WEEKLY SUMMARY (October 14-20): 52 miles (84.6% at E and 15.4% at T paces)

  Sunday: 6 miles at 7:31/mi.

  Monday: 2E, 2 x 2 miles T @ 6:19/mi. (3 min.), 4E (10 miles total)

  Tuesday: 6 miles at 7:38/mi.

  Wednesday: 8 miles at 7:38/mi.

  Thursday: 6E, 2T @ 6:18/mi., 4E, 2T @ 6:18/mi., 2E (16 miles total)

  Friday: off

  Saturday: 6 miles at 7:32/mi.

This week went to plan, except that I took Friday off in order to feel more rested. The mild cold that worried me towards the end of last week was gone by the beginning of this week. Another cold scare worried me at the end of this week, but as I write this (on Sunday) it seems to have passed as well. I felt pretty strong all week and let myself glide a tad faster on my shorter, easy runs. But I intend to reign that in next week. Thursday's run was my last significant effort 10 days out from the marathon. I didn't feel great from the beginning but had no trouble with the tempo segments. By the second one, I was feeling low on energy but stuck it out without eating a gel, at least not until my cool down. Afterwards I wasn't more tired than I'd expect but figured that I should rest up more than usual because of the taper, so I took Friday off and did a short easy run on Saturday. For next week, I've decided that I can't think of a better schedule than Daniels', who gives a daily schedule for the final week before the marathon, whereas every other week on his schedule specifies only the two key workouts and leaves it to you to fill in the remaining days. So here's the plan for October 21-28:

Sunday: 12 miles easy

Monday: 8 easy

Tuesday: 2E, 4 x 3/4 miles T (2 min.), 2E (7 miles total)

Wednesday: 6 easy

Thursday: 4 easy

Friday: off

Saturday: 4 easy

Sunday: marathon

That'll be 41 miles for the final seven days before the marathon. I probably won't write an additional post about next week, except perhaps if I diverge from this plan significantly. Since the weather forecast is predicting warmth and sun this coming week, which may extend to race day on Sunday, I ran yesterday (Saturday) in the early afternoon and will do the same today (Sunday) in order to re-acclimate to bright sun and what warmth there is now. I'll switch back to morning runs at some point during this coming week, though, since running in the middle of the day is not always possible for me on weekdays. The rest of my plan for next week is basically to sleep and eat well, and to try not to let myself get stressed out about anything, especially towards the end of the week. My mind is turning now to the details of the race itself, and how my training over the past few months may have prepared me for it, which I'll discuss in a separate post.