Tag Archives: BQ Dreams

Week 6–St. George Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with , , ,

Whew!! It was good to unload/whine/complain but now it’s time to move on. Thank you all so much for your support and comments the last week ❤

Monday, July 10th–7 miles: 2 mile WU, 4 miles @7:40, 1 mile CD

I met up with another BQ training buddy (I have quite a few, lol!) for this tempo run. I was a little nervous on how this would go as it was my first run after last week’s Saturday long run debacle. But I said going in that I would just give it my best as that is always all I can do.

1-7:53
2-7:32
3-7:44
4-8:01

Not gonna lie, I was a little bummed when I saw the fourth split but then I figured my second mile fast one kinda evened it out. Whatever makes you feel better, right? Ha!

Tuesday, July 11th–3 miles easy, MYRTLES, stretching

Non-eventful 3 miler on the treadmill while watching HGTV. I did some core work and my myrtles.

Wednesday, July 12th–1.5 mile WU, 3×1 mile @7:40, 2×800 @7:00, CD

Back to the track! It was hot but honestly, you kind of get used to it. And for some reason, it’s been easier for me to run fast in the heat than to run long.

I was so happy with this run. It felt the perfect amount of hard. I was pushed for time on the cool down though and had to skidaddle home.

Thursday, July 13th–Foam roll, stretch

I had all the intentions of doing some strength work buuuut didn’t. I stretched and rolled before bed and that was pretty much it.

Friday, July 14th–5+ easy miles @9:20 avg.

It was nice to meet up with some of my Moms Run This Town ladies for this run. We chatted the whole way and ended with almost 5 and a half miles 🙂

❤

Saturday, July 15th–16 miles @9:30 avg.

4 a.m. start time #zzz

Yes, you read that start time correctly, LOL!!!

Soooo much better than last week. I was a little irritated at first because I realized a mile in that I forgot to start my watch. I had to tell myself to not let that throw off my run as I still had a long ways to go. But then I stopped it when we met up with some other friends and didn’t start it AGAIN!! At that point I just said screw it and told my friend Ashely to send me her stats.

The pace from this run and last week’s wasn’t too far off but I *felt* way better and to me that’s more important. I even finished this one with a fast mile (around 8:40ish) whereas last week I was slogging through the finish.

Celebratory post-run mimosas!

Sunday, July 16th–Glorious Rest

___________________________

Overall, it was a much better week spirit-wise. I know I chose a fall race which means summer training, I know trying to BQ is hard and not meant to be easy, but I felt like complaining for a little bit–which I feel like I rarely do. It’s okay (right?) to just want to be a baby about some things and then get over it, LOL. I’m over it, and I know I’ll encounter some rough patches again along the way, but I’ll be fine. It wouldn’t be fun if it were easy 🙂

Total miles: 37

–How do you emotionally purge? I usually exercise it away but I think because running was the source, I felt the need to cry instead, lol!

Why I Hired A Coach

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with , , , ,

I’ve always been an active person. For as long as I can remember, I was running, playing basketball, throwing a football–doing something. In that aspect, I’m a natural athlete.

BUT, I’ve never been really good at any one sport. I could do most pretty well, but excelling? Yeah, no.

There were times when I wished I was the star, the go-to one on the team, and I think maybe I did have it in me to be that person. But I knew I was the reason I wasn’t.

Self-doubt is a killer.

Basketball was my sport in high school. I was a gym rat and lived and breathed basketball. I went to every open gym and practiced my shot, and I had a very good shot (still do 😉 ). You’d think I was the star of the team.

But, when it came to game time, I would always choke. I would get so nervous that I would often pass instead of shooting.

When I started running a couple of years ago, I knew that I wasn’t the best/fastest runner out there, but I also knew that like with basketball, I could get better if I practiced. I’ve seen myself become faster as time has passed and my confidence has grown.

Yet, with qualifying for Boston being “the big game,” I’m nervous I’ll choke. Again.

I knew I needed help if I wanted to qualify for Boston. Not so much because of the time needed, but because of the belief needed to achieve it. For me, qualifying for Boston isn’t so much about running the actual race, but believing I can actually get there.

My coach is Susan Loken and her coaching tag line is Believe Train Become. When I was recommended to her and saw it on her website, I fell in love with it, and with her, instantly.

“The first step in achieving any goal is to believe – believe in your purpose, your potential, and your ability to succeed. That is the basis of BTB Coaching.”

I have trouble with believing– believing in my potential, my ability. I wanted a coach who could of course help me get faster, but I also wanted a coach who could help me see that I CAN DO IT.

Hanson’s Marathon Method certainly helped me make a breakthrough, and I considered using the plan to train for St. George and my BQ. But the confidence I had going in to NYC Marathon and the confidence I had post, wasn’t enough to make me feel like I could do it on my own.

I wanted a coach who would challenge me, not by giving me a prescribed pace, but to ask me, “What. Can. You. Do?” Because I have a tendency to sell myself short.

Before the DBacks Race Against Cancer 5k, I asked coach how I should run the race.

5k Race
Run Race by feel
-Mile 1 at 85% effort
-Mile 2 at 90% effort
-Mile 3 as fast as you can go

But, but, what pace?!? What does Run Race by Feel mean?!?!

You know what? Had she told me to run XX pace, that’s what I would’ve done. And I probably would’ve never tried for a sub 7 minute mile (and I wasn’t really trying, I was just running as fast as I freaking could because that’s what she said to do in mile 3, LOL).

This morning’s track workout was a doozy. It was a Ladder Workout, different to the ones I’ve done before (by distance: 400, 800, 1200, etc). This was by time…and by effort. Again, I wanted to know WHAT PACE I SHOULD RUN. But coach didn’t want me to worry about my watch, she wanted me to start at half marathon pace for 5 minutes, and try and go faster on each interval.

FINE

The picture below was the second set–5 minutes/30 seconds RI (Rest Interval), 4 minutes (30 sec RI), etc.

For SIX MINUTES I ran under a 7 minute pace and for ONE FULL MINUTE, under 6!!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could run this fast. That is the gosh darn truth.

But it’s not so much about the times, it’s about how I didn’t hold myself back. It’s these baby steps I know will help me face St. George head on–without fear.

It’s early on in the training, but I know that having a coach look after me, helping me tackle paces I’ve never done (and safely), while also helping me *believe*, will get me that BQ ticket–and something even more along the way ❤

–Have you worked with a coach before? How was your experience?

–Do you tend to hold yourself back? How/what do you do to negate self-doubt?