Akron Marathon Training: Week 15

It's taper time!  Going forward, my mileage will be slowly decreasing so I'm raring to go on race day.  Until then, though, a few more speed workouts and long runs await me.

Monday: 9 Miles - Speed work for me usually entails fast paces and short distances.  This workout threw me for a little bit of a tizzy then since the first 5 miles were to be run progressively with the last 4 being at tempo pace.  Unexpectedly, this type of run played to my favor since by the time I reached the second half of the workout, I felt warmed up and ready to take on the faster pace.

Tuesday: 8 Miles - For being a recovery day, I once again took this run too hard.  Once I finished, I made a mental note to not repeat this mistake on my next easy workout.  For having a watch that can track my pace, you'd think I would have better control over my speed!

Wednesday: 9.17 Miles - Looking at the workout for this day made me cringe slightly.  The run was to consist of alternating miles between tempo pace and marathon pace with 2 minutes of recovery in between.  In not having any flat routes that can last this distance, I knew I'd have to push it up the hills to keep the pace.  Like Monday, I was surprised in the end to have actually done well with the workout - I guess these past weeks of training have started paying off!

Thursday: 4 Miles - As I had decided on Tuesday, I kept this recovery run a little closer to the prescribed pace.  Especially as race day approaches, I keep reminding myself that recovery is just as important as the hard runs.

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 16 Miles - Wow did this run take more out of me than it should have!  I'll be honest - out of laziness, I decided not to take my water bottles with me for these miles since I figured I'd be running near water fountains and could just hydrate there.  What I didn't consider was how quickly the temperature was going to skyrocket nor the stickiness of using Swedish Fish for fuel.  While I wouldn't say I suffered major dehydration, it was definitely have been a better workout with a little more water.

Sunday: Rest Day

In looking back at this week, I'd say training went pretty well.  The weather was mostly cooperative (a light reprieve from the heat has been amazing!) allowing me to run at pace and get all my workouts in.  I've been resisting the urge to look up the long-range forecast for race day figuring that, unless its dangerous, I'll be taking on all 26.2 regardless of what Mother Nature may send!

Happy running!
Sean