marathon shoes

Vermont City Marathon: Training Week #8

- Mel

Disclaimer: I received a free entry to Vermont City Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to find and write race reviews!

vermont training running blog

Tired feelings, new Launch Shamrocks and BibRave buddy!

Week 8 was my time to focus on foam rolling, recovery, and good habits in general — especially as it was my first 25+ mile week since November. Daily stress is fatiguing me pretty hard, and I know big mileage weeks only add to that feeling. And there are a LOT more weeks that are going to feel like that. I haven’t raced in a while though, so I’m getting excited as I approach some of those dates on my calendar.

MONDAY Rest Day

TUESDAY This felt like the longest 4 miles that I’ve ever done! But my paces were pretty fast for a slower-than-easy run. This is probably why I’ll always run with a watch.

4.32 mi / 42:39 / 9:32 average pace

Splits: 9:44, 10:25, 9:47, 10:03

Ended the run with 4×20 second strides (and a big chocolate milk, of course).

WEDNESDAY Rest Day (planned in advance, since I had a social thing after work)

THURSDAY Interval training day! I always get so excited for speed workouts, as they allow me the time to FOCUS on my runs instead of zoning out on the treadmill watching the third season of Desperate Housewives. And while I can’t run fast for long distances, running fast is SO FUN. Though running fast on the treadmill kind of freaks me out!

vermont marathon blogger winter running

Overall, this was a weird run. I felt like my legs couldn’t turn over any faster, though felt like I didn’t even workout when my sprints were over. I was running so hard on those 400s but not even out of breath!

5.98 mi / 55:14 / 9:14 average pace

warm-up mile: 10:49
1 – 1:27 / 2:41
2 – 1:23 / 2:52
3 – 1:24 / 2:42
4 – 1:25 / 2:41
5 – 1:27 / 2:38
6 – 1:30 / 2:42
7 – 1:29 / 2:41
8 – 1:17 / 2:42
cool-down mile: 11:15

Finding bad habits in the week already taking over, I made sure to get some foam rolling in after my run.

FRIDAY Rest Day (unplanned). Skipped my strength workout that was on the schedule, since some impromptu fun plans came up after work. I moved my Strength Day to Sunday, alongside my recovery run. I still need to do better on getting in my strength workouts and foam rolling.

SATURDAY Long run with the Capital Striders in the AM (UGH, start times changed to 7am, and it was ROUGH — but I made it). I completed the 12-mile route, and then came home to do an additional 2 miles on the treadmill. I honestly just had enough of the cool weather, and I was REALLY hoping to enjoy the expected 65-degree day. Alas, it was NOT in the 60s at 7am and wasn’t until well into the morning that the temperatures warmed up. At least it was sunny?

Splits (14): 9:38, 10:08, 9:41, 9:35, 10:24, 10:23, 9:53, 10:02, 10:06, 10:02, 9:58, 10:08
Splits (2): 11:12, 11:00

My Striders buddies keep me fast!

SUNDAY I originally planned to meet some Turkeys out on the trails, but I had a gnarly headache in the morning — and I just knew there was no way I wanted to wake up for another 7am run. No fun on the trails for me!

vermont city marathon training recovery day
Ahhhhhhhh….

Sunday is my weekly recovery day; beyond doing my usual recovery run, I also needed to make up my skipped strength workout from Friday. I want to start GOOD recovery habits rather than using Sunday as a make-up day. So I finally took my first epsom salt bath using the San Francisco Salt Company’s Epsoak Muscle Soak. I get really antsy sitting in baths (similarly, I always think 5 minutes is TOO LONG for foam rolling. Patience is not my virtue.), but forced myself to stay the entire 20 minutes. And my body felt GLORIOUS when I was done. All my muscle soreness was gone (along with my hot water to shower afterward).

On Sundays, we recover. If I’m not having a massage, I’ll be using the salts. And foam rolling for longer than 5 minutes. Promise.

WEEKLY RUNS: 4
WEEKLY MILES: 27.1 miles
TOTAL TRAINING MILES: 127.66 miles

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Weekly Therapy: Happy bellies, happy hearts.

- Mel

the week:
I’m giving a lot of gratitude this week: to a holiday-cooked-for-two, and full bellies, and convalescence from this cold that’s been dragging me down all week. I was too sick to run the Turkey Trot this year. And I guess in hindsight, though disappointed, it was the right thing to cancel our travel plans for the holiday. We stayed home, and the boyfriend smoked a small turkey (even though neither of us eats/likes it that much, it was delicious!) and made all the Thanksgiving fixings (enough for a week’s worth of leftovers for 8 people, for sure).

weekend:
Work gave us an extra holiday today, and I’m using a vacation day on Monday. A five-day weekend sounds like perfection right now. I might be crazy enough to go out shopping for some deals (since I have a couple gift cards still yet to use from my birthday/graduation), since I am nowhere started on my Christmas lists yet. At some point this weekend, I’ll get back on my exercise plan that’s been wholly derailed because of this sickness (I’d really like to do the Ugly Sweater Run on Sunday).

Make no mistake, my cats are NOT happy about all this coughing!

52 books in 52 weeks:
#45 Life and Other Near-Death Experiences by Camille Pagan — Quite different of a book that I usually go for, but thanks to Kindle Unlimited for the title suggestion and pulling me out of the non-fiction shelves. Enjoyable, guilty-pleasure sort of read, despite the main character’s cancer diagnosis and (without giving away plot lines) other life shit. Considering the circumstance — her circumstances — the book provoked some optimism in an otherwise tragic story.

seven things, seven days:
1. I found out this week that my favorite face cosmetics brand (the only powder that has ever matched my skin tone and not changed color when I get oily!) has discontinued stocking in the US. So, currently stalking eBay and Australia beauty sites for Napoleon Perdis camera finish compacts. Apparently they ship internationally, but OMG $69 for a compact is a real sticker shock… and I can’t get my checkout order to process anyway, and their customer service is downright awful. DAMMIT IT ALL TO HELL.
2. I was detecting a funky smell somewhere in my kitchen and as I walked around looking for it, I smacked my face right into the side of the table. YEP.
3. Pre-Black Friday Deal: Finally purchased an Apera performance duffle during an online sale this week. Hopefully my search for the perfect gym bag ends here.
4. We started binge-watching The Leftovers on Thanksgiving… and ZOMG. Only 5 episodes into Season 1, so NO SPOILERS, PLEASE!
5. I realized when clearing boxes out of my front closet that my marathon shoes were a half-size smaller than my training shoes in the same exact model. That’s… interesting.
6. Everybody needs to read this: Exercise is not punishment for eating. {via Nia Shanks}
7. The technology that created a whole new generation of runners {via The Atlantic}