9 weeks to the Boston Marathon: Last week's training

This last week was a tough one, but I knew that going into it. In the past I have normally kept the week to one mid-week workout and a fairly high quality long run, but we are trying a couple weeks of two workouts, plus an easier long run. It won't be the norm for this marathon block, but we are going to give it a shot for at least one more week. Within 6 days I had a 24 mile run, a 14 mile tempo on a challenging, hilly loop, and 7 x 1 mile on a net-uphill paved course. My biggest mistake was not taking the 24 mile run easy enough. I still drove around my usual 12 mile loop placing bottles with my Power Gel mixture, which in itself makes me take the run more seriously. It ended up being a progression run finishing at 5:00 pace. I definitely felt that two days later in the long tempo attempt, but it still went fairly well. By the time I got to the 7 x mile, I was pretty wrecked, and decided after two reps to do the rest of the workout as a Fartlek. A couple of light days later, and I'm feeling back to normal, but it is a lesson learned for the coming weeks. It takes discipline to pull back a bit when you feel that you are on the brink of over-training, but I have enough experience to know that it's necessary in avoiding injury or detrimental exhaustion.

I decided to make an overnight trip with my wife and 2 month old son to the Oregon Coast and felt rejuvenated after a couple of surprisingly sunny beach runs at a time of year when you feel that you have the entire region to yourself. Looking forward to the challenge of the next couple weeks before backing off slightly heading in to the US 15k Championships at the Gate River Run. I have run this race many times in the past and have placed as high as third. I'm looking forward to coming back for the first time since my injuries in 2015!

Thanks again for reading, and feel free to check out last week's training below.

Total Volume:

10	140	Sunday	2/4/2018	Long run 24 miles, progressing to 5:00
		Monday	2/5/2018	AM: 14, PM: 6
		Tuesday	2/6/2018	AM: 14 miles @ 5:10 on hilly loop PM: 5
		Wednesday	2/7/2018	AM: 14 PM: 6
		Thursday	2/8/2018	AM: 10, PM: 5
		Friday	2/9/2018	AM: 7 x 5 min Fartlek w/3 min rest PM: 6
		Saturday	2/10/2018	AM: 14, PM: 6