This week was a recovery week after last weeks race, which fit in nicely with my revised training schedule for the Pasadena Marathon. That is right we are now running the Pasadena Marathon and it has officially been scheduled for March 22nd, 2009. I actually like that this date is a bit further back from the other races we were considering because an earlier race would have meant that after the half marathon I would have to jump up my long runs to around 18 and weekly miles to 50 or so. Now I get to slowly ease into the schedule over winter break and have a few more weeks (for a few more 20 milers!!).
Even though this was a rest week I kept up the mileage, but no speed work. My runorexia is really starting to kick in now and I am really excited to start getting back into the big miles. For my current training plan I used the 'Smart Coach' tool on the Runner's World website. This gave me an outline for pacing my runs, but it only prescribed three runs a week (all the same mileage too) beside the long run. I spoke with Ted, who was a big help, and decided that four runs would be better and to vary the mileage. I like this because it reduces boredom and doesn't let the body adjust to one distance. The first week of the plan was very nice. I think it is going to be a challenge to work in 12 milers after school/work but I will do it even if it means I don't finish until 9p.
One other thing is that I have been keeping my pace under control a little better, and I think it will help a lot in the long run. One thing that is curious is fluctuations in my heart rate. I really noticed this on Friday morning, which leads me to believe it was caused by one of two things (or both). First being it was **** cold on Friday morning, and the heart has to work a little harder pumping more blood to the skin surface. Second was Friday morning was the second run of a back to back (Thursday night - Friday morning), so it could have been a little fatigue as well. I don't think it is a big issue yet, but I wanted to write it down anyway.
Last week I changed my eating habits again (I know...when don't I change them). I wasn't happy with strength training results. What I mean by this is that I was still maintaining my strength training schedule but I feel like I was loosing muscle mass. Also, I will admit that I just bought a new scale that has a built in body fat measurement function. I didn't intend to get the body fat, but I got a deal on the scale so don't give me **** about it. Anyway, I don't know how accurate the readings are but they are higher than I would like. So I am again cutting my fat and increasing my protein intake. Not back to the level I had before, but somewhere inbetween. I started last week before the race and I think I recovered pretty well so I hope the extra protein will help. In terms of the fat and body fat percentage, I don't think the scale is extremely accurate, but it does seem to be consistent. Hopefully I will be able to track my progress based on changes in the readings even if they don't represent ground truth.
Last weeks training:
Tuesday - 4.03 Mile Easy Run - 33:51 min, 8:23 pace
Wednesday - 8.04 Mile Easy Run - 1:06:41 min, 8:17 pace
Thursday - 5.22 Mile Easy Run - 42:50 min, 8:12 pace
Friday - 7.69 Mile Easy Run - 1:06:04 min, 8:35 pace
Sunday - 14.83 Mile Long Run - 2:03:22 min, 8:22 pace
Shoe Mileage - Asics DS Trainer 13 - 236.65
Weight (Sunday Morning) - 131.2 lbs, 9.2% body fat (down from 9.4% last week!!)
