Marathon Quest 2011 - Week 11 Recap

Deep happy sigh.  Finally...we've had some beautiful, beaa-ooo-tiful weather here in Victoria.  Sunny, warm...and the first time we've had to bring out the fan.  Now I'm not complaining...we've had a run of fairly nice weather the last few weeks - sunny and no rain, but the nights were getting a bit nippy and it felt like Fall was near.  Last night was the first night that I could actually sit outside in a t-shirt and not be too cold.  Me likey, me likey a lot.

So here we go - Week 11 recap and 48 more days to go.  Kinda feels pretty darn real now and I'm scared and excited all at the same time!  I'm starting to think about my race plan - what to eat in the weeks leading up to the race (including going 100%  alcohol and junk food free, oh help me God) and during the race itself. 

Sunday - rest day
Oh yeah baby.  I gladly took this day off any workouts, as my legs were so, so tired after doing 29K the day before.  I contemplated going to yoga, but decided to sleep in a bit and just hang about the house and take a full rest day rather than an active rest day. 

Monday - bootcamp
This was tough.  I was still so burnt out from Saturday that I could barely run in the warmup.  My breath felt laboured and my legs felt like they filled with lead.  We ended up doing hill repeats which I was actually glad to do - shorts bursts of energy were more my speed that day, rather than long sustained efforts of running.  Afterwards I was glad to have gone, even though I was really tired.

Tuesday - 6K run treadmill
Still feel burnt out, I decided to sleep in that morning and jammed on my morning run.  However, as the day wore on I felt guiltier and guiltier about missing my workout.  I had to remind myself again - I'm seven weeks from running a marathon, and now I'm starting to sluff off on the training?  I would have given my eye teeth to still be running around this time last year when I got injured.  I decided to squeeze in a run after work and kept myself on track, but only after a sound talking to from myself.

Wednesday - 6K run outside
Beautiful morning run, but I could feel some slight tenderness in my foot.  Uh oh.

Thursday - rest

Friday - bootcamp
Stairs, lines and hill sprints.  Still could feel some achy foot business.  Damn it.

Saturday - 29K run outside
Oy vey.  Hubs had to work on Saturday and needed to run 13K, so we had to get up at an ungodly hour for the weekend and start running by 5:30am so he could get to work on time.  I did my 3am carb routine (raisin scone) and decided to start experimenting with Saltstick capsules that I had bought last year to use.  I don't really like sports drinks (find they're all sugary tasting) and prefer just plain water but still need the electrolytes so this is the perfect solution.  I decided to do one capsule before the run, and one at the half way point.

After Hubs finished his run, I ran another 3K loop and hopped in the car to go meet my coworker M at Elk Lake.  M and her hubby are running the Good life half marathon, and she needed to get in a 13K run in so this worked out perfectly!  I actually didn't mind splitting the run up, as it gave me a chance to take a short break to refuel, and I think mentally breaking the run up into 16K and 13K chunks made it seem much more manageable than 29K.  M met me at 8am, and we started off on a loop and a bit around the lake.  I'm so, SO glad that we started so early because Saturday turned into a scorcher, and it was really warm when we finished at around 9:45am.  The second part of my run went by incredibly quickly, because we were chatting the whole way and time went by lickety split.  When my Garmin ticked over at 29K, I felt pretty good and not tired.  And...the biggest thing of all...my foot felt GREAT.  No pain and no achiness.  I had purposely chosen Elk Lake as it was a chip trail so I'm sure that was a bit part of it.  I was thrilled...this time last year was when my foot gave out on my second really long run of the training cycle, and incidentally also a run with M (not M's fault though, of course...haha!) so I had some flashes of apprehension going in.

And after the run?   I can't believe it how good I felt.  Not sure if it was the 3am scone, the mid-run refueling, taking Saltstick or what the heck it was...but I felt bright and alert and came home and actually did a bunch of chores.  It was only around mid-afternoon that I started to get sleepy with the heat, and took a short nap.  Definitely liking the Saltstick though.

Next week - 32K on the schedule so it'll likely be another similar repeat of a split run.  Also have a physio appointment this week, so can't wait to tell my physio the good news!