Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 12

One of the unique characteristics of my training plan is the transition between peak weeks and off weeks.  After having completed the tradition 20 mile long run last week, this set of workouts proved to be a small taper as recovery from the intensity of logging high mileage.  It felt a little odd to be doing so much less, but I'll trust in the plan!

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5 Miles - I really had to work hard today on reigning myself in.  After having completed the first two miles as a relatively speedy pace, I knew my body wasn't obtaining the recovery intended by this week's structure.  Easing on the gas, I slowed down to something more akin to what would be help me heal up and feel refreshed.

Wednesday: 6 Miles - Well, for how good a I did yesterday at moderating my pace, today it all went out the window.  At one point I was pretty darn close to moving at marathon pace.  Maybe its a sign that I'm ready to cruise in a few weeks?

Thursday: 5.6 Miles - Our running club started up a program that they had implemented last year called "Shoes and Brews."  After going a few easy miles, everyone returns to the store for drinks and socializing.  While I am not the biggest beer drinker, I had the opportunity to meet new people who generally don't join us for the weekend long runs.  My circle of running acquaintances is definitely growing!

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 12 Miles - I would have given anything to have today's amazing weather last week when going 20; the perfect conditions almost seemed wasted on such a short distance comparatively.  Hovering at times possibly a tad too fast for this workout, I did my best to ignore all the data from my watch knowing that some runs are just about going out and doing.  I let the socializing dictate the pace for the day.

Sunday: 6 Miles Pace - My occasional level of indecision on things seems to be playing havoc with my goal marathon pace.  Yet again I have revised the plan with the hopes of now going 8:00/mile.  In this run in particular, I found it challenging to go slow enough to maintain my original goal of 8:15/mile.  Though I still plan on negative splitting the race, what I hope to average continues to delve lower each week.

In reflecting on this week, while I didn't mind the lower mileage, it also felt a little odd - not good, not bad, just different.  In next week being another peak week, we'll see if this cut back made impacted how I performed when things got hard again.

Happy running!
Sean