Marci’s Training (Week of Jan 29.)

MON :: OFF.

TUE :: AM 75 mins // PM 30 min Elliptical, Core Routine & 20 min Sauna.

WED :: 4 mile warm-up, 4 * 1 mile up-tempo (half marathon race effort) w/ 2.5 mins jog recovery, 15 min cool-down.

THUR :: AM 75 mins run // PM 30 mins Elliptical, Core Routine & 20 mins Sauna.

FRI :: 45 mins run

SAT :: 2 hours run w/ last three miles hard (marathon effort).

SUN :: 60 mins run.

This week is two weeks from race day. I had wondered after last week if I should (always a dangerous//loaded word) had maintained a little more length in my final long run (Maybe 20+ instead of 18??), but was having some niggles in my knee following the workout last Tuesday, featuring the downhill running, the risk of pushing my luck and getting injured wasn’t worth the extra five miles on the week. (The race I’m training for has 7,000 ft of elevation loss so I had been recommended to do 2-3 workouts to expose your body to hard downhill running, with the final one of the two or three around three weeks out. This is with the idea that three weeks is enough time to recover from the workout and also close enough to reap the benefits of the workout —> Thanks given to Corrine Malcolm for offering her expertise.) — downhill running is hard on my knees and back and the eccentric load of running fast downhill can be a significant risk for injury, for me at least. So I only did this workout twice in my build that included reps of [a mile uphill at 80% effort, followed by a mile downhill at 60% effort} — Sure as shit, my knees and hips hurt for a few days after — so I suppose the desired stimulus was indeed achieved.