Fitness

Running Report: 3 Weeks to Go

November 23, 2024

3 Weeks Until Race Day!

WOAHHHHH time is flying as expected and somehow my marathon is 3 weeks away! THANKFULLY I finally had what I would call a great week of training. A key element of this was the weather cooling down — it’s really so much more fun to run when overheating isn’t a major factor.

Let’s hope my race is this cool! It has a good chance of being very temperate, as Jacksonville is very far north in FL – almost in GA – but you never know.

M: 8.2 mi with J & T, 9:03/mi ave. I think it was high 60s temps for this!

T: SPEEDWORK. Now if you are following closely (totally understandable if not, lol) – you will remember that last week’s speedwork was a disaster and I quit halfway through. My fast running friend joined me on this workout for motivation and pacing and it was super helpful! I was aiming for ~7:40-45ish and pretty much hit that each time (other than one 7:55 when we were crossing the street and chose to slow down rather than get run over, definitely the right choice).

It was fun to do this with her – it’s not ‘speed’ for her but motivating for me and made the work fly by! 11.2 mi total, ~8:34/mi ave. Weather was okay (not amazing but not bad) at 70F/80% humidity. I wore AlphaFly 3s for this.

W: 7 mi @ 9:14/mi. Felt decent probably because once again it was 69F and not tooooo humid.

R: 7.4 mi @ 9:22/mi, done at 2:15 pm (my new thing is sleeping a bit later on Thursdays, doing work instead of running in the early morning, and doing a run after a course session or podcast recording as a ‘break’).

F: COLD FRONT ARRIVED! I had to hold back knowing I wanted to save energy for Saturday. 7.2 mi @ 9:19/mi.

S: 20 mi with 10 easy / 10 moderate. Woohoo! I just finished this (well, ~2 hrs ago) and am really happy with how it went!

Interestingly, it took me a bit of time to find my groove for the ‘moderate’ miles – I can see I definitely wasn’t maxed out in effort at all for miles 11-14 (HR was 150s) but I had a podcast on and not music and just was sort of cruising. At 14ish I switched to music and was suddenly able to run faster; odd how that works and how much of this has to be mental! I am very encouraged by those HRs, honestly. When I ran Bayshore, my average HR was 170. Meaning – I know I am capable of keeping my HR in that zone for a marathon-length effort. Now, I am not going to make the mistake of attempting to run a sub-8 pace at JAX just because I had some favorable HR/pace splits here, but still – it’s encouraging!

I still don’t think my fitness is exactly where it was in May but this week showed me that it’s not terribly far off, and that’s great! OHHHHH and I wore my new ASICS Metaspeed Edge shoes (the ones I will wear for my race). Oh how I love these shoes!!! (Though this run also made me realize that my current Metaspeeds which have 330 miles on them are not really the same as fresh ones!)

Total: 61 mi / Strength: none and I highly doubt there will be any until . . . probably the new year. Maybe next year I will figure out how to marathon train AND do regular strength work (while also working a lot and wrangling 3 kids) but this year . . . I did not.

I’m getting excited for JAX. We just booked our hotel (staying closer to the beach – Josh’s preference and I agree will be more fun/relaxing) and picked a carb load restaurant! The timing of this trip is sort of bonkers but doing a race in May was also a bit crazy so . . . we’ll just have to lean into it and have fun.

9 Comments

  • Reply Grateful Kae November 23, 2024 at 11:20 am

    Excited for your race!!!! Hopefully the adrenaline will make up for any difference from last time, but like you said, your fitness level might be closer than you think! You’ve still been training hard, plus all that heat training all summer and fall must count for something.

  • Reply Elizabeth November 23, 2024 at 11:21 am

    Yay! So happy to read this report, Sarah!!! I bet having your last call week of 2024 behind you is probably a mental load off, and that BEING on call had to have messed with your training last week, esp the speed workout which shall not be named.

    Three cheers, also, for being less than a month out from the marathon. It feels like it’s been weighing on you rather than something you’re looking forward to…maybe after this week the balance of that has shifted, but either way, it’s great that it’s finally almost here!

    Good luck in the last few weeks of training! You’re an inspiration for sticking with a goal even when life happens and makes it much more challenging than you’d originally hoped it would be. Go, you!!

  • Reply Lisa’s Yarns November 23, 2024 at 12:07 pm

    I’m glad you had a great week of training! That is such a crucial confidence boost!! The weather makes such a big difference.

    I feel like it would be so hard to fit ST when following an aggressive training plan that has you running 6 days/week (I think?). Plus you’re a mom with a FT career. You can focus more on ST during your off season when you aren’t training for a marathon. At least that is what I would tell myself.

  • Reply coco November 23, 2024 at 4:10 pm

    music always picks up my pace!
    enjoy the race with J! You’ll do great if the weather collaborates.

  • Reply Chelsea November 24, 2024 at 7:07 am

    It’s just amazing what a difference the weather makes. Not only does it make running feel easier, but I don’t feel completely wiped out for the rest of the day. Two people from my running group are also doing Jacksonville, so I’m crossing my fingers for good weather for all of you 🙂

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger November 24, 2024 at 10:26 am

      YESSSSSS we need it!!

  • Reply jennystancampiano November 24, 2024 at 1:48 pm

    Oh yes, it’s the weather we’ve been waiting for!!! I’m glad (but not surprised) you felt so good. I think there’s a VERY good chance for good weather in Jacksonville- it’s so far north. So I know you don’t usually do a long taper? Is this coming week another big week for you?

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger November 24, 2024 at 3:42 pm

      Yep one more big week, then a moderate week, then a taper week the week of the race.

  • Reply San December 1, 2024 at 12:53 am

    Great week, Sarah. I am glad you feel so much more confident about the race. Awesome work on the speed intervals!

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