Vermont City Marathon Training – Week 4

Hello, cutback week! This week felt great and I almost (so, so close!) got four runs instead of three done. But then Baby T fell asleep on me and rather than his usual hour nap, the monkey crashed for two hours, as I watched the sun setting out the window. Boo. My workouts were strong this week, though! Check it out.

Current Goal: 

The goal I set for this week was a last-ditch effort to finally achieve one of these bloody mini weekly goals I keep setting – and I did it in style! (More on that in the long run section.) This week’s goal? Four runs rather than three. I am sure I can make it work, because this week Roman starts full-time daycare (sniff, sniff!) so I will have a little more time on my hands and can even take Baby T out for a recovery run along the lake if I need to.

Long Run:

This was the weirdest route ever for a long run. It’s been unseasonably warm here, so I decided to run down to the trails and see if they were passable for a run without ice spikes (which I haven’t been needing lately!). It’s 2 miles down to the trailhead and I figured if it was too icy, I’d just head towards the lake instead. I got there and immediately realized I’d break my neck without spikes on. So as I was running back, I thought, oh this section here would be a good stretch for interval work! I decided to run back and clock off where the quarter mile, half mile and mile was so I’d have a visual sense the next time I want to run repeats.

Back and forth I went a couple of times, then I realized I’d added probably a mile and a half to my total. That meant it was time for runner brain math!! This can’t be just me, it must be a thing, because I’m not terrible at math in day to day life. But once I start running and start trying to work out mileage, pace and times, I become a foggy mess and totally screw it up. I ended up back at my house at around 9 miles, so I had to do some impromptu exploring of the streets around our place to tack on the extra mile. 

This was the slightly muddy but not icy section where I realized I could do repeats easily. While I was running this, it occurred to me that since there’s NO snow on the ground up here, we probably won’t get the ‘mud season’ that apparently is the usual April delightfulness in Burlington.

Despite my woeful calculating, I hit my goal for the week! My plan was to run my 10 mile long run slightly faster overall than I did two weeks ago. I took 10 seconds per mile off my pace! The last time I ran it I averaged 10:16 pace, this time I was at 10:06. 

Speed Workout:

This was my least pretty run of the week. It was just too bitterly cold for me to brave outside when I’d scheduled my speed workout, so to the treadmill I trudged. In theory, intervals on a treadmill should be easier. You can set your pace and know you’re nailing it. You can run with distractions and no worries about safety. You have your water and a towel at your fingertips. But the other thing about treadmills is you can just hit that pause button, or switch up to a slow pace in an instant. That means (for me at least) it’s a constant mental battle to keep pushing.

I did half mile repeats again (the last time I was on a treadmill was for basically the same workout). I did a warm up mile, then four repeats with 2 min walk intervals between each. I started a little slower for the first interval because I wanted to really up the speed for the last couple. First three were fine, then I just quit halfway through the last one. Got to a quarter mile and went to walk pace. I walked for a minute, silently yelling at myself for quitting, then ran another quarter of a mile at pace before cooling down.

Despite feeling like I didn’t nail this workout and that I got inside my head, I did feel great afterward (speed work always makes me feel amazing – endorphins, I guess) and I didn’t let it get to me that I’d quit on myself. After all, now I have that spot from my long run all mapped out to do repeats, so I can kill my workout outdoors. 😉

Regular Run:

A lovely nearly 7 mile run in perfect 30 degree running weather (sun! no wind!). Ran to the lake and back again and tackled the Battery Street hill in style. This was the strongest I’ve felt running that hill and when I compared my ‘hill mile’ pace to previous efforts, it was about 40 seconds faster overall pace. This is the first time I’ve noticed a significant difference in my fitness level.

Other Workouts:

A whole lot of not much. Plenty of walking, much of it baby-wearing, which counts as resistance training, I’m sure. Apart from a quick online yoga session and some squatting and lunging with Baby T as my weight, I was not really successful with my other workouts this week.  I am working on it, especially after reading this article by Amanda (Miss Zippy) in Competitor magazine about the need for strength and balance training when you wear maximalist shoes. (I love my Hoka One Ones!)

Notes From the Week:

I’ve mentioned before that I can’t have eggs at any point during the day before I run, or I will feel like I’m going to be sick the whole time. I’ve realized recently that I do much better running longer distances on super plain foods, or smoothies as my pre-run fuel. This week worked out great for me, because I was sent a box of smoothie prep to review for a company called Green Blender (the review will be up Friday, if you want to check it out). Pre-fueling on smoothies has been working out SO well, it’s definitely something I’ll be continuing.

Weekly Mileage:

21.32 miles

Total Mileage:

89.38 miles

Running math – is it just me, or does your brain slow down on the run?

Do you find it easier to quit outside or on a treadmill?