Week 11 Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Marathon, Running and tagged with Busybody, Long Run, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon January 26, 2015

It’s the 5 week countdown!

Last week was pretty productive considering I’d run a speedy 1/2 marathon on Sunday.

Monday, I went out for an easy 3 miler (9:39) to shake the legs off from the previous day’s race.

I met up with my run club on Tuesday and got in the 5 miler I had scheduled (9:22). My husband ran as well and we enjoyed this beautiful sunset

Photo: ABC 15’s Facebook page

Wednesday we were supposed to continue our Yasso’s at the track but the high school had a soccer game. I ended up doing 3 negative split miles around a local park: 9:34, 9:14, 8:44

Thursday and Friday I foam rolled, stretched, and rested. It’d been 4 days straight of running and I wanted to make sure all was well for…..

Saturday‘s 20 miler!!

My plan had been to run part of the 20 on the actual course but–I was in a car accident on Friday. I’m okay; it was just a fender bender (and my kids weren’t in the car, thankfully!) but I was pretty shaken up and not at all comfortable being away from home so early in the morning. My car (barely 2 months old 😦 ) got some rear end damage…

So, I hit the good ‘ol canals nearby and met up with a friend, who was also doing twenty, at 5 o’crazy clock in the morning.

I loved that my buddy is pretty much the same pace as me so it was a stress free run. I struggle running with people faster than me because 1. I don’t like feeling like I’m slowing them down and 2. I don’t like pushing myself unnecessarily trying to keep up.

There was none of that on Saturday as my buddy Jen and I cruised along stopping for a quick Gu break every 5 miles (and a bathroom break at mile 17). We knew we wanted to take it easy and not over exert ourselves on this long run–no need for speed here.

For the most part, we stayed within our desired pace of 9:45-10:00 with the occasional over 10 minuters that didn’t bother us at all.

We talked and laughed and sometimes ran silently and it was just an overall peaceful run. I really could not believe that I could honestly enjoy 20 miles, but I did!

We were feeling so good that at the end we felt we could pick it up a bit and our last mile, mile 20, clocked in at 9:18!

I experienced 0 cramps (a first for me in a run of that distance) and overall felt pretty good. I mean, I didn’t feel like I could go do another twenty, but if it’d been race day, I certainly felt I could have gone another 6.2. I was just really happy that I ran it conservatively, comfortably, and that I finished feeling like I still had something left in the tank.

20 miler 1 of 2: DONE!

The rest of the day was actually a busy one. My daughter had soccer

My sassy soccer player ❤

and it was 2 weeks in a row of Anna and Elsa!

Me and 3 princesses (again)

It was Frozen/snow day at my kids’ school on Saturday–Unfortunately, my son was napping and missed out on the fun 😦 but, he did get a haircut when he woke up! 🙂

My lil handsome stud

Overall, a busy and productive week!

Total Miles: 31.04 When I uploaded my runs to GarminConnect, I saw that I had reached 100 miles! This totally shocked me as I hadn’t been trying nor has it felt like a 100 mile month.

There’s still a week left!

Water Intake: D-

Eeeek 😦

How was your running week? Do you track your monthly miles?

Have you been doing better than me at hydrating?

Who was the last character/famous person you had your picture taken with?

Marathon Training Recap Week 13

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Running and tagged with Inspiration, Marathon Training, Running, Struggles September 22, 2014

I’m on that roller coaster again.

It’s like I have a good week and then a bad week and then a worse week then an okay week then…

Ugh, last week was bad. I was coming off a great week and hoping that it would carry over. But, it didn’t.

I’m blaming no one but myself. I haven’t been following my plan as closely as I should. Even though I know that leniency is okay and life prevents you from following a schedule to a tee, there should still be some consistency. And there hasn’t been with this training. Totally. My. Fault.

I didn’t start my week until Wednesday at the track. Coming off a 3 days of nothingness, I didn’t have high expectations but still fared pretty well.

The next day, Thursday, I joined my run club for an Adventure Run at our local RoadRunner Sports shop. It was way harder than it should’ve been…

That beer stayed full. I couldn’t even drink it.

And then the Worst Run of Marathon Training Award goes to…… Saturday!!!

It was absolutely awful. My legs felt so heavy and I was just tired.

To be honest with you, that’s how I’ve felt this entire training. Tired. I think I severely underestimated the commitment it takes training for a marathon, being a mom, and working full time. Holy shit, I’m tired.

This run sucked even more because a girl from my run club is pacing a race soon and wanted to maintain a 9:30ish/mile for 13.1. I told her I’d be her guinea and I completely effed things up for her. I felt so bad and she of course was super nice and told me that we all have those days. I honestly was surprised I had even offered because I usually don’t like running long runs with others. I’m always so worried I’m messing up their pace and that anxiety messes up mine and it’s just overall bad news bears. Why I had offered to be her running buddy, I don’t know, but I feel horrible that I ruined her training run.

Anyway, while I was running/slogging, I told her that I was hoping the reason I was doing so bad was because my extra energy was being sent to my sister who was running HER FIRST MARATHON that very morning.

I’ve written about my sister before and how inspirational she is to me; she is the reason I run in the first place.

About 10 years ago, her running career took an abrupt break though, when we were in a pretty terrible car accident, one that left her with little feeling in the left side of her body due to three broken vertebrae.

Yet, after months of therapy she regained enough strength to walk again and months after that, run! She’ll never be able to be the runner she was before but she doesn’t let that stop her from doing what she loves.

She finished her marathon on Saturday in 4 hours and 58 minutes! Killing her goal of finishing under 5! When I got off the phone with her, any woe-is-me feelings about my run that morning vanished. I was so freaking happy for my sister–all that mattered was that she had accomplished a life long goal and accomplished it like a total badass.

That was my week and here’s hoping 14 is my lucky number! One more month for MCM!

ETA:
Total mileage–19.22
Soda count–2 Big Gulps, 2 cans

–How was your running last week? Did you race this weekend?

–Do you have someone that inspires you?

Marathon training week 5 in the books

Posted by hellyontherun in Family, Running and tagged with Long Run, Marathon Training, Running July 28, 2014

Another week of training done. It’s been a hectic past couple of weeks as my kids both started daycare and the transition has been tough. Funny because the tough part isn’t them not liking it; they actually love it! The school director told me how surprised she was at how well they’ve adapted–In my head I’m thinking, “Yeah, they were probably bored hanging out with me all day.”

The tough part has really been more trying to get them ready in the morning. And the other tough part are the sicknesses. I’ve had to re-schedule or miss a few runs to stay home with them but luckily it’s still early in the training and because I haven’t really had an off season, I’m comfortable in my abilities so far to miss a run here and there.

I was able to get out there a few times last week though:

Monday I took my new shoes for a ride on the treadmill–

Tuesday I did a 4 mile furnace run with my run club; excessive heat warning be damned..

Wednesday was track day but I was home with my sick little one 😦 This was his actual birthday too, poor guy. We decided to celebrate anyway though with a ONE pizza 🙂

Thursday was a cross training day but I was still home with my son. When my husband came home from work, I was so exhausted I couldn’t muster up the energy to go to the gym. I made myself feel better about it by doing an abs video at home.

Fridays are typically rest days but I was desperate need of a run. It had been a pretty stressful week with my sick kids, party planning, and just life–I knew a run would be a great pick me upper. And it totally was.

I tried out a new treadmill (not by choice. My treadmill was taken lol) and it had a cool techy screen that I couldn’t really figure out. Sometimes I like the older models of things because I feel they’re simpler to use. I’m also just not tech savvy at all Anyway, I decided to mix things up and do some treadhills. Before I knew it, I had 5 miles in the bag. I was a sweaty mess and it. felt. great. 🙂

My son’s birthday party was on Saturday but it was also long run day so I woke up at crazy o’clock and headed out for my scheduled 10 miler. I wasn’t sure how it would go since my husband and I had been up til midnight party preparing. I didn’t feel like a complete zombie so I was hopeful things would go well.

It went amazing.

My buddy The Running Schlub was there again and he was kind enough to keep me company the first 4 miles. We were running at a really good pace for me, slow and steady, and the whole time we chatted–mostly about basketball, so I was pretty much having a blast.

He was going 8 so at mile four, he turned around. I kept going and convinced myself to pick up the pace a little and try and negative split the second half of my run.

success!

I still can’t believe how well that run went! I felt so good at the end and even my cool down mile was faster than my start. I totally felt like I could have kept on going.

I definitely think the slow start helped me not burn out. While I don’t want to always have a 4 mile warm up, I do hope to continue to stay disciplined and start my runs with a legit warm-up. ~~Sometimes~~ Often, I get overzealous and start out too fast. With shorter runs I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, but with long runs, I need all the conserving of energy as possible.

After my run, we got the house party ready! My little guy was feeling much better and did so great with all the people. He really is a chill dude so I wasn’t surprised that he handled everything with ease.

Big sister helping blow out the candle

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Birthday cake!!! I thought he’d dig in and go at it but he was very well mannered 🙂

Overall, a good running week with a great long run. Monday-Sunday total mileage: 25.02 miles

This is my last week of freedom before I return to work. The calm before the storm………

How was your weekend?

Are you a chocolate cake fan?