St. Jude Marathon Training: Week 4

Planned                                           Actual
Monday:  Rest                                 Monday:  Rest
Tuesday:  3                                      Tuesday:  3 @ 9:43
Wednesday:  6                                 Wednesday:  Pity party
Thursday:  3                                     Thursday:  Pity part with alcohol
Friday:  Rest                                    Friday:  Rest
Saturday: 11                                    Saturday:  11 @ 11:14
Sunday:  Cross                                Sunday:  30 min of spin + upper body and core

Total:  23                                         Total:  14

What was supposed to have been my highest weekly mileage of this cycle turned out to be one of the lowest of the summer.  Yes, I let stress get the best of me this week.  Yes, I regret it.  And, yes, I will pull my head out of my ass and get back on track this week.

Tuesday was done with my speedy buddy, T, but was a little slower this week.  It was warmer and more humid than it has been the past couple of weeks, and I was just tired.  I’ve been super stressed and not sleeping well lately, so this is where having a running buddy is going to pay off.  I guarantee you I wouldn’t have run Tuesday either if I hadn’t had a date to meet T.

I was dreading Saturday’s 11.  I mean really dreading.  It was my first double-digit run since March, and my heart just wasn’t in it.  Until I started running.  How long is it going to take me to learn that???  It always gets better the minute the rubber meets the road!  Anyway, I left the house about 6:30 and it was pretty pleasant outside.  Since it was a little cooler, I decided to stretch the walk breaks out to every two miles instead of every mile, and that worked out fine. I realized about three miles away from home that I didn’t bring any fuel with me.  I’ll usually have a GU or Clif Shot or something during anything longer than 10, but it’s been so long since I’ve done that distance that I completely spaced and forgot to grab one.  So all I had during those 11 miles was some lukewarm water out of a fountain in the park at about mile 7.25.  By the time I got back home, I was glad to be done.  It wasn’t horrible, but I was just tired of running mentally and I was fading physically.  Not the best run but FAR from the worst.  Although I was a little disheartened when I logged the run and saw that it was my slowest 11 miles ever.  Three things kept me from getting really upset by that fact.  First, I’ve never run 11 miles in August before.  It’s always been in cooler months… October, February, and March.  Second, during none of those other 11-milers did I take scheduled walk breaks.  Third, no fuel.

I expected to be sore today from my long effort on yesterday, but surprisingly I’m not!  That just reinforces to me that I’m doing it right this time by taking it easier.  I actually had even planned to run again today to make up for some of the missed mileage, but the day positively got away from me.  Instead I found myself on my spin bike at 9:00 pm just to get SOMETHING in.

Basically it was a craptastic week and that crap spilled over into my training.  It’s all good though.  It happens.  Tomorrow is a new week!