Marathon Training Weeks Six & Seven Recap
Work has been insanely busy lately which has left me with little time to think about recapping a relatively routine couple weeks of training. I guess the fact that I've managed to keep up with my plan given I've been at work 12 hours a day for pretty much the last three weeks straight should count for something, so here's the quick and dirty!
Week six started with a cold. I felt it coming on and was pounding Zicam like candy to try to stave it off. It hit me hardest on Monday when I decided the only thing that was going to be running that day was my nose. I felt better by that evening, but decided the extra day of rest was the best thing for me. Tuesday was an incredible day. 66-degrees with full sunshine. I left work early and did my run from home. I have a great six mile loop on the trails around our house, I felt really strong and fast. Wednesday was TRX day, but also a super busy work day, so I had to cut class a little short. I am starting to believe my TRX trainer is psychic though and knew I was going to leave early because she planned burpees FIRST THING, apparently the universe is determined to make me like those damn things!
Thursday I was back to running in short sleeves. It was a little windy out, but still nice and warm. I had tempo intervals on tap. Did a warm up mile at 9:30, then a tempo mile at 8:40, recovery mile at 9:20, another tempo mile at 8:30, and then a cool down mile at 9:30. I felt awesome holding those paces, but in retrospect, may have been partly to blame for the mental block that happened this past Saturday, more on that later in the recap. Friday was supposed to be swim day, but it was also the start of our big weekend event, and the day just got away from me, no really good excuses, I just didn't make it in the pool. On Saturday, I had 13 miles on tap, and it was a gorgeous day for it. Third run of the week in short sleeves and I was excited to try out my new Balega socks. I started out fast, as usual, but got into a good pace by mile 2. I took some energy gel at mile 4 (Clif Shot Gel-Strawberry) and that's when Strava decided to stop talking to me, so I was "running blind" when it came to knowing where my turn around point was. I ran what I thought was a little past were I turned around on my 12 mile last week, and checked my phone. 6.9 miles...I shrugged and decided, well, guess I'm running 14 today. I fueled again at mile 8 and still felt strong. At mile 10 the wind picked up and I knew my pace had slowed down pretty significantly, but since Strava wasn't talking to me, I didn't really know what I was running. At mile 11 I fueled again because I was starting to fade. That carried me a little past mile 12, where I very nearly hit the wall. My legs were done, and my brain wasn't far behind. I encountered the hill that marks one mile to my office and started repeating "kill this hill, kill this hill". I told myself I could walk when I got over it. I hit the top and kept running. I knew I only had 3/4 of a mile left, and I powered through it. I know I shouldn't be worried about my pace right now, but I wasn't happy with how I ended that run. Still, it was a PDR and I'm pretty proud nonetheless! I celebrated with a very decadent cupcake :)
Week 7 started off with a nice little "Threesy" (my new favorite running term, meaning "three easy") on the treadmill at the Y followed by push ups, planks, and lots more core work! I love core work, I need core work, I am going to commit to making Mondays "Core Days" from now on! Tuesday I had seven on the plan, but another busy day at work meant I had time for 5. I did negative split them, 2/2/1. It was a nice day on campus, much colder than last week, but the sun was shining, so no complaints from me. Wednesday: TRX DAY! Psyche...it's spring break, no TRX this week, boo! I could have gone to the "replacement class" some sort of Butt and Guts toning class, but I figured I was too disappointed that it wasn't TRX that I would probably half-ass it. So instead I hopped on the spin bike and turned out 15 miles while watching the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. If you are on Netflix and aren't watching this show, what are you waiting for?!? It is so fun that it almost made up for missing my beloved class!
Thursday I got away for a nice 6 miler. The temp was still dropping, so I broke my running hat out of storage. It wasn't bad though and I warmed up quickly. I don't have a regular 6 mile route on campus, so I improvised...not the best idea, since my new route was mostly uphill. But I embraced them and brought out my new mantra "kill this hill" several times. Friday I managed to get back into the pool, but an unscheduled meeting popped up. so I didn't have time to do the whole workout I planned. I managed 1800 yards, which isn't too shabby. 500 yard warm up, 5 x 100 yards on 1:45, 200 yard kick, 5 x 100 yards on 1:30 (super hard!) and 100 yards cool down. Felt great to get it in, my April Triathlon is going to sneak up on me really fast!
Saturday again, long run day again, 14 miles again. I had to squeeze this in during a break in our event. Which was fine, I had the time. I just didn't have the same enthusiasm for it today as I have the last few long runs. It was colder than it had been the last couple weeks, and even though I was layered up properly, I just wasn't looking forward to it. I headed out though, determined to make the best of it. I mean, I did 14 miles last week, why should it seem so daunting this week? As usual, I started out way too fast. I really try to start my runs slower, but I honestly don't know how. A runner friend suggested trying to run by Heart Rate, which I think I will try. Anyway, I felt pretty good to start. The sun was out, my legs were fine, and I felt really well hydrated. I normally would have taken some energy gel at mile 4, but I didn't feel like I needed it, so I kept going. By mile 5 I was tiring a bit, so I took my first fuel. Tried a new flavor of my favorite brand today, Huma Lemonade. Man those things taste good. This definitely gave me a boost and I held miles 6 & 7 at a nice steady pace. I rested a bit at the turn around point, stretched a little and drank some water, I was starting to feel a little stiffness in my right hamstring, but nothing too serious. I headed back and fueled again at mile 8. I was still holding around 10 minute miles, and the extra energy from the gel helped get me through mile 10. But at mile 11 the run fell apart. My hamstrings, knee and foot on my right leg started to really hurt. I am no stranger to my foot hurting, I have a massive bunion on that foot, and it usually hurts after about 6 miles, but it's manageable. However, with the tight hammie, and my knee bothering me, it just made the foot pain all the worse. Add that to the fact that my pace had dropped to 11 minutes per mile, and my mental strength was going out the window too. I don't know why I am so hung up on pace. I mean, I've only been running for a year and a half, I know that pace isn't what is important right now, yet, I can't help but obsess over it. My brain kept telling me, "you ran a half marathon last year holding 9:33 per mile, why are you bonking at 11 miles when you are running 11 minute miles?!?" I tried to ignore everything and just focus on landmarks, get to that light post and you can stop for a minute, get to that bolder and you can walk. I made it to 12 miles and that was it. I stopped, I walked, and I almost started crying (okay, maybe I actually cried a little bit). I took my last pouch of energy gel and finished off my water, resigned to the fact that I was just going to walk the last two miles back to my office. I started questioning why on earth I decided to train for a marathon, started wondering who on earth thinks this is fun? Of course, I wasn't aided by the fact that the sun had gone behind thick clouds and I was sweaty and cold and shivering. I checked my watch to see that I was walking at 2.5 miles per hour, which is slower than my cool down walks on the treadmill. I got really mad at myself. I was almost to the stop light and hill that marks 1 mile back to my office. I took a deep breath and told myself that I could walk like this to the stop light, then I was going to run the rest of the way back. I got to the light, and it immediately turned green, I guess the universe also wanted me to start running. I began with a slow hobble, and eventually got a rhythm going. I made it up the hill and was almost convinced I would need to walk after that, but I plugged on, not daring to look at my pace on my watch. I turned down the street to my office and tried, unsuccessfully, to pick up my stride a little, finally saying to myself "just finish this, however you can, just finish it". I did finish, my last mile was at 11:47. Which is a time that I would have been thrilled with a year ago. Never mind the fact that a year ago I would have never imagined running 14 miles at any pace.
So, as I begin Week 8 of this journey, my plan is to not time any of my runs. I am going to try to run slow and easy, I want to focus on feeling good, and steady and strong. I have 15 miles on tap on Saturday and I want to be able to finish that run and think, "okay, that wasn't so bad, I could probably turn out 11 more." Because in just 3 short months, I'm going to have to do that, and no one in that race is going to care if I'm running 9:30 miles or 11:30 miles, they are only going to care that I'm running.
Week six started with a cold. I felt it coming on and was pounding Zicam like candy to try to stave it off. It hit me hardest on Monday when I decided the only thing that was going to be running that day was my nose. I felt better by that evening, but decided the extra day of rest was the best thing for me. Tuesday was an incredible day. 66-degrees with full sunshine. I left work early and did my run from home. I have a great six mile loop on the trails around our house, I felt really strong and fast. Wednesday was TRX day, but also a super busy work day, so I had to cut class a little short. I am starting to believe my TRX trainer is psychic though and knew I was going to leave early because she planned burpees FIRST THING, apparently the universe is determined to make me like those damn things!
Thursday I was back to running in short sleeves. It was a little windy out, but still nice and warm. I had tempo intervals on tap. Did a warm up mile at 9:30, then a tempo mile at 8:40, recovery mile at 9:20, another tempo mile at 8:30, and then a cool down mile at 9:30. I felt awesome holding those paces, but in retrospect, may have been partly to blame for the mental block that happened this past Saturday, more on that later in the recap. Friday was supposed to be swim day, but it was also the start of our big weekend event, and the day just got away from me, no really good excuses, I just didn't make it in the pool. On Saturday, I had 13 miles on tap, and it was a gorgeous day for it. Third run of the week in short sleeves and I was excited to try out my new Balega socks. I started out fast, as usual, but got into a good pace by mile 2. I took some energy gel at mile 4 (Clif Shot Gel-Strawberry) and that's when Strava decided to stop talking to me, so I was "running blind" when it came to knowing where my turn around point was. I ran what I thought was a little past were I turned around on my 12 mile last week, and checked my phone. 6.9 miles...I shrugged and decided, well, guess I'm running 14 today. I fueled again at mile 8 and still felt strong. At mile 10 the wind picked up and I knew my pace had slowed down pretty significantly, but since Strava wasn't talking to me, I didn't really know what I was running. At mile 11 I fueled again because I was starting to fade. That carried me a little past mile 12, where I very nearly hit the wall. My legs were done, and my brain wasn't far behind. I encountered the hill that marks one mile to my office and started repeating "kill this hill, kill this hill". I told myself I could walk when I got over it. I hit the top and kept running. I knew I only had 3/4 of a mile left, and I powered through it. I know I shouldn't be worried about my pace right now, but I wasn't happy with how I ended that run. Still, it was a PDR and I'm pretty proud nonetheless! I celebrated with a very decadent cupcake :)
Week 7 started off with a nice little "Threesy" (my new favorite running term, meaning "three easy") on the treadmill at the Y followed by push ups, planks, and lots more core work! I love core work, I need core work, I am going to commit to making Mondays "Core Days" from now on! Tuesday I had seven on the plan, but another busy day at work meant I had time for 5. I did negative split them, 2/2/1. It was a nice day on campus, much colder than last week, but the sun was shining, so no complaints from me. Wednesday: TRX DAY! Psyche...it's spring break, no TRX this week, boo! I could have gone to the "replacement class" some sort of Butt and Guts toning class, but I figured I was too disappointed that it wasn't TRX that I would probably half-ass it. So instead I hopped on the spin bike and turned out 15 miles while watching the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. If you are on Netflix and aren't watching this show, what are you waiting for?!? It is so fun that it almost made up for missing my beloved class!
Thursday I got away for a nice 6 miler. The temp was still dropping, so I broke my running hat out of storage. It wasn't bad though and I warmed up quickly. I don't have a regular 6 mile route on campus, so I improvised...not the best idea, since my new route was mostly uphill. But I embraced them and brought out my new mantra "kill this hill" several times. Friday I managed to get back into the pool, but an unscheduled meeting popped up. so I didn't have time to do the whole workout I planned. I managed 1800 yards, which isn't too shabby. 500 yard warm up, 5 x 100 yards on 1:45, 200 yard kick, 5 x 100 yards on 1:30 (super hard!) and 100 yards cool down. Felt great to get it in, my April Triathlon is going to sneak up on me really fast!
Saturday again, long run day again, 14 miles again. I had to squeeze this in during a break in our event. Which was fine, I had the time. I just didn't have the same enthusiasm for it today as I have the last few long runs. It was colder than it had been the last couple weeks, and even though I was layered up properly, I just wasn't looking forward to it. I headed out though, determined to make the best of it. I mean, I did 14 miles last week, why should it seem so daunting this week? As usual, I started out way too fast. I really try to start my runs slower, but I honestly don't know how. A runner friend suggested trying to run by Heart Rate, which I think I will try. Anyway, I felt pretty good to start. The sun was out, my legs were fine, and I felt really well hydrated. I normally would have taken some energy gel at mile 4, but I didn't feel like I needed it, so I kept going. By mile 5 I was tiring a bit, so I took my first fuel. Tried a new flavor of my favorite brand today, Huma Lemonade. Man those things taste good. This definitely gave me a boost and I held miles 6 & 7 at a nice steady pace. I rested a bit at the turn around point, stretched a little and drank some water, I was starting to feel a little stiffness in my right hamstring, but nothing too serious. I headed back and fueled again at mile 8. I was still holding around 10 minute miles, and the extra energy from the gel helped get me through mile 10. But at mile 11 the run fell apart. My hamstrings, knee and foot on my right leg started to really hurt. I am no stranger to my foot hurting, I have a massive bunion on that foot, and it usually hurts after about 6 miles, but it's manageable. However, with the tight hammie, and my knee bothering me, it just made the foot pain all the worse. Add that to the fact that my pace had dropped to 11 minutes per mile, and my mental strength was going out the window too. I don't know why I am so hung up on pace. I mean, I've only been running for a year and a half, I know that pace isn't what is important right now, yet, I can't help but obsess over it. My brain kept telling me, "you ran a half marathon last year holding 9:33 per mile, why are you bonking at 11 miles when you are running 11 minute miles?!?" I tried to ignore everything and just focus on landmarks, get to that light post and you can stop for a minute, get to that bolder and you can walk. I made it to 12 miles and that was it. I stopped, I walked, and I almost started crying (okay, maybe I actually cried a little bit). I took my last pouch of energy gel and finished off my water, resigned to the fact that I was just going to walk the last two miles back to my office. I started questioning why on earth I decided to train for a marathon, started wondering who on earth thinks this is fun? Of course, I wasn't aided by the fact that the sun had gone behind thick clouds and I was sweaty and cold and shivering. I checked my watch to see that I was walking at 2.5 miles per hour, which is slower than my cool down walks on the treadmill. I got really mad at myself. I was almost to the stop light and hill that marks 1 mile back to my office. I took a deep breath and told myself that I could walk like this to the stop light, then I was going to run the rest of the way back. I got to the light, and it immediately turned green, I guess the universe also wanted me to start running. I began with a slow hobble, and eventually got a rhythm going. I made it up the hill and was almost convinced I would need to walk after that, but I plugged on, not daring to look at my pace on my watch. I turned down the street to my office and tried, unsuccessfully, to pick up my stride a little, finally saying to myself "just finish this, however you can, just finish it". I did finish, my last mile was at 11:47. Which is a time that I would have been thrilled with a year ago. Never mind the fact that a year ago I would have never imagined running 14 miles at any pace.
So, as I begin Week 8 of this journey, my plan is to not time any of my runs. I am going to try to run slow and easy, I want to focus on feeling good, and steady and strong. I have 15 miles on tap on Saturday and I want to be able to finish that run and think, "okay, that wasn't so bad, I could probably turn out 11 more." Because in just 3 short months, I'm going to have to do that, and no one in that race is going to care if I'm running 9:30 miles or 11:30 miles, they are only going to care that I'm running.
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