It’s Christmas week and I continue to train and panic about the holiday. I’ve figured out the Christmas meal which is no where near as much work to prepare as Thanksgiving. That’s one less stress. However, there’s still shopping to finish and that takes time. It has taken a lot of discipline to stay on track with my morning runs but I continue to be dedicated to this process.
Day 78
I was so thankful that I didn’t have 800 meter intervals today. Instead, I had a 5 mile tempo run which I greatly prefer. I broke out my classic Saucony Endorphin Speed shoes (version 1) for today’s run. It was 40 degrees and clear, so I dressed warm but not too warm, knowing that I would warm up quickly since it was a speed workout.
My energy was really good (thank goodness) and the time passed quickly. I listened to my new audiobook, Never Finished, by David Goggins. Normally, I would listen to music on a speed run but this worked for me today.
I broke the workout down to 7 running sets and I was able to hit each goal.
- 10 minute warm up
- 5 minutes at conversational pace
- 10 minutes at marathon goal pace
- 10 minutes at faster than goal pace
- 10 minutes at marathon goal pace
- 5 minutes at conversational pace
- 5 minute cool down
Day 79
It was cold again today and I don’t have a lot of cold weather running clothes. Time was limited this morning because I had a morning meeting that I needed to get to. I decided to save time by running my 5 mile easy pace run on the treadmill instead of gearing up for an outdoor run in the dark.
I used the first mile for a warm up and kept the pace really easy. Once I was acclimated to the pace I kept bumping up the treadmill speed by one or two points until I reached my max easy pace. I backed off a little toward the end since my heart rate was starting to climb. It was still acceptable but I’m always very conscious of this metric, especially on the treadmill.
Day 80
Today was a milestone day. I reach 1,000 running miles for 2022! It’s so incredible to believe that I’ve run that much in just one year. You really start racking up miles when you decide to train for a marathon.
It was cold again today so I hit the treadmill again. I’m always so grateful for this glorious machine. Although I prefer the pacing of running outdoors, I love the convenience and flexibility of my treadmill.
The workout for today was 5 easy pace miles and then finish with 8 strides. I’ve never run strides on a treadmill before. Since it takes the machine time to get the belt up to the set speed I would not start counting the 20 second stride until I was just about at the top speed. Then I’d watch the timer and hit the 3mph button to slow the treadmill down to a walk as soon as it was over. I usually walk about a minute in between each stride. I would bump up the speed just a point or two on each new stride so I could find my comfortable, fast pace.
Day 81
As I get closer to marathon day I’ve been thinking more and more about what shoes I want to wear for the race. I’ve been doing a lot of research and asking other runners about their marathon shoe choices. I’ve been considering the ASICS Metaspeed Sky+ or Edge+, the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 or the Endorphin Speed 3. I’ve only run in the Speed 3’s and they haven’t been my favorite. I prefer my Speed 2’s over the 3’s but I keep reading reviews from other runners about how great the 3’s are.
I haven’t had a chance to try on the other shoes on my list but I hear that the Pro 3’s are much more cushioned than the Pro 2’s. I get a lot of mixed reviews on the ASICS Metaspeed models so I think I’d just have to try them. They don’t come up in the used section at the running store very often though and they are really pricy in comparrison to the others.
I have a pair of Endorphin Pro 2’s that I’ve worn for 5k races. I thought I’d try them on a longer run so I wore them on today’s 8 mile marathon pace run to see how they felt. I don’t think this is my marathon shoe after my experiment. The top of my right foot hurt and the balls of both of my feet started getting hot and sore midway through the run.
Although I hit my goal pace overall, the run started to feel hard around mile 5. My pace would slow down and my legs felt very heavy. I’m not sure what caused the fatigue and difficulty but after the run I had GI issues which I very rarely experience. I focused the rest of the day on increasing my fluids and electrolytes to put my body back in balance and hydrate.
My only guess as to why I had such GI issues is that I’ve been hitting the sugar pretty hard this close to Christmas. There have been a lot of cookies and treats around the office and at home that I’ve had trouble resisting. It takes far more willpower than I possess to resist Maya’s Cookies (vegan!) when half a dozen tins get delivered as a gift to the office. There are NEVER vegan treats at the office, so I took full advantage of this special occasion and ate all the cookies I wanted. Well, I guess I probably do know where the GI issues stemmed from, now that I say this.
So worth it.
Workouts
Day 78
- 5 mile tempo run
Day 79
- 5 miles at conversational pace on treadmill
Day 80
- 5 miles at conversational pace on treadmill
- 8 20-second strides on treadmill
Day 81
- 8 miles at marathon pace