I got 9 hours and 45 minutes of sleep last night!  Woot!  I needed that.  I usually get 6 1/2 hours of sleep a night, but this week has been 4 – 5 a night and those are fitful hours.  I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the 1001 things on my to-do list.

Unfortunately, my legs were NOT feeling refreshed.  They felt super beat up from yesterday’s hilly (almost) 16 mile run.  I did pilates, hoping that would loosen them up, but they felt stiff and sore.  So, coach said to take the day off instead of doing the scheduled 6 miles.

I’ve been running long enough to know – on a logical level – that I shouldn’t be a slave to “the schedule”.  And that deviating from the schedule and missing a run occasionaly won’t make a bit of difference on race day.  Especially when the run I’m skipping is just a 6 mile recovery run.  BUT – I’m Type A to the extreme.  So I am really bugged that I had to take a day off today and so only ended up with 36 miles for the week.  But, like I said, I’ve been doing this long enough now that I know I need to listen to the body instead of the schedule. And the body definitely needed a rest today.

So in addition to the extra sleep, I treated myself to a long, hot epsom salt bath (which took me as long as it took to polish off a large glass of red wine).  Mmmm.  Red wine and a hot bath – just what I needed!

Other than having to cut out the run today, I’m satisfied with week #3 of Lansing Marathon training.  I incorporated a decent amount of pilates and managed weights once.  I know I need to get more of the weights/strength in.  This week for sure!

Lansing Marathon Week #3 recap

• Miles run: 35.7
• Biking: 45 minutes
• Pilates: 4 times
• Weights: 1 time
• Planks/core:  5 days

Details:

• M: 8 miles (8:09) w/ 4 x 800m (7:17ish) and 10 min at 7:40 mixed in; pilates
• T: 5 miles (8:38); pilates
• W: 7  miles (8:39)
• Th: pilates
• F: bike 45 minutes; weights
• Sa: 15.7 HILLY miles (8:31)
• Su: pilates

Looking at this, I’m not doing a great job of keeping the pace easy on easy days.  Might explain why I was worn out today.  Goal for this week:  keep my easy days closer to 9:00 pace.

97 days til race day!