Wow, it’s hard to believe I’m just four weeks out from race day! One more hard week, one more medium week, and two taper weeks…then the race! Here’s how this week looked:
Monday:
AM: 8.3 miles of fartleks. I love that workout.
PM: 45 minutes or so of strength training at home.
Tuesday:
AM: 6 recovery miles
PM: 30ish minutes of core work and stretching
Wednesday:
Downhill 800s. I warmed up and cooled down outside and did the workout on the incline trainer. There were only four other people in the gym, so I broke the 30-minute rule.
As it turned out, one of those four people was waiting for this machine. She glared at me when I got off. Oops.
I only did the one workout today, because it was back-to-school night, and by the time I got home, I just wanted to eat and sleep. So that’s what I did.
Thursday:
AM: 8 miles easy
PM: 30 minutes of full-body strength. This was the first day of school, and I was exhausted, so I was satisfied with 30.
Friday:
5 easy miles and some core work
Saturday:
Another fast-finish long run: 10 miles easy, then 8 gradually faster. It was hard and I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t as miserable and hopeless-feeling as my last fast-finish. On runs like this, I wish I had a coach or at least a running buddy to yell at me and tell me to quit being a baby. Sometimes I don’t have enough of my own mental strength. Need to work on that, I guess. At least the sunrise was pretty. 
Sunday:
Rest, which included some time at the laundromat because our dryer decided it wanted to join the “Everybody Break!” party.
And that’s that. This coming week is the first full week of school and my last week at peak mileage. That should be interesting — in a good way, because I like both these things.
I hope you have a great week!
How was your weekend?
Rural Running Redhead 
Good luck with the first week back!
Good luck with your first week back! I know it will be wonderful.
Hope your first week of school goes smoothly! I always hated the 30 minute treadmill rule, I get why they have it, but all the same only 30 minutes!
I know! My gym only has the rule on the incline trainer, since it’s the only one, so at least before I got my own treadmill, I could spend lots of time on theirs in the winter.
Have a great first week back! I can’t wait to see how you destroy this marathon! You are so strong!
Thanks! I’m pretty nervous for this one!
Enjoy your first week back! I can’t believe your marathon is super close!!! Can’t wait to hear about it! 🙂
I can’t believe it’s so close, either!
What time are you getting up now that school is back in?? I can’t imagine getting up early enough to get the mileage in before school. I’m definitely impressed!
Personally, I think you are allowed to break the 30-minute rule. You are training for a marathon, so they can wait. I can’t believe it is only a month away. Good luck on peak training week and getting back into the classroom for your first full week of school.
Hope your first week back is going well!! this summer flew by! btw — “and by the time I got home, I just wanted to eat and sleep.” that is me every night 🙂 (which is why im hauling my behind out of bed at 5am to go work out- if it doesnt happen now it just wont happen 😀 )
Agree with those who hate the 30 minute rule… though it does make sense if there’s only one of that type of equipment. What exactly is the incline trainer – is that like a step machine?
It’s a treadmill but it does crazy inclines — up to 30% and down to -3%.
That’s awesome! I’ve never seen one of those.