Whoa lateness! Week 10 marathon training recap

The day off this past Monday through me for a loop! Anywhoo, here’s last week’s numbers:

I took off last Monday since I had done my re-scheduled long (short) run the day before.

But I was back at it with my run club on Tuesday going for 5. This run felt so good! I started off at a good warm up pace, not going out too fast. I kept it easy the whole way through and at the end, felt like I could’ve kept going or gone faster. It’s funny because this pace seemed like such a struggle in previous runs and today felt so comfortable.

I skipped the track on Wednesday and caught up on grading. This English teacher business is no joke.

Thursday, I headed out for a run in the ‘hood and got in a ~~great~~ amazing 6. I wanted to push myself and whoa nelly! My splits: 9:41, 9:34, 9:18, 9:21, 9:19, 8:07

Yes, that last mile was AWESOME. I wanted to channel my inner Kristina and finish with a fast mile. It did wonders for my confidence 🙂

Friday=REST.

Saturday, I woke up even earlier than usual (4 a.m. anyone?) since I knew I was going long. I had 14 on my agenda.

Several of my run club friends were going at this earlier start time and I joined up with them. Like a newb, I forgot my head lamp so I stayed with two that had lamps to help me not fall over myself.

We kept a nice and steady pace and before I knew it, we were 5 miles in.

At this point, we had gone back to the start to meet up with those who running at the usual start time.

After a quick pit stop, we were back at it and this time I joined some other friends for the next 9. Again, a steady pace that felt oh-so-good. I have no idea what was becoming of me but again, I felt like I could’ve kept going or done the run faster (I’m glad I didn’t do the latter though as I didn’t want to ruin what had been an awsome run).

Isn’t it funny how running plays with us emotionally?? It reduces me to tears, anger, and frustration one week to complete euphoria the next. Oh running, how I love thee.

And Sunday was a rest day 🙂

Total miles Mon-Sun: 25

How was your past running week?

Ever been on the emotional running train?

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?

Marathon Training Recap Week 9

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Goals, Long Run, Marathon Training, Personal Record, Running January 13, 2014

It’s crazy that I’m well into my marathon training and that it’s getting closer! Interestingly, I’m not nervous about it at all! Maybe that will change as it gets even closer.

This past week was absolutely great training wise. My body feels strong and my legs feel good. Here’s a recap on what the last week looked like:

Sunday, January 5th: This was a cross training day after my 12 mile run the day before. I logged in 10 miles on the bike. I’ve been finding that this is a great recovery workout for my long runs. I also iced and foam rolled as I was just a little sore from my long run.

Monday, January 6th: Rest day (but I still did some ab work at home)

Tuesday, January 7th: Usually, this is when I do a treadmill run but my run club meets in the evenings and my husband got home early enough for me to make it out with them. I was glad!! I did a 10k wanting to run it at my goal 1/2 marathon pace. And I did it!

Wednesday, January 8th: This was speed day at the track. I really wanted to continue challenging myself so I pushed myself this workout. There are members of my run club of various abilities and there’s one girl in particular that I’ve always admired for being speedy. She was near me when I started and I found myself next to her throughout most of the speed work drill! I decided that I’d try and stay as close to her as I could and really give myself a workout. The results were awesome!!

Thursday, January 9th: Another cross training day. I logged in 12 miles on the bike and also did some hip and glute work at the gym.

Friday, January 10th: This was a rest day and I milked it. After three days of hard work, I wanted to give myself a good rest day for my anticipated LONGEST RUN OF MY LIFE the following day.

Saturday, January 11th: THE LONGEST RUN OF MY LIFE. I had a plan of going out at 30-45 seconds over my goal marathon pace of 10:00/mile. I always like to stick with people with lights (it’s really dark out when we start) and the runners closest to me were planning on sticking to a 9-10 minute pace. Eeek! I figured I stick it out until the sun started to rise.

Well, 6 miles in I figured I might as well continue. The pace felt good, the conversation was interesting, and I was getting myself in a zone.

At 10 miles I started to feel a little fatigued. I had fueled at the 6 mile mark and decided I’d sneak in another little something. It was at this point we met up with some other girls. They were keeping a 9-9:30 pace and were going 20 miles. What?!?

But I was more than halfway done and figured I’d just keep going to where it would be time for me to turn around. I kept up with them and at 12 miles turned around to run the 3 miles back to my gym. As soon as I left them, I knew I’d slow down. I didn’t want to given that I had maintained a good pace the whole way, but it felt natural to slow down a bit so I did. As I reached mile 14, I saw I was close to finishing under 2:30 so I picked up my pace so I can finish at an even 2:30. It required me to go faster than any other mile I had run, but I like finishing strong and still had some energy left somewhere in me to be able to do it lol.

And then I was done… whew….

I was thrilled that I was able to run this length at my goal marathon pace and not feel like absolute death after. I mean, don’t get me wrong, my legs were complete jelly at the end, but I somehow expected to feel way worse having run for 2+ hours straight. I think this is the training part that has really helped my endurance. I still made sure to ice as soon as I got home and eat something–yes, I was very much looking forward to that! I also stretched and my husband was kind enough to give me a massage later in the evening.

This was such an awesome running week. I’m so happy with how everything has been going and I’m SO happy my legs feel good.

This next week I’ll be doing a mini taper for my 1/2 on Sunday. I have quite a few jitters that I hope to release in a post later this week 🙂

How was your running week last week? Are you training for something?