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?

Week 9 Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Running, Uncategorized and tagged with Hydrating, Long Run, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, RnR Arizona, Running, Sick, Soccer Mom January 12, 2015

What goes up, must come down….

After 3 consecutive weeks of awesome training, I was bound for a dud week. And week 9 was it.

I started coming down with a massive head cold/sinus infection at the start of the week that I attributed to the stress of returning back to work after two amazing weeks off.

Monday was all about getting my lesson plans together and grading, grading, grading. Semester grades were due the next day and I had all the intentions of grading over break but….yeah……

On Tuesday I was intent on running and went out with my running club for 5 miles. I ran with a friend who is on a mission to BQ at the Phoenix Marathon and she had me RUNning. I don’t like going all out on every run as I feel like there’s no real purpose to doing that, but it was nice to challenge myself.

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I met my water goal that day 🙂

On Wednesday I was debating about going to the track for a speed workout but was not feeling good at all from my headache/sinus so I ran with my husband instead–and that always makes me feel good 🙂

He had sent me a link to the shirt in the pic below earlier that day and it made me giggle

Thursday and Friday I was at the peak of my sickness and couldn’t muster the energy to run. I did do some planks, wall sits, squats, and other leg stuff at home as well as foam roll and stretch so I wasn’t entirely unproductive.

It was a scale back long run for me on Saturday as I had run 14, 14, and 16 the three previous Saturdays and the RnR Arizona 1/2 Marathon was awaiting me next weekend. I had 12 on my calendar and one of my BRFs from high school would be joining me. She’s super fast (another friend who wants to BQ–I’m surrounded by them! lol) but she wanted it to be a slow, easy run. Well, that’s exactly what she got because as soon as I started, I knew it was going to be a tough one.

I’m not sure if it was just the weeks of hard training, me being sick, or me running with my hydration pack (I hadn’t at all in this training til then), but the entire run was just a big slug fest. My legs felt so heavy and it was just hard.

But, I finished and was so very happy to be done. I was still able to end with a decent pace too which pleased me.

As soon as I was done, I had to scramble back home because……it was my daughter’s FIRST SOCCER PRACTICE. I officially became a soccer mom on Saturday 😀

Her first gooooooal!!!!

It was lower mileage week for me but that was okay. I felt I needed the rest. In fact, Sunday was my worst day. My headaches were so bad, I was actually bedridden the entire day 😦 Hoping to feel better for RnR Arizona next Sunday–a race I’m not planning to set any records on but would still like to run decently.

It was also a tough water week. I’m happy to report that I haven’t given up, but I’m just realistic in that this is something hard for that will require some sacrificing. I think what makes it tough is that I like drinking soda for lunch and that eventually turns in to lunch and the next three hours. I end up having to drink tons later to make up for it or just throw in the towel for the day. Here was my week:

I think I might’ve missed an entry on Saturday. I know I drank water during my run and during my daughter’s soccer practice so I think that should be at least 32oz. (Or maybe I’m trying to convince myself of that?) And Sunday, yeah…

How was everybody’s week? Who long ran? Who’s drinking water?

Anyone else have a race coming up?

Marathon Training Recap Continued (Week 7)

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Cold Weather, Holidays, Long Run, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running December 29, 2014

Hello, hello!!! It’s been a while–the holidays are always a crazy time and it’s been even more crazy because my family from Ohio came to visit me! 😀 It’s been so much fun having them here since I rarely get to see them.

But I’ve still been running.

In fact, this past week was my first full week of vacay from work and you better believe I took full advantage 🙂

On Monday I got in 6 miles on the treadmill. I actually don’t mind treadmill running but for some reason, this was a tough run. I think it was because it had been a loooong time since I done miles on the ‘mill.

On Tuesday I was back outside and ran 5 much better, easier miles. It was one of those feel good runs that leave you feeling happy. I love those runs ❤

Cuz I’m happy!!! (now you’ll have that song in your head all day) 🙂

Christmas Eve I felt the need to run so while I should have maybe rested, I went out and met up with Santa

Santa is my homeboy

I took Christmas Day off and hung out with my kids. We grilled outside (LOVE my Arizona weather) and just had a very relaxing day.

The next day ,Friday, is my usual rest day so I chilled out with my family again. In the evening, I foam rolled and stretched in anticipation of the next day’s 14 miles scheduled long run. It was to be a veerrry cold morning according to the reports.

And it was…..

I met up with my run club in full layers at 5 in the morning. A half dozen brave souls wanted to start out early and then come back and meet up with the 6 o’clock crew. The plan was to do 6 miles the first hours, and then do 8 with the rest of the group.

The first six were great, uneventful, just how I like it. After we picked up the second team, Harry, a buddy of mine, kept me company as my other mates had shorter runs that morning. Harry came super prepared for the cold as evident by his fashion gear lol!

Harry and me

It was just a little chilly (yeah…..)

I was very happy with my average pace and my splits were really consistent. It was, despite the cold, freezing temperature, a very, very good long run. The previous Saturday I had also run 14 miles and my times were almost identical. Love it!

14 miler: Part I

For a grand weekly total of: 29 miles! This has been one of my highest mileage weeks in a while–I’ve definitely been utilizing my vacation 🙂 I can’t believe I’m already at the halfway point of training! Less than 8 weeks til Phoenix Marathon!

How was your holiday running week?

Anyone doing a New Year’s run? (I am!)

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year! I’ll be back in 2015 ❤