Vermont City Marathon: Training Week #17

There are only THREE TRAINING WEEKS left of marathon training, and (thankfully) Week #17 was a pretty strong week for me.

vermont marathon training week 17 iowa runner

That said, I’m paying attention to my lower back — it doesn’t bother me at all when I run, but I feel a strain on my right side when I’m laying down for bed or sitting up with my legs out straight (or, sometimes, when I’ve been sitting too long). I’ve had a few muscle spasms randomly at work, too, which… I don’t know if I have a knot somewhere that is just transferring to my lower back or I strained it doing a strength workout. Though I cancelled my golf lessons for the remainder of the month to be safe because the twisting-turning motion bothered me most. Hoping it’s nothing, but being mindful of it, nonetheless. I FINALLY have a massage appointment this upcoming weekend.

MONDAY Golf was cancelled due to the weather

TUESDAY I was committed to getting my easy run in Tuesday night. And it was a late run, since I attended a volunteer ceremony event after work. And yes, my treadmill still smells like burning rubber.

6 miles + 6×20 Strides / 1:11:38 / 11:09 average pace

WEDNESDAY Tempo Run on the schedule! It was a little chilly running outside in crops and a t-shirt, but the sunshine felt good. Everyone was out cutting their lawns, so my allergies sucked something major. My nose running must have distracted me because I realized within my warm-up mile that I was running too fast of a pace.

So I continued.

I stuck to faster paces for my next two miles.

And then faster paces for my next two miles. I finally completed a legit tempo workout. I DID THE WORK. ???

Warm-up: 10:03

2 miles: 9:38, 9:27
2 miles: 9:16, 8:58

Cool down: 10:45

THURSDAY Rest – was supposed to do yoga, buuuuuuut I went out for Happy Hour after work to celebrate an early Cinco de Mayo.

FRIDAY Foam rolling before bed — my quads and calves needed a LOT of work. And I had a GREAT night of sleep, holy moly. Maybe my body knew that I didn’t have to wake up early the next day?

SATURDAY Hahahahaha, just kidding. Woke up at 6am, though it was 9 glorious hours of sleep. I did a quick shakeout run — 3 easy miles + 4×20 Strides. The weather was BEAUTIFUL!

3.3 miles / 32:45 / 9:53 average pace

iowa running marathon training des moines bridges trail

SUNDAY My second 20-miler of this marathon training cycle. 20 MILES… AGAIN! This felt SO MUCH better than the 20 miles that I did a few weeks ago — I felt strong and like I could run an actual marathon. I finished 7.12 miles before the start of the Des Moines Women’s Half Marathon — 1:16:49, with an average pace of 10:47 — and then finished the half marathon in 2:15:19, a 10:26 average pace.

Check out these half splits: 10:27(1), 10:29(2), 10:33(3), 10:32(4), 10:28(5), 10:45(6), 10:25(7), 10:39(8), 10:31(9), 10:30(10), 10:39(11), 10:16(12), 9:25(13). That’s a pretty consistent pace. I’m proud of the work I put in this week.

WEEKLY RUNS: 4(ish) runs
WEEKLY MILES: 35.8 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 361.37 miles

Vermont city marathon run blog

AHHHHHHHH Race Day is so close! Still time to register and join me in Burlington, Vermont (if running marathons is your thang) for the Vermont City Marathon: Use code BibRave10 to save $10 on your registration!