Less than a month to go to race day, which means the runs are getting longer as the days get shorter – and this week is officially peak week! Aka the week where my total mileage will be the highest of any week of this training cycle, the goal is 40 miles.
I started my week with some yoga at emerge on Monday night, where Vanessa (the owner of the studio, and my favorite yoga teacher), was teaching a class. It was a small crowd, which is unusual for her classes, and she organized the 10 or so of us into a circle around the room, so we were all facing the center throughout the class. While the class started like most classes do – with sun salutations, after guiding us through a few fast-paced rounds, she challenged us to keep moving, but however our body needed on that night, rather than her instructing us. She spoke to us throughout the class about doing what we need rather than what is easy, how even the kindest person on the planet is judgmental, especially of themselves, and how at the end of the day, each individual knows what is best for them more than anyone else. As the hour came to a close, she ended the free flow and lead us through a few group movements and into meditation. It was a unique class, but one that I enjoyed.
My first run for the week was scheduled for Tuesday, with 5 miles on the calendar. I made plans to go to the gym with Sophie in the evening, so I wanted to get the miles in before work. Unfortunately, even though my parents are back from vacation, Mom is still dealing with the time change (they got used to being 6 hours behind in Hawaii), and Dad tested positive for covid… so I was on my own. I don’t really like running by myself in the morning – there is just something about starting the run in the dark that gives me the heeby jeebies way more than running as it gets dark at night. But I reassured myself that the sun would be coming up soon enough and pulled on all my lights as I headed outside. It is the time of year when the temps drop, and I overdress for every run, because I am cold when I wake up. It was about 45 degrees outside, and while I started the run with a jacket and ear warmer, I ran by my house less than 2 miles into the run to ditch both. I stayed close to home for this one, just looping the blocks near my house. I almost bailed on the run at 4 miles, when I ran by my house, nervous about the time, but ultimately kept going. I slightly overestimated my last loop, and wound up at 5.4 miles when I got home – my morning routine was a bit rushed after that, as I hurried to get out the door for work.
Despite our plans, our evening gym trip did not happen – we pushed to Wednesday night instead, because my stomach was not cooperative after work.
Being peak week, I had to get in a 10 mile run on Wednesday. I have a standing appointment after work every Wednesday, so there was no way I would have time to run that far in the evening, and I didn’t want to push the miles to Thursday or Friday, as I need to do my 20 miler on Saturday, and wanted to give my body time to recover. So, it was time for an early morning.
Dennis agreed to bike with me for the first half of my run, and we got up at 5 and rolled out of bed. We both set ourselves up for the morning the night before, so it was quick to get ready and get out the door. It was another chilly morning, but this time I opted to just add a vest to my shorts and t-shirt, which turned out to be a better plan. It was pitch black when we got on the road, but we both were decked out with light up vests, and Den had lights on his bike, while I wore light up gloves. I popped on a podcast about the haunted mansion and put one foot in front of the other to get going. It was slow going, but my plan was to run by feel and not push it, to make sure I’m not burnt out when the long run rolls around this weekend. Around mile 5 Den stopped at the house, and I kept going, the sun finally starting to brighten the sky. It was an uneventful run, and I just felt happy that I had committed to getting this run done early, and actually got out of bed and did it. My Garmin died around mile 6, but thankfully I had noticed the low battery when I started it, and tracked the run on Strava simultaneously, knowing that the watch may die. Will it annoy me that my watch face shows the wrong mileage for the rest of the week? Yeah. But at least I knew when I had hit 10 miles, right as I looped back to my house. I rushed through getting ready and grabbed a Kodiak cake flapjack cup for breakfast, and was on my way for the day.
The last weekday run was scheduled for Thursday morning, and I had 5 miles to get done. Rain was predicted Thursday afternoon, so I knew I needed to get out in the morning. Lucky for me, Dennis was working from home that day, so he had a later start time than normal, as he was skipping his commute. So he was able to join me on his bike for most of the run. We got up and out before sunrise, and I looped a little right near the house before venturing further to do an out and back for most of the run. I had opted for long sleeves and shorts after a few chilly mornings in a row, but was too warm after a mile in long sleeves. Like I’ve said before, it’s the time of the year when I am excited to break out all my cold weather running gear that has been neglected for months, and inevitably wind up over-dressed.
Dennis had to bail at mile 4 to get back to the house on time to start work, so I was solo for the last mile. But at least the sun was up at that point, and by that hour there were plenty of people around, walking their dogs and heading to the school near by. A benefit of running on dens schedule instead of my own was that I had plenty of time to get ready after, and even took a minute to stretch and make myself some avocado toast.
After work I met Sophie at the gym, and we spent a half hour lifting with an upper body focus, and then took one of the core classes that the gym offers. When we left the gym it was full on monsooning outside, and even though I ran to the car I got completely soaked.
I was legitimately excited that I got to “sleep in” on Friday morning, and after talking with Mike and Katie determined that I am not the only one among us feeling a bit exhausted during peak week – but honestly, I feel excited too! But it is a little wild to me that by the end of the week I had already logged 20 miles, and still had another 20 to go before I could call my weekly miles “done.” Since Friday was a rest day, all I did was a restorative yoga class in the evening. I figured it would force me to stretch for a bit and get me in a good mental state ahead of Saturdays long run.
Mike and I planned to head to the beach for the long run, since we don’t run there in summer – there is hardly any shade, and it just gets too hot out there. But as the temps drop it becomes one of my favorite places to run locally. In my head, I broke the run down into 4 5-mile sections, and I wanted to focus on not going out too fast, and picking it up a little at the end if we were feeling good.
We headed there around 6:15 am, and were on the boardwalk by 6:30. I wasn’t sure if the water would still be on at the beach, so I decided to carry my hydration vest as we headed out. I had it loaded up with my gels and some salt as well, that way if we decided to forge on rather than do sectional out and backs I would be good to go. As we started our long run the sun was rising over the beach, and it made for a limited “golden hour” view, as everything looked beautiful as the sun rose higher in the sky. Mike and I joked that we have very different methods of dressing ourselves for marathons – I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, while he had on a long sleeve, t-shirt, jacket, shorts, and long compression pants. I still am not sure how he didn’t overheat. I set a pace alert on my watch to keep a conservative pace for the first 5 miles, and had to slow us down a few times as we settled into the run. As we headed further out on the boardwalk, I checked one of the water fountains and they were still on – which meant we didn’t need to double back to the car constantly to refill on water. So we ran until the end of the boardwalk, and turned around a little after mile 4. As we headed in the other direction, we added a few offshoots to get our mileage up, and around mile 9 turned down the bike path to cedar creek, where we experienced the one hill of the day – the drawbridge that we crossed on the path. The sun was up by this point, and we could see ton of fishermen down on the dock, casting their lines into the bay. Around mile 13 we turned back again, and headed for the car so I could ditch the hydration vest for the last 5 miles. We got to the car at mile 15, and decided to do another boardwalk out an back. Mike and I wound up separating for the last 5 miles, as he needed to slow a little bit, and my hip was unhappy with the short strides that my legs were doing when slowing down. I decided to push the pace, and managed to get into the 10s for the last few miles. I was feeling really good during the final mile, and kept pushing – when my watch buzzed to indicate 20 miles, I had managed to make my last mile the fastest, at a 9:37. I was really proud of this, considering back in June I was struggling to run one mile continuously, and here I was, running 20. I had a little surprise at the end of my run – my Mom knew I was running on the boardwalk, and came out to do a morning walk and catch me at the end of my run. So I got to chat with her while I stretched and waited for Mike to get back to the car.
It was by no means my fastest 20 miler, but I am really proud of how strong I felt, and how far I have come in the last few months.
I spent the rest Saturday relaxing, and Den and I had a few friends over Saturday night for a big ramen dinner, and some nostalgic movies. I was hoping that I would be able to work on painting our living room Sunday, but was not sure if I would feel up to it after running 20 miles Saturday… but my body pleasantly surprised me, and I was more than happy to get up Sunday morning and clean then tape and start to paint. I am really excited for our living room to feel like a coherent space, rather than an assortment of furniture that other people were getting rid of – is this what it means to feel like an adult?
To end this post, I’ll say the thing: We are officially in taper town!