Holy moly! CIM (California International Marathon) is going to be here before I know it! Only 5 more weeks until race day and only a couple more weeks until I taper.
I just wrapped up a 90 mile week, which is the highest I have run all year. (And actually the highest since 2016!)
I recapped my reverse taper and return to full training in this blog post, and thankfully it proved to be a good return to running because I’m feeling fitter and stronger each week. It honestly took my body a while to rebound after my August marathon, but I’ve had some solid workouts that let me know this was the right decision to run two marathons within 3 months of each other.
I was honestly surprised how good I felt running 90 miles this past week. Other than my long run (which was just a so-so run), I felt really strong and fit. I am excited to see where this fitness takes me in five weeks!
Here’s how my training looked this last week:
Monday
AM run – 8 miles | easy run | 8:39 average pace
My legs were definitely a little beat up from running long the day before. Honestly, they were not terrible after the previous day’s progression run, but I found myself running a little slower than usual.
PM run – 4 miles | easy run | 8:31 average pace + 30 minutes of strength
This was another nice and easy run. Even though it was in the afternoon, it felt COLD. But every day without snow is a good day in my book! Let’s see how long I can make it through this build to CIM without snow!
Tuesday
10 miles | easy run | 8:06 average pace
I chose to run during Bjorn’s nap because we had a speech therapy appointment for Bjorn at 8:45 a.m., so I did my run during his nap. This worked out well because a friend was able to meet up during this time for 5 miles, which was nice and broke up the run.
Wednesday
AM run – 5 miles | easy run | 8:32 average pace
This went well–no complaints. I kept it nice and easy since I knew I was going to be doing a hard workout later in the evening.
PM run – 12 miles | MP + tempo + interval pace
Workout:
2.5 miles @ marathon pace – 6:49, 6:44, 6:49
4 x 400m @ tempo pace – 1:31, 1:31, 1:32, 1:31
1.5 miles @ tempo pace – 6:09 average
4 x 400m @ interval pace – 1:24, 1:23, 1:24, 1:23
This workout had a little bit of everything in it, which was kind of fun and different. I will say I wasn’t super excited about this run. It’s almost like I struggle with being mentally ready for an afternoon run but struggle with my body being ready for an early morning workout.
Despite this, my workout actually went really well. I was happy with my splits on this, but admittedly I did run this workout on flat surfaces. I did the marathon paced miles outside, and then went inside to our indoor 400+ meter track for the rest of the workout.
Thursday
AM run – 9 miles | easy run | 8:13 average pace + 30 minutes of strength
I actually felt okay on this. I thought my legs would feel tired from last night’s workout, but they didn’t feel too bad. I didn’t get a ton of sleep, which wasn’t ideal, but it didn’t seem to affect me too much.
PM run – 5 miles | easy run | 8:26 average pace
I got a late start on this running at almost 7:00 p.m., but that’s family life for ya. It did feel good and had some words of encouragement from an elderly man who shouted, “You’re looking strong” to me as I ran past his house where he was sitting by a fire in his front yard.
Friday
8 miles | easy run | 8:19 average pace
Another dark, early morning run. Our sun doesn’t rise until after 9:00 a.m., so all of my morning runs are in the dark, which isn’t ideal, but I will take it over snow!
Saturday
22 miles | long run | 8:15 average pace
This was the only run of the week where I was struggling a little bit. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a stellar long run by any means. I had briefly thought about doing a workout within this long run, but I was glad I decided against it. It was cold, really windy, and with my body not feeling it, I was glad for a nice and easy long run while I listed to some podcasts. I did try to incorporate as many hills into this workout as possible to prepare for the first part of CIM.
Sunday
7 miles | easy run | 8:51 average pace
A super easy run with a friend, but it concluded a 90 mile week, so I didn’t care what my pace was. Ha! It was a little rough after yesterday’s long run, but I kind of expected that.
This week I am taking a day off, so I will be stepping back my mileage before one last big week before I taper for CIM. So crazy that it will be here in basically one month! I am thoroughly enjoying this build and being so fit and in shape because then winter will be here, and it will be that much harder to motivate myself to get outside for my runs.
