Week 10 - Boston Marathon Training
I'm at the point in marathon training where things get pretty tough and weeks start to fly by really fast. The mileage is high, the workouts are intense, and I have a love/hate relationship with all of it! Haha - it always ends with love, but it's freaking hard right now!
One of the things I struggle with the most is the training/work/life balance, which I'm sure many folks feel when they are marathon training. As the mileage and time invested into training grows, those other things don't go away or subside. That's when I find myself shorting myself on sleep to continue to do everything required of me, but this is also when you need sleep the MOST - when you're mileage is high and you're training hard.
Woe is me right?? No! I get to do this and I really love it, so I suck it up when times get tough. And I'm loving the results I'm getting from this training cycle so far. My runs this past week went very well - even with less sleep and coming off a week of being sick. I worked super hard and crushed my speed workout and first double day of the training cycle on Tuesday. I was nervous going into the 18 mile run on Saturday because my legs, specifically my quads, still felt pretty torn up during my strides the day before. I felt so strong throughout the run though and even got my fastest mile in at mile 17 at a 7:30 pace. The run called for 18 easy/aerobic miles, but you'll notice that your aerobic base grows throughout your training cycle and the faster paces become easier. Same thing goes for recovery miles. When I first started this cycle, my recovery runs were around 9:00-9:20 pace, now, they are between 8:40-9:00 pace. It gets easier! Stick with it!
Week 10 Schedule:
Monday: 8 aerobic miles (8:07 average)
Hip Strengthening (planks, side planks, donkey kicks, bird dogs, bridges)
Tuesday: 3 miles - morning (8:15 average) -
9 miles - evening (7:19 average) - 1.5 m w/u & c/d + 3 x 10 min (6:34, 6:29, 6:37) w 2 min recovery
Wednesday: 7 recovery miles (8:42 average)
20 min recovery yoga
Thursday: Cross Training - 25 minutes elliptical + 30 minutes of strength training
Friday: 6 miles + 8 x 100 meter strides with 100 meter recovery between (8:16 average)
Saturday: 18 miles (7:57 average)
Hip Strengthening (planks, side planks, donkey kicks, bird dogs, bridges)
Sunday: 6 recovery miles (8:47 average)
10 minute kettle bell workout
GRVL 2 year anniversary ceebration
In the midst of a 57 mile week, I had a dinner with my man Ricky and his coworker and his wife on Thursday, which was lots of fun. It was an exhausting night though - after the dinner we went to the GRVL Runners 2 year anniversary party. GRVL was the first group I started running with in Long Beach, so I love them all so much I had to go! I think I got home sometime after 10 and was in bed by 11 that night, only to wake up at 4 am to get in my 6 miler. Brutal, but worth it. Life never stops for training, so you just have to push through the hard times and figure out how to balance it all. I think I'm finally figuring it out on my 7th marathon training cycle... the secret is lots of coffee and peanut butter ;)
How do you balance life and training?
J
