LA Marathon Training Recap: Week 7

A little late...work and life have been a bit crazy. We found out my baby Nani has a torn/injured CCL (similar to human's ACL) and needed surgery.

Week 7 (February 6-12)

Monday: 1-hour cycle class and physical therapy exercises

Tuesday: 7 miles easy run with 4 x 100 meter strides/drills

Wednesday: 1/2 mile jog to gym; 1 hour cycle class; weight-lifting: squats, dead lifts, box jumps

Thursday: OMG. This was an alternating pace tempo run. This was a tough run. I was freaking out about it because...TEMPO. I'm still learning how to run a good tempo and this workout was a 5 mile tempo run in which the pace changed at each mile. I programmed my Garmin with the workout to not have to worry about remembering the paces, etc. 

Warm-up: 2 miles warm-up

1 mile @ 9:15/mi (Did it in 9:13/mi...okay, I can do this, this was a relatively easy mile.

1 mile @ 8:15/mi (8:14/mi...nailed it, but THANK YOU next mile is slower)

1 mile @ 8:55/mi (8:45/mi...that was uh, okay...how many more miles do I have?)

1 mile @ 8:25/mi (8:25/mi...YAY! almost done)

1 mile @ 8:15/mi (8:14/mi...In my delirium of embracing the uncomfortableness, I still thought I had another mile of the tempo left during this one...which made this mile hurt like hell and sucky. I was completely surprised when my watch beeped at me and told it was time to cool-down. It was the best present EVER. Okay, not really...but at that moment, I could have cried for joy.

1 mile cool-down

Friday: 30 minute easy run; Pilates; TRX class in the morning. In the evening, I taught a 1-hour cycle class

Saturday: 5.5 miles easy run on treadmill because of rain

Sunday: 15 mile long run. Dani, Nate (and baby Simon!) and I decided to run the Run Through Redlands 10k route twice to help me decide whether to race the 5k (my favorite distance) or the 10k (my nemesis distance). 

I don't know how to properly race 10k's (I've only run 2 and ran them in more of a 1/2 marathon pace instead of properly racing them). Instead of doing what I always do (race the 5k) and with the goal of becoming an overall stronger runner this year, I'm changing things up...But, the Run Through Redlands 10k has this horrible loooong steep hill in the middle. Actually, most of the course is slightly uphill. 

The first time we ran the course, I thought the hill was a nice challenge. Hard, but doable. The second time we ran the course, I thought Oh, hell NO. No way am I racing the 10k. 

Week 7 miles: 40.5 miles

2017 miles: 156.5 miles

Overall, it was a GREAT training week. I finally hit 40 miles, which is my comfort base level mileage and I rocked my key workout. 

Oh, and I registered for the 10k Race!!