Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 5

Well, this week was pretty hectic with things going on around campus, and I also received stacks of papers from my classes. Between attending events, marking essays, and getting through my usual class prep, meetings, and so forth, I had to be flexible with my training schedule this week. Again, I managed to get in most of my miles even if things didn't really go according to plan.

Monday - scheduled rest. Actual rest. This worked out very well because I had a full day on campus, including office hours, teaching two classes, and attending a research presentation, and in the evening I had dinner with some colleagues and a job candidate.

Tuesday - scheduled yoga. Actual yoga and a timed mile. I spent 5 minutes warming up, ran my mile in  8:46, and cooled down. While I was hoping my mile would be a bit faster, I did shave 7 seconds off my time since my last timed mile, so that at least is progress. I followed up my mile with a short 20 minute vinyasa session on my mat and a few minutes in savasana.

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual 3 miles easy at an average pace of 10:59. I was wiped out and it was a struggle to get in a run at all that day, so I was alright with it.

Thursday - scheduled 3 miles speed work. Actual 20 minute walk. I was feeling a little bit under the weather plus I had limited amounts of time due to the scheduled presentations given by and dinner with another candidate. Some days the whole training thing just doesn't happen according to plan.

Friday - scheduled rest. Actual 5 miles tempo. I did a mile to warm up @11:17, 3 miles at an average pace of 10:07, and a cool down mile at 11:01. Other than some calf tightness, I felt great on this run.

Saturday - scheduled 5 miles easy. Actual snowshoeing. Thanks to our friends who lent us their shoes and poles, Mark and I went snowshoeing on some trails at Prospect Heights on a gorgeous winter afternoon. We only did about an hour, but it was good fun and provided some nice views. I probably would have been tempted to go for longer but I was developing a huge blister on my right heel.

 Sunday - scheduled 10 miles LSD. Actual 10 miles LSD. I was a little unsure how this run would go since I got a massive blister on Saturday's snowshoeing outing. But I bandaged that baby up and the adhesive fortunately held. My pace worked out to an average 11:21 minute/mile, which isn't really anything to write home about. More excitingly, I'm back in the double digits.

Total scheduled miles: 22.
Actual miles: 19.
Cross training workouts: 3.

It's hard to believe, but 5 weeks of training and of the spring semester are already over. That means the San Diego Half-Marathon is just under three weeks away! I'm nervous about how the warmer weather might impact my race day performance, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good about my readiness. The full marathon is another matter....

Have you ever been snowshoeing? What methods do you use for treating blisters?