Week 7–here we go! This one had some off moments but overall I made all of my training happen and ran outside every day, which makes me super happy. Monday was 7 miles with some snow flurries I wasn’t expecting, but it made for pretty scenery. Tuesday I had a track workout on the books so was excited to join the HHRC crew. This was a fun one–400s with 5 minute tempos alternating HMGP and MGP in between. It definitely kicked my butt but I was happy I went, as always. It’s really motivating to have pacers to chase and buddies to run with.
Wednesday a storm had been predicted but it wasn’t nearly as bad as they made it out to be. I kept it really slow and easy for a morning 4 miler and headed to the yoga studio after work for some much-needed hip opening. Thursday the roads were fairly icy and I had a rough start to my run, ending up on a slippery path and having to dive inside for a bathroom stop after the first mile. I picked it back up though and found a better spot, and ended up running some paces that made me really happy (7:08 for the first 2 miles and 7:07 for the second set, goal was between 7:05 and 7:15). Friday was a much-needed rest day before Saturday’s 16 miler.
Friday night I didn’t sleep super well, but I got up and managed to meet up with my run crew for a spin along the Charles River. It was nice and warm–high 30s to low 40s–but windy, and I was SO glad to have my girls with me. We were having such a good time running and chatting we didn’t even realize nobody had brought a phone for our post-run selfie! Luckily we were reconvening later on for game night and drinks, so we got our shot in then. Next week is Denise’s last long run before she moves to Cali, so we’re getting as much quality time in as possible.
The rest of the weekend was filled with the women’s march, brunch, and house hunting–J and I are saving our pennies and hope to buy something in the next year or so. Today was warm enough for short sleeves, so I had to head out for a 5 mile easy run. I totally overdressed but loved being out in the sun. This January thaw is a-ok by me!
Week 7: 46.8
- Monday: 7 easy miles
- Tuesday: Track! 4×400 at 10k, 5 min tempo, 3×400 at 5k, 5 min tempo, 2×400 at mile for 7 total
- Wednesday: 4 snowy recovery miles, 75 minute vinyasa yoga
- Thursday: Tempo! 2 up, 2×2 at HMGP, 1 down for 7.4 total
- Friday: Rest day
- Saturday: 16 miles
- Sunday: 5 easy
Linking up with The Weekly Wrap (hosted by Hoho Runs and Taking the Long Way Home).
Man oh man, it’s hard to believe I’m already on week 6! This was a pretty textbook good training week–I completed every workout as planned and felt strong and solid as I inch up towards 50 miles. Monday morning I was up bright and early for hill repeats, which were at 5k effort up and jogging down. I really like these workouts because they force you to measure pace by effort vs. by the numbers–although I feel like my favorite hill is a little too “easy” for these workouts? Hard to tell! Either way, I’m huffing and puffing by the top 🙂
Saturday the weather was a little crazy–starting in the 60s and ending in the 30s during a 2 hour run! It was awesome to run with my pal Denise–she’s moving to Cali and I want to get in as many long runs as possible. Luckily she’ll be back for Boston–
Greetings from the tundra! I am so, so glad the cold snap is ending this week–this was a tough one with temps in the single digits and a 14 inch dump of snow on Thursday. We definitely have stretches like this most winters in MA, but this one was early and it was HARSH. I was glad that I was able to stick to the plan this week and really pleased to see my first 40+ mile week since October.
Sidenote–I have a 2.5 mile run to and from work and would love to use that to my advantage more often. Does anyone have tips on run commuting? Tips on backpacks that don’t bug the heck out of you?
Boston folks, I highly recommend checking these guys out if you need an indoor option for your runs! I even ran into a couple of Oiselle teammates, which is always a nice surprise.
Well, well, well–here we are, back again for a new series of weekly training recaps as I gear up for Boston 2018! I 
This weekend was a busy one! I got in a nice, relaxed 10 miler in the snowbefore heading to my local yoga studio for my initial work-study training. I’m hoping to take on a weekly shift to get more connected with the community and to save myself some $$ on my yoga habit. Then I hit up two holiday parties, spending most of the evening with the Oiselle gals! It was a lot of fun, as always–and now I’m seriously considering running 
I’m probably not your typical candidate for needing a coach. I brought my half marathon time from 2:13 in 2012 down to 1:36 in 2016 all by myself. I cut 29 minutes off between my 
I’m planning to put together a full post on the specific training tweaks that I think made the difference for me, but for now I’ll just say that 
Greetings from the first week of taper mania! I have to say that despite the mileage going down, this week didn’t feel particularly easy. I think that has something to do with the fact that it was a really busy week outside of running. I always make a concerted effort to see friends once classes wrap up for the semester, but I’m very guilty of making plans every night and burning myself out. I’m also feeling a few of the mental demons sneaking their way in, so I want to really cement my mantras and mental strategies during these final two weeks before race day. Here are my goals for the taper:
Also, Denise and I are planning to run Sugarloaf together! We run really similar paces and are totally in sync with our race strategies, so I think it will be great to aim to stick together–of course with the caveat that we’ll both need to run our own races and do what we need to do to take care of ourselves day-of. We ran a really strong long run together on Sunday so I’m very confident about our plan. I am starting to think throgh nutrition planning and race strategy also–more to come on those 🙂
Y’all–peak week is over and the mini-taper officially begins!! I’m so, so proud to have gotten though four 50+ mile weeks in a row, topping out at 214 miles for the month of April. I’m also grateful for the lovely comments last week about not getting too caught up in the numbers. While this wasn’t quite my highest mileage week of training, I know I nailed both of my key workouts and kept the easy miles nice and easy. In fact, I didn’t even bat an eyelash when my “20 miler” was actually 19.58 miles. Who cares?? GPS watches are never 100% accurate and that extra .42 miles running up and down my block wouldn’t have added anything to my training.
My mileage looks a little bit deflated this week since I threw off my schedule by skipping a rest day last weekend and taking it on Monday instead–meaning 
My training buddy/neighbor Denise, who is also running Sugarloaf, proposed that we do a “time on feet” run together on Saturday morning. This basically meant that we would run for 3 hours and 15 minutes at an easy pace, focusing on time vs. distance. Despite some cold drizzle, we had a great morning and did a little sprint in for 22.22 miles total. I felt a couple of little niggles near the end, but overall this was a strong run and I couldn’t have been happier to have the company.
Sunday: The weather was supposed to climb into the mid 80s (WHAAAAT) on Sunday, so I got up at an ungodly hour to meet big bro for an 18 mile fast finish long run. We took the shadiest route we know of and sweated it out–it was a little bit of a sufferfest but I was grateful for the company and even more grateful to be training for a spring marathon–last August, we did this every.freaking.weekend. Post-run I was pretty depleted, but made it to a fun Easter brunch in NH with J’s family.
My brother’s scary experience at last year’s race
Shorter and Faster 