Week 12 - I'm going to Paris!

Your thought right now is probably "um, DUH, Margaret, that's where the MARATHON that you've been talking about for forever is!" And yes, you're right, the marathon IS there, but I also was asked last week if I'd go to Paris THIS week for some focus groups, and of course I said yes, because who can say no to two trips to Paris in three weeks?! Plus it'll be an amazing experience getting hands-on experience with focus groups, one of my key development areas at work.

Tempting though it may be to wish me luck this week, the race is still four (very short!) weeks away. Is it just me or has December till now just completely flown by? I feel like I was just starting training not that long ago - and look how far I've come now! In four weeks, I'll be a four-time marathoner! And winner of the Paris Marathon! OK, mayyybe not the second one...

Here's a recap of my week 12, March 3-9:

Monday: REST DAY! - check!
Tuesday: Run? - nah, took a rest day
Wednesday: Strength - nope, did my speed workout, 3 x 1600
Thursday: Run - nope, strength
Friday: Strength - nope, ran (faux tempo)
Saturday: Run - nope, took off
Sunday: Off/yoga - nope, ran 13 mi!

Sooo I totally didn't follow the plan at all. Ah well, I got my runs in! Week 12 was a tough week. March is the first month since November where I don't have my trusty ClassPass :( Without it, I'm trying to maintain strength workouts, but an at-home workout without shoes (and no stretching after!) was not what I had in mind. Still, that's what I did on Thursday, and it made Friday night's run totally suck - and it was actually pretty painful, too. I would run 1.5 mi, then have to stop and stretch, then run a little more, then stop and stretch, till I got to five miles around tempo/race pace. It wasn't pretty, but one bad run every once in a while isn't going to kill me.

My speed workout this week was 3 x 1600 at 8.0 mph. I felt GREAT during this run. Seriously, so good. I even popped up the speed on the last mile repeat to 8.1 - THAT'S how good I was feeling!

Sunday's long run was quite uneventful. I don't even have any pictures from it! I couldn't quite get myself together to get running this morning, so I decided to run in the afternoon after brunch. (This was a terrible decision, because it meant the rest of my day was an utter waste when I need to do things like buy shoes and travel adapters! But I got the run in, which is super important.) I finally got myself together around 3pm, then went outside and was absolutely freezing in what I'd decided to wear (long sleeve, vest, tights). So I went back upstairs for a jacket instead of a vest. THEN I got really hot...thank goodness the jacket had vents! THEN I got really cold...so I had to zip them up. It was a super fun game of too hot/too cold, but eventually I ran around the park so dang much that it was time to head home. I'm glad I got some hill practice in before next week's half!

Next week is my last week of super hard work - and then it's TAPER PARTY TIME!!! I keep forgetting I'm running the NYC Half - it's just a race I'm running, and I'm adding 7 miles onto the end to get up to 20 for the day on my last hardcore long run before the marathon. PARIS is where my head's at, and I think that's where it should be. Could I PR in the half next week? Probably, I've been training my ass off! But do I want to go super hard in a race that I don't care quite so much about as Paris? Maybe some people would do it, but it's not the option I'm going with. Paris is my goal race, and while I don't have a coach to bounce ideas off of to see if I maybe should push myself in the race, I'm going with my gut, which is telling me to follow the plan and run 20 miles that day. It's worked for me in the past, and I have a good feeling about it working this time around, too.

Traveling this week is going to throw a bit of a wrench in my workout plans, but I'm going to do my very best to get in both the speed and tempo runs this week. The long run is already scheduled!

Week 13 (March 10-16):
Monday: Off
Tuesday: AM run
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: AM run
Friday: Strength?
Saturday: Off
Sunday: 13.1 for the NYC Half + 6.9 miles!

I'm coming for you Paris - TWICE over the next four weeks!