Marathon Training Recap Week 16 and some other thoughts

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Marathon Training, Marine Corps Marathon, Random Thoughts, Run Eat Tweet AZ, Running, Taper October 13, 2014

It seems like I’ve taken this taper thing a liiiittle too seriously lol!

Yeah, I’ve done nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. But last week’s 20 miler had been iffy because my husband was out of town. He’s actually still out of town. I had planned on squeezing in my workouts after work and before daycare pick-up (it’s like a 2 hour window) but I ended up swamped with end of quarter grading that I never left work early to run. I know I could have put the grading aside, but I figured the more I got done then, the less I’d have to bring home to grade during Fall Break. Which I’m on now! YAY!!!

So this solo-parenting has left me absolutely exhausted. After my 20 miler last Saturday, I didn’t do anything the rest of the week 😦

My mom flew in on Thursday night and I was able to run on Saturday.

I was really looking forward to this because one of my local running groups #RunEatTweetAZ was putting on a fun run for charity, collecting old shoes and raising money/awareness for pediatric cancer.

These 10 miles were tough. I hadn’t run all week so I’m blaming tired, rusty legs (but really, I’ve kinda felt my legs heavy throughout my entire training 😦 ) Anyway, I got it done and was very happy 🙂 Can’t you tell?? Lol!!

That was pretty much it. This morning I went for an easy, quick 2 miler on the treadmill while my mom did some elliptical. We chatted the entire time and it was fun to have a mom/daughter workout–we hadn’t had one of those in years!!

Total mileage (Sun-Mon)=12

Soda count=I’ve been averaging about 1 a day 🙂

And the other thoughts…

Yesterday, quite a few running friends online and in real life ran the Chicago Marathon. It was so freaking inspiring reading and seeing their race pics and stories. It was seriously the boost I needed going in to Marine Corps. I must have stayed up til like 10 (that’s late for me!) on Instagram and Facebook just catching up. I read about people getting PRs, others having not so great races, and others simply happy with the experience. What I couldn’t get enough of was just the happiness that runners exhibit post race. It’s like we’re in so much pain but we’re happy?! It’s so insanely awesome!

I read about one girl who struggled with cramping but fought through to finish with an amazing time and another girl who struggled with cramping and had to reevaluate her goal. I love reading about others’ experience; I feel like I learn so much from them.

I feel like I’ve battled some motivation issues with this training–I blame the heat–and I feel like while I’m so freaking excited about running Marine Corps, I’m more excited about the experience and not so much about tackling a PR. I mean, I hope I get a PR, but really, I’m going in to this race so totally about the race itself. I’ve never been to D.C.; I’m so excited about that. My dad was a Marine; I’m so excited to run a race with meaning. And, I have a passion for American history. This race is completely about enjoying the experience.

I think having that mindset all through training is what has kept me from freaking out about paces and goal times. Sometimes that’s not what it’s all about.

I hope you guys have a great week! How’s the running going?? Who ran/raced this weekend!?

Marathon Training Recap Week 14 and Esprit de She 10k

Posted by hellyontherun in 10k, Race, Running and tagged with 10K, Esprit de She, Long Run, Marathon Training, Race Recap, Running, Taper October 7, 2014

Taper, taper, bo baper, fee fi, fo faper…taaaaaper!!!!!

I’m in good spirits and let me tell you why…

I DID MY 20 MILER THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!

Remember, I cried about how I wasn’t going to be able to and that I was worried I’d have to do it 2 weeks out? Crisis averted.

So my husband’s away on business and I’ve been solo-parenting. This was why I wasn’t going to be able to squeeze it in. But, my mother-in-law pulled through and spent the weekend with us, thus allowing me to long run on Sunday. Yay!!!

And it wasn’t just about being able to do it, I was able to do it and be happy with the results. SUPER yay!!!

Yes, please direct your eyes to the last four miles. I finished so strong and that made me so freaking happy.

I started off with a slower pace than usual but I didn’t mind as I really wanted to last the entire way. The beginning pace was around the 10:45/mile range. That was about the first 7 miles.

Mile 10 I pulled a 10:10 from out of nowhere and then miles 13 on, my pace was steady around 10:30. Right where I wanted.

And I don’t know what the heck happened the last four miles lol! I might’ve wanted the run to be over with jajaja!!

So that was my long run 😀

The previous Thursday I ran the Esprit de She 10k. I had been looking forward to this race because it’s an all women’s race known for it’s awesome post-race festivities. But, because my husband was out of town, I wasn’t going to be able to partake in them 😦 It really did look like a lot of fun too as they had chili for post race yumminess and a bubbly bar (where you’d get a free wine cup/glass)!

Anyway, the race was a double 5k loop (boo!!!) on pavement with a brief stint on grass (boo!!!). It was also a short course with my watch stopping at 5.79 (boo!!!)

It was also a horribly run race on my part (super boo!!!)

One of the things I’ve been working on throughout this training are consistent splits and I’d been doing really good at getting them how I’d like, even sometimes negative splitting.

But holy shit, did I royally eff this one up.

First thing I did wrong? Thinking I could keep up with a girl in my run club. She’s someone who I’ve always “shadowed”, someone who is juuuust faster than me, enough that I can somewhat keep up with extra effort. (Although lately she’s been killing her training and is become almost impossible to shadow.)

Yeeeeah, so she pretty much blew me away.

The first mile beeped 7:3o-something and I was done after that. Talk about a perfect way of burning out.

My goal had been to maintain an 8:30 pace then entire way and hope to finish strong. What the hell was I thinking starting out so fast? I wasn’t thinking. Clearly.

I was able to hit 8:30 the next two miles but then the second 5k was just an inconsistent hot mess.

You ~~live~~ run and you learn.

On a super cool bright note, this was my high school BRF’s first 10k and she pulled out a 4th place overall finish! Badass status!

Prior to Thursday, I had run on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 miles respectively

which brought my total mileage for last week (Monday-Sunday) to: 35.8

Soda count: I lost count 😦

–Anyone else excited it’s Oc-freaking-tober??!!

–How’s your running going? Who’s got fall races?

–P.S. Salt‘s back! ❤

Happy Blogiversary To Meeee!!!

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with 20 miler, Blogversary, Long Run, Marathon Training, Running October 1, 2014

WOW. I seriously cannot believe it’s been year! Talk about time flying!

September 30th last year I wrote a post letting the blog world know I was newbie. 🙂

It’s really all Salt‘s fault. We were chatting one day and she’d been blogging for a while (non-running related) and we both thought about how much we love talking about running–our conversations were mostly always about that. So then we thought about starting a blog. I was apprehensive, being completely new to blogging and having absolutely zero knowledge about what it entailed. But, Salt eased any fears and helped me get the party started. And here I am, still writing one year later!

I want to THANK YOU for following my journey. I still think no one reads what I write lol!!

Here’s of some of my fave posts ❤

Running Home

Who Inspires Me

My Sub 2 Hour 1/2 Marathon Recap

Random Things I Love

Crossing the Grand Canyon.. Twice

Anyway, I haven’t recapped last week’s training so….

Last Monday, I went for a treadmill run to shake off the previous Saturday’s awful long and I was back with my running club on Tuesday for another 5 mile run.

I had to work really hard for both of those runs but I felt like I needed to because my spirits were low from my failed long run a couple of days earlier.

Speed work was Wednesday and I made myself puuush:

The workout was 2×800, 1×1600, and 2×800. It was actually somewhat fun as the high school marching band was practicing the entire time. Made for a great distraction 🙂

Thursdays are supposed to be cross training days and I’ve been REEEALLLY bad about getting it done. So yeah, I didn’t do anything 😦

Friday, rest day.

Okay, so Saturday is where my dilemma begins:

I’m unable to to do my big 20 miler this weekend (3 weeks out and what’s on my training schedule) so I asked my coach if I should attempt it 4 weeks out or 2. Two worries me because I would’t have a lot of taper time and 4 worried me because it seemed, to me, a lot of time.

But I went with 4 weeks.

I set my alarm for 4 a.m. to be out in the streets by 4:30. But at around 1 in the morning, thunder, lightning and rain woke me up. There was no way I was going out in that alone if it continued. So I decided to start an hour later, at 5:30 when the rest of my run club started. I figured at least I wouldn’t be alone for most of my run even though it might get warm later on.

I pulled up to the parking lot, got off, and put my water pack on. Except I’d forgotten my phone! Ugh!!! I didn’t want to be out for 3+ hours without any means to contact my husband in case of an emergency.

So I decided to run 10 and then 10 later that evening. Of course this made me super anxious and I could feel the stress affecting me as I ran.

When I got home, my husband met me with more stressful news. My daughter had a high temperature. The rest of the day was spent making her as comfortable as possible and trying to reduce the fever. By the time evening came, I was so exhausted. It was still raining outside so running outdoors was not an option. I sludged my way to the gym and 5 miles into my treadmill, I ended up calling it quits. A big DNF.

Needless to say, this potentially not getting in a 20 miler has me really freaking out. I’m left with doing it 2 weeks before the marathon or not at all. (My longest run this training is 16 miles)

What would you do?

Total miles for the week: 28.11
Soda count: 1 can, 2 20oz