10 Weeks 'til ING

I have to say I am very proud of my first week of official marathon number 3 training. I loosely followed the 12 week 70 or less mile plan from Advance Marathoning. (I started in on week ending 10 --the plan begins on week ending 11 (counting down to marathon day) but I only have 11 weeks, well now, 10 so I started the second week in. Hope that makes sense. Don't think about it too much because it doesn't matter.)

Here is what ole Petey said to do this week:
Monday: Rest or Cross training
Tuesday: Lactate Threshold 9 mi w/4 mile @ 15k-half marathon race pace
Wednesday: Medium-long run 11 mi
Thursday: Recovery 5 mi
Friday: Medium-long run 12 mi
Saturday: Recovery 5 mi
Sunday: Long run 17 mi
Total miles: 59

Here is what ole Natty did--and when I said "loosely followed" I meant not really at all:
Sunday: ( see, unlike Petey,I start my weeks on Sunday, like my calendar does) Rest--took kids to see Happy Feet. It was a workout to muddle through the Hollywood liberalism that was bitch smacking me throughout the film. Uhm, it was cute and all but made absolutely no sense to me.
Monday: 10 mile run. By accident this actually turned out to be like Petey's Lactate Threshold 9mi run because the first 5 miles mile were slow and painful but I started feeling good and made up time in the last 5. So yeah, a negative split. And the last 5 were under an 8 minute pace but the first 5 were almost a 9 minute pace because I had to hobble, I mean walk a bit on the hills. Then in the afternoon I went to the gym and did the elliptical for 30 minutes and did weights for 30 as well. So see, I even got cross training in too.
Tuesday: Rest. This should have been a Recovery 5mi run but I choose to not run because it was windy and cold and I wanted to eat popcorn. I have a popcorn problem. It is my favorite food. I know popcorn isn't so terrible for you but I like mine with butter, real butter--none of that fake crap or margarine, blech!. And I need a Coke. And it definitely better not be Diet, gag, Coke.
Wednesday: Long run 17 miles at an 8:29 pace. Then I went to the gym in the afternoon and ran a 5K on the treadmill at a sub 8 minute pace. Not sure of exact pace but I finished in just under 24 minutes. 23 something. Thought about weights but decided that really; 20 miles for the day? It is enough. See, sometimes I do know when to say when.
Thursday: Recovery 5 mi run. Pace was 8:20. So easy and I almost went longer but decided to go shopping and have lunch with best friend.
Friday: Medium run-- 7 mi. Pace was 8:10. It was fine. Thought about going again in the afternoon but decided not to wear myself out. Met some girlfriends out for dinner. Had a margarita, a beer. Got really puffy from the salt.
Saturday: Medium-long run 14 miles. Pace was 8:44. And it was 70+ degrees. Hot compared to my long run on Wed when it was in the 30's. 70 degrees is nice and all in January but it makes it really hard to get use to running when it is cold, like it normally is in January, February and God help me, March.
This was a tough run today. The margarita last night was strong and despite all my water consumption it really dehydrated me. I was doing okay until I hit those hills in the 2nd and 3rd miles. Then I answered my phone and stopped to walk a few minutes. I looked down and saw I was way off pace at 9:06. I really struggled the whole run to push it down. By the 6th mile I was at 8:59 and then at 8 miles 8:54 for the average pace. Finally around 10 miles I started to get below 8:50 and then this guy on the other side of the street passed me. We, I mean me, started racing. I caught him but he stayed right with me so I really think he was racing me too and then I had to stop to cross the street to get over on his side and he got a huge lead and I was never able to catch him again. Bastard. I know on a better day I could have totally blown him away, or so I tell myself. But he did help me to push my average pace down to 8:44 which I maintained the remaining miles home. So it turned out to be a good run after all. Note to self though: No margaritas race night.
Total miles: 56. I was only 3 miles off Petey's plan and I only ran 5 days instead of 6. Also, that was a pretty big leap to 56 mpw from the 43 mpw I managed last week on 6 days of running. I am feeling pretty good about being able to meet the prescribed 63 miles for next week-- assuming I run 6 days.