The One With Land Of Oz Training {Week 7}

So last week was weird; I had mentioned that I was taking a few extra rest days because I had some things I needed to do and get done for the week. Well as it turns out I took the whole week off. I honestly didn’t intend to at all and 6 weeks into marathon training is a bit unprecedented but honestly it was just what I needed. I’m going to talk more about that in a post tomorrow though.

I did get out and get my virtual race done for the 13 in 2013 series with the Tackle the Miles half marathon I had signed up for and I also completed my 5 by the 5^th requirement as well.

Week 6 (Jan 28-Feb 3)

4.5 miles Off

Off Off

5 miles + hills Off

Off Off

Off Off

13.1 miles* ( 12 with Rach) *5 miles for 5 by the 5th *Virtual race series Done

Off Off

22+ miles 13+ miles

Saturday Rachel and I headed out super early for her 12 miles; this is the longest distance she will cover before her first half in 3 weeks. I had gone out and done a warm up mile before her so that I could get in my 13 for the day. She didn’t seem nervous at all and I was quite impressed with how well she maintained speed and endurance throughout the entire run. Our paces wasn’t quite as consistent as the weekend before but we actually averaged a much faster pace which really impressed me. We started out doing a 6:1 series where we would run for 6 minutes and then walk for 1 minute. But after about 3 miles I kind of started losing track and so we would do anywhere from 6 or 7 minutes to 10 minutes running and 1 minute walking. It was nice and peaceful out and we were able to enjoy talking, I really love these weekend runs with my sister. About mile 5 I had a few stomach issues so we changed our course a bit and were able to head over to the nearby ball fields so I could make a pit stop. But after that we continued on no problems at all.

We had a few uphill climbs that Rachel did great on and she also experimented with GU and fueling on this run. We talked about race day strategies and possible goals she had for the race. I’m very excited to see her accomplish something that she’s worked hard for. I’m also very excited for her because it’s clear that she has so much more potential at this running thing than I do! Once again she killed the last mile and I could barely keep up. I said it worked out well since I was tired that I push her for 11 miles and then she pushes me for the last mile. We finished her 12 miles in 2:15!! 2:15! That is insane! I have only begun to get comfortable with that pace and those kinds of times and for her to bust out times like that during training for her first half marathon makes me really excited to see what’s in store for her come race day! I finished 13.2 miles in 2:28 and was very pleased with our beautiful Saturday run.

This next week I’m back in the gym and back to my normal running schedule and I’m really looking forward to it. This weekend is going to be very busy because starting Thursday Alex and I are helping with the youth retreat weekend at church and it’s going to be awesome but I will definitely be very tired come Sunday morning when I’ve got 15 miles planned!

I’m also glad that I don’t have to run any Miles of Shame today! 

Here’s what this week will look like:

Week 7 (Feb 4-10)

4 miles + Spin

BodyPump

5 miles + hills

3 miles

Off

Off

15 miles (7 with Rach)

27+ miles

Is anyone running any Miles of Shame today? What a crazy game that was last night; I can’t believe it went from a 22 point deficit all the way to only a 3 point difference. Man some of you 49er fans got lucky! And I have to say, the commercial were very disappointing for me (although I did tear up at the Clydesdale one and the Paul Harvey commercial about farmers was also great) but reading tweets during the power outage was definitely the highlight of my night!

Did anyone else have a favorite commercial last night? Were you enjoying the tweets as much as I was?

I hope everyone has a good Monday!