[equinox marathon 43]

Well folks, another week down. I stayed pretty close to the plan this week. Plan was for 69 miles. I did 70.44. It wasn't without it's moments though.<br><br>
The long run today was a major struggle after mile 18.2. It was a really hilly course, and it was warm. At that point I still had 3.4 miles to go to get home with 1.7 miles of climbing. I had to walk some of those final hills. My legs were just absolute toast.<br><br>
The plan this week was:<br><br>
Monday: Rest or cross training.<br>
Tuesday: LT. 10 mi with 5 mi @ 15K to 1/2marathon pace.<br>
Wednesday: Medium long run. 14mi.<br>
Thursday: Recovery 5 mi.<br>
Friday: Medium long run. 11mi.<br>
Saturday: General aerobic and speed. 8mi with 10x100m strides.<br>
Sunday: Long run. 21 miles.<br><br>
Here's what actually happened:<br><br>
Monday: Other exercise routine.<br>
Tuesday: 10 miles with 5 miles at about a 7:00/mile pace.<br>
Wednesday: 14 miles on the Merrimack River Trail. Repeated the hilly section from mile 3 to mile 7.<br>
Thursday: 5 mile recovery run.<br>
Friday: 11 miles on the Merrimack River Trail.<br>
Saturday: 9 miles on a very hilly course with 10x100m strides. 6 flat strides, 2 downhill strides and 2 uphill strides. I'm not 100% sure of the 100m part. I did the flat and downhill strides at about 20 seconds each with 20-25 seconds recovery. The uphill strides were closer to 30 seconds.<br>
Sunday: 21.44 miles on a very hilly course. At mile 18.2 I had to mix walking and running on the hills to get home.<br><br>
25 miles on trails.<br>
45.44 miles on pavement.<br><br>
I was a bit disappointed with the long run on Sunday, but I think it was close enough to the spirit of the plan that I don't think it's a huge issue. If I had to venture a guess, I probably had to walk 1 mile of it. It was hot and hilly so that didn't help matters.<br><br>
Some interesting things coming up this week:<br><br>
1.) My first ever 2 a day. Tuesday I have a 6 mile recovery run in the morning and a 4 mile recovery run in the afternoon.<br>
2.) I might only do one run on the trail this week. I'll have to see.<br><br>
So, yes, I got through it. It wasn't pretty though.

 

[Flounder]

You did fine - keep it up

 

[tigger]

I run hilly roads all the time and I figure they add an equivalent of about 10% to 20% to the miles. In other words, a 10 miler over hills is equivalent to 11 or 12 miles in effort on a flat run.

 

[Alex]

You're turning into a monster EQ!

 

[equinox marathon 43]

Thanks guys.<br><br>
Tigger - I have to agree with you, if we're talking mileage run at the same pace. A 4 mile hilly effort at say 9:00 is much more of an effot than a 4 mile flat effort at say 9:00.<br><br>
The reason I want to run the hilly courses is the course profile for the Equinox Marathon is very hilly. I figure the more I get used to it, the better off I'll be in September.<br><br>
Part of the reason I ran out of steam on Sunday could have been a lot of hilly running this past week. The mid-week 14 miler had 8 hilly miles. Friday's 11 miler had 4 hilly miles. Saturday's strides workout, the first 3.5 miles and the last 3.5 miles were very hilly. Sunday's long run run might literally have been one hill (or in this case, 3 hills) too far.<br><br>
Anyway guys, thanks for your continued support. Knocking on wood as I type this...I am feeling better than I thought I was going to at this point, and I'm really surprised how well the body is holding up.