Week 9

Monday, December 19 – streak mile
I considered looking up my plan but it made more sense just to get in a mile for the streak. My legs (and the rest of my body) kept surprising me with how good they felt after the 18 miles the previous day.

Tuesday, December 20 – 4 miles
I still didn’t look at the plan, settling on four miles for no concrete reason. I definitely did not feel as good on this run but i don’t think it was because of the long run. I expected to return and discover that my period had started, since it should soon but it hadn’t. My ovaries probably decided to give me advanced warning which sometimes I could do without. I still maintained a decent clip and eventually settled into the run.

Wednesday, December 21 – 40 minutes easy
Interrupted sleep and travel made this run feel not spectacular. I initially stopped at 30 minutes but after walking for a little over a quarter mile, I felt like running again so I ran for another mile.

Thursday, December 22 – 50 minutes easy
I ran with Mom on this one. We definitely took it easy in terms of pace, so “easy” in fact that it felt a little more difficult. I will take that as a win though since that particular pace felt difficult to maintain because it was so slow.

Friday, December 23 – 45 minutes easy
I expected to feel a lot fresher on this run than I did. I didn’t feel as peppy as expected with as much rest time as I’d been getting while at the beach. I didn’t stress though and took the run easy.

Saturday, December 24 – 4 miles easy
I don’t remember why I chose to run inside on the treadmill for this run, most likely the temps. This run felt much better than the run of equal length from Wednesday even though I did travel this day too. Originally we had planned to run the Christmas eve race at Hilton Head before we left. Then we woke to chilly temps inside the condo because the heat had gone out some time overnight. With 20 degree temps outside, the prospect of running a race in those temps and coming back to a lack of warmth was less than appetizing so we ran back when we arrived back home.

Sunday, December 25 – 40 minutes easy
We planned on a Christmas day long run but Mom asked if we could do the long run Monday instead since Ellis would be gone visiting his daughter. Sure. I ran inside again but didn’t start soon enough to get out to Mom and Ellis’ for Christmas dinner/lunch thinking they planned to start at 1:30 not 1:00. Whoops. Once again, I took it easy and got the miles in.

Week 10

Monday, December 26 – 20 miles long
Once looking at the temps, we decided to make this an afternoon run rather than morning since we would get 10 more degrees of warmth by doing so. When we started, I felt thankful that I had taken it easy the past few days because I felt fairly fresh. Overall, I felt pretty good as we ran, easily banishing negative thoughts with memories of the long run from the week before in Central Park. It wasn’t until around mile 13 or 15 that my legs started to complain, although not loudly. The final miles felt a lot more difficult making me think that the hills definitely add more challenge and that I’m thankful for the lack of hills in the upcoming marathon. Afterwards, I felt significantly more sore than the week before, lending support to the theory about the hills.

Tuesday, December 27 – streak mile
My legs definitely felt the work from the day before so I took it as easy as possible.

Wednesday, December 28 – 15 minutes easy, 25 minutes race pace, 15 minutes easy
I decided to run inside on the treadmill to help me maintain the tempo pace aka avoid the hills.
I still felt soreness from Monday’s long run which definitely took more out of me than the 18 miles I ran the week before in Central Park. However, once I got to the tempo portion, I felt incredibly capable, not my usual feeling with tempo runs. That felt extremely motivating.

Thursday, December 29 – 40 minutes easy
Once again, I ran inside, this time just to take it easy by avoiding the hills, plus give myself the “excuse” opportunity to watch BookTube after reading for most of the day. I felt decent throughout the run, focusing on getting through it.

Friday, December 30 – 35 minutes easy
With two long runs slightly less than a week apart, I focused on the shorter side of the range for easy runs. I also ended up running this one inside as well because I could not motivate myself to go outside. Although I originally planned for 30 minutes, I had the screen on lap mode so I missed the 30 minute mark. Thus, I decided to finish at 35 minutes instead. I felt really good for this run, ready for the next long run.

Saturday, December 31 – Resolution Run (16 miles)
See race recap.

Sunday, January 1 – streak mile
My legs were definitely still sore so I chose to run inside to make it a little easier. I focused on maintaining good form and getting it done. The rest of the day I spent resting.

Week 11

Monday, January 2 – 55 minutes easy
I ran outside on my regular route for the first time in a little while, a little bummed that the weather decided to go back to early fall temps, near 70, on January 2nd. My legs felt really fresh and strong throughout which resulted in my pace inching up a little faster than easy pace but I still really enjoyed the run.

Tuesday, January 3 – 40 minutes easy
My legs felt tired when I first started but not in a way that kept me from running or feeling bad. I’m glad that I ran on the treadmill (due to the sun going down plus thunderstorms starting) because it made it a little easier. Once I got going, the run went really well.

Wednesday, January 4 – 15 minutes WU, 25 minutes at race pace, 15 minute WD
When I started this run, I found myself surprised that my legs felt tired. Just like with yesterday’s run, even though my legs felt tired, I settled into the run easily. I did wonder a little bit how my legs would feel on the tempo portion. Once I started, it felt like more of the same, just a little bit more difficult. When I finished the tempo portion, I did pause and rest for a minute before starting the cool down which ended up feeling the best out of all three parts.

Thursday, January 5 – 40 minutes easy
Once again, I felt more tired than I expected. I have a hypothesis that it comes form being back at work and. underestimating the effort it takes on normal days as compared to vacation. I got the 40 minutes done on the treadmill with just one break. Interestingly, while I did not feel fresh and peppy, I felt better for the second half.

Friday, January 6 – 30 minutes easy
I cut down this run a little thinking that we would be getting started with Christmas dinner sooner. This run held nothing extraordinary and felt pretty good.

Saturday, January 7 – 12 mile “long” run
Mom felt better – so awesome – so she ran with me. We took it easy and enjoyed the shorter run and the near perfect temperatures although I would have preferred a little less humidity and a temps a few degrees cooler.

Sunday, January 8 – streak mile
Not much to say here. Since we didn’t work too hard the previous day, this mile felt nice and easy.

Week 12 – Race week!

Monday, January 9 – 30 minutes easy
It’s taper time for sure. This run felt fine although I did run it using my old shoes so I would not put as many miles on my current pair prior to the marathon. Even though I would love to continue with these shoes, I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten all the miles out of them that I can.

Tuesday, January 10 – 10 minutes WU, 5 x 1000m cruise intervals, 10 minutes WD
Once again, I ran inside to take out the hills and manage the speed. I felt solid throughout the run, definitely capable of holding the pace. However, once again I wondered if/or how I would be able to hold that for the whole marathon. I also, after processing that thought, realized that this kind of thinking holds me back in the races. I’m glad I recognize this but am not sure how I will tackle it.

Wednesday, January 11 – 30 minutes easy
This run got started a lot later than I expected thanks to a “required” round table meeting at school. Physically I felt great, like I could keep going for a while. (Definitely a good sign.) Mentally though, I wasn’t engaged with the run so I struggled a little but not too much to last the full 30 minutes.

Thursday, January 12 – 30 minutes easy
This run felt average, so average in fact that I remember no details from it.

Friday, January 13 – 20 minutes easy
Even though I probably could have run outside, I chose to run on the treadmill in the hotel’s fitness center. Physically, I felt great but I did find it a little bit more difficult because the treadmill had a large screen to watch things on that I did not use since I listened to an audiobook. I would have much preferred getting to look out and enjoy the view rather than a black screen.

Saturday + Sunday – streak mile + race day
See race recap.