Marathon Training Week Two Recap
It's February, I shouldn't be surprised that the weather sucks. And I'm not so much surprised that it sucks, it's just that I've never really had a vested interest in the weather before (other than the passing knowledge all Minnesotan must possess to carry on obligatory conversations that begin with "Well, we gotta another cold one out there today, ya know.") This year though, I'm an "outside" runner. Last year I was a treadmill runner. Last year I didn't care what the windchill was because it was always 70-degrees in the gym. But, since I discovered running outside last spring, I now dread my miles on the treadmill (hence it's nickname the "dreadmill"). I never thought I'd make an investment in cold weather tights and wool running socks, or that I'd have developed an appropriate layering system for runs in 30, 20, and 10 degrees! Unfortunately though, I have also found that I have a line I need to draw for when I need to suck it up and take it inside, and this week, like last week, I only got to breathe fresh air on one run.
Monday, glorious Monday. It's seems like a lifetime ago that I was out on campus in my 30-degree get-up (short sleeve t-shirt, light jacket, full-tights and headband). But Monday was awesome. The sun was shining, the trails were clear and loads of us were getting our Vitamin D fix outside. I had an easy 3 miler, so I stuck to my go to route "to the bridge and back". I'm not a big fan of out and back runs, but for some reason this one is not too bad. Just the right mix of flats and hills, only a couple stop lights, and there is always something interesting to see along the way. Monday it was a group of runners in shorts and shirt sleeves...Minnesotan's tend to lose their minds a little when the thermostat gets above freezing in February!
Alas, that was it. The deep freeze set in on Tuesday and never left. I had four miles on the schedule this day, so I hit the dreadmill at work. It wasn't too bad. I was to do a one mile warm up, the mid two miles at tempo, and then a one mile cool down. I did my warm up at 6.2 mph, my tempo miles at 6.4 mph and my cool down at 6.0 mph. I felt pretty strong and got to wear my new running shorts (this is one of my favorite times of the year at work, the swim teams start getting all their gear for the Big 10 and NCAA Championships, so I get a lot of left over swag!)
Wednesday was cross training with TRX. The past few weeks our class has been huge so we've done a lot of circuit training off the straps to accommodate everyone. This week, we had a nice small group, so we did most of our work on the straps, which was awesome. Of course, the trainer found a way to work some burpees in there. I fear I will never escape those things. Thursday, more negative windchill, more treadmill. The plan called for 6 miles, two more than I've ever ran on the TM before. My BRF Brandi was able to meet me on the fourth floor (our go-to treadmill area since you can see the whole gym and look out the windows!) I figured I'd just get in as many miles as Brandi was up for and call it good. She was done after three, and of course told me to stay up there and get it done. She's very persuasive, so I decided to stick it out. The six miles where to be negative split, 2/2/2. I had done the first two at 6 mph, and started the next two at 6.2 mph. By the end of the fourth mile I was sure there was no way I had two more miles in me (especially at 6.4 mph). But I ramped it up and told myself I would just do as much as I could, then I would call it good. Mile five felt okay, but mile six felt incredible! I am not sure how I got my second wind, but my stride felt really strong and my energy was up. I was definitely glad to have that one behind me though.
Friday was swim day...but it was also the only day for the foreseeable future that the temps were supposed to be above freezing. I knew I had a 10-miler on tap for Saturday, where the windchill was going to be -15 all day. I really went back and forth about doing my long run on Friday and then swimming Saturday, but my legs were a little beat after TRX and my 6-miler Thursday. I reasoned that I could do my 10-miler Sunday since it was supposed to be a little warmer. I did 1800 yards and was so glad I decided to swim. My legs were happy for the break and I swam fast and strong (this might have been due to the fact that I butted my workout right up to the time the varsity team takes over the pool...I didn't want to look like an idiot in front of them.)
This brings me to the weekend...the cold, cold weekend. Saturday morning the windchill was -25. I didn't even consider getting out. We had a fairly busy day planned anyway, so I decided to shift my rest day from Sunday. I knew Sunday wasn't supposed to be any warmer, but I held out hope that things might improve....I also had a back up plan. A couple friends of mine had told me about an indoor track in Maple Grove that was free and open to the public. Now, I would not normally consider running 10 miles on an indoor track, as the thought of circling my work track 80 times, or the Y track 90 times made me want to puke. But this track was 4.8 laps to a mile....in my mind, 48 circles sounded so much more doable. Plus, they opened at 8am on Sunday, early enough for me to get in and get home before the whole day was shot. So, when I woke up Sunday and saw that minus sign in front of the temperature, I set out for the 30 minute drive to the dome. I got there and the parking lot was packed! I couldn't imagine that there were that many people here to run...but quickly remembered it was an indoor soccer dome...I guess runners aren't the only "outdoor" athletes who need to find alternatives in the winter. The track was covered in field turf and was much narrower than I expected, but I was the only runner there for the first 20-minutes. I did have to dodge parent-walkers and an occasional soccer player warming up outside the field, but this wasn't too bad. The track started to fill up about 8:30. There were four runners with their TC Marathon shirts on who all passed me easily, but several others keeping a variety of paces. I decided to stop for some fuel after 4 and a half miles, I was out of energy gel, so I brought some fruit snacks....note to self...fruit snacks don't quite cut it, but I managed. I started back up and that was when Nike+ decided to stop telling me my mileage. I know that many of you are advocates for not running with an app squawking in your ear every half mile, but for me, sometimes the anticipation of hearing my split and knowing I'm that much closer to the finish is all that keeps me going. It was about then that I started doubting my ability to get to 10 miles. I was tired and I certainly didn't want to start counting laps at this point. So I made a deal with myself. I would run for 15 minutes and check my progress and then decide whether or not to keep going. Fifteen minutes later I walked a bit and checked, 6.2 miles, not too bad. 15 minutes later I checked again, I was sure I was running so slow that I was only at about 7.5 miles, but to my surprise I was at 8.5. This was a huge mental boost and I knew I could get to 10. I told myself to count 8 laps and then check. These last 8 laps were a long slog, and also happened to be when the game I had been watching for the first 40 laps ended and a new game began, so there was a flurry of teenage soccer players filling up the track, both doing warm up laps and trying to leave. This did not do wonders for my faith in the youth of America as most of them had little regard for those of us running the track. But, the few times I had to slow for traffic, I welcomed the rest. I kept ticking the laps off in my head and when I had one left, my legs knew it. They gave a pretty strong effort for that last go around. When I pulled out my phone to check my mileage, a huge smile broke out on my face. "10.0" the screen read. I stopped then and there and walked one more circle around. It was the first time running double digits for me since October and I was pretty darn proud of myself. One of the "marathoners" was stretching on the side when I went over to retrieve my coat and boots. He said "how far did you go?" I said "10 miles...I'm training for my first marathon". He said "Wow, I can't last more than about 5 in here, nice job". We then chatted about marathons for a bit, he had done Grandma's a few times and told me I'd be great. And you know what, after 48 circles of that track on a chilly Sunday morning, I gotta say I believe him!
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