It's official, no more practice weeks. I am training for my third AND fourth marathons. As some of you may know, This year, I am attempting two marathons 4 weeks apart from each other. I am super nervous about this, as after each of my other two marathons my recovery has been painful and long. I usually wait a few weeks before I start running 3 miles again, much less 26.2. But I am also super excited about it. One reason being that the third marathon is the Honolulu marathon in HAWAII!!! Not only do I get to run a marathon there, but I get to see my long time friend Deanna-you can check out her blog here I am so excited!
Week one was pretty uneventful overall. I was able to wake up and get all my runs done in the morning. Even the dreaded treadmill run. There was even one day when it was only 80 degrees at 5:00am. Maybe we are going to get a cold front.
Saturday was my treadmill run of the week. This was my tempo run, which I have to do on the treadmill because I just can't get the pace I need in the heat and humidity outside right now. It wasn't a bad run, and I felt pretty good at my race pace.
On Sunday I did my long run, which was only 8 miles this week. It was hot and humid for this one. Wow, what a shocker. Luckily two of my running friends joined me for the run, which is always a nice distraction. We took it slow, but got it done. And I got to get my first have to pee in the woods out of the way, which was nice. I really need to stop drinking coffee before I head out.
Here are the totals for the week
Total Distance: 24:05 Miles
Total Time: 5:03 Hours
Total Workouts: 6 (Only 1 strength training session this week)
Total Treadmill runs: 1
And the song that got me through on the treadmill this week is Tik Tok by Ke$sha. Just because it is fun.
This was the second week of my practice, or warm up to marathon training. I officially start my training tomorrow, which happens to be a cross training day. Overall I had an ok week. I had to switch some of my days around, kind of inadvertently. Monday I slept in, which is going to be my cross training day. I was going to go to spin after work, but go stuck late and wouldn't have made the class in time. Instead I went home and did some laundry and cleaning and had some wine. Kind of like cross training I guess.
Tuesday and Wednesday I ran outside. Tuesday's run was outside and I didn't really want to go, but got up and got it done. Wednesday was five miles and was easier as I met a friend to run. On Wednesday's we have been meeting at the Lifetime Fitness to run together and it is great motivation to get my butt out of bed. The worst part about it is getting all my stuff ready the night before, like clothes for work the next day ect. I have forgotten, let's say.....very important pieces to ones wardrobe for the day and it really sucks.
In my training plan I am suppose to run Tues, Wed, Thurs, off Friday, and then Sat, and Sun. Well Thursday our alarm didn't go off in time (though I think someone in the house didn't REALLY want to go to swim in the morning) so I ended up taking Thursday as my off day. We had dinner plans with friends that night, and I really wanted to keep them because I know once I am a few weeks into training that is just going to be pretty impossible to do. Well, let's just say there was some wine involved with dinner, so a Friday morning run didn't work out. However, I was determined to get it done, and we have a treadmill at work that I haven't taken advantage of yet. Well, now I know why. I ran at lunch, just a short 3 mile run. About a mile in I knew it was a bad decision. I was doing about a 9 minute mile pace and was already sweating profusely. I didn't want to stop though. It was bad. We don't have a shower at work, so I had to towel off and get back to work when I was done. The other people I work with didn't chat with me as much as they normally would on a Friday afternoon when I got back to my desk. That is something I will not being doing again unless it is a desperate situation.
On Saturday's we usually get up and meet our run club for our long run. However this weekend we weren't able to to that. There was a Spring Tri being held about an hour from us on Sunday that a few people from our Tri club were doing. And on Saturday there was a Kid's Tri that one of our friend's son was doing. So Saturday morning we headed out to watch the kids and drop off our club tent for the Sprint the next day. It was just to hot to do our run outside by the time we got home. Plus we had to get our weekend nap in. So we headed to the gym Saturday night to run on the dreaded treadmill. I had to do a 5 mile tempo run. The first two miles felt like FOREVER. However I am learning that after that two mile mark it isn't as bad. I had to focus on my music a lot to keep me distracted. Though I did watch the infomercial on the TV in front of me, and am totally convinced I now need a Ninja. This thing is totally awesome! Around mile 3 my legs were hurting as I haven't done a true tempo run in a long time. I was very tempted to slow down the pace, but knew that continuing on with the pace will only make me stronger. So at mile 4 I bumped up from 8:57 to 8:45 so I could push myself. And let's face it, so I could get of that thing faster!
Sunday I just didn't have it in me to run. We got up super early again to go cheer on our friends racing the Sprint. It was hot and humid out and that just sucked the life out me. Sometimes I really think spectating is harder than racing! So overall it was an ok week for training. Here are my final numbers:
Total Distance: 16 Miles
Total Time: 2:35
Total Workouts: 4 (Ahhh, and 50% of those were on the treadmill!)
And the song that got me through on the treadmill this week is
I plan on doing all my tempo runs on the 'mill until the temps go down a lot. I want to be consistent with those runs, and I know I won't do it in the humidity. So that being said, please share. What songs motivate you and get you moving?
Tomorrow starts the real thing! 18 weeks until Hawaii!!
Week 1 of marathon training is on the books. Actually, it is an unofficial week. I chose an 18 week plan, which officially starts August 8th, but I was getting antsy. I did week one last week, and will do it for one more week before I officially start. Plus, I figure this will get me into the training grove. And I do way better with structure. I am not a wing it kind of person. Doing this also gives me a chance to see if I want to move the plan around. I plan on following the plan, but I am not sure if I am going to keep the days the same or move them around. As of right now I am suppose to be doing cross training on Monday, run Tues, Wed, Thursday, off on Friday, a tempo run on Saturday and my long run on Sunday. Overall I like this set up. Jeff has his off days on Friday too, so we might actually get to see each other. However, right now in this heat the thought of going on a long run without a group isn’t too appealing. I changed the days around a little last week, but this week I am going to try follow them exactly and see how it goes.
Numbers for the week:
Total distance: 24.78
Total Time: 5:17
Total Workouts: 6 (I did one weight training session this week.)
Not bad for "week 1"
I did one treadmill run this week, which was suppose to be 3 miles, but I did 3.1. I just felt more accomplished that way. My outside runs sucked, mostly because of the heat. No, not even the heat, because of the humidity. Running in pea soup just isn't fun, but I now it is making me stronger. ( Hopefully one of my marathons will have cool weather, and from what I have read, that is probably going to be Houston). The other suckage was due to women's issues.............which really SUCKED, but it is what it is.
Also I want to thank everyone who weighed in on my is running 20 miles enough question. Pretty much everybody thinks it seems to be based on reading and or experience. Since I am doing 2 marathon's 4 weeks apart for the first time I am going to follow the plan I picked and have faith that it will work for for me.
Finally, when I started running I could not take a step with my IPOD. However, since the Houston marathon last year I have barely used it at all. Except on the treadmill. I still need a distraction on the treadmill. For my treadmill run this past week I thought for sure I had 3 miles in. When I looked down I had 1.57 miles. UGGGG. I am going to have to get used to at least one TM run a week though, b/c until it cools down outside I am going to have to do my tempo runs inside. So the song that got me thru this week was Foo Fighters "Best of You" Because I need to give my best this training season, and on the treadmill.
This week I am finishing my first, but unofficial week of marathon training. Recap post to come. I have decided to go with Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 program. One reason I chose this program is because it has two 20 miles runs scheduled, and this year I am attempting to run two full marathon's a month apart from each other.
Yesterday on my "long" run of the week, 9 miles, I was running with the coordinator of our run club. She also happens to be a level II USAT coach. She is not coaching us in run club, she just coordinates the runs. We started talking and my training plan came up. The short story is, she believes that running only 20 miles is not enough for marathon training and thinks I should run more. From all the reading and talking to other runners that I have done and I think 20 is enough. Less risk of injury and you aren't running your race pace, so you are out there a little longer.
But her comments did get me thinking. Should I try running more than 20 in these training runs. I have a while to go before I am faced with this, but want to be prepared when the time comes. I am hoping (knock on wood) that I am healthy for both of these races. My first marathon I had tendinitis in my right knee and it started hurting 2 miles into the race. My second one, I had bronchitis. So my goal this time is to not just finish, but to have much better times. I would like to run 4:15:00 this year, for at least one of the races. Knee year I did a 5 hour(not to mention it was Austin, which is a very hilly place to be running with and injured knee), and bronchitis year I did a 4:40.
So I am asking you guys what you have done and think? Is 20 miles enough?
Overall I think having a healthy lifestyle means having strength. Not necessarily physical strength, but the strength to stay committed to what activity you are passionate about. The strength to go to bed early, wake up early, skip social events, make the right nutrition decisions. You get the picture. And lately I have been letting my weaknesses overcome these strengths. Lately I can't seem to pass up:
Ice cream
Wine
Candy
Sleeping in
Extra snacks when I don't need them and justify that they are healthy, ie almonds.
Pizza (though it is whole wheat crust)
I had no problem passing these things up before and can't figure out what is going on!!!
I gotta get out of this rut! So what are your weaknesses? How do you overcome them?
So after my whinny post yesterday morning I am sticking with this blogging thing. Sometimes you just need to whine, right? Or maybe you just need to wine??
Anyway, on Facebook last night I posted what an amazing weekend we had. A friend asked me why it was so amazing, and I realized that we really didn't do anything special. It was just one of those weekend that flowed really well.
Saturday morning the alarm went off super early. No matter how long I have been getting up early to run that first second of hearing the alarm that early is still shocking. Anyway, we got up and went and ran. I did 6 miles and felt pretty good. I could have gone farther, but had committed to doing 6 with my friend Jenn. We followed that up with a nice little recovery swim. The cold water feels so good after the hot weather, and isn't as miserable as an ice bath. After the gym we headed to Starbucks for breakfast. If you haven't tried their reduced fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich I highly recommend them. They are a great healthy option for a quick fast food breakfast. At breakfast we ran into some friends from our Tri club who were finishing up a bike ride and chatted with them for a while. We then headed back to the house to let the dogs out and chill for a bit. Then it was off to the movie. We saw 'Horrible Bosses' which was hilarious. We laughed the entire movie. I think this will be one of those movies that we watch over and over again and keep picking up on new funny things. So go see it so we can all quote it on Twitter! After the movie we grabbed a healthy lunch at Jason's Deli (and even passed on the free ice cream, which becomes relevant later in the day) By the time we got home it was about 3:00. We settled in on the couch, each with a pug to cuddle with, to watch TDF and promptly took a 2 1/2 hour nap. It was once of those amazing naps where you feel awesome when you wake up. We had a little dinner and then decided to end the day at Coldstone, which we did not resist.
Now when we were pulling up to the Coldstone we were behind a mini-van. Most of you probably know how Jeff feels about mini vans, but if you don't you can learn here. For the record, I feel the same way about them. That is one reason Jeff and I knew we were right for each other! Anyway, as we were pulling into the parking spot, Jeff said, we have to beat that mini-van group to the line, and busted out a "this is what we train for, go, go go!" We jumped out of the car, and raced to the store, and we beat them!! It was a good thing too, because it was a family with like a dozen kids. Jeff and I high five'd each other at our "podium" and indulged. It was so good, but I know I will pay for it on the scale this week.
Sunday Jeff did some crazy 100 mile bike ride, so I actually slept in. Went to the gym, did some time on the treadmill and then hit up yoga. Came home, got some chores out of the way, and then went downtown to Rice Village to meet a friend for lunch. There is a place down there that has the best mango chicken salad that I was craving so bad. My friend works down at the Loft there, so it was perfect. The only bad thing that happened was I splurged again, and got Jeff and I a cupcake from Celebrity Cupcakes which were amazing, amazing, amazing!
So there it it. Just a nice relaxing agenda that held a lot of my favorite things. Running, funny movie, spending time with Jeff, spending time with of my BFF's my favorite salad and a nap! I hope to repeat next weekend.
Thanks for the inspiration to keep blogging. Happy Training!
I think it has been about 3 weeks, or maybe more since my last post. One reason is because I feel like I don't have the time right now. I am blocked from all social networking sites at work, so I can't fit it in there. When I get home from work there is dinner, and then honestly I just veg out on the internet doing stupid stuff before going to bed to get up early to work out. Then there is the fact that I am not training for anything right now. If this is just a blog about my work out, it would be pretty boring right now. Ran 5 miles, ran 5 miles, ran 5 miles, ran 6 miles. Not very exciting stuff. I am just trying to build my base back up for marathon training. And I don't think I can come up with any really interesting or funny posts like my blogging celebrity husband to fill in the gaps between training.
So I have been asking myself if I am going to keep blogging. I like being part of this world, and have met some awesome people. But I really feel like I don't contribute anything to this world. So I am at a crossroads if I am going to keep blogging or not. I guess like everything else, only time will tell.
