Wow, week 13 of training is already over. That means just six weeks to race day. Gulp. Last week was a stressful and frustrating one (for reasons that shouldn’t be discussed in detail on the interwebs), so my training was as much therapy and sanity-saver as it was solid marathon training. Luckily, those goals overlapped nicely. Here’s how it went:
Monday:
AM: Strength training at the gym
PM: 8.4 miles of fartleks (and warm-up and cool down). It was suuuper windy, so the fartleks were based on effort, not pace.
Does anyone else love the “intervals finished” song that Garmins play?
Tuesday:
8.2 miles easy. Windy again.
Wednesday:
10 miles with 5 at tempo. The wind played nice and didn’t blow a billion miles per hour, which made for a much less frustrating tempo.
Thursday:
9.1 miles easy. I had planned to get up and lift in the morning, but I was so. stinking. tired. So I slept.
Friday:
8 miles at recovery pace
Saturday:
16.4 miles, the first 10 at easy pace, the last 6 progressively faster. If you’ve followed my blog through other training cycles, then you probably know that fast-finish long runs are my nemesis. I struggle every time. So I’m thrilled to let you know that while this one was certainly tough, I hit all the splits I was hoping for. Score!
This is my “Yay! A good run!” face.
After I ran, we got our taxes done and had to pay a bunch of money. So, at least one part of the morning was good.
Sunday:
Rest day. I did this horrible 30-minute yoga video I found on Amazon Prime Instant Video… yeah, it was bad.
Total: 60.1 miles.
I definitely slacked on strength and core work and stretching last week, so I’m making that a priority this week. With six weeks until race day, I can’t afford to slack off. This week will be another stressful one (again, I won’t get too into it, but it starts with a P and ends with an ARCC), and it will also involve a bunch more running in the wind, because that’s what spring does around here. But since I’m training for a May marathon in Nebraska, I suppose a windy race day isn’t out of the question, so I’d better train for it.
How do you feel about running in the wind?
I’ve been a slacker in the blog world lately. What have I missed?
Rural Running Redhead 
I hate both biking and running into the wind, but it mentally prepares you for worst case scenarios. If it’s windy in Nebraska, you’ll be ready. I always remember that if it’s windy, it means there will be a tail wind at some point, right? I can’t believe you are only 6 weeks away. That means you are getting close to the taper!!! Good luck out there!
A big chunk of Lincoln is out-and-back, so if it’s windy, there should be a tailwind!