Sometimes I wonder what the heck I am "Du"ing!

Marathon Training Week 15 Recap

I started writing this recap on Monday and I walked away from it for a work meeting, now all of a sudden it's Wednesday! If this is any indication of how fast my summer is going to fly by, I might was well not even pack away my hats and mittens (which, by the way, I've had to wear the last two mornings on my walks with the dog!) Anyway, here's the low down on a pretty exciting training week!

Monday my anti-yoga demons reared their ugly heads as usual and I decided to skip my lunch-time class. I was planning on doing all my PT exercises after I got home, so I made myself promise that I would incorporate some yoga at the end. I am starting to feel much stronger with my PT now, and can get through the exercises pretty quickly, however, today the kids wanted to do them with me...it was actually pretty entertaining watching them try to do Monster Walks with the therapy bands, and their acrobatic antics on the one-legged box jumps were comedy gold! What wasn't so cute was trying to relax in my yoga poses with Logan trying to climb on me and Kayley making tooting noises the whole time. But we got it done, I should probably plan on doing these at work next week!

Tuesday I had a 4 miler on the plan and took off at lunch time for my regular route to the Stone Arch bridge and back. It was a little chilly out, so I had a light jacket and capris. I warmed up quickly, but I didn't want to stop, so the jacket stayed on. I took the run out pretty fast and figured I'd lose a ton of steam on the way back, but I managed to hold my pace and felt really great the whole time. I did a little foam rolling when I got back to campus since my hamstrings have been feeling tight...I tend to forget how awesome foam rolling is until I do it, I MUST remember to keep this up....however, considering that I can barely remember my name these days, I'll shoot for remembering next week.

Wednesday was a little less hectic at work, so I was excited to get my 9-miler in. It was so beautiful out, mid-60's with full sun.  I went for an out and back on East River Parkway, the route that my run sucked so hard on two weeks ago...I figured it was time to give it another go. I rocketed out of campus, and was surprised to hear the pace of my first mile, 8:34! I slowed down, relaxed my shoulders and reminded myself I had 8 more miles to go. There were a ton of people out on the trail today, so I got to share a lot of smiles and nods. There was an older gentleman who must have been doing some interval work because he kept flying by me and then a few steps past, he would stop and walk and I'd fly* by him. We did this for a mile or so until I apparently passed him for good...he shouted "keep it up runner" to me and I didn't see him again. I took a quick potty and energy gel break at the start of mile seven. I hated stopping with only two miles to go, but my bladder was not going to make it back to campus. I felt renewed after that though and ended the run strong and fast.

*fly=amble slightly faster than his walking pace

Thursday the weather was the pits. After such a gloriously awesome day on Wednesday, this was a real disappointment. I had a super busy day planned too...meetings in the morning and our staff appreciation event in the afternoon. I was supposed to run 5, but the rain and time constraints just weren't going to let that happen so I got on the spin bike for a quick 10 miles. I considered this a good alternative since I was planning on attempting a duathlon on Sunday! Friday was swim day and I did 2000 yards at the Y during Kayley's swim practice. My shoulder is still feeling a little tweaky...I hate the thought of putting another thing on my PT's plate, but I might need to consider talking to her about it soon. I did a 500 warm up, then 5 x 100 on 1:45, 4 x 100 on 1:40, 3 x 100 on 1:35, 2 x 100 on 1:30 (this was basically a 200 straight ;), and then a 100 cool down. I finished just in time to see Kayley do her first successful dive from the starting block...she was super excited!

Saturday I woke up at 5:00, all set to attempt my longest run to date, 18 miles. I had what I felt like was a pretty solid plan for getting this done. I was meeting the Maple Grove MRTT group at Elm Creek park reserve for 4 loops of the inner trail (4.5 miles each). Now, before you get all "loops suck" on me, hear me out. I had planned to get there at 6:15 and get one loop in solo before the rest of the group showed up at 7:00. Then, I would run two loops with the group to keep me company, and finally finish with another single loop by myself (which was perfect since I could then cry and walk and curse myself without bothering anyone else). When I mentioned on the group page that I was going to do a loop at 6:00, another mother, Andrea, offered to meet me since she had to leave earlier than the rest of the group. Perfect...three loops with running buddies, one on my own, this was going to be a piece of cake! I arrived right at 6 and met Andrea. We hadn't discussed pace in our messages, but I knew she was around a 9-minute miler. I asked if she was good going at a 10-minute pace, and of course she was. It was a little chilly when we started the loop but the humidity creeped up fast. We made easy conversation and I didn't pay much attention to our pace. Much to my surprise (and horror) we ran the first loop holding a 9:40 pace. Yikes...I had 13.5 miles left to go...my legs were gonna be toast! The upside was it was only 6:45, so we had a nice break waiting on the rest of the group to show up. Once they got there we quickly figured out we had two distinct groups, one that wanted to run 9-10 miles at about a 9:30 pace, and one that was going to run/walk a loop or two. I knew I couldn't do two more loops that fast, so I started thinking I was going to be running three loops solo. Thankfully one of the other women, Sherry, said she wanted to run at a 10-minute pace, but she was only going to do one loop. Fine by me...my original plan was to do two loops by myself anyway, so away we went. I felt really strong on this loop and Sherry and I seemed natural running buddies. She has three very active kids, so we had no lack of conversation material. We finished that loop holding just over 10-mile miles. I took a bathroom break and said good bye, then set off for my final two loops feeling confident that I was going to finish strong.

Now, given my directional ineptitude, I probably should have been paying more attention to the route of the loops on the first two go-arounds, but really, how hard is it to figure out how to run in a loop? Apparently for me, it's impossible. There is one part of the "inner" loop at Elm Creek where you have to cross over the main road. Well, I missed it and ignorantly plodded along for a half mile before I started thinking I was not on the right path. Did I really miss the cross-over? No, I couldn't have...so I kept going. Once I had run a full mile, I started seeing totally unfamiliar scenery on the trail and I realized I was most definitely not in Kansas anymore.  Crap! I had 8 miles left to go and I was going in the wrong direction! I thought for a second about turning around and just heading back, but I figured if I missed the cross over going in the direction I was used to going, there was no way I was going to find it going in the opposite direction. So, I plugged on. I did some mental math (also not one of my strong suits) and figured I just needed to run in a straight line until Strava-lady said I had done 13.5 miles, then I would turn around and go back. Of course, this meant the trail had to continue in a straight line, which of course it didn't. Thankfully, it came to a "T" so all I had to remember was to turn left on my way back (if I had hit a "Y" or god-forbid a three way split I would have been doomed!) Around mile 12 I really started to feel the effects of my speedy start to the day and decided to walk up the pretty significant hill I encountered. I took some energy gel and sipped some water and ran through to mile 13.5, my turn around point. I stopped and stretched a bit and was feeling pretty good. I started up and enjoyed the downhill I had just climbed and got back to the"T" in the trail, thankfully I remembered to turn left, and saw the sign that indicated 2.5 miles to the Chalet, where my car seats were waiting for my tired ass to sit in them! I'm not gonna lie, this last 2.5 miles was BRUTAL! I had nearly nothing left in my tank. My legs were shaky, my water was almost gone, and I was sure that I was never going to catch up to the woman with a giant stroller and two dogs walking ahead of me. When I finally did pass her at mile 16 I gave the kiddos a little wave and told myself "this is it, every step from now on is a PDR!". I took one more quick walk break right before mile 17 and then put my head down and plowed through the last hill to the chalet. As I was rounding on the parking lot, I was waiting for Strava-lady to say "Distance: 18-miles", and man it seemed to take foever. When I finally heard it I said "thank god" and stopped immediately.  I headed to the bathroom and thought for a second my legs were not going to function enough to allow me to actually sit on the toilet. Then, once I sat down, I was sure they were not going to stand me back up. But they did. I got back to my car and slammed down the water in the bottle I had stowed. I was so glad to be done, and was pretty darn proud of myself. I called my friend Jill to share my glory with her...she's an Ironman and has given me some invaluable support along the way...she did not disappoint with her kudos for my run. We chatted my whole drive home until I finally had to say good bye and get myself some breakfast!

*In case you are wondering "Strava-lady" is the voice on my mileage app, she can make for good company when I like what she's telling me.

The MRTT support system is awesome! That's me in the yellow, Sherry, my second loop partner in the coral shirt, and Andrea my speed-demon first loop buddy in the pink arm warmers!

I woke up Sunday with a conundrum. I was signed up to do the Esprit de She Duathlon in Lakeville with my BRF Brandi and some other friends. I signed up for this race before I signed up for the marathon, so it didn't dawn on me until a couple weeks ago that the race was going to take place the day after an 18-mile training run. I had advice on both sides of the coin, "don't do it" and "do it, but take it easy", I really didn't know which way to turn. I woke up on Sunday and my legs felt surprisingly good. So, since I'm super stinking competitive (and I really like free t-shirts) I decided to go for it. The weather was less than ideal, drizzly rain and nasty winds. I figured if there was ever going to be a test of my mental toughness, this was it. Lakeville is about a 45-minute drive from my house and the race started at 7:00am...which meant I had to get up at 4:30 to get ready to leave the house by 5:15 so I would have enough time to pick up my packet and get my transition area set up. However, Logan apparently had other plans, as he decided to wet the bed at 3:30 and got me up to change his sheets. I told him to just get in bed with Dad since there was no way I was going to risk going back to sleep at this point. I stripped his bed and started going about my morning routine. Since I had extra time, I took the dog for a walk...he was in heaven...a walk at 4:30 in the morning! He better not get used to that! I had everything ready to go by 4:45 and figured I'd leave a little early and not be so rushed with set up. Of course, that's when Logan decided he was going to get back up and want breakfast. I finally convinced him to go back to sleep and got out of the house at 5:15, just like I had planned ;) The drizzle kept up my whole drive, but thankfully it seemed that we weren't going to get hit with a thunderstorm like some predictions indicated. I waited in the way-too-long line for packet pick up (note to self, try to get to Lakeville for early packet pick up next year). I found Brandi right before the transition area was going to close and we got things set up. She headed for the start line and I headed for the porta-potty line, which was thankfully short. What wasn't short however, was the walk to the start line. I figured out why they wanted to close down transition 30 minutes before the race, because it took almost that long to walk to the start area. I found the corral for the 40-44 age group, but snuck into the 35-39 wave so I could start with my younger, more talented friends. The race started with a moment of silence for Penny Verdeck, the triathlete and mother of two who was killed a few weeks ago when she was struck by a car during a training ride. We all teared up thinking about her, but were hopeful when her family was introduced, they there to cheer us on in her honor. I think everyone in that start corral was inspired to run that race to the best of their abilities since Penny was not here to race with us. The first run was pretty easy, winding through a neighborhood, up a couple small hills and back to the transition area. I had no idea of my pace as I had forgot to start my watch. I had covered my helmet and bike shoes with my rain jacket to try to keep them dry, so my transition time was not the fastest, but I didn't care, I was taking this race "easy" right?!? The bike ride was no picnic. Lots of hills and a nasty side wind that kept threatening to blow me off the road. I was happy for the break from pounding the pavement it gave me though, and I ended up finishing the 10.9 miles at about a 14.5 mph pace, not too shabby. I again took my time in transition, sucking down some Nuun but skipping my energy gel. I headed out for the final 2 miles feeling tired, but determined. As I turned the corner into the finish shoot I could see Brandi standing at the finish line cheering her lungs out for me. "You ran 18 miles yesterday, you are AWESOME!!!" I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face...exhausted, but feeling pretty darn badass!

32.9 miles  with those legs in two days, not too bad!

When I finally had a chance to check my results, I found out my first two run miles were in 18:52, a 9:35 pace and my second two miles were in 17:52, a 9:05 pace. So much for taking it easy! I found Brandi and the rest of our group and we headed to the finishers celebration where I scarfed down way too many mini muffins and two glasses of mimosa. The weather may have sucked, but all in all, I was so glad I decided to do the race. Hanging out with these women is so fun and inspiring....I only wish I could have them all by my side on June 20th, cheering me on with shouts of "You just ran a MARATHON, you are AWESOME!!!". But I'll settle for knowing they are there with me in spirit!