LA Marathon Week -3

Finally!  I feel comfortable that I am good to go for running a marathon in LA 3 weeks from now.  I may or may not meet my original goals, but, barring ridiculous life intervention, I will be able to finish in a manner of which I am quite proud.

This week, I didn't execute my training schedule perfectly, but I did a pretty good job.  Rather than stress about trying to figure out what makes sense for the race, I think I'm going to wait 'til after next weekend's fast finish long run (set with a warm-up and final miles to be picked up to race pace in a local low-key half-marathon), to send an email to my training program authors and ask for a predicted best race pace for the marathon.  Essentially, I've decided that it's out of my hands and I'll let my training speak for itself.

And this week was not bad at all.

M: Afternoon Bikram.  Kick-ass class.  Did all the poses, didn't struggle too much with the heat, and left in that awesome Bikram euphoria, which, sadly, does not occur for me at every class.   But when it does...Oh Man.  Hoping for more of this tomorrow.

T:  Treadmill.  41:14 minutes for 4.26 miles @ ~9:41 w/ 1% incline.  Started at 10:00/mile and just stepped it down every mile by 0.1 mph 'til the last wee bit at 9:22/mile.  Easy, pleasant. Gross weather outside, but a simple and fun workout inside with some of the final chapters of my Rolling Stones AudioBook (Wow -- that's some pop/crazy/extreme culture right there)

W:  Super easy watch free recovery run.  33 minutes. 3.2 miles or so.  Still pushing through the last of the audiobook, enjoying it fiercely.

Th: Attempt the scheduled 12 mile run of 3 miles w/u; 6 @ race pace; 3 miles c/d.  Actual:  3 miles w/u;  2 @ 9:08; 1:08 walk; 2 @ 9:18; 1:04 walk; 2:00 jog; 1 @ 9:38; 3 c/d; 0.73 compensatory finish @ 9:27.  Total:  12 miles @ 1:59:54 (okay 12.13 with the walking c/d).  Not bad for a workout with 6 scheduled easy miles and some unscheduled walking recovery.  Of course, it wasn't anything close to the 6 straight at race pace, either.  I did this entire bit to the last bits of the aforementioned audiobook.  I found most of the words inspirational.

F: I claimed 1.5 miles of walking as this was a scheduled down/cross/easy day.  I took a 1.4 mile walk and talked on the phone.  E and I also had a date night and I probably walked another mile there, but I'm not claiming it.  See that?  Restraint where I could have mapped the walk and collected additional data and recorded it.  Wonders never cease.

Sa: Easy/Recovery Run.  4.34 miles in 42:53 ~9:53/mile.  First 1+ with E, last few with my new audiobook (Do you think I have a problem?)

Su: The Long Long Run.  21 miles.  3:43:35.  Not a single walk break (but some pauses at water fountains, a bathroom, and a couple of stoplights).  ~10:39/mile.  Solo.  Okay, not solo at all -- I totally relied upon my latest audiobook (thanks, Rachel!).  But still, it was a nice, believable, confidence building improvement from 2 weeks ago (where I averaged 10:56 over 19.5 miles).

Also, thankfully, there was time leftover, so I finished the audiobook over lunch, (which I was eating alone, because E stayed longer than expected at the launch of rocket gliders with his friends and I could not wait).  Yup.  Rachel didn't just ease the run.  She also eased the solo meal.  E owes her a thank you.

And that, my friends, is 46.58 miles for the week (including some walking).

High water mark for the year.

And encouraging.