Marathon Training Update: Week of December 8th

I felt really good today looking back at this week. That's a first in a quite awhile. As I mentioned in my last post, I started the week off with a long run. On Sunday, December, 8th, I ran 8.93 miles. I had planned to run 8, but then I thought, 8.75 is basically 1/3 of a marathon. The trail I was on ended up being closed so I had to backtrack and ended up running the 8.93. There's so much storm damage on the greenway in Asheville along the RAD section that it's hard to believe they'll be able to run the Marathon in March. I think we'll be on the roads a lot more than we will on the Greenway as was originally planned. My time was slower than before. I ran this distance in 2:07:38, which is a 14:18 pace. Faster than the 14:37 I need to maintain to finish the marathon in the 6.5 hour cutoff time, but still not great. I had been running in the mid to high 13 minute range. I want that cushion. 

The rest of the week, I stayed on it in one way or another. Monday, I was having some heel pain from the day before so I took a rest day, which was actually already planned. I did however do an upper body workout at home with my dumbbells. I did 3 sets of 10 reps of each exercise: Shoulder Press, Bent-over Rows, Arm Curls, Triceps Kickbacks, Front Raise and Side Raise. 

Tuesday I was in the gym. It was super cold out so rather than run I did the following for about 45 minutes. 2 miles on the Elliptical, 2 miles on a recumbent elliptical (for lack of a better description) and 2 miles on a stationary bike. I then did 3 x 15 with Squats w/100 lbs, Calf Raises w/100 lbs., and Leg Curls with 50 lbs. 

Wednesday was a full rest day, but Tuesday I did a 1.73 Fartlek run. I didn't have a watch with me so I just pushed it as much as I could at times. I also did an upper body workout like I did on Monday. 

On Friday, I took a rest day from running but I did a lower body workout at home with dumbbells. I did 3 sets of 10 reps for Dumbbell Deadlifts, Squats, Step Ups, Lunges and Calf Raises. 

Today, Saturday, December 14th, I was traveling and shopping so I had planned a rest day again. Tomorrow is my long run so I want my legs to be fresh. 

Like I said. I feel really good about this past week. I would have liked to have run more, but with the cold and a lot of time constraints, I was happy I got out there and exercised as much as I did.