Let's run a marathon (Recap Week 4 of 16)

4 weeks are in the books for my marathon training. Time is flying! Read on to view this week’s training recap (past recaps and training plan are at the bottom of this post).

How I’m feeling this week:
Awesome. I think I’m fully in the swing of things with training. I just hope I can keep this up for 12 more weeks.

I was so excited that I actually enjoyed a 9-mile treadmill run yesterday I just had to tweet about it. I normally hate the treadmill if I have to be on it longer than a half hour, but I had good music on, felt good, and watched the snow fall outside.
What I ran this week:

• • Tuesday 2/7: 5.02 miles, 58:43 (11:41 average pace), road (including lots of hills)
    
  • Thursday 2/9: 5.01 miles, 50:41 (10:07 average pace), track (flat) + road
    
  • Sunday 2/11: 9.01 miles, 1:36:54 (10:45 average pace), treadmill (some elevation)

TOTAL: 19.04 miles, 3:26:20  (on par with my training schedule)

 How I cross-trained this week:
75 minutes hot vinyasa yoga

What I ate this week:
Pretty similar to past weeks. I’m finding that hydration is going to be the most important thing for me while training. Because if you’re dehydrated, forget it. You cannot run a marathon. I’m drinking lots of water, coconut water, and water with nuun tablets, plus drinking chocolate milk after my long runs. My breakfast of toast (or half a bagel) with peanut butter and banana is also working wonders. On this week’s long run, I took a Gu gel at mile 5. It was the first time I tried Gu with 2x caffeine (espresso flavor) and I loved it. My energy was sustained for the entire run. I could definitely run a half marathon by the end of February.
Roadblocks this week:
None. Hoping and praying this keeps up!

Goals for the week ahead:
Keep cross training and include some more strength training into the mix. I need some help in the abdominal department so I may be hitting up some new classes. Also, keep up the RICE-ing.
This week’s running topic: Running the right way
I am no Olympic athlete, but in order to improve in running, I have to do more than just run at a steady pace for each run. I blatantly ignore half of my training plan, but it’s important I work on aerobic intervals. Read more about them on Runner’s World.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), my run calls for 3×2:00 AI in my 4-mile run, so I am going to work on doing that since it’s only 4 miles I need to push myself a bit. (Add that to my goal list!) Considering I am not in double digits until week 6, I can afford to push myself in week 5. Tuesday runs I will never run over 5 miles, so these are the runs to work on intervals + hills. Next Tuesday, my run calls for 6:00 Total Uphill Time (TUT): “The total number of minutes you spend running semivigorously up inclines–could be repeats up the same hill or total uphill time over a hilly loop.” I’ve been making sure to incorporate hills on at least two runs per week (running the Pittsburgh Marathon, this is a MUST). so this I will continue to do.
Tweet with me about running! #LRAM
Past recaps:
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
Pre-training post with my training schedule