Apr 4-10 (Rotterdam Marathon Race Week)

Mon: AM - 2.5M very easy;  PM - 7.5M easy  (10M tot)
Tue: 7M easy
Wed: 10M including 4 x 1000 cruise intervals (3:10, 3:09, 3:07, 3:05) + 3 x 200 (30, 30, 30)
Thu: 8M easy
Fri: 5M easy
Sat: 4M very easy
Sun: Rotterdam Marathon - 2:35:26

Weekly Total: 44 miles pre-race
The main goal for the 2nd and final peaking week was to freshen up the legs for raceday.  It wasn't a good start as the body and legs just didn't feel like running and I had almost no motivation to run on Tuesday.  I think the cold, rainy and windy conditions had to do with the miserable feeling.  Luckily, Wednesday was a complete turnaround.  I did my last tune-up workout, cruise intervals of 4 x 1000 plus 3 x 200. My legs felt amazingly good and light.  Each 1K (3:10, 3:09, 3:07, 3:05) was faster than the previous.  The feeling and result of the workout is exactly what I needed to boost my confidence for Sunday. The rest of the week was all very easy running until raceday.
Update: Ran 2:35:26 for 67th place overall.  I'm really bummed about my run, because I was feeling great and running well until about 25K when I encountered a side-stitch.  The stitch stayed with me for the rest of the race. My next post will be the Rotterdam Race Report (my apology for taking my time).

Mar 7-20

Mar 14-20


Mon: 9M easy
Tue: 15M easy
Wed: AM - 4.6M easy; PM - 13.1M easy  (17.7M tot)
Thu: AM - 4.5M easy; PM - 10.2M easy (14.7M tot)
Fri: AM - 4.6M easy; PM - 13.5M including 6 x 1600m (5:16, 5:15, 5:13, 5:10, 5:10, & 5:08) w/ 400 rec + 3 x 200 (30, 31, 30) w/ 200 rec  (18.1M tot)
Sat: 8M easy
Sun: 24M steady long run; 6:33 pace

Weekly Total: 106 miles on 10 runs/7 days
To ensure that I recovered from last week's half-marathon, I only did easy running, but distance, for the first 4 days.  The quads were sore early in the week, but fine and ready for Friday's quality session.  I did 6 x 1600m aerobic capacity intervals, which compared to the same workout on Feb 25, went extremely well.  Interestingly, the first couple intervals felt the hardest.  Sunday's 24M long run went better than I expected.  I was running on relatively tired legs as I spent the entire Saturday afternoon touring Brussels, both the Upper and Lower Town.


------------------------------------------------


Mar 7-13

Mon: AM - 6.5M easy; PM - 7.5M easy
Tue: AM - 4.6M easy; PM - 13.3M including 8 x 1K Cruise Intervals (3:20, 3:17, 3:16, 3:15, 3:12, 3:11, 3:10, and 3:08) w/ 200m rec + 3 x 200 (33, 32, 32) w/ 200 rec  (17.9M tot)
Wed: AM - 5M easy; PM - 10M easy  (15M tot)
Thu: 10M including 10 x 1' hard w/ 1' rec at brisk pace; rolling course
Fri: 6.2M easy
Sat: 5M easy
Sun: CPC Loop Den Haag - 1:13:09; Half-marathon PB by 8 seconds; (5K - 17:11, 10K - 34:39 (17:28), 15K - 51:57 (17:18), 20K - 1:09:29 (17:32))

Weekly Total: 85 miles on 10 runs/7 days
I continued to train throughout the CPC Loop race week and only eased off a couple days before the race.  The 1K cruise interval on Tuesday was a good session and I found myself feeling better and getting faster in each successive repeat.  However, Thursday's workout was a little different, in terms of feeling, as my legs felt sluggish and tired.  The planned workout was 8-10 x 1' fartlek.  I wasn't having the best workout, but still pushed along. When I got to repeat #8 I told myself that that was enough and to call it for the workout.  However, my stubbornness did not let me and I continued with the remaining 2 repeats, which if anything just tired my legs even more.  It certainly was not a smart decision.  The CPC Loop Den Haag race on Sunday was my first race of 2011 and tune-up for Rotterdam in a few weeks. You can read the race report in the previous post.