The first of 18 weeks is, for all intents and purposes, completed. Technically, I have one more day -- today -- to officially finish off the week, but it's a rest and recovery day so the week's work is done.
I managed 42 total miles, which is my highest weekly mileage to date. That's good. I finished an 8x Yasso 800 session with a pace meant for a 3hr30 minute marathon. That's good. I had a very fast and satisfying base run on Friday that surprised me. That was good. I just faded yesterday on my long run.
The long run is the key to the training plan, and so to fall short of expectations on it casts a pall over the rest of the week's achievements. If I'm going to be on track, I have to be capable of an 18-miler in four weeks. That means I have to be smarter in how I approach my weekly training. I either shouldn't have run as hard on Friday or I should have switched the long day to today and rested yesterday.
But I'm not going to get down on myself. I laid in some added challenges that made the long attempt more difficult: running with a pack, going on little rest from the previous workout, and choosing to run in inclement weather. And I'm still learning to shake the subconscious desire to turn every run into a tempo run or faster.
I'm going to adjust the plan for the coming week and dispense with the speedwork. I want to gear the entire week toward a 10% increase in total miles (to around 45-46 miles), culminating in a 16-mile jog into Rancho Santa Fe and back. The theme for this week will be disciplining myself about running at training pace rate and preparing for the long run.
But today? Rest. I'm surprisingly not sore. Just incredibly fatigued. And hungry.
(One weird thing: I weighed myself this morning and am carrying 2 lbs more than I have all week? Am I retaining water? I didn't eat THAT much meatloaf last night, did I?)
