Week 12 of Project Suck It

Since I majorly dropped the ball on logging my workouts for the last week or so I have to play a little catch up....you can skip this post because it will be boring, but I need to record some things for myself. Saturday (aug. 29 - last day of week 6): Reluctantly left the house early to go for my recovery "long" run and get it over with since the hubby was home. Uhg. 8 miles/1:23:10/10:23 av pace/157 bpm

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Portland Training Week 5 (a.k.a Project Suck it): Monday - 4 mile recovery run Unmotivated and tired. 3.86 miles/10:44 av pace Tuesday - 2 mile tempo, 2 x 400 w/ 400m recovery jog 2 mi tempo - 8:44 av pace/173 bpm 400 - 2:02 400 - 1:49 Thursday - 3 mile tempo 2 mi tempo - 9:35 av pace/179 bpm This was a rough workout for me. It was the first workout of this training cycle that I just felt tired. I had no gas left for my tempo run. I just couldn't do it. I cut out the last mile and made it a two mile tempo rather than 3. I had a 20 miler on the brain for the weekend and I thought it was best to conserve my energy. Coach agreed. Comparing Tuesday and Thursday it's pretty obvious - I went significantly slower and my HR was higher. I think I made the right choice which leads me to..... Friday/Saturday - piriformis This was the first time I had any symptoms of piriformis and it freaked me out. I used the foam roller like crazy and stretched it out all day Friday and Saturday. Luckily, my 20 miler was schedule for Sunday rather than Saturday so I had one extra day of rest. Sunday - 20 miler I woke up feeling refreshed after two days off and my piriformis was significantly better. I drove down to where we were meeting for our long run which was about an hour away. Hello FLATNESS!! The weather was INSANE. I saw rain in every shape and form that day (even hail). The first hour was just a steady wet rain, the second hour it completely downpoured monsoon style. It was f'n insane. I just kept thinking that if it's like this on marathon day - I wont be phased by it. The last hour of my run it had slowed to a light drizzle and even stopped for a little while. My Ipod never quit working believe it or not. I was a little worried about this. I fully recommend this Ipod nano case. I got it at Target for like 20 or 30 bucks. Money well spent!! They have black ones. Overall I ran this run waaay too fast, but it was flat and I was on cloud nine. I decided to bump up the pace at the 16 mile mark. miles 1 - 16/10:28 av pace/163 bpm miles 16 - 20/10:04 av pace/179 bpm 20 miles/10:23 av pace/166 bpm Fueling: I only took one salt tablet every hour instead of two because they got wet inside my fuel belt and the capsules started disintegrating. I had to kind of throw half eroded capsules in my mouth. Post long run thoughts: I was VERY sore from this long run. In retrospect I should not have run those last four miles so fast. I feel like what I'll probably feel like post marathon which isn't good. That's not what long runs are intended for. My planned MP is 10:20 for craps sake. My IT band is killing me and although I took an ice bath yesterday, I might do another today.

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I'm one month out from the marathon now and I really need to slow myself down. I am feeling so strong and all the speedwork is making me faster, but I'm worried about injury. I told Coach he needs to keep an eye on me very closely because I find myself wanting to go faster or go longer or worse - both at the same time.