Training 2/6-2/12 (race week)

2/6- Planned rest day. There will not be much to report this week until Sunday. Early weather forecast is looking good. Cold but clear.

2/7- Johnny's workout. First interval workout since October and I wanted to ease into it. Johnny agreed and would not even let me use my watch. Someone told me that I was near 80 on my quarters, which felt about right. I did turn up the heat a little bit on the last one. Only 5x400 plus a long warm and cool. Difficult to grade this one but I felt fine and was never struggling.
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=4.0

2/8- Trak Shak 5 in 34:54 (6:59 pace). Not quite as fast as it appears because of a water stop and a couple traffic stops. Amazed at how easy this felt. I saw a pace in the 6:50s in Mile 2 and could not believe how easy it felt. Of course, the volume has been very light recently. Pretty even pace and turned up the heat a bit in the final .2 miles. Slight IT band soreness. Some stretching should be all I need. This has been a pretty calm taper but I'm not sure if that's good or bad. 1 more run to go before race day.
Grade:A/1 credit/distance=5.0

2/9- Planned rest day. A junk run tomorrow will be my last workout before the big day.

2/10- 3 mile junk run indoors. I could not care less about my time but for the record, it was 21:33 (7:11 pace) with a gradual progression. Never hurting but did not feel as smooth as 2 days ago. Still a trace of IT discomfort so lots of stretching exercises on tap. I'm probably over thinking everything at this point. I'm ready and have no regrets about my training. Race day is in less than 36 hours and the forecast has turned colder. It will be 25 at the start and 35 at the finish. Thankfully, I can get indoors shortly after the finish.
Grade:B+/1 credit/distance=3.5

2/11- Third rest day of the week. I've trained hard but I should be plenty rested tomorrow.

2/12- Mercedes marathon in 3:21:56 PR.
Grade:A-/4 credits/distance=26.5

Weekly summary:
Well done. I get a whole week off next week. No running and no blogging about it either. When I return, it's a new cycle with heavy speed training.
Distance=39.0/ GPA=29.5/8= 3.69