Midweek running (6 weeks before the marathon)

I've got about six weeks left before my first ever marathon. The past several weeks I have written about my long-run Saturdays. I wanted to drop a little memory today about how my midweek running is going.

I only run four days per week. Some people run more times; I suppose some run less. Four seems good to me. Initially I wasn't going to follow the training plan I was using of running T-W-TH and then a long run on Saturday. It turns out I have been doing that, and it works out pretty good.

I started out doing like 3-5-3 midweek (3 miles Tuesday; 5 Wednesday; 3 Thursday). Then it went to 4-7-4, then 5-8-5, etc. And, of course, Saturday's are incrementally longer runs each week until they start going back and forth up and down between 9 and 20 miles.

THE WORST RUN OF THE WEEK - by far - is Tuesday!! I did not expect this. I thought after two days of rest I would feel better instead of worse. Instead, my legs are much, much sorer on Tuesdays. Sometimes I can barely do 12-minute miles, and four of them is a total chore. Then, just as equally odd, Wednesdays are fantastic! These are generally my strongest and best runs of the week. Thursdays are not at all memorable - neither bad nor good, I suppose.

As an example, this past Tuesday my knees hurt a little and I simply could not get going. I used the treadmill to try to slug through four miles. I finally made it, but I could muster no faster than 5-5 1/2 mph. Then, Wednesday (yesterday), I did eight miles on the treadmill in 74 minutes (including the warmup). I ran the first half hour around 6 1/2 mph, and the second half hour at 7 mph. I don't normally run that fast on the treadmill, and rarely keep up 7 mph more than a couple minutes at a time. So I was pretty happy about that.

This week will be one of the few I will vary from the training schedule. I'm taking today (Thursday) off, and then doing my long run Friday (13 miles). Then I will do like a 5 mile run Saturday (instead of Thursday).

I don't really have a set plan as to whether the midweek runs will be on the treadmill or outside. It just depends on the weather, what I feel like, and how much of a hurry I am in. I probably tend to do more on the treadmill, but I can't say for sure. The longer runs are all outside for now.

So, this is a random sampling of where my midweek running is at. Overall, I still feel pretty good. I sort of tweaked my right knee riding the bike yesterday, but other than that my legs and feet feel good. I think I am finally completely over the rib injury. I'm trying not to get too excited, because the marathon is still a ways off, but barring any unforeseen problems... I think I might actually be able to do this!

We will see...