 totals:
Running Distance: 23.24 mi
Running Time: 03:59:54 h:m:s
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Max Speed: 411,555.3 mph (um, yes, that must have been a garmin error. I'm pretty sure I've never, even for a feptosecond, reached a speed of mach 536, or 0.0006 speed of light)
Avg HR: 146 bpm
Max HR: 173 bpm
Calories burned: 3,080

Cycling Approx Distance: 00.0 mi
Cycling Time: 00:00:00 h:m:s
Approx Avg Speed 0 mph
Avg HR: n/a bpm
Max HR: n/a bpm

And here's the links to my run with Steve, followed by week 10's long run of 6 miles.

~ Keith