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.