Monday, January 8, 2018

Boston Marathon 2018 Training {Week 4}

Week 4!

Weekly Miles

Running: 47.72 miles, 6:46:26
Cycling: 42.49 miles, 3:15.13


Total Miles for this cycle
Running: 167.73 miles, 23:50 hours
Cycling: 87.08 miles, 6:55 hours



Only the finest for Boston training- Unicorn Blood coffee.

Summary

With the temps in the extreme negative, butt ass freezing cold air hurts my skin range, I ran inside most of the time. That is not much different than my normal routine- because I don’t feel safe running outside at 4am for a variety of reasons. Maybe I should read some run bloggers “tips” on how to run in the cold. Nah. Who am I kidding? Taking advice from people who seemingly don’t like to run/ don’t run much/run only for selfies/aren’t running coaches seems like a really bad idea.



Lowlight

The extreme cold. Raynauds is no fun. I have really good mittens + gloves but my fingers get swollen, numb, and full of pain regardless. I also end up feeling really crappy if I run outside for any amount of time when it’s below 20 degrees.



Highlights

Nailing my 6x800’s @ 3:09 and slaying my 6 mile tempo @ 7:15 pace.

Running with MRC Chicago for our 36th run! It’s crazy my running club will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary in February. Join us!



Thoughts

After completing the 6x800’s at 6:18 pace I thought- wow! I’m running faster than ever and feel great! And then I thought about how the Olympic marathon qualifying time for women is around 6:18/mile. For 26.2 miles. Its just crazy! Perspective.



Tuesday Uniform FTW

I feel good about the balance of training and real life so far. I just put my head down and do the work because I want to PR the shit out of Boston this year- also because we are spending a lot of money for Boston weekend. I’d feel guilty as hell if I half assed my training (which is never an option because mediocrity is a waste).



My coaches are tough. Especially when they want food.

Looking Forward

I’ll continue building my cycling base and eventually do some yoga. I’m so excited for this training cycle and beyond- but I’ll be living in the moment and not getting too caught up with the future until race day is much closer.


Days to go: 98!!! 🦄


-Xaarlin

8 comments:

  1. Love the coffee mug and the whipped cream and cinnamon on top of the coffee, that's the best way to drink it! Ha, I can't believe you don't want to take some random non-runner blogger's advice on how to run in the cold! I think we both come from the same place when it comes to blogging. Post our running experiences and what's worked and not worked, and let others decide if that approach is right for them (or not). By the way, how do you get motivated to run in the winter?! :) Having Raynauds this time of the year sounds definitely like a pain, so the TM sounds like your only option. I used to be more hardcore about never running inside, but now I will knock off two miles on the TM post-workout and it's not so bad. I never really feel safe running with headphones navigating city streets, but have discovered it's fun to sometimes jam to tunes on a treadmill. Great mileage for the week and yes, you are well on your way to a glorious PR at Boston!

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    1. Awesome playlists are totally my TM tip. My gym has free wi-fi so I have some online playlists that I can only listen to when I'm on the TM (we have a cheap data plan, so that doesn't work outside), which makes it a little more fun :)

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    2. Nice idea about using the free Wi-Fi. I have a data plan but it doesn't always work indoors. I started filling up my SD Card with music and podcasts for when I workout, but I should see if my gym has Wi-Fi so I can stream.

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    3. I first learned of the whipped cream/cinnamon from you! It’s my weekend tradition now. :) The “advice” is just so bad out there on the internet. I even side eye running “coaches” because it seems really easy to pass a test to become a “coach” without having any real experience or oversight. We love the analytics! Forget tips and advice- just constantly monitor what works and doesn’t. It’s so easy! :)

      I won’t listen to music outside (except some races) but I can’t run on the tread without it. I cat listen to podcasts either- it slows me down too much.

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  2. Every week I read your posts and laugh at the snark and think how awesome you are. :)

    My thoughts on running in the cold are if you can/want to do it, do it. If you don't or can't, then run inside. It's pretty simple. It's been cold and awful here too, and the sidewalks are largely not shoveled (and thus extremely uneven, which is annoying enough for walking Heidi much less running without hurting myself) so the only "tip" in that situation is to hop on the treadmill. I am glad that you were able to get outside with MRC on Saturday!

    I can't even imagine a 6:18 pace. That's so fast! And I'm glad that you're so excited about your training. You're going to destroy your PR :)

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    1. Awww thank you for the kind words :)

      Yeah- I’m definitely risk adverse- so tripping on sidewalks is just one of many things that make thebtreadmill a more attractive option :) I can’t believe they don’t shovel the sidewalks there! They need to take a lesson from Chicago!

      Fingers crossed everything keeps going well for the 75% remaining :)

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  3. That is so awesome that MRC has been around for three years! Wow! Time flies!!!! And awesome that you are killing your paces!

    LOL re: blogger tips about running. I die. But really, everyone is so different on where they want to run - let everyone do what works for them!

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    1. It’s crazy we’ve had MRC for 3 years and you haven’t come to a run yet :)

      Thanks- I’m feeling so good about training so far- I just want it to continue for the remaining 13 weeks.

      I never understand the bashing of treadmill or whatever. I can’t agree more with you- Just run! I’ve almost busted my ass a few times this week on black ice with the dogs and couldn’t imagine being excited to run outside because of it. But to each their own.

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