Marathon Training: Week 16

If you're following along, here is the SIXTEENTH week of training according to the 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon book. The paces bealow are specifically for the 4-hour goal. If anyone would like the paces for 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, or 5:00, I can start posting them alongside my plan if you let me know.

I am also posting on DailyMile, but everything (and more!) will be posted here as well. This "Marathon Training" series is an experiment for me both in fitness and in blogging, as I am going to go into more detail than in previous training cycles, documented on my Training page.

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Last Week in Review:

Here is the original schedule from last week and my comments/modifications.

This week was a bit bumpy, as "life" was getting in the way. However, I'm supposed to be tapering, anyway, so I guess it's not that bad. Excuses! =P

One thing that has changed this week are cooler mornings. As a result, my Saturday long run went better than any of my long runs in quite a while, albeit very strangely. Not that I endorse running "too fast" during the taper period, but it felt pretty natural and comforting to know I can hit my target marathon pace (which is supposed to be 9:10/mi) late in a run.

This run was so weird... here is the breakdown to prove that:

Mile 1 - 10:11
Mile 2 - 10:41 <-- this falls within the range of the "recommended pace"
Mile 3 - 10:27
Mile 4 - 10:16
Mile 5 - 9:55 <-- this is when I took some strides at "marathon pace" to see if I could
Mile 6 - 9:45 <-- momentum went on for the rest of the run
Mile 7 - 9:37
Mile 8 - 9:30
Mile 9 - 9:04
Mile 10 - 8:58

Week of Oct 24 (Week 15)

Monday - rest <-- cross-trained for 30 min (elliptical)

Tuesday - cross-train 30 minutes <-- Jacob's ladder

Wednesday - jog 30 minutes <-- my knee went south toward the end, so I did a bit of walking

Thursday - cross-train 30 minutes <-- skipped

Friday - jog 30 minutes <-- too busy to eat dinner the night before, so after 15 min or so, quit working out
Saturday - 10 mi at 10:40-11:10 pace <-- 9:50 pace

Sunday - rest

This Week:

I think I miscounted (errr, duh), because after this upcoming week, I still have a few runs before the race. Hmmm. But anyway, just glad to know this is almost over.

As for food, I've been eating pretty carb-heavy lately, so I don't think I need to change anything -- except be more consistent with my veggie intake. Overall, although I think I've been eating enough calories, I haven't been very consistent about making them nutritious and am especially bad at dinner when I just seem to not be able to eat much no matter how hungry I get. Need to work on this in these next two weeks...

Week of Oct 31 (Week 16)

Monday - jog 40 minutes

Tuesday - cross-train 30 minutes

Wednesday - 5 mi at 9:00/pace

Thursday - jog 30 minutes

Friday - cross-train 30 minutes
Saturday - 8 mi at 9:00 pace

Sunday - rest

What is the weirdest training run you've ever done??

To be continued...

Giveaway Winner! -- Sony W Series MP3 Player (Update)

Updated Post: 3/20/11 As promised, here are the Sony W Series giveaway winners: -- both have been contacted and prizes sent -- Please e-mail me at (Gmail) Nobel4Lit2 with your addresses, and I'll ship out the units soon! Thanks to everyone who entered. Stay tuned for another giveaway soon (maybe later this week)! (Note: I ended up putting everyone's retweets starting after the comments when it came to numbering the entries.) Original Post: 3/10/11 Sunday, March 20 2011, the day I will run LA Marathon for the 4th time (and embark on my 8th 26.2 journey overall), will also be very special because it will mark the 5th year since I did my FIRST training run with the intention of running a marathon. (Check out that life-changing post HERE ). Yep, on March 20, 2006, I went to the track and ran my first 3.25 miles with the dreams of marathon glory (or even half-marathon glory). I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was a sprint/track

Sharkies Prize Pack (giveaway)

It's giveaway time! On a long run recently, I took a couple packs of Sharkies Organic Sports Chews with me to keep me going on a hot day. I got through those 15 miles eating these, versus normal gels. I've been opting to eat chews over gels in my running nowadays because I just find them more palatable and easier on my stomach for some reason. Plus, they do pack a few more calories, which is a good thing in this case. I normally associate cute little chews with candy, but these actually contain natural electrolytes. Plus, they were light to carry and very tasty, too! Each pack is about 140 calories. The only downside I found to the sport chews is that they stuck to my teeth a tiny bit more than my normal choices, and the packaging gave me a fight at times. This could easily be solved by conslidating them into a baggie pre-run, or eating them BEFORE running would be much easier than during. Want to win the prize pack below? It comes with these Sport Chews, a neat

Rebecca Michaels Performance Clothing (Giveaway)

UPDATE: 6/21/12 -- This giveaway is closed, and the winner is #43, Jacqueline!! I will contact you, but if you miss it, please e-mail me! ------ I'd like to credit in advance "The Ukrainian" who helped me stage some photos for this post. =) Perhaps because I don't dress well when working out, I was offered the opportunity to try some fun pieces from the Rebecca Michaels summer collection. Since I complained about my issues with headbands staying on my head, I also got to try their Violet Love headbands. "The Ukrainian" didn't hesitate in throwing one on, and I think he said he looks like Rambo in it. Anyway, I'll start with my experience with the headbands . They are very soft and actually look SUPER cute on! They also cover a large portion of the top of your head, so those little fly-aways don't come drooping down. Or is that just me? My hair is normally cut in layers, so I do experience this quite a bit. Unfortun

MichelleOctober 30, 2011 at 9:38 AM
You are going to rock that marathon. You had such a great week.
LaurieOctober 30, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Anything I've done on a treadmil counts as weird to me.
Abby @ Have Dental Floss, Will TravelOctober 30, 2011 at 12:45 PM
Don't let Laurie fool you - she's been a treadmill machine this week.
UnknownOctober 30, 2011 at 1:14 PM
Your killing it girl!!
EliseOctober 30, 2011 at 8:13 PM
Way to go on the training!! I should track my runs like this next time around...I'm horrible at sticking to a schedule! You're gonna raock the marathon, too!

A Case of the Runs

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