Baltimore Marathon Training: Week 12

Obviously Week 12 didn't result in the planned 68 miles due to the snafu with my hamstring. And, oddly I'm at peace with that and not totally freaking out about the status of the muscle attached to the back of my leg.

By the way, thank you for all of your nice comments on yesterday's post. I actually feel better today - both mentally and physically. For the first time in two days, I don't feel any twinge in my hamstring when I walk. So that's something. I am hoping with a little bit more of continued rest from running, the strained muscle will be a thing of the past. I went for a long swim this afternoon and it was so therapeutic. I've really come to love swimming the past few months, and with the pool to myself, I was able to lose myself in my thoughts and swim away frustrations.

I came across the following image the other day and several of these running commandments really struck a chord with me. #2 is really speaking to me right now. As much as it sucks to hit a bump in the road and not know how long it may impede my running, at the end of the day it's just running. There's so much more to my identity than just a runner.

Anyway, last week:
Monday: 2,600 yd swim

Tuesday: (AM) Run Group: 10.8 miles. (Lunch) 2,600 yd swim

Good strength workout this morning. Took my legs awhile to wake up - a bit dead legged from the weekend - but overall ran okay. The workout was 4x200m hill sprints, 2k @ tempo pace, 4x200m hill sprints, followed by another 2k pace at tempo. The 2k loop actually had some good hills in it as well.
-4.11 mile warm-up @8:34 pace
-4x200m hills/1 mile/7:33 pace
-2k/1.27 miles/8:44/6:55 pace
--4x200m hills/1 mile/7:33 pace
-2k/1.27 miles/8:41/6:51 pace
-2.17 mile cool down@ 8:17 pace

Wednesday: (AM) 14 miles - Ran the first 8 easy, then dropped the pace below 8 min miles for the last 6. (Lunch) 40 minutes strength/core

Thursday: (AM) Run Group - 11.29 miles. (Lunch) 2,550 yd swim
We did 16 laps of striding the straightaways on the track at a solid clip (10-15 sec/mile faster than 5K effort) and jogging the turns for recovery. Essentially this was 4 miles of fartlek with 100 meters run at your fastest sustainable speed (not an all-out sprint!) followed by 100 meters of slow jogging for recovery. I felt good this morning. I am definitely not used to using that faster gear (which is probably why I over strided and irritated my hammy). I didn't keep individual splits for the 100's but my overall pace was 6:46 which included recoveries so thinking the 100's were low 6's/high 5's?
*4.56 mile warm-up @8:18 pace
*4.05 mile fartlek/27:24/6:46 avg for the workout
*2.68 mile cool down @8:22 pace

Friday: (AM) 5 miles easy, no watch. (Lunch) 2,250 yd swim

Saturday: 2 mile run...fail.

Sunday: 4,100 yd swim. I didn't plan to swim this long...but dang it felt good and my mood was a million times better post swim.

Total Miles: 43 miles

Looks like tomorrow will be another day in the pool. As much as I'd rather be running, I'm thankful for the ability to do something, to know how to swim, and to have pools readily available. How's that for a bright side? I hope everyone has a great week!