Indianpolis Marathon - Week 7

This week was one for the record books! Not only did I run my longest run ever (yet) - 15 miles... I also ran 27 for the week which is the most ever (yet). And, it was yet another week in which I ran every mile and every workout. 

Monday - Rest (Plan = Rest)

Tuesday - Rest (Plan = 4)

Wednesday - 3 miles (Plan = Rest) I set out with good attitude and a good clip on this one but my stomach had other plans. I felt awful after mile two and barely finished three. 

Thursday- 4 miles - Hills (Plan = 4)

Friday - Rest (Plan = Rest)

Saturday - 5 miles (Plan = 4) I had to make up my mile from Wednesday and had my neighbor's company on this run. It's so much better running with someone!

Sunday - 15 miles (Plan = 15)

I have to say that this is one of my proudest weeks of running. I'm sure there will be more to come, but I was dreading this week a little because it was really the first week that is outside of what I have done in the past. I was very nervous that 15 would feel awful and that I would be sore and achy and tired after 27 miles in the week. 

Instead, I feel good. Tired for sure, but good. All 15 miles felt good today with the exception of some foot issues around mile 8. My right toes just felt awful - kind of like a cramp, kind of like a burning sensation. I'm off to Google that after I finish here. I was able to stop and stretch a bit and the pain diminished thankfully. 

I did lose track of my overall pace because of my new watch. (Side note: I really like it. The Garmin Forerunner 10 in purple, of course! It's super lightweight and very accurate based on the mileage markers on the trail.) I do need to work on the display though because it was showing the elapsed time and elapsed mileage and my math got a little fuzzy so I wasn't able to keep track of my pace. But, the beep at each mile is loud, so I was able to see each mile's stats. I like to see the time for each mile though so I can slow down or speed up when needed. Apparently, it has a setting that allows you to set a goal pace and then it beeps at you to slow down or speed up. I did manage to do negative splits though and my last two miles were some of my fastest, which is awesome. I finished with an average pace of 9:41. I'm hoping to finish the marathon at 4:10 which is a 9:32 pace so I think can do it. 

Today, I was able to really put my mind on auto-pilot and not worry too much about watching my watch and keeping track of miles until the end. At one point, I remember looking down and thinking, "Hmm... 11 miles. Wow, that was fast." Plus, I was running as the sun came up and was proud of myself for getting out of bed on a Sunday at 6AM to run. I did it on Saturday too. Overall, it was just a good run. 

I also received news that my mom officially signed up to run the first half with me! This is a good race to do that because the first half of the marathon is the same as the first 13 miles of the half. It cracks me up because she's training with friends of mine from high school. Who would have guessed that 15 years ago!?!? I'm hoping this helps with the first two hours of boredom during the race. She ran 7 on Saturday morning and I was super impressed with their pace!

I'm glad this is a step down week for me in mileage. I'm worn out! :) But, it's only for a week and it's still 24 miles or so. I slept from 8:30 (yes, on a Saturday night) until 6 this morning and took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. I plan to rest up this week too! I'm one tired girl!

I'll leave you with this picture. I was woken up from my nap this afternoon to this little Smurf-boy innocently watching me sleep. At least he's color coordinated!