Marathon Training: Week 9

We are officially past the halfway point in our training.  I can't believe I've made it to this point.  After this weeks 18 miles, I only have one more distance I haven't conquered yet- besides the marathon, obviously!  It's also a reason to celebrate- nice, spring weather is finally on it's way!  For the first time, our early morning runs were in capris and long-sleeve T's!

Monday: The schedule called for a 7 mile, "hill" training run... however, our early morning coordinator- Rosemarie- was unable to run early that morning.  And considering the hill workout Carrie put us through on Saturday, neither one of us felt up to running up and down a hill.  So we set out on 7 relatively easy miles.  My legs felt like lead, and I just couldn't get going.


Wednesday: I woke up feeling good, surprisingly ready for the 7 mile tempo run we had scheduled.  Can I just tell you how bizarre it is that 7 miles is now our weekday run?  I ran my tempo miles all under 9:00, which was exciting to me.  I think I felt the need to redeem my 10k from the weekend before.  I ended that run feeling better than I had on a weekday run in a while.

Friday: Instead of doing our long run on Saturday, it was easier to put those miles in on Friday.  Kala had to go out of town early Saturday morning, and I was anxious to get these 18 miles out of the way.  We were looking for a change of scenery, so we met at a park on the other side of town. 

We did a 5.5 mile loop through the park, back to our cars for fuel and water.  After some tummy and blood sugar issues on the past couple of long runs, I decided to try a different gel.  Accel gel has protein mixed into the formula, so I thought it was worth a shot.  I'm happy to say this is my new go-to fuel for long runs.  My stomach didn't hurt once and I didn't feel lightheaded or woozy.  Plus, I felt strong until the very end of this run.  In fact, this might have been my favorite long run to date!

We stopped once during the second loop of our run to potty.  I had some sport beans, and the caffeine in those really gave me a boost!  I really think the combination of a gel with protein and taking in more fuel during the run was KEY!

It wasn't until the last two miles of the run that I started to even feel tired.  And I was so angry, because I knew at that point, I wasn't even feeling tired physically.  It was all mental!  I started singing an old Rebecca St. James song- "You make the road rise up to meet me, You make the sun shine warm upon my face... God I lift You high, You are my Abba."  That helped, and before I knew it, 18 miles were done!  Another personal distance record for this girl is in the books.

Unfortunately, I once again messed up my garmin during the run, so my times are a little off.  I only show 17.25 miles, but Kala assured me I ran the full 18.

Long Run #9: 18 Miles
Average Pace: 9:35 (according to Kala)
Total Time: 2:56

Mile #1:   9:40
Mile #2:   9:20
Mile #3:   9:34
Mile #4:   9:12
Mile #5:   9:46
Mile #6: 10:04
Mile #7: 10:08
Mile #8: 10:04
Mile #9:   9:51
Mile #10: 9:33
Mile #11: 9:42
Mile #12: 9:20
Mile #13: 9:31
Mile #14: 9:39
Mile #15: 9:33
Mile #16: 9:44
Mile #17: 10:00

Marathon Training: Week 8

I know this is over a week late, but I am just getting around to posting.
I'll post week 9 later today.
Also, I promise this isn't turning into a running blog.
It's just all that's on my brain lately.

Monday: We met at our usual place and set off on a 6 mile progressive run.  1 mile warm-up, followed by a faster pace for each mile that follows.  Our last mile was right at 8 minutes.  It was hard, but not totally awful.  I can tell I'm getting stronger.

Wednesday: I woke up with an awful allergy headache, and just generally felt yucky.  I was in the bathroom getting dressed when I decided I just couldn't do it.  It was partially that I didn't feel great physically, but mentally I was wiped too.  So I texted the girls and went back to bed.

Saturday: The schedule called for 14 miles, but the Creek Classic 10K was that morning.  Carrie and I decided to meet early, run 6, then do the 10K.  This could also be called the time Carrie tried to kill me.  We woke up that morning to temps in the 30s with wind from the north at 30mph.  Just FYI, those are not ideal running conditions.

We drove out to deer creek and set off from the school parking lot.  The first 4 miles weren't too bad, just cold.  Then we turned and headed north... for 2 miles... straight UPHILL.  Seriously.  We turned around at the end and looked back to a complete incline.  It was literally the most awful 20 minutes of my life.  BUT... we did it.  And I know that runs like that are what make us stronger and better.

After our 6 miles, we went into the school and warmed up.  I changed my shirt into one that wasn't sweaty and ate my fuel.  I started feeling much better and was ready for the 10K.  I've only ran one other race that distance and that was several years ago.  I ended up with a 10K PR- 54:43.  I wanted so badly to come in under 54:00, but at mile 4 I had burned through all of my fuel and ended up bent over, praying I didn't pass out.  I still finished with great times, but it just wasn't what I was hoping for.

I messed up my garmin during the first half of the run, but I have the splits for the 10K.


Long Run #8: Creek Classic 10K, 6.2 Miles
Average Pace: 8:47
Total Time: 54:43:26

Mile #1:   9:02
Mile #2:   8:36
Mile #3:   8:26
Mile #4:   8:37
Mile #5:   8:49
Mile #6:   9:07

Marathon Training: Week 7

I feel like these are getting monotonous...
I ran.
It was cold.
I was tired.
I was sore.
The End.

Just kidding.  I am writing these for my own memories of this time of training.  It was a relatively normal week.  I've got to get back in my Tuesday evening BodyPump groove though.  It's been too long since I've been to a class.  I bet I've lost all the strength I had gained.

Back to running.  This was a step-down week after our first longer than half-marathon run.  It was a welcome break.

Monday- The schedule only called for 4 miles!  1 mile warm-up followed by 2 miles of fartleks and 1 mile cool down.  It was a welcome break from hour long weekday runs.  I also figured out how to set up a workout and import it to my garmin.  I'm sure that makes me a nerd, but it was nice not to have to look down every few seconds to see where we were in the sprints.

Wednesday- I definitely slept through my alarm.  I woke up at 5:37 to Carrie calling me.  We normally meet at 5:30, and I knew I had no chance of getting there in time.  I was so sad.  They told me that everyone gets one "sleep-in" so I have used mine up.  Ha!

Friday- Micah and I had a disciple now over the weekend and Carrie was going to be out of town, so we decided to do the long run on Friday morning.  It was SUPER cold when we woke up.  I bundled up and headed out to our meeting place.

We made a 6 mile loop back to the car, got our water and honey stingers.  As soon as we took off for our next 7 mile loop, I knew I should have eaten more stingers.

At mile 11, my stomach started to cramp SO BAD.  I knew it was just that I needed more calories.  I made it to mile 13 and the car and got some more stingers.  As we stood there drinking our water, Carrie said- "so, have you noticed that those are SNOW FLURRIES falling from the sky?"

We took off for our last 3 miles.  Those miles hurt really bad.  At one point, we were almost to 1.5 miles and we were coming on a hill.  I knew if I went down that hill, I'd never make it back up.  Carrie agreed and we turned around.  It required a little extra loop in the street, but we made it back to the car right at 16 miles.

Long Run #7: 16 Miles
Average Pace: 9:20
Total Time: 2:29:02

Mile #1:   9:40
Mile #2:   9:19
Mile #3:   9:22
Mile #4:   9:28
Mile #5:   9:16
Mile #6:   9:24
Mile #7:   9:32
Mile #8:   9:07
Mile #9:   9:22
Mile #10: 9:19
Mile #11: 9:14
Mile #12: 9:19
Mile #13: 8:54
Mile #14: 9:10
Mile #15: 9:20
Mile #16: 9:01

Funny random story- after I was finished, I ran into 7-11 to get some muscle milk (my favorite post long run recovery drink).  As I was checking out, the girl asked me "what is that big ol' thing on your wrist?"  I looked down and realized me she was talking about my garmin.  I tried explaining that to her, but she just couldn't get it.  I gave up after a minute and headed home.

I spent the weekend running all over the city and didn't really feel to bad.  It was a great start to an amazing weekend.

Marathon Training: Week 6

I know I skipped weeks 4 and 5... but basically- it snowed.  I did a few runs on the treadmill.  That's about it.  Nothing exciting to report.

Let's move on to week 6- a personal distance record!
That's right- I ran 15 miles today.
But let's back up to the week of training leading up to the long run.

Monday- You know you've been training in dang cold weather when you wake up, see 39 degrees is the temp and get excited about how warm it is!  We did 6 miles, a 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles of fartleks (speed intervals that are crazy hard!) and 1 mile cool down.  My goal was to run as hard as I possibly could for those 1/4 mile intervals.  I averaged in the 7's for them.  Crazy.

Wednesday- Carrie was back!  I hadn't got to run with her in a couple of weeks and had seriously missed my running buddy!  We had a 6 mile tempo run on the schedule.  The 3 miles we did in tempo were 8:20, 8:10 and 8:03.  It was a great run, and I left feeling stronger and more confident about the 15 miler on the schedule for this weekend.

Saturday- Today marked a new personal distance record for me!  I woke up to 60 degrees and 90% humidity.  After running in freezing temps, I was a sweaty mess by the end of the first few miles.  Carrie and I met early and did 5 miles before meeting up with the rest of the group for 10.  This was a hilly course, and a few times, I kind of wanted to cry.  But we pushed through and ended up with a great time.

Long Run #6: 15 Miles
Average Pace: 9:13
Total Time: 2:18:29

Mile #1:   9:50 (SUPER dark out)
Mile #2:   9:03
Mile #3:   9:25
Mile #4:   9:28
Mile #5:   9:18
Mile #6:   9:13
Mile #7:   9:12
Mile #8:   9:13
Mile #9:   9:24
Mile #10: 8:52
Mile #11: 8:57
Mile #12: 9:06
Mile #13: 9:05 (smashed half marathon PR)
Mile #14: 9:10
Mile #15: 8:53

Overall, it was an amazing week.  Our mileage continues to move on up and I'm going to be setting new distance records every week.  Hopefully we're through with snowstorms and negative degree temps.  Today, although it was humid, was great weather!  Now I need to go take a nap and recover...

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?