Distance: 55 kilometers (34.2 miles)
Time: 4 hours 35 minutes
Comments: Strange week. I did a number of shorter distances at the start but at faster paces. Then I tried and failed miserably at my first speed day. Lastly was one of my longest runs to date and completed at a significantly better pace than the first time I tried to go the same distance.
All in all a damned hard week of work. And my body has let me know it. Afternoon naps have become a necessity and I am sleeping damned hard at night. Which is fine for now, but I need to get to the point where a week like this doesn't take as much out of me.
Injury-wise it has been a good week. There has been some regular soreness in my quads and elsewhere due to the workload but nothing that sets off any alarm bells. My ilitobial bands on both sides seem to be somewhat tighter than normal but I think that is due to the fact my hamstrings have been as well.
My plan is to take it pretty easy next week; shorter runs, slower pace, less intensity overall. Not a break so much as an effort to maximize the recent gains and get myself completely ready for the serious miles ahead.
Cause, at this point, I am just a month shy of starting formal training for the marathon. I am tinkering with different training schedules and I hope to have something formalized in a week or two. Mainly, I need to get the guru to weigh in with his sage advice. My working template can be found here.
Essentially, I will be using an 18-week schedule and I want it to include two 20-mile long runs, a three week taper and at least two 10K races. Each week should include one day of speed work (this can include race pace intensity runs), two days off and the option of cross training either on a rest day or lower impact running day.