Fit Friday - I'm Racing!
So, I'm racing on Sunday! But, not really racing. I'm going to use the Malibu Half Marathon as a training run to focus on controlling my pace. My friend Jesus offered to pick up my bib for me tomorrow, which helped make my decision to race easier. It was tough justifying driving up to Malibu 2 days in a row because they don't offer race day pick up.
I've been trying to figure out how to handle the long run issue of running 20 miles this weekend and doing this race. So, I've still got one more 15 or 16 miler in the mix for next weekend, so I'm either going to do a 10 - 12 mile easy run tomorrow, or I'm going to make it an easy 15-16 miles and hope my legs will work with me on Sunday. The other option is to run another 7 miles after my race. Because Malibu is a point to point race and we're being bused to the start, it leaves little time to run the 7 miles before the race.
Here's the plan for the race: 3 miles easy (8:25 pace), 7 miles at marathon pace (7:25), and 3 miles back to easy pace. I'm taking some advice from my friend Mark and trying out this pacing method to keep my training moving forward rather than going all out for this race. My goal is to qualify for Boston. Once I've accomplished that, I can look more openly at what I can do at other distances.
My workouts this week went GREAT!!! Not to toot my own horn, but I rocked my 21 mile run on Saturday (it was supposed to be 22 miles, but rather than finish the route on map my run to make sure it was long enough, I guestimated and that left me falling short). However, the run went so well that I can't even be bummed I didn't meet my distance goal. I finished 21 miles at a 7:45 average pace!!!! And I felt really good. I took all of my scheduled gels with no problem at all. I set out on the run not feeling all that positive and I just wanted it to be over, but my Dad, who has never run a race and is training for his first half marathon, told me I just needed to run one of my long runs at my goal pace. Once my first mile was down at 7:47 pace, I thought - yeah, I'm going to keep it around 7:40 - 7:50. SUCCESS!!! I feel so much more confident in my ability to maintain that speed. Now, the goal is to not jump the gun at the beginning of the race and blow my steam like I did in Portland. Malibu will be a good test for me to hold in the reins.
The rest of my week went well. I made it to the gym twice for weight lifting, but unfortunately didn't get in any yoga or spin. I'm hoping to make it to yoga tomorrow morning:
Saturday: 21 miles @ 7:45 pace
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Gym with chest, ab, biceps and back workout + 6 miles @ 8:04 pace
Tuesday: 9.5 miles @ 7:48 pace
Wednesday: Gym with squats and lunges, triceps and shoulders + 5.5 miles @ 8:11 pace (2 miles of hill repeats)
Thursday: 3.3 miles @ 8:35 with GRVL!
Friday: Rest
Total Weekly Mileage: 43
I've had a harder time eating well this week. I prepped some things on Sunday, which was great, but I dropped the ball yesterday and have been taking in some more sugar than usual, even for me. I'm going to have to be really good the week of Thanksgiving until my race... YIKES!
This week marked one year of blogging and creating the Sugar Runs persona on social media and I feel so lucky to get to know the folks that I have. I really love the running community so much and can't wait to see what this next year brings!
How'd your training go this week?
Are you racing this weekend?
J
