St George Marathon Training Week #6 - First 20 Miler

This week marked my first 20 miler of my training plan. We came back from Baltimore the Monday and I was on leave until Wednesday. Though I had to work from home part of Wednesday due to the Breakmilk Spoliage Crisis of 2014.

Week #6 plan:


My sidekick, while I write this today, is working on her pushups:


Tuesday

5.5 @ 8:54 around Mission Bay park, pushing stroller with carseat.

Because I had failed to do 7 miles in the ridiculous Baltimore heat, I added a half mile the to scheduled 5 miles. I would have done more except my back got totally jacked up from all the flying and the driving (600 miles in 5 days) and I was afraid was going to make it worse, so I just did that little bit of extra.

I also hit up Road Runner Sports because my Brooks Ghost 5's were done. I don't even know how many miles I put on them since February but they felt dead. I tried the Ghost 7's which felt great, but I also tried the Ravennas. I used to run in the Ravenna 1 and 2, religiously. The third version they changed it and, in my opinion, it was for the worse. I tried the fourth on at RRS with quick jaunt on the treadmill and they also felt wrong. But I loved the first and second versions so I felt compelled try the fifth. And, I'm not entirely sure what they did, but they feel similar to the first version. I had a hard time deciding between the Ghost 7 and Ravenna 5 but I ended up going with the Ravenna's because they were a hair light (.1 ounce) and I have had great success with them in the past.

Thursday

7 miles @ average 8:30.
Mile 1: 7:30, Mile 2 and 3: 7:23, Mile 4: 7:19

I was back to work, so I ran my speedwork on the treadmill. I figured it could be stupid try the Ravennas on a 20 miler as the first run, I did the first run/test run with them for this workout.

Shoes were fine, but mile repeats always feel hard to me. I never thought I'd say this but the I'm liking the tempo days better than the mile repeat days. The only kind of speedwork that I don't mind is fartleks. All other forms, for me, are painful. This is especially true for track workouts.

Friday

5 miles @ 8:59

I don't remember exactly what was going on but I think I had a pain in the butt day at work and had to run the 5 miles after work. I was able to nurse the baby as soon as I got home and then go down to the bay to tackle the 5. I didn't want to run them on Saturday and then run 20 on Sunday - that rest day in between felt important to me.

Sunday


First 20 miler of training. In new shoes! The shoes were great. But, boy, did the last 3 miles or so hurt. It was the toughest 20 miles in recent memory (i.e. last 3 years or so). I went up to North County to run with Nicole - we ran from Leucadia to Oceanside and back. We then decided a Slurpee was absolutely required after such an effort. It is really the best post-recovery drink, in my mind. Super cold, icy, sugary drink!

On the Stroller

This weekend, we tried Elise in the BOB without the car seat for a walk and it looks like she is ready for runs without it. I bought a head support thingy from Target for her to rest her head to the side if she decides to pass out during a run, though I'm not even sure it's necessary. I'm going to try it out tomorrow for 8 miles since I am home (company holiday week!).

Comments

  1. 20 miles already! That is dedication. My 20 miler isn't for another month.

    I loved my Ravenna 2s (I trained in them for my first marathon) and loved them. But I made the switch to the PureFlow 2s (mostly because they were on sale) and I really like them so far! Definitely not as much support but I guess I didn't need it because my knees are fine so far. I also have the PureConnect 2s as backup in case my knees start to hurt.

    Looking forward to hearing how the head rest for the Bob goes... my son will probably be ready to be in the stroller without the car seat in a couple months!

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