Marathon Training Week 3 (Sort of)

There's no point in breaking down what my training plan called for this week, because I didn't do any of it.

I flew to Oregon to see family I haven't seen in over two years and was much too busy visiting to worry about sneaking out for a few miles.

If it was later in my training cycle I would be more worried about missing miles, but I have a whole summer of training ahead of me. This week won't make a huge difference in the long run.

I came home to a fun surprise - Tom moved the bedroom into the new room! Well, actually he texted me to tell me when I got to the airport so I wasn't confused when I got home at 4 in the morning.

Now excuse me while I go sleep some more - turns out 1 1/2 hours isn't enough.

Marathon Training Week 2

Monday - Cross Training

This week did not start off strong. Aside from teaching my classes, I didn't do anything. I did the laundry, does that count?

Tuesday - 3 miles

I quite intelligently went running at the hottest part of the day for some reason. I had a slow first mile, an average second mile and a decently quick third mile. It gave me some confidence that my pace will actually come back to me one of these days.

3.05 miles @ 9:35 pace

Wednesday - 5 miles

My body is being overly dramatic about the heat lately. It's not that hot out. It really isn't. There wasn't any wind out, which didn't help, but I felt like it was a hundred degrees outside during this run. I don't think it was even above 80 by the time I got out the door. Fingers crossed I adjust to the warmer weather soon!

5.01 miles @ 10:12 pace

Thursday - 3 miles

My achilles was feeling a little tender on Thursday, so I decided to swap my rest day to give it a break. Hopefully it's just whining a bit in response to my increasing mileage.

Friday - Rest day

I don't know why I run at noon so often. I'm a terrible planner. It was hot and I was whiny, but I got it done.

3.02 miles @ 10:03 pace

Saturday - 5 miles

The way my legs were feeling I decided not to meet up with my weekend running group. I know things are improving, but I also know I'm more likely to push the pace if I'm running with other people, and I really don't need to be doing that right now. I hate to miss my time with friends, especially since I won't be able to make it down there again until sometime in July, but I'm really trying to be smart about getting into this training cycle.

If I keep saying it, that makes it true, right?

5.02 miles @ 10:02 pace

Sunday - 11 miles 

I was up bright and early(ish) and listened to podcasts and trudged my way through my miles.

I really had to remind myself that it's more about the miles than the pace for a long run, and didn't look at my pace at all while I was running, which I think was good for my mental game.

11.11 miles @ 11:23 pace

Weekly Mileage - 27.24

I haven't had a week with mileage this good since March, which is insane.

I'm going to be traveling next week so we'll see what happens as far as my running goes.

Long Run!

You guys, I ran 11 miles this morning! That means I'm getting better!

I have also become completely alarmist over any little ache or pain, convinced that I will just abruptly not be able to run again. It's the stuff of nightmares.

It was supposed to be close to 90 degrees out this afternoon, so I set my alarm for 6am (because I'm not completely insane and ready for dawn runs just yet). When the alarm went off I said something along the lines of, "I don't want to do that."

But then I got up, had some coffee and an english muffin, and set about filling my hydration pack. I haven't run long in a while, so it took me a bit to make sure I had everything I needed.

Once I was on the road, it wasn't too bad. Don't get me wrong, it was hotter than I wanted it to be, and I was moving slower than I wanted to be, but I got it done!

Buddy was trying to soak up some sun this afternoon, but it was too hot, even for him.

How do you carry hydration/fuel for long runs?

Marathon Training Week 1

This training cycle really snuck up on me. Not being able to run much the last few weeks makes me feel a little underprepared, but I have 17 more weeks to get back up to speed.

The bold headings are what my training plan called for, the notes underneath are what actually happened. :)

Monday - cross training

I did an hour of yoga with Adriene videos. She's still my favorite YouTube yoga teacher. I swear I have actually tried some others, but Adriene just speaks my language. And she's hilarious.

Tuesday - 3 miles

It was HOT out. I'm finally starting to feel normal again, now I just need to get used to running in the heat and get my pace back. I also got in 20 minutes of yoga and some foam rolling.

3.01 miles @ 9:59 pace

Wednesday - 5 miles

Much cooler out, I actually ran in capris! It's my longest run in over a month, and I was just glad to be back to some decent mileage again. Plus I have to be running at least 5 miles to get to see this view on my run:

5.01 miles @ 10:15 pace

Thursday - 3 miles

My stride rate (cadence) is definitely down right now, and I feel slow, but at least I'm running. That's sort of my mantra for the week: at least I'm running.

3.02 miles @ 10:04 pace

Friday - Rest day

I'm so good at rest days. I took my fourth trip to the magician chiropractor and started a crafty project that I have already had to restart once. I may finish it in time for the holidays. Maybe.

Saturday - 5 mile pace run

I was actually excited to wake up early. I was out the door at 7 to meet up with the Rivertown Runners for a run on the trails of Rockefeller Preserve. I haven't been able to run with them for over a month, and I really missed them! I have no problem running on my own, but the miles always go by faster with friends.

I planned on seeing how things went and possibly taking a few shortcuts if I needed to, but I ended up sticking to our usual route. It was definitely tough, but it felt so good to get back to my normal routine.

6.87 miles @ 9:46 pace

Sunday - 10 miles

This just didn't happen. I helped Tom finish installing the hardwood floors upstairs (and by help I mean I moved things around and tried to stay out of the way). ;)

I'm not worried about missing this mileage because I have plenty of time to get up to speed. I would rather start this training cycle off easy and make sure I'm being smart about my running.

Weekly Mileage - 17.91

I've got to (re)start somewhere!

New Floors and a Rainy Run

Tom started putting in the hardwood floors in our new master bedroom the other day. They're SO pretty! He finished up most of the bedroom and hallway and will probably have time to get the rest of it finished later this week. 

Buddy does not like all the sounds involved in installing hardwood floors.

He does like when he's allowed on the couch.

This is pretty tasty. The tangerine flavor is subtle, which I like. Some fruity beers taste like juice mixed with beer.

I finally had a successful run on Sunday. I actually felt mostly normal again. It was drizzling a bit when I left, but at mile 3 of 4 the clouds opened up and a serious downpour started. I stood under some trees until it got a little less intense and then did a little speed work for the last mile home. I beat the first rumble of thunder by about 5 minutes.

I tried to take a picture to show how rainy it was, but mostly that's just runoff from the roof since the addition doesn't have gutters yet.

Buddy loves when we have the windows open so he can check out all the smells from the comfort of the living room.

He's pretty cute.

Not Awesome Running and Baby Apples

I was going to say that I'm sorry I've been slacking with my posts lately, and tell you all the reasons I haven't gotten around to posting, but mostly I just haven't made the time.

Not being able to run also gave me less to talk about. I'm slowly but surely getting back out on the road, so hopefully I'll be back to my usual random chatter soon.

I have only made it out for a couple of short runs since my second chiropractor visit. We spent the long weekend at the lake house, and I was much too busy relaxing and spending time out on the water.

My running has been slow and not awesome. I don't know how much is lost fitness and how much is the fact that we've been having warm weather lately and I'm not used to it yet.

I'm registered for a half on the 12th, which I was hoping to at least be able to run as a training run even if I couldn't race it, but right now it's looking like it may be a DNS (did not start). Marathon training for Steamtown starts next week and I would rather not do something stupid right at the beginning of a training cycle.

Buddy wiped himself out cleaning out a peanut butter jar yesterday. It's a really rough life.

Our apple trees seem to be happy out in the yard.

We even have baby apples on some of them!

Time to hit the road and see if I can actually make it more than a couple of miles. It's really weird to not just be able to go out and run as much as I want.