I had the following conversation with my best friend on Wednesday:
Michele: How are you feeling?
Me: Better, but my run today was horrible.
Michele: Why? Are you still sick?
Me: No… well, I think I’m at about 95%. It’s frustrating though because I did a threshold run today and it was way harder than it was supposed to be. I’m not happy that my fitness has gone backwards.
Michele: You’ll finish, and you won’t be last (referring to Boston).
Me: But I want to break 4 hours (whiny voice).
Michele: You’ll finish, and you won’t be last.
Me: Yes, and thank you for the reminder.
I’ll finish and I won’t be last. That was the goal of my very first marathon. I did finish, and while I wasn’t “last,” I was definitely bringing up the rear with a time of 5:51:02 (course had 6 hour time limit).
This was a good reminder because, we all need to train with our current fitness instead of the fitness that we had, or wish we had. If you’ve lost training time due to illness (my case), injury, or any other interruption, it’s not advisable to mindlessly pick up where you left off. I know this and when I advise others I make sure to help them with perspective. But this is hard, and it is a good reason to have a coach.
Last week I wanted to run 14 instead of the 12 my coach assigned. I asked him about this and he said, “my gut reaction is no.” He was right, and even running the 12 miles I went too hard. (Recovery – Boston Marathon Training Week 9)
If you read my training log notes you’ll see that I have a mixed week…some good runs and some surprisingly hard runs. The good news is that the week ended well.
The lesson in all of this is to train at the fitness you have, not the fitness you want. If you do this, you’ll eventually get to the fitness you want.
7 weeks until race day! Have a great training week.

Workouts: 2/18/2018 – 2/24/2018
Sunday, February 18, 2018
6:26 AM  5 Miles Easy
Planned: 5 mi
Completed: 5 mi ~ 54:59 (10:59 min/mi)
Workout Comments: I wasn’t sure if I should run because my legs were still tired from yesterday but I decided to just take it very easy. It ended up feeling pretty good…was probably the slowest I’ve run in a long time.
Monday, February 19, 2018
7:20 AM Strength & Mobility

3 Sets of the following sequence with ~ 30-60 seconds rest between each exercise.
15 squats; 20 sec. plank; 10 push ups; 20 Crunches; 10 lunges on each leg; 20 sec. plank; 10 calf drops on each leg; 20 Sit-Ups
Workout Comments: Added jumps onto step…3 risers; Squats, first set both legs, 2nd and 3rd were single leg; Lunges were walking with 20# kettlebell

Completed: 56:36
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
5:05 PM  5 Miles Easy
Planned: 5 mi
Completed: 4.5 mi ~ 43:16 (9:37 min/mi)
Workout Comments: This was a group run. For the first mile and a half I was trying to keep up with the others then I slowed down…except for beating the train and a traffic light.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
2:19 PM Run – Lactate Threshold: 4 x 1-Mile 
Planned: 7 mi
2 Miles Easy; 6 Strides
4 x 1 Mile @ Threshold Pace w / 1:00 rest
1 Miles Easy
Completed: 8 mi ~ 1:23:49 (10:29 min/mi)
Workout Comments:

Well that was hard! I knew that I would end up going slower than at track but this was slower and very hard. Maybe it was the very small hills and the wind or that I’m still not 100% from being sick or all both…but this run made me feel incredibly out of shape from a cardio perspective. My legs actually felt fine! So I guess that’s a plus.
Entered later: On further reflection, I think I’m not 100% yet. Five hours after the run I’m pretty tired. I will make sure that I go a VERY easy pace on my long run…and maybe cut it short if my HR goes up and stays there.
Friday, February 23, 2018
7:58 AM Long Run
Completed: 14 mi ~ 2:42:42 (11:37 min/mi)
Workout Comments:

2/23/2018 11:44 AM

Nancy Switzler
Since I ran too hard last Saturday, and Wednesday’s threshold run was actually run too hard as well, I decided to make sure that I ran very easy today. So I kept my heart rate in the low 30’s for most of the run (avg 132). For this reason the run was very easy…even with going up and down hills. At the same time it was incredibly slow. While I know this shouldn’t matter, it’s frustrating to see how this bad cold knocked fitness right out of me!

Saturday, February 24, 2018
7:44 AM  Easy Run
Completed: 5 mi ~ 54:46 (10:56 min/mi)
Workout Comments:

Nice run that felt great…except for my trip and fall at mile 4. Overall I think this was a good week and hopefully I can get my mileage up next week.
4:04 PM
Totals
Completed Run: 36.50 mi ~ 6:39:35
Completed Strength Training: 56:36