Pittsburgh Marathon Training: Week 11

From last week wearing shorts, I was once again pulling out the long sleeves and running pants for this round of training.  Just when I thought spring had arrived....  Nevertheless, this week was the first of three peak mileage cycles.

Monday: 5 Miles - Apparently thinking warm thoughts doesn't just change the weather.  Layered up, I set out the door letting my body dictate the pace.  Though my last run had been speedwork, today I still felt fresh and my watch readings were proof of that.  Having spent the past several months adapting to the cold seemed to have finally set in.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 10 Miles - I did something today I never thought I would - spent 10 miles running on a treadmill.  This was partially due to the snow storm we were getting but also just laziness on my part since I didn't feel like bundling up to head out.  So with Netflix to keep my attention, I started and just didn't stop until I hit my goal.  I'm pretty sure this is the longest I ever have (or will ever!) last on one of these machines.

Thursday: 5 Miles - When back roads are your normal terrain for running, significant snowfall makes a pretty decent impact on what paths are safe to run.  So once again, I started up the treadmill for yet more miles.  I figure there are way worse things in life.

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 20 Miles - To change things up, our running decided to head to a nearby trail to save our legs a little bit of grief from running on asphalt for so long.  While segments of the path were fine, other areas still had a few inches of snow.  It was so bizarre!  Running through these varying terrain changes added another level of difficulty and effort.  By the end, we were all glad to be finished.  

Sunday: 11 Miles - So the plan for today had been 10 miles, but my math skills are not the strongest.  I varied up my route to what I thought we result in the scheduled distance, but it seemed I was at tad off.  Be the time I realized I had gone too far, I decided to just round up to the next mile.  Having an uneven number of my running log just seemed wrong!

One of the challenges I'm finding as I head out on each long run is that I seem to not be taking in enough calories prior to the workout.  Around mile 15 or so, I can feel my stomach growling, which is never a good sign.  Apparently a banana and half a bagel with peanut butter isn't enough to fuel me.  I know I need to find a balance between eating enough to keep my going while not pushing myself overboard to the point of getting sick during the runs.  Good thing there are still 7 weeks til race day.

Happy running!
Sean

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