Last Week: March 22-28

Originally, I had planned two weeks at 70 miles, but my allergies had other plans and early in the week I decided instead of digging myself into a hole I can't get out of by April 20, I would reach 70 miles just once. I thought I would feel defeated in this decision, but I am surprisingly content. I know where my limits are when it comes to my allergies and allergic asthma and it's always better to be conservative and healthy than have an attack that requires a month to recover. That said, here we go:

Peak week, we meet again. Even though my legs are at their most fatigued by this point in training, I can always find an extra mental gear knowing that I'm almost to the taper.

Sunday: Run 10.5 mi, 2:05?
The final day of my weekend in Weaverville. I wish my town had a trail system like this straight from the city streets. There were mountains, variable forests, and even a creek crossing in a truly wild setting. I still don’t quite know where I’m going, even with a map, so there was a lot of stopping to ensure we didn’t get horribly lost. Since I’m really good at retracing my steps, it was a much faster return trip.

This run felt perfect and playful and left me looking forward to a summer of trail playtime. Matt and I have been discussing our summer plans and there are so many fun options that I'm having trouble choosing!

Monday: Rest! Horrible allergy day. More rain please!

Tuesday: Run 11 mi, 10 @ 7:47mi. Strength Work: Core, legs, shoulders. 6 kitties!

Add in a cleansing rain to wash gunk from the air and an ELEVEN HOUR sleep, I almost felt  normal again for this run. For these last two marathon pace runs, I focused on keeping as close to the 7:49/mi as possible. I love that it starts off on a downhill so I can practice controlling myself for Boston’s downhill start. I had to consciously slow down several times each mile to keep the pace right, so the effort felt comfortable, conversational and almost like I could imagine myself running this pace for 26 miles with a taper. I liked that part. The light rain was nice as well. 55F and rain is my favorite running weather.

Wednesday:  Run 11 mi, easy. 22 kitties.

This is the run featured on here last week. I had so much fun, but by the time I went to bed, it felt like my head was the size of a beach ball.

Bike 11 miles at Matt's marathon pace. Again, I took the camera out and caught some good shots of him from the bike.  Doing all this at 10mph was tougher than I expected.

Thursday: Run 7.5 mi, easy. 38 kitties (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
While running on the grid of streets in town, I spotted one kitty and decided to turn. The next house down had four! Then a few blocks later another cluster of five! Perfect! At just over 5 kitties purr mile, I set a new pace record. If there were an Olympic team for spotting kitties on a run, Matt and I would win a gold medal.

Friday: Run 9 mi, Goal: 5x1 mi, 6:47-7:00, Actual: 3x1 mi, 2x0.50 mi. Strength work: Core, legs, shoulders.

It’s about time I had a less than fantastic run. The last time I had a PER-FECT training cycle, I had about the worst marathon ever, so it’s something of a relief to have a bad day. After watching my allergy symptoms mount for the last ten days, I wasn’t at all surprised when I felt my asthma flare up this week too.

The first mile felt rough, as it always does. Second mile, was about the same. Third felt a LOT harder and was slower. I couldn’t get enough oxygen, my legs felt like they were lead, I was dizzy, and I couldn’t bear the thought of grinding through two more miles, so I did one more mile broken in half about the same pace and then called it a day so the college track team could have my lane.
I’m lucky to have had enough really bad days to know the warning signs. If I had pushed through and run until I physically couldn’t anymore, it would take a lot longer for me to recover.

 Saturday: Run 21 mi, 3:00:25, 8:35/mi. 22 kitties.

Turned on auto-lap, then ignored my watch.

Comparing my splits to the terrain show a pretty even effort.

Strong finish to my last long run and my peak week with 70 miles. It was a beautiful (read: sunshine!!!! and no wind) morning with Matt and Rachel. It rained overnight so the air was squeaky clean and my body felt great. Near halfway, we accidentally met up with Lanore and Mary (it’s why miles 10-13 were a touch slower, she’s tapering for a 50 miler) out for a long run too.

I stopped at the mailbox on the way in from the run and found my Boston packet. It appears the running gods want me to taper now.

TOTALS:
Running: 70
Biking: 11
Kitties:  88

Notes: Despite my allergies, that is still one heck of a strong week. Those few rains were what saved my week!Even though my sinuses and lungs were angry at times, my body felt great and I enjoyed every moment I spent outside running, even the tough parts. Sometimes the greatest strength a runner can possess is how to run smart and this week was a testament to that.