Los Angeles Marathon Training: Weeks 8 & 9

Week 8: February 13-19

Monday: On schedule was cycle class and weight-lifting. In reality, I slept in because I had the day off work and then ran 4 miles for beer and friends (4.5 miles)
Tuesday: 6 miles easy run, plus 4x100m strides and drills (6.5 miles)
Wednesday: 1/2 mile jog to gym, 1 hour cycle class, & weight-lifting (squats, deadlifts, box jumps)
Thursday: This week's workout was a build on the workout from Week 6. 10 mins warm up, 6,5,4,3,2,1 mins hard with 2 mins easy between, 10 mins cooldown. The goal is pick-up speed as the interval time goes down. I spent the night at my in-law's because I had to drop off Nani for his surgery early. Instead of running this workout on the track, I ran around their neighborhood.
It felt harder than the last time I did this workout, Coach Becki says "You had another great workout! It may have felt harder because you were KILLING it! You were running 20-30 seconds per mile faster and it was 6 mins longer! That shows some great progress!" (6.2 miles)

• 6 minutes at 8:18/mi
• 5 minutes at 8:25/mi
• 4 minutes at 7:59/mi
• 3 minutes at 8:15/mi
• 2 minutes at 7:28/mi
• 1 minute at 6:42/mi

Friday: 30 minute Tabata class using balance beams and kettle bells.
Saturday: 5 miles easy run
Sunday: Plan was to do an 18-mile progression, with the first 6 miles easy,

then 2 miles at 9:50-10:00/mi; 6 miles at 9:30-9:40/mi; 2 miles at 9:20-9:30; one mile with 30 seconds stride/1 minute easy; 1 mile cool-down.
Sunday was a Oiselle Volée LA Marathon Flight Club get together and I ended up starting out fast and my nutrition was off, so I called it a day at 16 miles. By the time I got home, I wanted to run the two miles (pretty much only to hit 40 miles for the week) and was set to do so until I asked Becki what she thought and she said nope. 

Week 8 Miles: 39 miles
2017 Miles: 195.5 miles

Week 9: February 20-26

Monday: Another day off work and a complete rest day for me.
Tuesday: 7 miles easy, drills & 4x strides (7.6 miles)
Wednesday: 1-hour cycle class and weight-lifting (shoulder press, chest press, single leg dead lifts)

Thursday: 10-15 minutes warm-up, 5x1mile with increasing pace (start at 8:50 and increase pace by 5 seconds-8:50, 8:45, 8:40, 8:35, 8:30 with 400 meter jog in-between; 10 minute cool-down. My goal was to try to stay within pace for the first few and then kill the one. This was a long work-out and as Dani pointed out, it was 25 laps around the track. I liked this work-out. It was hard, but I always had that 400m recovery jog to push me forward. (9.2 miles)

1. 8:45/mi
2. 8:41/mi
3. 8:36/mi
4. 8:24/mi
5. 8:07/mi

Friday: 40 minutes easy run + drills (4.3 miles)
Saturday: 45-50 minutes easy run (5.0 miles)
Sunday:  My plan called for a 17 mile progression type run, but it was another Oiselle Volée LA Marathon Flight Club get together. The Los Angeles Volée leader, arranged a supported (w/ aid stations) 20 mile run along the coast from Marina Del Ray to Manhattan Beach and back. Instead of my planned 17 mile run, I ran 20 miles with the 18-mile progression from the week before.
This time, I did everything "right" and it was the easiest 20 miler I have ever run. I truly enjoyed it.

Nutrition: about 90 minutes before starting, I ate a sweet potato with almond butter and 1/2 banana. I drank plenty of water before and during the run. And I had a gel every 30 minutes or so. This worked for me.

Pace: I programmed the run into my Garmin with pace alerts to keep me from going too fast. I also made sure I ran my own paces, which meant I ran alone a lot. It was okay though because we would all meet up at the aid stations. 

6 miles easy (goal: 8:59-10:17, which is my long run pace)-->9:15/mi
2 miles at 9:50-10:00/mi-->9:34/mi
6 miles at 9:30-9:40/mi-->9:25/mi
2 miles at 9:20-9:30/mi-->9:12/mi
1 mile with alternating 30 second stride, 1 minute easy jog. Guessing how many intervals would fit in a mile, I programmed my watch with 8 intervals. It turns out that 6 was enough to hit a mile, but I did all eight (1.3 miles total). These were hard on tired legs and unlike stand alone workouts, I didn't try to go faster towards the end. My legs were beat.

1. 6:53/mi
2. 7:03/mi
3. 7:03/mi
4. 6:31/mi
5. 6:24/mi
6. 7:04/mi
7. 6:59/mi
8. 7:05/mi

2.7 miles cool-down (9:40/mi). These were hard miles. Up until my interval mile, I was feeling great. Although these miles were hard, it wasn't a struggle fest like last week's long run. Overall I felt great and confident after this run. 

Three weeks until the Los Angeles Marathon!

Week 9 Miles: 46.2 miles
2017 Miles: 241 miles

See the training link up on Eat Pray Run DC HERE.