Week 14 Phoenix Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon, Running and tagged with Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running, Sick, Taper, Valentine's Day February 16, 2015

This is the first time that I’ve every truly experienced the taper crazies. Before, I wasn’t so stressed as much as excited. This time, I’m a nervous wreck.

Yep, pretty much.

I mentioned last week how I’d come down with a serious head cold, well it hasn’t gone away. In fact, last week it turned into a full blown I feel like death sickness. My head hurt, I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t talk–think smoker, raspy voice. It was bad.

But I ran. Oh, by golly, I ran.

On Sunday and Monday, I took a rest day after my twenty miler the previous Saturday. Remember how I lamented about my knee? Yeah, it’s sore 😦 Ugh!!!

Tuesday I forced myself to get to my run club’s Tuesday run. They all heard my voice and asked what the hell I was doing there. I managed to get in a good 5 miles (9:05/mile), despite sounding and feeling miserable.

Wednesday I was officially on the struggle bus. I had 9 Yasso’s on the schedule and I really didn’t want to miss this day of training. So I went and it was not pretty. Last week, I was so proud of my 800s and how consistent they were; this week, not so much. They were all over the place.

At least the circles are pretty 🙂

Thursday and Friday I rested. I tried to rest as much as I could. I actually took the day off from work on Thursday to help out my situation. I was just so exhausted.

In other news, I’m looking into transferring schools closer to home. My current commute is around 40 minutes both ways and even though I absolutely love, love, LOVE, my current school, I really want to be close to my kids and husband. On Thursday I found an opening at a school I’m interested in close to where I live. I scrambled all afternoon getting everything I needed to fulfill the application. As a result, it wasn’t as a relaxing day off as I’d planned lol! But still very exciting as I’m keeping my fingers crossed everything works out.

Friday, my husband and I had our Valentine’s Day dinner. We opted to do it then instead of Saturday night because I had a race on Sunday and didn’t want to run with a full stomach from dinner ha!

Cheesecake Factory 😀

A few of my friends and I had planned to run the first 8 miles of the Phoenix Marathon course the next morning, Saturday. We wanted to get our legs ready for that initial downhill. I set my alarm for 5 a.m. and tried my best to get a good night’s sleep.

But it didn’t happen.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm and my throat on fire. There was no way I’d be able to run that morning and not make my situation worse. I texted my girlfriends that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. And then I cried.

Yes, I cried.

I got so emotional. I’ve been working so hard this training and I feel like it’s slipping away. Between being sick and now this knee hurting, I’m afraid that any chance of doing well is going out the window. I know I’m being dramatic, but it’s tough having things so out of your control. Ugh.

Later on Saturday, my husband suggested we go for a run ourselves. He knew that I really wanted to get the mileage in. So we did 6 miles around the neighborhood and I came home to a Valentine’s card and a new pair of shoes!

❤

Those six miles were tough and I was not feeling good about the race the next day. If you follow me on Insta or Facebook, then you know that those tough 6 miles were a foreshadowing of a not-so-good Sunday 10k race. I’ll be doing a full re-cap tomorrow but yeah, it wasn’t my best piece of work. By any means.

Welp, there you have it! A big struggle week but I made it through.

Total miles: 21.7 miles
Water Intake: B+ (at least something went well this week lol!)

–Do you run when you’re sick? How about if you’re reeeeally close to marathon time?

–How was your Valentine’s Day?

Week 13 Phoenix Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon, Running and tagged with Long Run, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running, Taper, Yasso 800s February 9, 2015

Yep, it’s that time!!! TAPER TIME!!!

Can’t believe it’s already here–after 13 weeks of training, I am 3 weeks away from the big day and…

and I’m not sure how I feel….excited? Yes. Scared? Yes. More scared than excited? Kinda.

Maybe nervous is better. I’ve worked so hard this training cycle. Harder than the first time I did Phoenix Marathon (I was 7 months post pregnancy so any hard core training was just not feasible with 2 under 2) and way harder than Marine Corps Marathon (my dream race with no real goal goal). This time, I’m no a mission to get a sub 4:30. So I def have a goal. My paces in my training lead me to believe that I can meet that goal but the unknown of race day is what has me nervous. I just won’t know until the day arrives. That’s hard.

Anyway, last week was a good week of running. I was suffering through a nasty head/sinus cold–I don’t know what was going on but my head and nose and throat were not happy–but I still managed to get some decent runs in.

On Monday, I stayed home and rested. I knew I wasn’t well and wanted to give myself some recovery time. But I was back at it on Tuesday meeting up with my run club buddies. One of my friends who I hadn’t seen in months was there. She doesn’t do cold very well so rarely if ever, makes it out during the winter. But with warmer temps in the Valley lately (I’m not even going to tell you about our awesome weather), she was there and ready to run. I love running with her because she. is. fast. But like achievable fast. Like the kind of fast I can do if I push myself but can’t do if I tried to do it every day kind of fast.

I’m hoping for this pace at my next race. Fingers crossed.

I used to run these paces with her last spring but hadn’t really been pushing myself lately like that in a while. I have a 10k next weekend that I’d love to run in that pace–my PR is from that race last year and I love to beat it. We shall see.

Wednesday was Yasso’s at the track. Last week I averaged a 4:10ish 800 for the 7 that I did. I was hoping to keep it more at the 4:06 I’d done two weeks prior. Wednesday night? Success.

Nailed the track workout and rode a pretty awesome runner’s high the rest of the night:

8×800–4:08, 4:06, 4:06, 4:02, 3:58, 4:02, 4:02, 3:58 (with a short recovery in between each set)

running circles under a full moon

By Thursday though, I was exhausted. My head and throat were really bothering me and I felt like the 4 miles I had planned wouldn’t be as helpful as a day’s rest. So I took the day off. Not completely though. Salt tagged me to take on Day 4 of the prAna challenge she’s been doing and attempt the following yoga pose:

flexibility is not in my bag of tricks unfortunately

There’s really not a whole lot of bending going on, but I was a good sport and shared my yoga “pose” with the world anyway lol! I took the rest of Thursday and Friday to stretch and foam roll and try and get myself healthy for the weekend.

Because Saturday I had my second and LAST 20 miler!!!

I wasn’t sure how I’d do considering I wasn’t feeling 100% and I told my husband that if I felt like I couldn’t go on or that I was doing more harm than good, I’d call him to get me. Luckily, I didn’t have to do that as the run went pretty awesomely.

My friend that I’d done the first 20 with agreed to the insane start time of 4:15 a.m. There were 4 others who’d decided to also start in the middle of the night (I swear, I love my running group. We’re all a bunch of crazies) and we all got started right away. 4 of us 6 were running similar paces (me and Jen, and 2 others) so we were in good company. The first 10 miles went by smoothly and without a hitch and before we knew it, we were halfway done! It had seriously felt like it’d flown by. And it kinda had as we’d done this 10 faster than we’d done the first 10 in the previous 20 miler.

Besides mile 10, I’m pretty proud with the consistency.

We took a potty break after mile 10 and then headed right back on. The short break had made my legs a little stiff; I could especially feel it in my left knee, but I kept trucking. I made it to mile 15 still feeling good and took a GU. With 5 miles left, I was pumped I’d been running so well. Miles 15 and 16 chimed away both at 9:17 and Jen and I looked at each other incredulously–whoa there! We regrouped and continued on. I could definitely feel my left knee but the pain wasn’t anything intolerable and I finished the 20 miler feeling really, really good with the run.

The second half was little all over the place as far as splits lol!

I was very pleased with the run and I felt good the entire way. Even running out of water at mile 18, I felt good. (I was running with my hydration pack–I don’t plan to during the race.) My knee hadn’t bothered me throughout but when I was done, oh boy. It was pretty instantaneous. As soon as I stopped, I felt my knee start to bruise and swell. It was super tender to the touch.

Once I was home, I immediately iced and that helped. I had to run (not literally, thank God) to my daughter’s soccer practice so I didn’t have much time to ice but as soon as that was over, I was back with the ice pack on the knee. I’ve been icing twice a day since Saturday and it’s already feeling better. I don’t want to psych myself out at all or let negative thoughts start to creep in. I know I’ll be fine and I know that I’m prepared for this race and I know that regardless of the outcome, I’m already super proud of my training and how far I’ve come as a runner.

Seriously

If someone had told me a couple months ago I’d run 20 miles (for the second time!) at a 9:44 average pace and still feel like I could’ve kept going……no way I’d believe them. No way.

And there you go! Three more weeks until the big day–here’s hoping the knee heals and February 28th arrives with sunshine and perfect weather 😀

Total miles: 29.02
Water intake: B I missed my water goal 3 out of 7 days but did have one super stellar day (Saturday) where I drank a zillion gallons.

–How was your running week? Did you race or have any races coming up?

–What’s your taper strategy? How do you keep from getting the “taper crazies”?

Week 12 Phoenix Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with 28 Days of Red, Fashion, February, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running February 3, 2015

And it’s 4 weeks until game time ladies and gentlemen!

Last week was a pretty relaxed week mileage wise. I had done my awesome 20 miler the week before so all my runs this week were steady Freddy.

Monday was spent still resting from that 20 miler. I foam rolled and stretched though and it felt oh, so good. I did some planking and wall sits but nothing major. Just something to make me feel like I did something lol!

I met up with my running club on Tuesday and got in a good 5 miler. I felt great after the days’ rest and ran them at what actually felt comfortable, an exact 9:00 minute average/mile.

Wednesday was track day and I remembered the last time I’d done Yasso’s I was at about a 4:06/800. So, my goal was to keep it at that pace for the 7x800s that were scheduled.

I got there a little early and did the first 800 solo. I clocked it in at 4:11. I figured I was feeling the fatigue of my cumulative mileage and didn’t let it faze me. I decided that the day would be a 4:10 800 kind of day. So, the next 6 were all +/- 3 seconds from 4:10. Yay!

We uncharacteristically had inclement weather in the Valley last week, with quite a few days of cloudiness and rain. Thursday, right after work, I went for a quick 3 and half miles before I had to pick up my kids. I ran through a few sprinkles but avoided any downpours.

Took a rest day Friday and felt like I needed it. I wish I could say that it was an ultimate rest day but my daughter was sent home from school when I was juuust about to get to work. I turned back and picked her up; she ended up being sick all weekend 😦

I woke up early on Saturday to get in my 12 mile run. The weather predicted rain and I figured the earlier I started, the more likely I’d be able to avoid the down pour? I don’t know, lol!

What I do know is that they were some tough 12 miles. Like I said earlier, my legs felt heavy and I was just feeling blah. I’ve been feeling like that lately; just blah.

Anyway, I finished which is always a good thing 🙂

The rest of Saturday and Sunday were spent at home taking care of my daughter. Thankfully, the weather had cleared up by Sunday afternoon (not before some bizarre fog though)

I wasn’t driving 😉

and we were able to watch the Superbowl with the sun shining outside.

Overall, a decent week. Nothing to write home about but good enough to make me feel like I’m trucking along. I’ve got 20 miler #2 this weekend which will mark the beginning of TAPER TIME!!

Total Mileage: 24 miles

Water Intake: Another eh. C

So I mentioned I’ve been feeling blah. Whenever I have these downer moments, I think of things that make me happy. My kids make me happy. Running makes me happy. Clothes make me happy. Yes, the last one is very seriously true. One of my running friends said she’s learned a lot about me through my blog and that she didn’t know how into fashion I was until she read one of my About Me posts. Yep, clothes make me happy.

I was thinking about this and decided to do a fun clothes related challenge for the month of February. I’m calling it 28 Days of Red. Wear a shade of red everyday for the month of February. Yes, I think things like this are fun lol! You can see all my shades of red by following me on Instagram at @hellyontherun (and join if you’d like!) Today is Day 3 🙂

Pink rose cardy

–How was your running week? Any races this month?

–Do you own many shades of red? What color could you wear for a month straight?