The second half of March was a tough couple of weeks of high mileage and intense speed workouts. All things that I love, but it definitely takes a toll on the body and mind. It has been 8 weeks now over 100 km and three of those being over 120km. This is more then I have ever run in my life. Last year when training for the marathon I only hit 100km in a week once. This has also included 7 weeks with a long run over 30km. So I am excited to see what all this extra mileage can do for me in under THREE WEEKS!!
The second half of march started off with probably my toughest week of this training session. We did some 1km repeats… so nice to go fast again! Then it was time for the execution run. My coach Nicole* set me up with one of her online athletes that is around the same pace as me to do the run. I wanted to make this run as realistic to race day as possible. So I got up early had my breakfast and then relaxed until it was go time. Aside from my stomach being slightly upset and not getting as many gels in as I would have liked the execution run went well with me hitting all of the times I was set to hit.
That week marked my last week at 120km. I never thought I would say this but I was actually getting to the point where I was tired of running. I had broken up a lot of my runs into double days so it felt like all I was doing was running. So I welcomed the decrease in mileage this past week.
This week we did some serious speed doing 400m repeats. My long run this week I wanted to mimic the Boston course as much as possible so I ran a route that was majority slight downhill but added in some big climbs (brick works hill and pottery rd hill). Aside from the snowy rain that was coming down for the full 2.5hrs it was a great run. The last workout of the week was 3x3k… this is a workout I had not done before but was it ever a good one. I came 7s off my undergrad pb in the 3k in the last of 3 repeats! So needless to say it made me feel quite confident.
This week mileage is set to be under 100km. I am also racing this Saturday for fun at the Canadian Running Series Harry’s Spring Run Off 8km at High Park!
I cannot believe we are less then 3 weeks away from Boston! I am getting so excited to experience such a prestigious race!
Also just a reminder I am fund raising for the Alzheimer’s Society research department for my efforts of training and racing the Boston Marathon. My dad has early onset Alzheimer’s and it sucks! So I wanted to try and do something to make a difference. The fund raising site is https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=2677043&langPref=en-CA&Referrer=%26Referrer%3dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.memorymakersforalzheimers.ca%252f#&panel1-2 There is more information about my dad’s story on the fundraising site. I have well surpassed my goal and am so touched by the generosity. I am currently the second highest fundraiser for the Alzheimers society at $5886.00. Help me make even more of a difference!
Please feel free to pass this on to any of your contacts and donate if you would like!
Happy training!
*In need of an online coach I highly recommend Nicole Stevenson http://www.runwithspr.com
Toronto Running Chiro 