Monday, August 31, 2015

{week 5} Practice Makes Perfect

Mountain to Sea Trail
Week 5! I can't believe I'm on Training Week 5 {13 weeks until CIM}. Yikes! No. Nope. I'm not going to say 'yikes' or psych myself out. I'm not going to allow myself to train my brain to go into freak out mode when I think about the marathon. It's a habit not worth keeping. It's a habit that can hurt me.

I know from previous race experiences, mental strength & fortitude is something I should work on and it's something I need (but haven't, really) to work on consistently throughout training. I must say, though, going through the motions of my training plan--hitting my paces, working the miles--helps me realize that I can do this. 
Speaking of practice, I had the opportunity to run miles 16 to 21 of the marathon while in Sacramento for work. It was a great run. Not only did I get to practice part of the route, it was  also a classic negative split run--where each mile was slightly faster than the previous mile.


The Winning Yucaipa U-13 Spartans with Coach Paul

We also traveled to Irvine, CA for a soccer tournament and I ran the last part of the Mountains to Sea Trail as part of my long run. I love running in places I don't usually run. The only issue is that with new places I don't know the water situation (at home I plan my long run routes based on water fountain locations), so I use my hand-held Nathan 5 oz bottle. The cap is a bit tricky (or maybe it is only a bit tricky for me) and if it is not on exactly right then it leaks. Before I finished my first couple of miles and before I drank any, I was out of water. My mile 8 I was desperate for water and ended up climbing a fence of a yacht club to get some. I made sure the cap was on right before heading back to the hotel. Lesson learned: stop and fix cap if I notice it leaking. 


Hydration is a good thing

Week 5 (13 weeks until goal race)

Goal mileage: 45 miles

Monday: Rest or cross-training (tabata)
Tuesday: 9 mile run with 5 miles at tempo (lactate threshold run)
Wednesday: 5 mile recovery run
Thursday: 10 mile general aerobic run
Friday: Rest or cross-training (tabata)
Saturday: 5 mile recovery run
Sunday: 16 miles with 10 at goal marathon pace

2 comments:

  1. That great that you were able to run part of the race course! No doubt that will help you with visualization, plus I think it is nice to have a bit of an idea of what's ahead on race day.

    I have an amphipod handheld but I've rarely used it because it leaks. That's frustrating that you wound up running out of water!

    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CIM is on my bucket list of races - it sounds like a beautiful and fast course! And great that you were able to run part of the race course - that is always so helpful to be familiar on race day :)

    ReplyDelete