(not my) Marathon Training: Week 5/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Ugh, ugh, ugh. I think I'm still sick... or sick again. Had a great weekend, and now it's Monday morning and I'm blergh-y.

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: nada

Slept in as much as possible with kids. Ate like crap all day. Started period. What a time to be alive... 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 6x400m hill @ 10K pace up/MP pace down, 2mi CD

Did: nada

Slept in. Felt sluggish, congested, and blerghity. This week is not going well.

Wednesday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.1mi @ 10:09/mi avg, Big 5

Well, I could feel some tightness in my chest due to congestion, but this run happened, and I wasn't any worse for wear afterwards. Success? t 

Thursday

Scheduled: 5-7mi solid

Did: 6.05mi @ 9:10/mi avg

Finally! I woke up feeling well-rested and ready for a good run, though I wasn't planning on trying to keep up with my training partner's solid pace. The 9:47 opening mile felt like it ought to have been a 9:15 for the effort I was putting in, but things opened up a bit after that. I went my pace, ignoring the two faster runners in our group ahead of me, for the rest of the mileage.

9:29, 9:08, 9:05... and then I tried for an 8:45, and wound up with an 8:26.

It felt good to push again.

Slowed to an 8:58 for the cool-down, and obligated myself to a Big 5 stretch session. So grateful to have my health and running again. 

Friday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.20 @ 10:11/mi avg

I was up way too late last night being social... and it made getting up hard this morning. Grateful for an easy run day. I've also been back on the healthy nutrition train this week, and it's made a world of difference in how I've felt. Fancy that, eh? Looking forward to pushing hard this weekend!

Saturday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 3x4mi @ MP with 3min recovery, 2mi CD

Did: as scheduled = 16.35mi @ 8:55/mi avg

I was really nervous about this run... not from a pace standpoint, or distance, but more not being able to hold my sh__ together. I had some weird GI stuff at work midday yesterday, and spent the next 12 hours pretty terrified that this run was going to be crap-tastic. To that end, I'm proud to say I prepared for it like the mom I am, bringing a roll of TP (some of which I shoved in my shorts pocket), baby wipes (in my car), and a change of shorts... because this run was happening. lol. 

Fortunately, none of those items were necessary, and my body was completely fine. 

Normally, a sixteen mile run, would be a "gulp-here-we-go" kind of run. Today wasn't. I really like this whole "breaking it up" thing. Instead of thinking about the full distance, I took it "one repeat at a time", and that made a world of difference. 

Coming off a week of illness, I opted not to keep pace with my training partner for the 4mi segments, and just plan for 8:45s, the high side of her goal pace. These felt good-- easy, even. While I had to focus on running, it wasn't a stretch to hit this pace, and that itself feels good (especially since our warm-up was more like 10:12/mi avg and felt hard at times). 

Another friend joined us for the last repeat and cool-down. I felt soooo good for the first two, that I decided to speed up the last one:

1) 8:43/mi avg

2) 8:39/mi avg

3) 8:25/mi avg

(Goal: 8:15-8:45/mi)

Stretched post-run, and then headed off to a Song of Atlanta front row rehearsal for a few hours where we learned the choreography for the first half of one of our International contest songs. Weeeee :D

This was JUST the confidence booster I needed. I remember saying post-run, "I don't think I've ever had such an easy-feeling sixteen mile run ever." Win!!!!

Sunday

Scheduled: 9-11 easy

Did: 10.01mi @ 9:56/mi avg, Big 5

That's right. After yesterday's beast of a workout, today was STILL scheduled as double-digit mileage. As soon as I walked outside, I was hit with a wall of humidity, which had suddenly appeared overnight. Ewwwww. 

The first half of the run was a breeze, and felt super easy. Around mile , though, the humidity and heat were getting to me, and I was very glad to be done at 10.

Total Weekly Mileage: 42.7

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I think I'm finally "back" after whatever illness took me out last week. 
• I need to find a way to get more salt in my diet around the long, hard workout days. While I felt fine during and immediately after Saturday's run, I was a wreck mid-afternoon, and found myself craving all the salt. I felt like I "salted up" well Friday, but it seems like I still need to fine-tune my post-workout eating too if I'm going to avoid those after-effects... 
• Running a marathon over two days in the weekend = fun. I feel really strong- much stronger than I ever did during any of my past marathon trainings. Weeee. 

(not my) Marathon Training: Week 4/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Well, here we are, Week 4. Since I have a trip later in the week, our schedule shifted a bit. 

Monday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 5x1K @ 10K pace/2min, 2mi CD

Did: 2mi WU, 5x1K @ (7-7:30/mi)/2min, 1.5mi CD = 7.45mi @ 9:06/mi av

As I was in my garage at 4:04am, getting ready to head over to the track, my phone rang. My training partner had accidentally locked herself out of her house... without her car keys. So, I drove up to her place, we opted to drive to a different, open-to-the-public asphalt track in lieu of running from her house (since our normal track was too far with this change-of-schedule). 

The asphalt track wasn't as bad as I'd feared it wouldbe, but, man, I've run on the track too much lately, because I was OVER IT before we even hit 1.0 on the warm-up. I'm starting to tire of running in "circles" and having mechanical workouts. 

My legs were tired from not having a rest day, and just life, so I decided I wasn't going to go for any specific pace on the 1K repeats. Instead, I'd try to "make it fun" by relying on my watch's GPS to track distance and run the first one in Lane 1, the second in Lane 2, etc. 

My first repeat, I felt a small soreness in my inner right hip. Ugh. There's that whole "not stretching" thing starting to take its toll. I really need to do more of that, especially since I'm not strength training at all these days while asking a LOT of my running muscles. 

On repeat #3, I missed my watch beep and kept going... until I realized I hadn't missed the watch beep. I'd just neglected to specify the correct number of repeats. Oh, Mondays... 

Stopped/saved workout, then started a new one, and finished up the repeats, slogged through more laps around the track, hating every single one because I was bored to death. I think this is a sign I need a rest day, more stretching, and more strength training... 

Tuesday

Scheduled: easy 10KT

Did: as scheduled = 6.36mi @ 9:46/mi avg, 30min yoga

Weee, easy miles! My legs are TIRED. My body is TIRED. I'm actually on the fence on whether or not I'll run tomorrow... But, today was good. We welcomed back a 10KTuesday runner who'd moved away a few years ago, and just started a new job back in the ATL area. 

Also started feeling right glute tightness and did 30min of stretchy yoga. I think the fact that my legs were shaking in a basic forward fold is a good indication that I need to stretch more if I'm going to ask so much of my body... 

Wednesday

Scheduled: 2 miles WU 2 x 2 miles at HMP with 3 minutes jog in between + 1 mile faster between HMP and 10K pace 1-2 miles CD

Did: as scheduled (with shorter cooldown) = 8.23mi @ 8:56/mi avg, Big 5 Stretching, 30min yoga

It was a struggle of a morning. At 3:30am, I got up, and had to check in with both kiddos before getting out the door. I wasn't really feeling great about this run, and it was definitely more of a "just get through this, and then you can have rest day" sentiment than a "yeah, I'm gonna crush this". 

The way my training partner is doing things, her paces are based on a time trial she did pre-season, rather than her personal goal. This means they're all faster than what we'd need for a more reasonable sub-4:00 goal. This also means that I'm much better at shorter distances than longer ones, and probably have the physical ability to do longer races much faster than I am/want/think. 

I'm sitting at 58mi for the past seven days, and OMG do I feel it, so I've been opting to hit around an 8:00 for whatever the "speed" portion of our workouts is all week (1Ks for Monday and today's 2mi repeats. 

WU: 10:10/mi

2mi: 8:13/7:54

2mi: 8:06/7:53

1mi: 7:45

CD: 9:51

Shortened the CD a bit to get back home for kiddo wake-ups faster, but I'm proud to say I stuck by my car for an extra 5min to go through those Big 5 stretches I haven't done in... erm... maybe a year? 

Thursday

Scheduled: rest

Did: absolutely nothing

OMG, sweet, sweet rest day, I love you so... especially since I got all ready for work this morning, and then was hit by a super hard wave of fatigue that kept me in bed and sleeping for pretty much the entire day. Uggghhh. 

Friday

Scheduled: 5-6 miles WU 6-7 miles at MP 2 miles CD

Did: 0.78mi @ 13:23/mi, ~3mi walk

I really, really wanted to run with my training partner this morning. But it wasn't looking good when I woke up and still felt kind of blergh. I figured I'd try it out and see how I felt after a quarter mile, just to help her get going, if nothing else.

Nope. This is the first run I've aborted in... maybe ever? But I knew better than to push myself through anything when I wasn't feeling like even running an easy 3-4. I came home, and slept another couple hours from 4:30-6, and then more between 7 and 9. 

I finally felt better by the afternoon, though... just in time for our family mountain getaway! 

Weeee, Blue Ridge

Saturday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 1.5mi hike (780ft elev gain), 20min yoga, 40min HIIT/Core

I had low hopes for actually being able to run this weekend. Mountain cabins don't exactly have sidewalks along their access roads and I am NOT a trail runner (much less with a kid or two in tow). Instead, I leaned into the vacation part, and got my exercise through some light hikes and my downloaded Beachbody on Demand core workouts.  

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: HIIT/Core, 0.78mi hike (430ft elev gain), 6.0mi stroller run @ 9:16/mi avg, Big 5

Did a workout at the cabin before leaving, and a short hike at a great waterfall en route home.

Then got home and decided to head out for an easy riverside run. SO MOIST. Ugggghhh. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 28.8

Week-ending Thoughts:

Such a weak ending to a week with such a strong start... Part of me is already flipping out about a "loss of fitness" for taking three days off with sickness/travel. Part of me is eye-rolling, remembering we always tell training participants that it's absurd to think you can lose so much fitness in such a short time. That's kind of like going on a "diet" for a day, not drinking much water, and "losing" five pounds. It doesn't work that way. 

It felt good to do some strength work this weekend, and I hope I'll be able to find a way of fitting that into my life, even if it's only 30min a week. 

My legs felt a little weird on the Sunday run, but I'm hopeful that the sports massage I got on Friday helped work out the weirdness in my hip/glute, and that re-committing to stretching post-run and doing some yoga throughout the week will keep those issues at bay. 

Here's to a fresh week of marathon training. 

(not my) Marathon Training: Week 3/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Umm, well, it's Friday and I'm just writing this, so.... 

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: rest

Considered a workout in the evening, but opted for sleep. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 2mi WU,8x300m @ 10K pace up, 30s rest, 300m @ MP down, 90s rest, 2mi CD

Did: as scheduled = 7.61mi @ 8:32/mi avg

These went much better this week. I was right on my goal 7:20ish pace for the uphills, and around 8:15 for the downhills. Eight was a LOT, though.... 

Wednesday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.05mi @ 9:31/mi avg

It's always weird to run our typical Thursday route on a non-Thursday... 

Thursday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.03mi @ 9:30/mi avg

Today was a struggle of a day, but I was able to fit a lunch run in with my husband. So humid. So gross. 

Friday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 5x1mi @ HMP/2min rest, 2mi CD

Did: as scheduled = 10.00mi @ 9:00/mi avg

I was excited about mile repeats today, especailly since they were "only" at HMP. I opted to make these an 8min/mi pace (which is actually about my HM PR pace), even though I thought I could probably do them faster. Today's workout was "mechanical". I locked into the 8:00 pace, hit 30s per 100m eight times, and then, after a 2min jog, did it again... and just repeated until I was done. It was kind of boring, but also felt good to just "execute". 

Bonus: it took me until the second mile of the cool-down to realize that this was a 10mi workout. I ran 10mi before 6am on a workday. That feels really BA. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 13-15mi @ solid pace (MP+30s/mi)

Did: 15.17mi @ 9:18/mi avg, 1mi walk, .67mi walk

I had a hard time getting ready for this run. Sleep didn't come easily last night, and I woke up a bunch once I finally got to sleep. I also made the route for today, and the hills for the first few miles were a bit more than I'd thought. It was 74 degrees with 100% humidity. Gross. 

We were trying for 8:45-9:15/mi for the bulk of the run, after we warmed-up/settled-in. Not bad, especially considering this was after yesterday's tough double-digit workout and all the moistness. 

Splits:

1) 10:17 (started with a huge hill)

2) 9:18

3) 9:15

4) 9:11

5) 8:43

6) 9:01

7) 9:07

8) 9:06

9) 9:23

10) 9:05

11) 8:55

12) 9:19

13) 9:05

Decided to cool-down

14) 9:48

15) 9:34 

I struggled a bit for the first bit, but, oddly enough, once my training partner started slowing a bit, I found myself more energized to keep her going. After all, we're training for her marathon. It's a weird mental thing to realize that when I have the "choice" of doing the workout or not, and don't "have to" do it for MY goal, it becomes a lot easier because I'm really choosing to opt in and go for it. 

I felt great for the duration of today's run, and also felt like I could've kept going (maybe not at pace, but definitely for more distance), which is AMAZING. I'm pretty sure I haven't run this far since my pregnant marathon training back in 2019. 

We took a detour onto the greenway instead of staying on the main roads (which had more hills) towards the end of the run, and ended up with a longer route... so we stopped when the last watch clicked 15, and then walked a mile of cool-down together. 

Feel pretty great that I've run 53.1 mi in the last seven days... even though my back is absolutely destroyed thanks to sports bra chafe. Uggggh, humid long runs are the worst. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-6mi easy

Did: 5.72mi @ 10:00/mi avg (1mi of this was alongside my munchkin)

Today was great. Two years ago, one of our best running friends moved out of state. He's moving back to ATL, and joined us for today's run. :D 

Ran about 4 3/4, and then let the oldest out to run himself. 

Taped my back up, and that worked well... though I forgot about a spot on my inner thigh that got suuuuuper bad during the last mile. Ugh, humidty. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 48.6

Week-ending Thoughts:

This Hansons-y plan is pretty empowering. I have zero time for strength training or much of anything else, but I definitely feel like a total BA. 

It's really cool to be able to share running with my family. :)

Oddly enough, on the days where I'm running long, I'm less hungry than the days I'm not? 

(not my) Marathon Training: Week 2/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

LET"S DO THIS.

Monday

Did: MBF Total Body, LiftOff Chest, 4mi stroller walk

Tuesday

Did: 6.35mi @ 9:41/mi avg

Wednesday

Did: 4.02mi @ 9:19/mi avg

Dropped car off for service and ran home- no problems. 

...and then, randomly, mid-day, my ankle felt funny when I got up from my desk chair. Literally NO idea what happened, but it feels kind of sprain-y? Also had some throat gunk in the evening. Ugggghh. 

Thursday

Did: nope

Skipped the workout this morning due to my ankle, and had a BAD attitude all day. 

Friday

Did: 4.01mi @ 8:52/mi avg

Test run for my ankle. Feels generally fine during running, walking, and everyday activity, but is a bit stiff when I bend it a certain way. Guess we'll see how tomorrow goes? 

Saturday

Scheduled: 1.5mi WU, 4x 3mi @ MP/3min recovery, 1.5mi CD = 15mi total

Did: 1.5mi WU, 3x 3mi @ (8:30/mi avg, 8:16/mi avg, 8:28/mi avg), 0.6mi CD = 11.37mi total @ 8:47/mi avg 

I was nervous about this run... for lots of reasons. First, my ankle. Second, the fact that we were basically doing 5K repeats. Third, I needed to be home in time to get my kids to their morning event, which meant I'd be cutting one of the 3mi repeats. 

Ankle held up just fine, and I'm starting to think that whatever it was was just due to my legs being angry that I wore heels on a date night with my husband last weekend (I never wear heels)? 

These were mentally tough, but we had a good course setup, where it was just the same ONB for each 3mi "repeat". I loved being able to trick myself into seeing the workout as laps on a track, thinking of each 3mi as a single lap. lol. The last one was hard, but I'm proud that every single 3mi was at or below an 8:30/mi pace. 

End of the run got a little rough, digestively speaking, and I was grateful to be so close to my car... So no full cool-down, but I got home in plenty of time to get out for our first track club race since ever. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 7-10mi easy

Did: 10.25mi @ 9:36/mi avg

Trying to get some family time in while marathon training is a bit rough, but we're making it happen. My husband joined me for the first part of today's run, and then cut out to take the kids to the playground while I wrapped up the last 5K solo... and then we did brunch out. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 36.0

Week-ending Thoughts:

Strength training is impossible while working. 

I feel super BA for running 21mi this weekend.

Marathon training is fun.