The girls had the brilliant idea to make a to-do list for their day. They wrote it down after breakfast and ticked the box as they finished them. Onto their list (very similar the two lists).
- Tidy up their rooms. Sofia also tidied up my bed and the kitchen while Lizzy did the living room and entrance.
- Kumon
- Piano
- Wash dishes after lunch
- Chess class
- Rollerblading
- Wash dishes after dinner
- Mandarin homework
- Facebook grandma
Lizzy took her time to bed her bed and was proud to show me her “work”
While they had chess class, I had 90 min home massage, much needed after my run, and watched an episodes of And Just Like That, still not into it.
they are really enjoying chess. they would even with between themselves or with daddy
My day was centered around my run, followed by fueling, resting. It was only after 11am I started doing things around the house.
8 weeks to go to the marathon!!! So I thought to record the peak of my training cycle this time around.
Last week’s workout
Monday: 6 miles run with strides. Although the long run the day before was only 12 miles, I felt not fully recovered. My legs felt heavy. 15 min hip exercise by myself, and 35 min full body strength from the dynamic runner.
Tuesday: 8.2 miles quality run (2 mi warm up, 4×30 sec @6:32/mi with 90 sec jog recovery, 2 mi @8:35/mi, 6×1 min@7 min/mi with 1 min jog recovery, 2 mi cool down). It was a challenging workout, but I more or less got it done. Physio session: 45 min glute, hips, core & stability exercises, 15 min magnetic waves relaxation.
Wednesday: 40 min hip strength from dynamic runner.
Thursday: 7 miles easy run. 30 min full body strength from Hybrid. Sofia joined me.
Friday: 8 miles easy. I finished the run with sore hip again, so during my physio session, I only did 30 min of exercise and then had the magnetic wave thing, massage gun and manual massage to the area. Magically the soreness vanished.
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 18 miles long run workout. 4 miles warm up, 3 sets of 3 miles at 8:18-8:28 min/mi, 4 miles cool down. It is the longest run this year and the first time I do a workout during my long run. Usually, I just run easy pace on long runs. I was a bit anxious which it happens when something uncertain happens. Anxious and excited. Overall, I did well. I went faster in the first set, on dot on the second set, and slowed down on the last set. The issue was that I was on the second day of my period. After I took some cold water, I had cramps. I was quite miserable in the last mile and the 4 miles cool down. Fortunately, I had Sofia to run with me for the cool down. I left around 5am and finished 8:30am needing to sit down for a while after we finished. The sun was out and strong on my face for the last hour, which really annoyed me. I think I need to go out 4 or 4:30am next time to avoid the sun. I developed some headache that went away after hydration and fueling, and rest at AC room for an hour or so. My hip did bother me a little, but not much overall.
Total miles: 47.2
My last training cycle, for Berlin, my peak week was 40 miles. I am already in uncharted territories. Anxious and excited.
Our New Journey 
In the past I have always found higher mileage to really help as long as I can avoid injury (which . . .many times I failed at but hopefully both of us will prevail this time!). Awesome job on the 18 w/ tempo portions! I have a 16 with 8 @ marathon pace this Saturday . . already nervous. Long runs w/ speed are tough !
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I kind of had an opposite experience of SHU in my marathon training. For my first 2, I followed a Hal Higdon plan and ran 5 days a week. Then I joined a running club and ran 3 days/week and did strength training/cross training on the other 2. My times still improved – I went from 4:50 (awful first marathon) to 4:20ish to 4:05 to 4:02. I really wanted to break 4 hours and I maybe needed higher volume training to do that. I’m done running marathons since I’m prone to that same hip injury on my other hip and I can’t bare to go through that hip surgery again! I bet you’ll have a great race since you are working with a coach and have a tailored plan! I so wanted to run Chicago. It’s a great marathon that is very very well spectated. People will line the course for the entire race!
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I’ve already run 4 times a week. when my coach shifted me to 5 days a week, it was a test for few weeks to see how I felt. it was not too hard to add an extra day of easy run as I just to start my day running. overtime the extra day got to be used for workout run too. I feel the training is working as I feel stronger at faster pace. let’s see if I can break the 4 hrs mark this time. hoping to keep my hip managed, a lot of glute exercise and probably activation before the run.
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