This was my highest mileage week on the plan. It was also the week of my annual sister trip with my sister Lisa. Every fall we go away for a long weekend to celebrate our September birthdays. These trips are always amazing---and this years trip to Charleston, South Carolina was no different. It was the perfect time to start my taper.
Monday: rest day. I had planned to squeeze in some yoga but once I got home from work, all my ambition went away. Yep, I'm a morning exerciser!
Tuesday: I had a 6 miler on the plan, but had no particular plan for running it. I decided to let my legs fly. And they did...8.21 mins per mile. It helped that the weather was sunny and cool. I was smoking after my run--literally!
Wednesday: yoga! I did the SeaWheeze 14 video again. I love it because it really hits all the high points. And knowing that I had my 18 miler the next day meant I wanted to avoid being sore.
Thursday: 18 miles. This was my long run that Becky scheduled for today knowing I'd be out of town over the weekend. It went really well. My pacing was great..averaging 9:24 min/mile. I stopped only to fuel and use the bathroom. I fueled entirely with Tailwind, going through 2 full bottles in the time on the run. I did feel a little sick afterwards. Not sure why...but I'm hoping to bring my consistent pacing to October 12. You can read the recap here.
Friday: rest day and travel to Charleston!
Saturday: I had a 4 miler on the plan and prior to leaving, I mapped out a 5-ish loop through the historic district and along the water. My sister wanted to run with me, so away we went. It was overcast and humid, but cool, and we started out slowly. It became apparent after about a mile that I'd be making this an easy run, as my sister was getting winded at our 9:30 pace. Meanwhile, I felt great. She kept telling me to go ahead, but I had another run planned for Sunday and I didn't want to leave her, so I held back. Plus I knew we were going to do a lot of sightseeing on foot. At 4.5 miles, Lisa put up the white flag of surrender and we walked back to our hotel. I was so happy to have her run with me that I didn't mind our 10:30 average pace. Because some things are more important than speed, right? That afternoon, we did a walking tour of historic Charleston, covering quite a few miles. What a great day!
Sunday: I hit the bricks (and cobblestones and slate) early before the heat started. The sun was out and it was gorgeous along the water. I wanted to stop to take pictures but I also wanted to have a good, fast run and planned to walk down to the water later. I ran 5.83 in 51:52. What a great place to run. Later we did go back for some spectacular pictures...we also hiked up to the visitors center, hoping to get on a plantation tour. Sadly, we missed the bus. Our feet were really tired so we decided to spend the afternoon at the pool. A great decision!
Overall, this week was the high point so far in my training. I haven't talked much about food outside of fueling on the run. I tried to make smart choices about food on the trip and I think I succeeded by eating fish for dinner each night. We had a great time on the trip--lots of walking, food, and laughing! Now it's time to buckle down. Three weeks to go until show time!