Marathon Training Week 14

I just realized I never posted this - oops!

I was less than faithful to my training plan this week. We were up to the lake house until the middle of the week and after getting my second 20 miler in, I was just not feeling very motivated.

Monday - Cross Training

I took a rest day after running 20 on Sunday. We went out on the boat and generally relaxed.

Tuesday - 5 miles 

I was really tired for some reason, so I finished a book rather than going for a run. I also did a little stand up paddle boarding in the afternoon.

I'm not sorry.

Wednesday - 6 miles

We were on the road home most of the day, and a run just didn't happen. The dogs were pretty excited to come home from the place we board them. Then they promptly passed out.

Thursday - 5 miles

I decided since I had missed a couple of runs that I would turn this run into a bit of a tempo run. It felt pretty good and I managed an 8:43 minute mile. I also did 30 minutes of yoga when I got home.

5.03 miles @ 9:32 pace

Friday - Rest day

Oh you know I have those down!

Saturday - 6 miles

The humidity was back full-force for my morning run with the Rivertown Runners. This whole run was just blah. One of the people I usually run with wasn't feeling it either, and we took the shorter way back to our cars. It was just one of those days.

5.28 miles @ 9:57 pace

Sunday - 12 miles

The humidity was a little better for this run, and I generally felt pretty good.

12.01 miles @ 11:07 pace

Weekly Mileage - 22.32

I don't feel too badly about this week of training. Yes, my mileage was a little lower than it was supposed to be, but it was a good mental break. This training plan is a long one, and I think I needed a little extra step back.

I have one more big week of running before I start tapering!

Marathon Training Week 13

I was going to say I'm sorry for how late in the week I'm getting this posted, but since I've gotten lazy to the point of one post per week, I'm just going to roll with it.

We spent the long weekend at Tom's family's lake house up in Canada and just got home this afternoon. I wasn't sure I was actually going to get any of my runs in, but I somehow actually stayed motivated through the weekend.

Monday - Cross Training

I should really just re-name all of these as rest days.

Tuesday - 5 miles

I actually felt a little bit of speed on this run. The humidity was a little lower and I managed negative splits.

5.01 miles @ 9:33 pace

Look how big Scout is!

Wednesday - 10 miles

As good as Tuesday was, this was terrible. The humidity was back and I had super random achilles and quad pain. The longer I ran, the worse it hurt, so I decided it was better to cut my run short than to push it.

4.06 miles @ 10:40 pace

Thursday - 5 miles

I took it ridiculously easy, but made up for most of my missing miles from Wednesday.

10.01 miles @ 11:38 pace

Friday - Rest day

We spent most of the day dropping the dogs off and driving up to the lake house.

Saturday - 10 miles

I'm really proud of myself for  actually running while we were at the lake house. I felt much better than I did the rest of the week and had fun running in a different area. Plus it's a lot less hilly than around our house.

10.07 miles @ 10:23 pace

The best place to sit after a long run.

Sunday - 20 miles

I almost talked myself out of this run. I shortened it several times over in my mind, but once I was out the door, I just enjoyed the scenery and somehow managed to hit that 20 mile mark. One of my blisters from my last 20 miler was a little less healed than I thought it was and it started giving me a hard time around mile 16, but otherwise I felt as good as you can expect to feel after 20 miles.

20.11 miles @ 11:17 pace

Weekly Mileage - 49.26

Marathon Training Week 12

This week has been a little all over the place. I had a couple of good runs and really started to feel like I had made some progress. And then my long run hit and I felt like I would never run well again.

Monday - Cross training

I have really good intentions....

Tuesday - 5 miles

It was actually a little cooler out, with less humidity, so it was a pretty nice run. The blister on my arch from last week's long run was a little tender, but I felt pretty good for most of this run.

5.06 miles @ 9:46 pace

Wednesday - 6 miles

I took an unplanned rest day - I was really tired!

Thursday - 5 miles

I shifted my runs by a day and ran Wednesday's 6 miles on Thursday. I took it pretty easy, but felt good and actually felt stronger on the hills than I have lately. Progress!

My cow friends

6.13 miles @ 10:48 pace

Friday - Rest day

I ran Thursday's 5 miles on Friday. I drove to the gym and ran on the treadmill. It was pretty uneventful.

5 miles @ 9:35 pace

Saturday - 6 miles

I met up with my running group for some trail miles. A bunch of them had a 20 miler to get in this weekend, so they were already 12 miles in when we started at 8am. I had a really nice run! My pace wasn't amazing (it never is lately), but I felt good and had fun visiting with everyone. I also spent a little time with the stick roller and some yoga when I got home!

6.77 miles @ 10:38 pace

Sunday - 12 miles

This was a miserable run. I was walking on the hills after the first 2 miles and I just wanted to go home.

But, I didn't.

One of my blisters from last weekend (on the arch of my foot) is pretty much healed up, but the one on my heel was less healed than I thought it was.

So, that was fun.

I actually ran all the way up the worst hill on my route (it's over a mile long), which I usually end up doing a run/walk trudge on to get to the top. It's a segment on Strava (which I occasionally look at), so I was looking forward to seeing what my time was for that segment when I got home.

I hit 12 miles a good mile and a quarter from the house, but since I wasn't feeling the run to begin with, I walked the rest of the home.

Once I got home, my watch was giving me a hard time about uploading my run, and then it just decided to delete it altogether. I can still see the summary (time, average pace, distance) on the watch, but there's no more specifics available to upload. Guess I won't be checking that segment on Strava after all.

It was one of those runs where you just have to put it behind you, and hope that the next one will go better.

12.05 miles @12:04 pace

Weekly Mileage - 35.01

I still have 6 weeks of training to go since I am doing a longer training plan this year. That means I still have plenty of time to actually feel prepared for Steamtown.

In theory.

Marathon Training Week 11

I started writing this on Sunday, and then I got distracted and forgot all about it. And then I went to bed at 9:30. Marathon training is exhausting!

***

I ran my highest mileage week ever this week! I'm still feeling ridiculously slow, and unless I miraculously become much faster once this heat and humidity goes away, I don't know how Steamtown is going to go.

I was hoping to break 4 hours (I ran 4:11 last year), but my training paces were much faster at this point last year. We'll see how it goes.

Monday - Cross Training

Lets all laugh together, of course I didn't do anything.

Tuesday - 5 miles

I was definitely still feeling my long run from last week, but managed negative splits. I may throw a party when the wonderful fall running weather gets here.

I had to stock up on some gels. I've been going through them like crazy with all these long runs.

5.01 miles @ 10:26 pace

Wednesday - 10 miles

It was slightly less humid out, and I actually remembered to bring water with me. It only takes a half a dozen longish runs without water for me to learn that I should probably bring water with me. I'm really smart sometimes.

10.06 miles @ 11:18 pace

Thursday - 5 miles

All these miles are adding up, and I had some seriously tired legs, so I took it easy. I also did a little stick rolling when I got home.

5.06 miles @ 10:54 pace

Friday - Rest Day

I'm trying to be proactive so I went to the chiropractor. I pretty much got a gold star - if describing my alignment as "not too bad" counts as positive.

Saturday - 10 miles

I had a total distance runner moment and felt much better after running 10 miles than I did before I left.

I really hate putting everything away after my runs. It just seems like so much extra work!

10.02 @ 11:27 pace

Sunday - 20 miles

I hate waking up early. It's the one crazy runner trait I haven't developed. I got up shortly after 5 and took forever getting organized while I waited for the sun to come up.

Once I was finally out the door it took a good couple of miles before my legs felt mostly normal. It was wonderfully overcast and cooler this morning, which was a nice break from the oppressive heat we've been having.

At about mile 11 I realized the heel of one of my socks had slid down and my shoe was rubbing directly on my heel. And I could definitely feel the start of a blister on the arch of my foot. Since there wasn't much I could do about either, I fixed my sock, and kept going. The last mile was really unpleasant, but my impressively large blister was (fortunately?) still in tact when I got home.

I drank all the water in my pack - 2 liters! And at no point did I get that sloshy feeling. It's possible I was a sweaty mess by the time I was finished. I can't wait for fall running weather!

20 miles @ 11:54 pace

Weekly Mileage - 50.15 miles!

Scout "helped" me stretch. And by that I mean he climbed in my lap and made any stretching impossible.

He's cute though!

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?

Rocks and New Shoes

The days have really been sneaking by lately!

I haven't been reading my usual blogs, and I haven't been posting. I don't really know what has been keeping me away, but I just haven't been spending too much time on my computer this week.

A few highlights (and lowlights) for you:

I ran my long run solo on Saturday. I have been running with people for long runs lately, and let me tell you, 11 miles go a lot faster with friends. My watch randomly had a GPS glitch that it mostly corrected. At about 7 miles it said 5.8, a couple of minutes later it jumped up to 7.3. One of my mile splits was under two minutes. Yeah, that seems right...

We ran out of oil for the furnace on Saturday. I discovered this fact when I went to take a shower after my run. We were having dinner with our neighbor so I couldn't not shower. I took the coldest shower ever and tried to keep most of my body away from the water while I washed my hair.

On Sunday I was randomly possessed by a yard work maniac and spent at least 5 hours digging up rocks and cleaning random bits of glass and other trash out of one of the giant rock piles in the yard. Now it's a smaller giant rock pile and it isn't full of garbage.

It was a nice night, so we had a little fire in the fire pit.

Buddy has been loving the warmer weather we've been having, because it means we hang out in the yard when I get home from running.

I got new shoes today. I ordered them the other day and I was delaying my run until the mailman came. They're Brooks Launch 2s - the 3s are out now, so the 2s are on sale - they were really comfortable right out of the box and I didn't have to adjust them at all on my run today. We'll see how they do on some longer runs.

What are your favorite shoes right now?

Double Digits

I keep having runs where I drag my feet getting out the door, and for the first mile or so, and then I suddenly feel better and end up having a really good (and fast!) run. It's weird. I guess it's better than being excited to run and having a sluggish run.

Check out this 5 miler from Friday:

I can't believe there's a mile that starts with a 7 in there!

My Saturday started off extra early this morning. 

Some of my weekend running buddies decided to meet up for 3 miles before the regular Saturday 7 miles that we run. I had a 10 miler on my training plan this weekend anyway, and 10 miles with friends always goes faster than 10 solo miles.

It was a brisk 17 degrees out when I left the house, though it warmed up to a toasty 23 by the time I parked the car, tied my shoes and hit the trails. Three of us ran 3 early miles and went back to the parking lot to meet up with the rest of the group.

I kept having to remind myself that we had already run a few miles, because some miles felt tougher than they normally would have. We had to run a bit past our cars to hit 10 miles, but we weren't about to come up short after waking up early to run. I'm happy with the 9:28 pace we managed to maintain.

Plus it's nice to have a recent double digit run. I think the last time I hit 10 miles was on Thanksgiving.

I drove home and waffled up some cinnamon rolls (because we don't have an oven).

Post-long-run breakfast lunch of champions.

What's your run this weekend?

Do you have a go-to post-long-run meal?

Last Double Digit Run

I'm trying to be really careful with myself for the next two weeks. What does that mean? It means I'm not doing head stands or trying any new workouts. The last thing I want right now is to hurt myself doing something I don't need to be doing, and mess up race day for myself.

I'm also super paranoid about loose dogs on my runs. We live in a really rural area, and a lot of people don't have fences for their dogs. That's great and all, but I have had several standoffs with dogs lately. One owner was in the yard and told me that his dog was just a little skittish/nervous. Ok, but your dog is just as likely to bite me because it's scared, thank you very much.

My cold/allergies/whatever it is almost convinced me to skip my run today. Thankfully I didn't listen. It was a little rough for the first few miles, but I got my last double digit run before the marathon in.

It was only 12 miles and I almost headed out the door without my hydration pack because I decided that it was a short run. I'm smart like that.

I didn't plan my route well at all and ended up hitting my 12 miles about two miles away from the house. I debated just running it, but decided that it would be a good cool down to just walk it. Walking is SO slow!

Buddy was excited that I came home. Every time we leave he's pretty sure we're never coming back.

I have very exciting plans to be lazy this afternoon - they're my favorite kind of plans!

Won't You Take Me To - Taper Town!

I was up bright and early today for my second and last 20 miler for this training cycle. And then I took my sweet time getting out the door and didn't actually leave until almost 8am.

The Steamtown Marathon "strongly discourages" iPods and headphones, so I decided to hit the road without them this morning. I did bring them in my hydration pack, just in case, but I didn't end up using them.

Lately I have been listening to an audiobook during my long runs, but otherwise I have been leaving the iPod at home, so it wasn't a huge adjustment. I had the song, "Holiday Road" stuck in my head about half the time because it's in a car commercial that's on all the time right now. The rest of the time I had "Rain, Rain, Go Away," which was funny because it was nothing but blue skies for my run.

The weather was a bit more cooperative today, much less humid than it has been, but the hills still tried to take me out.

I was hoping to keep my pace under 10:30 since I knew what hills I was planning on running. I even managed to hit an 8:28 minute mile at mile 16 with a little help from a downhill. Other than a couple of the steeper uphills, I felt pretty good most of the time.

Now I'm in the "trust your training" and don't go crazy part of the training cycle, also known as: the taper. I'm looking forward to cutting back on my mileage so I can go into race day feeling strong and well rested.

Apparently I'm running a marathon in 3 weeks - who's idea was that?

Marathon Training Week 11

Oh, hey! I have been very busy spending all my time hanging out with Tiny this week. We picked her up at the airport on Wednesday, and I've barely touched my computer since she got here. There has been a nice balance of relaxing and visiting at the house, and playing tourist around the area and down in NYC.

I managed to have a pretty successful week of running (I did skip one run) and finally hit that notorious distance of 20 miles.

Monday: Cross Training. Monday feels like such a long time ago, but my training log insists that I did an hour of yoga on Monday.

Tuesday: 5 miles. It was super humid out, but I was much less sore from my (short) long run than I was last week, which was nice. 5 miles @ 9:41

Wednesday: 8 miles. I woke up early to get this run in before work. It was cooler, but still humid out. I had a serious negative split and came up a little short on mileage because I was running out of time and had to book it back to the house. 7.46 miles @ 9:23

Thursday: 5 miles. I was very busy visiting with Tiny, and it was also ridiculously hot out, so Thursday ended up being a rest day. And an eat saltwater taffy day, because Tiny brought some from Oregon.

Friday: Rest Day. Squeezed in Thursday's 5 miler on Friday. I didn't write any notes about this run in my training log, so apparently it was pretty uneventful! We also did a little hiking around on our property. 5.03 miles @ 8:52

Saturday: 5 miles. This run didn't happen. We took the train down to the city to take Tiny to some touristy places. We had lunch at Katz's deli, rode the Staten Island Ferry so she could see the Statue of Liberty, and made a quick stop at Central Park. We walked all over the place, and were pretty much on our feet all day. Totally what you're supposed to do the day before a long run, right?

Sunday: 20 miles. I turned my alarm off in my sleep. I never even heard it. I woke up to the coffee maker beeping. It was still mostly dark out, and it was actually almost cold. I managed to get out the door at 7 and began chipping away at the miles. I mentally broke it into two 10 milers: 10 miles out, 10 miles back.

I actually felt pretty good for most of my run. I was better about taking in fuel than I have been, and had my audiobook (The Pillars of the Earth) to entertain me. The last couple of miles were a little warmer than I would have liked, since I started a bit later than usual, but I did it! And holy cow, the elevation!

20 miles @ 10:29!

Miles this week: 37.5

Marathon Training Week 10

I'm a pretty big fan of cutback weeks. I hit my mileage this week, and had a couple of good runs.

Even though my pace hasn't been where I want it to be (I'm still blaming summer weather and the hills around here), some of the hills that I run all the time haven't felt as steep lately. I'm not saying that the hills aren't tough, but I feel like I'm finally feeling stronger.

Monday: Cross training. My lazy yoga game is still going strong. One hour of yoga, followed by some headstand practice where I didn't fall right and tweaked my neck. It was better after a few days, but it definitely put a damper on some of my runs.

Tuesday: 5 miles. My neck was sore from my yoga wipe out and my legs were sore from my long run. I mostly just wanted to stop the entire time. 5 miles @ 10:04

Wednesday: 5 miles. I felt way better for this run. My neck and legs felt a lot better, and it was a little cooler out. I'm so ready for fall to get here. 5.06 miles @ 9:21

Thursday: 5 miles. Remember when I was insanely tired last week? I made it until later in the week this time, but it caught up to me again. I may have actually napped for a little while this time. Tom insists that I was asleep at one point, but I didn't feel like I did.

Friday: Rest day. I decided to get Thursday's run in on Friday. It didn't feel amazing, but it was faster than earlier in the week. There was a noticeable difference as the soreness from my long run subsided. 5.03 miles @ 9:10

Saturday: 8 mile pace run. This run made me a little nervous. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to hit a goal pace (9:00) since I haven't been very speedy lately. It ended up being a really good run, and a nice boost of confidence. 8 miles @ 8:52

Sunday: 13 miles. You know you're marathon training when you say, "I only have 13 miles today." Only. I guess it's all relative! This run definitely felt short compared to last weekend's 18 miles, It was a pretty uneventful run overall, though I could have done without the humidity. 13 miles @ 10:18

Miles this week: 36.09

Running Math and Headstands

Long run days are all about me whining. 5am is early! 18 miles is far! I'm so hungry!

I was up dark and early for my 18 miler today. The morning started off as most mornings do: with coffee and an english muffin. It was actually a little cooler out, but check out that humidity!

.

I felt good for most of this run, and I was pretty sure that it was flatter than the areas I have been running lately. As an added bonus, I ran near a park/campground and had bathroom access. It's the little things. 

I took a couple of Huma gels (mangoes and strawberries) and a GU (strawberry kiwi - not my favorite) with me in my hydration pack, and I really liked the Huma gels - they weren't that sickly sweet that some gels have. I don't usually take fuel all at once, I take small amounts over the course of a mile or so.

Due to running math (which is almost always wrong), I had to run past the house to hit my mileage. Then I didn't turn back when I should have, so I walked a half a mile after I made it to 18 miles.

I did my usual collapse on the floor/ground when I got home.

And I learned that the area I ran was decidedly not flat.

I sat out in the yard with Buddy for a bit while I cooled down.

This wasn't today, but I've been paying upside down a lot lately. I'm trying to get a bit of a backbend going, but it's harder than all those yogis on instagram make it look! ;)

Is it hilly or flat where you live?