And just like that, its taper time. Week 14 marked my last week of official "volume" training before the dreaded taper....with a long run of 15 miles, a 10 mile tempo run - clocking in at 56.8 miles total, my last 50 plus mile week.
If a shitty dress rehearsal means an excellent performance, I am screwed. Every single one of my runs this week was fantastic for one reason or another. Nailed my tempo pace of 8:10 for 10 miles with minimal effort. Actually ditched the recovery portion of my 2x3 mile "strength" speed work (I told you the paces were not good - reflection for my fall marathon). After weeks of failing to hit an actual recovery pace, I was issued a challenge to hit all 8 miles of my recovery run at 9 minute mile plus - happy to report that like thestubborn bitch dedicated athlete who listens to direction well that I am, I nailed it (seriously, hardest. run. ever).
And my long run. Oh, my long run. This week I hit up the Irondequoit Bay Runners for one last jaunt 'round the bay. After logging less than 3 hours sleep Saturday night, I was apprehensive about this run - why do I worry about such things?
There were about a dozen of us on a bright, sunny morning, with temps in the upper 20s (complete perfection with the way the weather has been!). My soon to be husband Ken (sorry Greg) and new running buddy Kevin teamed up with me and we agreed to do 15 miles -adding on a side jaunt in Webster down Backus St. Since Kellman and Dwyer (whose feet do not touch the ground) didn't join us, we picked up as the resident "speedsters" and started cruising. I hoped to hold marathon pace of 8:05 - wisely NOT telling Ken, who has brought me 3 new half marathon PR's in 4 runs and sees it as his personal mission, the last PR being 1:42:27. Mile one clocked in at 8:32 (all uphill) then we settled in cruising speed miles 2-7, averaging 7:25-7:30 without a ton of effort. We spent time catching up about training, racing, and life - I once again threatened to kidnap Ken to run my marathon with me and he seriously looks at me and asks "Do they have a half?"....YASSSS. (Side note - I really doubt he was serious. One can hope, though). Kevin offered to pace me as well, and threw in some free zip ties so we can kidnap Ken. It took a kinky turn when he referred to the two of them as my "escorts" for the race and then...well....what happens in "run club" stays in "run club". (I'm joking of course. We just....kept running. But it sounded much juicier the other way.)
Ken pulled ahead at mile 8 when we hit the Culver hills and stayed about 30 seconds ahead for the next 4 miles, thereby losing his escort status, according to Kevin, who re named him - the rabbit. He kept checking his watch every minute, and as we hit mile 10 at 1:17, I stage whispered to my escort - guess who's plotting a new PR for me....and we took off. Miles 11 and 12 were pretty uneventful- there's a ridiculously long and steep hill at mile 12.5 that is almost better walked, so we lost some time there - hit mile 13 in 1:40 and change and cruised down the descent at that mile to clock in 13.1 in 1:41:06. Oh right. Another half PR. And this one by almost 9 minutes.
Aside from reaffirming my proposal to Ken, I also may have tried to hire him, which crossed all sorts of lines, but thank goodness everyone that is ridiculous enough to run in Lycra at 7am on a Sunday has a pretty good sense of humor. We caught up to the gang that ran 14 about the half mary mark and REALLY felt fast - I made a joke that we were basically Kellman and Dwyer (I opted for Dwyer, as clearly I suck at selfies).
We finished the last 1.5 miles strong and even tacked on an extra .15 to round out 15.15 miles in 1:58:30, for an average pace of 7:50, elevation gain almost 800 miles.
To say that I feel fantastic is an understatement. The concept of holding an 8:10 for another 11 miles is daunting....but oddly doable. Usually, the last run before taper is an epic disaster....instead I'm going into taper feeling energized (for running, that is) and full of optimism.
Which means....watch out for the next two weeks as I second guess every single decision I've made in the last 3 months. Someone slap me.
Weekly Mileage:
56.8 run miles
35 bike miles
4400 swim yards
Coffee Milk, watch out...I'm bringing wildlife (my rabbit) and a gentleman escort to Rhode Island....humina humina!
If a shitty dress rehearsal means an excellent performance, I am screwed. Every single one of my runs this week was fantastic for one reason or another. Nailed my tempo pace of 8:10 for 10 miles with minimal effort. Actually ditched the recovery portion of my 2x3 mile "strength" speed work (I told you the paces were not good - reflection for my fall marathon). After weeks of failing to hit an actual recovery pace, I was issued a challenge to hit all 8 miles of my recovery run at 9 minute mile plus - happy to report that like the
 |
| 10 miles in race kit outfit. I have no clue why my neighbors have been avoiding me.... |
There were about a dozen of us on a bright, sunny morning, with temps in the upper 20s (complete perfection with the way the weather has been!). My soon to be husband Ken (sorry Greg) and new running buddy Kevin teamed up with me and we agreed to do 15 miles -adding on a side jaunt in Webster down Backus St. Since Kellman and Dwyer (whose feet do not touch the ground) didn't join us, we picked up as the resident "speedsters" and started cruising. I hoped to hold marathon pace of 8:05 - wisely NOT telling Ken, who has brought me 3 new half marathon PR's in 4 runs and sees it as his personal mission, the last PR being 1:42:27. Mile one clocked in at 8:32 (all uphill) then we settled in cruising speed miles 2-7, averaging 7:25-7:30 without a ton of effort. We spent time catching up about training, racing, and life - I once again threatened to kidnap Ken to run my marathon with me and he seriously looks at me and asks "Do they have a half?"....YASSSS. (Side note - I really doubt he was serious. One can hope, though). Kevin offered to pace me as well, and threw in some free zip ties so we can kidnap Ken. It took a kinky turn when he referred to the two of them as my "escorts" for the race and then...well....what happens in "run club" stays in "run club". (I'm joking of course. We just....kept running. But it sounded much juicier the other way.)
Ken pulled ahead at mile 8 when we hit the Culver hills and stayed about 30 seconds ahead for the next 4 miles, thereby losing his escort status, according to Kevin, who re named him - the rabbit. He kept checking his watch every minute, and as we hit mile 10 at 1:17, I stage whispered to my escort - guess who's plotting a new PR for me....and we took off. Miles 11 and 12 were pretty uneventful- there's a ridiculously long and steep hill at mile 12.5 that is almost better walked, so we lost some time there - hit mile 13 in 1:40 and change and cruised down the descent at that mile to clock in 13.1 in 1:41:06. Oh right. Another half PR. And this one by almost 9 minutes.
Aside from reaffirming my proposal to Ken, I also may have tried to hire him, which crossed all sorts of lines, but thank goodness everyone that is ridiculous enough to run in Lycra at 7am on a Sunday has a pretty good sense of humor. We caught up to the gang that ran 14 about the half mary mark and REALLY felt fast - I made a joke that we were basically Kellman and Dwyer (I opted for Dwyer, as clearly I suck at selfies).
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| The K Factor...KanRae... take on the Bay! |
To say that I feel fantastic is an understatement. The concept of holding an 8:10 for another 11 miles is daunting....but oddly doable. Usually, the last run before taper is an epic disaster....instead I'm going into taper feeling energized (for running, that is) and full of optimism.
Which means....watch out for the next two weeks as I second guess every single decision I've made in the last 3 months. Someone slap me.
Weekly Mileage:
56.8 run miles
35 bike miles
4400 swim yards
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