Marathon Training- Week 3

I'm so glad to be writing this wrap-up of week of training.
Mainly because it means this week is OVER.

Because of the events of this past week, my training was less than stellar- as was my eating, sleeping and everything else I've tried to be conscious of in recent weeks.  Pretty sure the two boxes of valentine heart cakes and large sonic coke zeros with vanilla I've consumed is NOT part of my marathon healthy eating plan.  And don't even get me started on my sleep patterns for the week.  Anyway, I did manage to get my 3 days of running in for the week.

Monday- I woke up to a weather forecast of 16 degrees, feels like 8.  I debated meeting the girls outside for our first day of speed work but then decided I was too much of a wimp for that.  I went to the gym and did my 3 miles of fartleks the treadmill...

Wednesday- Considering I spent all of Tuesday night crying my eyes out and knew what was coming (and wasn't going in the office that day) I really thought I was going to just run later in the day.  But Carrie talked me into going with them and getting it out of the way.  I'm glad I did, because I'm pretty sure that 5 mile tempo run wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Saturday- The training plan called for 12 miles.  Twelve miles... in week three, people.  It really made me question what I'm getting myself into. I met Carrie and we took off.  We had beautiful weather- sidenote: It officially makes me feel crazy that I wake up excited to see a temp of 38 degrees and think its going to be so warm!- and that made such a HUGE difference in the run.

I don't feel too bad for having run an almost half-marathon today.  My legs are a little tight and my back is sore... the worst thing- my TOE.  The middle toe on my right food it purple, swollen and HURTS.  After some advil and staying off it this evening, it's doing better than earlier today.  Hopefully it's just that my toenail is dying and will fall off (is that really the brightside?).

Long Run #3: 12 Miles
Average Pace: 9:07

Mile #1:   9:32
Mile #2:   9:25
Mile #3:   9:30
Mile #4:   9:12
Mile #5:   8:57
Mile #6:   9:02
Mile #7:   8:58
Mile #8:   8:50
Mile #9:   9:05
Mile #10: 9:03
Mile #11: 8:48
Mile #12: 8:50

Check out those totally awesome negative splits... and, I just have to brag, the only times we rested were when we stopped for water.  No walking breaks!  Could it be that we're ACTUALLY getting stronger?