Flying Pig Marathon Training - Week 18 - Weekly Running Update: April 21, 2019

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well! Any recent races or training for one, which ones? How did it go? 

Anyone participate in Boston? How was it?! So many amazing highlights and inspiring stories!

This was week 18 of marathon training for Flying Pig for me. Starting to taper down. #TrustTheTaper 

My Week in Training:

Monday: 6 miles before work. Sunday rest day. Some light chores, but made a point to rest plenty. In bed early...but.. tornado warning at 3 am! Startled us for sure! Rain and winds kicked in shortly after. Howling! Not sure if I fell back to sleep or not. Up before my alarm. Coffee, work out, hydrate, and out the door before 6. Light rain, was actually looking fwd to it to waking me up. Still feeling Saturday's 20 miler and tired, settled in at 8:25-8:30. Through the worst of the hills thought about fading but hung in there. The rain cleared up early. Flash flood warnings, but a non issue.

Tuesday: 3.11 miles before work. With the sleep issues Sun into Monday, made a point to get to bed early on Mon night! In bed before 9! Fell asleep right away. The only issue is, I rarely sleep more than 7 hrs. Felt the need to "catch up", got my normal amount of sleep, but up before 4, gave up trying around 4:15. No "extra" rest, but it was quality. Up, coffee, work out, hydrate, stretch, and out before 6. I always check the weather before heading out. Good thing! Temps back in the 30's! thought I was done wearing long sleeves! lol.. Brisk and well rested, ready to go! Pacing felt better than expected compared to Monday. 8:15/8:20/8:12 before/after worst hills/overall.

Wednesday: 4 miles before work. Tues, up a few late, 9:45! Up a few min before my alarm, but a bit groggy. Coffee, work out, hydrate, and out the door by 6. Temps just below 50. Brisk at first, air felt great. Definitely like the brisk air when I'm tired. Pacing: settled into the 8:15-8:20. Maintained at 8:20 after the worst of the hills mid way. Did my new fav extreme hill in mi 3, a bit tough to maintain pace after. Quads and hammy still feeling last weekend, but perfect weather, loved today's run. 

Thursday: 1 mile before work. Since Thu is 1 mile day, I may have a drink or two on Wed night. Went to bed early, 7 hrs sleep, up before my alarm. Dragging to start. Coffee, work out (got going and had time for extra reps), hydrate, stretch, and out the door by 6:10. Worked on cadences to start. Pacing: goal to do casual 8 min, maintained at 7:45 ish. Felt good. Still didnt have motivation to go to work though. lol..

Friday: 5 miles. Notice I didn't say before work! Off today, yay! Thursday, up way past my bed time, almost midnight! Watching sports. Sixers (win) started at 8, Phillies at 8:40 (loss :( ). Also had a couple of beverages. ;) If today was long run day, I wouldn't have done either. I like to get my rest! Up around 6, but taking my time. Coffee, work out (did a couple extra sets since I had time), hydtrate, stretch, and out the door around 8! Nike app issue! No pace updates! (I have mine set to alert every minute). (maybe an update that needs a boot?) Started out a bit fast, still had my watch to alert every mile, settled into my pace in mile 2. Another set back of not getting my alerts, would of done an extra .5, been mixing up my routes to get more hills, don't have the route memorized at the moment, hit my target after my last hill, but was .5 away from home. Did a cool down from there. I normally would of gone to the trail on a day off, but concentrating on hills for weekday runs. Will be there tomorrow!

Saturday: 10 miles. Long run day, trail day, yay! And it's "only" 10 miles! Let the tapering begin! Fri, pretty much just relaxed after my run. Hydrated and foam rolled. Went to bed early. Thunderstorm and flash flood warnings overnight, didn't really hear them. Woke up at my normal time. Coffee, light breakfast, hydrate, stretch. Thunder started at 5:30! Pouring rain! Guess I'm going to get wet today! Head over to my trail by 7. Flash floods along the drive there! Rain settled down just as I got started. My trail Pennypack Creek. Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd. Did the more gradual side to Rockledge Park first. Pacing settled in the 8:30's. First mile in, I saw an albino deer! At first I though it was a white dog, (especially since I wasn't wearing my glasses due to the rain), but as I got closer could tell it was a deer. It didn't stick around for a picture though. :( Continued on. Up the incline, pacing 8:38 ish, on the return got it back to 8:31. Fueled at 5 mi, hydrated as I passed my car 5.25 mi. Continued on to the other side of the trail to Byberry Rd. Pacing 8:40-8:45 on the way back. Was comfortable, quads a bit heavy, would of taken some exertion to get it back to the 8:30's. Was also humid today, definitely evaluating my hydration plan for race day. 

Full Pics

Sunday: 1 mile. Rest day, one for the streak. Streak day 1184. Up late sat night (Phillies baseball), and actually slept in! 7 am! Took my time getting ready. Coffee, read the news (play on internet), stretch, and out the door after 8. Plan was to do casual 8 min mile, first couple alerts better than expected, 7:15, alright, guess I'll be pushing it a bit to maintain. 7:30. Got my yard work done yesterday, will be taking it easy remainder of the day. Hydrate, stretch, maybe even take an Epsom salt bath. 

This was week 18 marathon training, using the below plan.

Image from Coach Jenny Hadfield

Weekly Summary:

Miles: scheduled 28 mi / completed 30 mi 
Strength Training: scheduled 80 min/ completed 98 min
Foam roll: 7 days 
Hydration goal met: 7 days   

Race Schedule 

05.05.19 - Broad Street Run! - Love this race, but won't be doing it this year. Sometimes you have to pass on repeat things to try something new! My review from last year, here.  

05.05.19 - Flying Pig Marathon! I am officially booked. Looks like a fun themed race, a great spring challenge, and somewhere I've never been (Cincy, Oh)! Hope to also check out Indiana and Kentucky while I'm out there! 

09.15.19 - Rock n Roll Philly Half Marathon. Use codes "19RNRBRP16" to save $16 off the half/full marathon and "19RNRBRP6" to save $6 off the 5k/10k! Race Preview, here!

11.24.19 - Philadelphia Marathon. My review from last yr, here. 

Good luck to everyone with training! Kick some butt! 

If you do any races, please remember to review them on BibRave.com! Your opinions help other runners decide what races to run! #BibChat Follow me on BibRave Joe G