Carmel Marathon Training {Weeks 13 and 14}

"Now that's a Healthy Strides quote," my friend Karen said as we stood in the parking lot at the trailhead on Saturday morning.

It was a balmy 27 degrees, supposed real feel of 17. There was a light dusting of snow on the grass and the asphalt had a thin coating of black ice. I was strapping on her extra pair of spikes (Due North brand, similar to these) and silently wondering how the hell we were going to run 8 miles. In those conditions. On April freaking ninth.

And so I made a comment about how ludicrous it was that my first run in traction aids was in spring, on this April day. Surprisingly, it didn't have any cuss words in it. We all know that if I had uttered any, I would write them here. It sure would have sounded better than my whiny McWhinester comment.

By the way, we ran those 8 miles just fine. The first half-mile was the diciest as the pavement was complete ice but as we got farther on the trail and I got more comfortable with the spikes, we were able to pick up the pace. Karen and I ran 5 miles and then picked up two more for the final three. By the time Tina and Shannon joined us, the sun had come out and the ice was melting a bit. We all opted for traction but for runners getting a later start, they would have been fine.

Taper for the Carmel half marathon began last week, and Mother Nature celebrated with another curve ball. I spent half the week on the treadmill  and the other half completely bundled up.

I'd shake my head and throw up my hands but the weather has been so insane (in two hours we had sun, rain, sleet, sun, hail, sun, snow) that I can only laugh ... and thank my lucky cards that I was logging shorter runs on the treadmill rather than pounding out 8 miles of intervals.

Here's how last week shaped up:

Monday: 5 miles, easy
Tuesday: 4 miles, 2 at race pace
Thursday: 5 miles, 5-4-3-2-1 intervals
Friday: 3.5 miles (with Denali!)
Saturday: 8 miles

And since I'll likely post a race recap in lieu of my last week of training, I thought I'd share what I'm doing this week.

Tuesday: 4.5 miles, mid-2 at race pace
Wednesday: Easy 4 miles with my BRF
Thursday or Friday: Easy 20 minutes to 3 miles
Saturday: 13.1 miles in Carmel!!!!!!!!!!!