Hansons Week 14...again

Deja vu week! I repeated week 14 of the plan since I still had an extra week built in. I debated about moving on with the plan and using the extra week to start the taper or repeat another week, but ultimately the last 3 weeks of the plan are important and I would rather keep it as designed. Week 15 is really the "peak" week of the plan, and I was unsure about doing this 4 weeks out instead of 3 weeks out. Hence...deja vu week!



In case you forgot what week 14 looks like:

Monday: 7 miles easy
Tuesday: Strength - 2 X 3 miles, 800m recovery Cross training
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 9 miles Tempo
Friday: 5 miles easy
Saturday: 8 miles easy
Sunday: 10 miles long

It actually ended up being a good thing that I repeated week 14 because the weather heated up and the "real feel" on Tuesday was 106 degrees. I opted to skip the strength workout because I had already completed it on actual week 14, and stayed inside to do some cross training. It is really interesting how a week with the same running workouts can feel so different. For example:

• My tempo run felt 10X harder than it did the week before. This was mostly the weather, but I struggled more this time around
• The easy runs were more difficult. Again, most likely the weather
• The long run was amazing. While my actual pace for the long run was pretty much the same (difference of a second), my perception of fatigue was a lot different than last week and I felt strong the entire run
• My legs were extremely fatigued all week whereas last week everything felt effortless

Happy Long Run!

Fatigue Level:

As the last bullet point indicates, running this week was quite different than last week. The fatigue that I kept waiting to set in last week finally hit and my legs felt like bricks on most of my runs. I got my monthly sports massage this week which helped tremendously after my tempo run, but it could not combat the cumulative fatigue. My easy run on Friday did not feel very easy and a few miles were pretty slow going. I did a lot of yoga to combat some of the aches and pains I was feeling and I think that and the sports massage pretty much saved me and let to my successful long run. All in all, the hard runs remind me to slow down and truly take easy runs easy. 

Mental & Emotional Strength: 

Mentally I kept comparing the runs to last week and was disappointed that I wasn't feel the same "flow" that I felt before. My brain tells me that this is all sorts of things like the weather, sleep, etc., but emotionally I was getting a bit down towards the end of the week. The sky opened up right as I started my run on Friday and I was soaked within minutes. I continued with the 5 mile soaking wet, but turning around and quitting was not an option. I did not feel like running on Friday or Saturday, but I did it anyways. This reminds me of a line from "How Bad Do You Want It" by Matt Fitzgerald (of course!): "The progress that issues from this head-down, 'just do it' approach cultivates self-belief in a way that no amount of visualizing the perfect race can". In other words, by forcing myself to get out there and run when I was perfectly capable but mentally not feeling it, was showing myself that I know that I can do it. 

I was totally feeling this quote from Meb this week. No matter my marathon time, I know that I will "win" because I continue to push myself to be the very best that I can be. This is happening every week as I tackle hard workouts, force myself to run when I don't feel like it, and challenge myself with longer distances. 

Nutrition:

Other than a few too many drinks and indulgences on Labor Day, I continued to focus on increased protein after runs. I am not sure if I focused too much on protein which led to fewer carbs to sustain my efforts and that could be another reason I was a bit slower this week, but that is the game you play when you try to create nutritional balance. I need enough carbs to fuel myself but enough protein for recovery. Some weeks this balance works very well and others not as much. 

Week 15 is peak week of Hansons which means my last long run and moving my tempo runs up to 10 miles. As much as it scares me a little, I am excited to see how it goes!