Well, the Fargo Marathon is still on, as far as we know. This week brought several marathon cancellations (Philadelphia, the Tunnel Light Marathon, Chicago, and others I’m sure!) but Fargo says they are still on.
Even if the forecast looks great on race day, I still don’t know for sure that I’ll do Fargo; I’m waiting to hear what kind of safety precautions they have in place and how they are going to distance the runners.
TBD…but I’m still training for it!
However, my coach decided to take any 20-milers off my plan. The weather is just too hot/humid. She believes that there wouldn’t be a whole lot to gain from pushing through 20 milers in this weather. Instead, she has me splitting up my mileage quite a bit with double runs and well…A LOT of runs. It will be an experiment in marathon training with high mileage but no 18-22 milers.
And when I say a lot of miles, I mean 80! Yep, I hit 80 miles this week. All easy, no workouts, but 80!
Here are the details of the week!
Monday: 9 miles before work, 7 solo and 2 with Ruth (the vizsla pup). Virtual strength training after work with Discover Strength.
Tuesday: 10 miles before work, 3 bonus miles after work with Ruth. I ran into a coworker, so we stopped and chatted for a bit (from a distance). It was nice to talk to a coworker in person!
Wednesday: 7.5 miles before work- back and showered in time for a 7 am video meeting! Virtual strength training with Discover Strength after work.
Thursday: 10 miles before work, 9:15 min/mile pace, 2.5 miles with Ruth after work, 9:30 min/mile pace. It was quite warm after work and I could tell Ruth was feeling the heat a bit, so I cut the run short and just picked up Matilda to walk them both instead.
Friday: 4 miles with Ruth before work, 8:50 min/mile, Discover Strength virtual 1:1 over lunch, 3 very slow hot miles in the evening (10 min/mile). That second run was a struggle! 7 miles on the day.
There was a bit storm Friday night; lots of downed branches when I got up the next day!
Saturday: There was an excessive heat warning for Minneapolis on Saturday, so Christie and I decided to move our longer run to Sunday. We still met at 6’ish for 10 miles, 9:20 min/mile. Done and showered by 7:45 am on a Saturday! I felt like I had so much time left in the day! Eventually I made it out for another 3 miles, 10 min/mile to get to 13 miles on the day, followed by stuffing my face with Young Joni pizza for dinner.
All these miles = all the food!
Sunday: 15.5 mile long run. It was a MUCH nicer morning in Minneapolis! It was about 68 when we started and no where near the humidity that it had been the rest of the week. These are the summer long runs I love!
Following the long run was a birthday brunch for Christie! This was only my second patio meal ‘out’ since the pandemic started. There were four of us at a table at COV in Wayzata. COV overlooks Lake Minnetonka; it was a lovely location for a brunch and happy to be able to celebrate my dear friend!
So..at that point, I was at 78 miles for the week. I had never hit 80 miles in a week, so I figured why not jog two more miles? So I did. Around 3:30, Dustin and I headed out with Ruth; he did 1 mile with me/Ruth, and then we turned around to get the 2 miles and he went out for more.
Summary: 80 miles and 3 strength sessions.
Holy cow! That is most definitely be a record for me, and it is a bit insane when there wasn’t even a 20 miler in there. Instead, just a lot of double runs…But I’m taking the runs easy and recovering like a pro. It’s been a fun challenge, but definitely not sustainable for more than a week for me.
In other news, our new mattress arrived this week! It was a strength workout just to carry it up the stair case. The bed frame doesn’t arrive for another week, but we are all very excited for a king bed!
And that’s a wrap! I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner . Check it out below:
Nice! Congrats on 80!!! As much as I love working at home, I would love to see my coworkers in person.
I also LOVE working from home, but it was surprisingly so nice to see a coworker in person out on a run!
Way to go on 80 miles! I’m interested to hear how you think it pays off, but given the heat and race questions, I know its hard to judge for sure. Stay healthy.
Congrats on the new mattress, and a king at that! Purple is advertising everywhere online. How did you pick them over others? We have a Leesa that is maybe 5 years old and are still very happy with it.
Hi Eric! I still am not sure if I’ll even do Fargo, and even if I do, it won’t be a goal race…just a race 🙂 So I am hopeful that the high mileage will build enough endurance to get me there!
We tried all the internet brands that come rolled up– i.e. the foam mattresses. We couldn’t fit a normal king up our narrow 1920’s staircase unless we got a split mattress. Glad you like your Leesa!
Wow! Congrats on that mileage. I’m anxious to hear your thoughts about this kind of training for a marathon. I gave up on the 50k training because of the heat–there was just no way I could do those long distances.
My son bought a purple mattress for his apartment and he loves it. Says he’s never slept so well.
I’m so glad your son likes his purple! Tonight will be our first night testing it. Fingers crossed!
High mileage, all easy, lots of doubles…does sound a bit like ultra training, ha!
Wow that is a lot of miles especially in this heat. Looking forward to seeing how this hybrid training goes for you. Have a great week and stay cool
Thanks Deborah!
Wow!!! 80 miles is a LOT of miles in a week. That is awesome. Now I feel like a slacker! 🙂 I want a report on your new mattress. Hubby and I have been thinking about doing the exact same thing. We want a king and are looking into the mattress-in-a-box thing.
I will keep you posted on the purple mattress! We didn’t want to do a split mattress but otherwise couldn’t fit a king up our staircase, so the internet brands were a good option!
All the miles, crikey! I reckon it could work for a runner like you who is fit and capable and has done 26.2 a good number of times. I mean, I’m not an expert, but I could see those aspects helping it work, and that will help the exhaustion, too.
I hope so! My coach has a lot of experience and insight, so I’ll trust her plan and that she won’t set me up for failure!
(Gulp)… 80 miles!!! I can’t even imagine that (unless we were talking monthly mileage) LOL That is quite an accomplishment, great job! I have wondered about training like you’re doing now…nothing super long for individual runs, but still all the accumulated miles.
It’s worth a shot for Fargo, since I’m not racing it and am still on the fence about it overall! So lots and lots of miles 🙂
I’m tried just reading about all of your runs last week! Amazing job hitting 80 miles in one week – that’s so remarkable!
My friend has the same mattress and loves it! Hopefully you will too 🙂
Oh good to hear! Tonight is our first night sleeping on it.
80 miles!!! I can’t even get that figure into my brain! Wow, wow, wow! That’s a lot of running even if you’ll have fewer 20-milers! If you decide not to do Fargo, do you think you’ll do a virtual run on your own anyway?
I might…I haven’t decided yet. I don’t know if it would technically count towards my goal of running a marathon in all 50 states and want to check off North Dakota though if I do it here 🙂
Holy cow! 80 miles is amazing, especially given the insane heat. I took the really long runs of the plans of people I coach as well. Let’s say there’s a lot of cycling going on. Ruth looks very interested in your new mattress! 😛
Good call coach! 20 miles in this weather is just too hard on the body. Benefits aren’t there!
Oooh, exciting on the new mattress! That is a LOT of miles for the summer — glad you are recovering well. Love your sunrise photos. We are having a wicked storm right now …
I love a wicked storm 🙂 At least I love it when I don’t have to go anywhere!
I wondered how those mattresses shipped! Are you loving it? I need to get my son a bigger bed but haven’t got around to shopping yet.
Yep- the mattress arrived in that huge bag! We cut it open and it expanded quickly into a king bed, ha!
Wow, 80 miles! I cannot imagine running that much in one week. I am also impressed with your runs before work. I do the same (when school was in session) but my runs were much shorter. Ready for a 7am call? Impressive.
I am curious about the mattress. I’ve had mine for about 10 years and am due for a new one. I’ve been wanting for years to get a tempur-pedic mattress.
We had our mattress for closer to 20 years!!! We were long past due for an upgrade 🙂
80 miles is amazing! Congrats!
It’s interesting that Fargo is still moving forward. I haven’t heard any word of the Detroit FreePress canceling either so technically it’s still on my race calendar for the fall…we’ll see.
Oh, I hadn’t heard about Detroit yet! I’m curious what will happen..
Super impressive week! I’m so proud of you! And Ruth! I would be nervous about no 18-22 milers as well, but if it’s that hot and humid, your coach is probably very right. It’s all going to work out!
I think I’ll be okay; figure I”m still getting a lot of time on feet, just not suffering through some tough 18-22 milers!
Wow! Congrats on hitting 80! I’ve double runs — on rare occasions — and they’re HARD. I actually think this plan will work great for you. So impressed you could get in almost 8 miles before 7! Life can be a little hard sometimes as a slower runner, LOL!
I’ll be that king bed will be nice, although it’s been my experience that the furkids always take over the bed anyway.
Haha, yes, it’s definitely still the dogs’ bed!
Wow, an 80-mile week is amazing! Congrats! You’ll have to tell me what you think of your new bed. We need to replace our mattress and I’m not looking forward to it.
[…] there was a lot of running, I did not run anywhere near the 80 miles I hit last week; that was just a one time thing for me. But it was still a full […]