Boston training week 6: the one with the shoes that have 5167 miles on them

A relatively uneventful week in these parts.

I purchased a pair of new shoes last week (Hoka Clifton 4's, I had 4 pairs of the 3's and I really hope to like the update on the 4's.)
However. I like my first run in new shoes to be out on the road, in the magic of nature. As is typical for Maine, the roads were insanely disgusting this week. My outdoor running days were fairly warm and wet, and flooding, slime, slush and puddles reigned supreme.
I don't want to destroy my pretty new kicks the first time out, so I am still slopping around in a truly ancient pair of Clifton 3's. (exact mileage: 572 miles )

My week was extremely busy. No complaints here, as a self employed human in a good weather driven sport, being busy in February is a huge plus. That being said, I was more or less stuck on the treadmill until the weekend. (dark plus death ice equals doom. so nope)

Tuesday was a recovery run. After such a fast 20 on Sunday I wanted to closely evaluate how things felt in the days after. I was maybe a bit tired, but I was neither sore, nor completely destroyed. Actually, I was quite pleased with how my old bod felt.

(and then, I proceeded to NOT SLEEP for the rest of the week. It was really unpleasant. and that, plus PMS crap, and my old bod felt less good as the week went on.)

On Wednesday we had a pretty solid winter storm, and saw about 9-10 inches of snow fall upon us.

Storm day

I hit the treadmill for 6x1 mile repeats, 3 at 7:30, and 3 at 7:24. This is an impressive uptick from what I was doing prior to Boston last year, and since hitting my speed workouts has been a goal, I felt quite successful.

Also successful at snow removal

Friday had me feeling the consequences of an extremely busy week on very, very little rest. After another impressively long day on the job, I cut my losses and did an easy 4.
(and then, I took a Benadryl and slept for 10 hours straight. doesn't take much to knock me out!)

Oh, I made the banana bread from Run Fast, Eat Slow. We then had French Toast made from the loaf basically every day.
It. Was. Amazing.
Make this now, NOW. Go, do it now. Skedaddle.

Banana bread, French toasted. YES. 

Saturday was a totally decent day for a long run in February. 38 degrees and cloudy is about as good as we can hope for! The roads were very slushy, puddly, and icy in places which did present more of a challenge than would be considered ideal.
Eric and I both felt the effects of some cumulative fatigue during this run, and we both essentially put our heads down and gutted it out. It was not a disaster by any stretch, but it was work.
And coming in at 18 miles, probably *work* even on a good day!

We made it!

We met my Dad and sister at the pub and I proceeded to:

1: go pee
2: drink several glasses of water
3: change into dry clothing, and examine foot blisters from all the puddles
4: drink chalky protein shake, talk, pat Winston the bar dog, eat a slice of pizza
5: drink a delicious 12 ounce Picea on Nitro
6: take selfie to prove we were there
7: consume more water, pee 12 times, return home to eat most of the cheese in the house (or all of it, but who is really reading this.)

Selfie to prove that we were there

Downhill repeats have been a part of my pre Boston plan. I have yet to figure out the magic recipe to run Boston without feeling like a bucket of assholes (well, the year that it was freezing and raining really helped with that goal. Go figure)
I have a lot of problems with Boston. It is almost always one point two million degrees. It is a long fucking day. The course is a bitch of net downhill that ruins your life, and yet every mile has an uphill that punches you in the throat.
And yet, not only do I continue to return, but I really look forward to this mess from the bottom of my heart.
Really though...  At some point, I would like to learn the correct method of training, that will render my legs somewhat more useful at mile 18 and beyond on marathon day.
Anyway, in hopes of someday cracking the code, I headed out on a 33 degree rainy Sunday for some more downhill repeats.
The road was slimy, but I can't complain too much. I haven't had a lot of time to refine my rain/ road freezing technique yet this year, so it was good training (I'm serious, if you are going to run a winter marathon you really need to train in everything.) This was a good workout, I got absolutely drenched in puddle water, and my legs were smoked. Thankfully, I was still wearing the shoes with 4,987 miles on them. They honestly needed to go right in the hopper, totally ruined after this run.

I'm fogging up and look slightly deranged 

Overall, a good week in training despite some fatigue issues at the end of the week. Female issues certainly add to that particular problem, and I cut myself some slack for not feeling at the top of my game.

Miles Run: 46.8

Elevation this week: 1,547

Lowest low temp: 10

Highest temp: 38 = totally fine

Total snowfall: About 10 on Wednesday, and we woke p to 3 on Saturday morning. 

Coldest day that I ran outdoors: 33 on Sunday. Not a hardship. 

Random fact: 20+ years ago I had a green parakeet who I named Billy Joe and loved very much. I let his wings grow and I would let him fly around my parents screened in porch (because I was a kid and still lived at home.) He would land on my shoulder and was really a delightful pet! He had been around for quite a while, but died during the ice storm, basically as a little bird carbon monoxide detector. Luckily, this alerted my family to a problem (it was a very bad storm! Anyone who remembers knows it was a doozy...) Every now and then I think about getting another little bird, but I feel really bad keeping them cooped up in a cage, and I also feel bad letting a bird fly around the house pooping everywhere. So, no bird.