Tag Archives: St. George Marathon

White Flag

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

Well….you might have guessed it….

I imagined this going differently, but I guess that is life.

I’ll still be running St. George; I’ll likely still try for the BQ–but, it will be without confidence, without expectation, without hope.

The last month has been a whirlwind. My kids both started school for the first time–my daughter in Kindergarten and my son in Pre-school. I went back to work, still teaching, but at a new school in a new district. All of this in the midst of the most rigorous training I’ve ever attempted.

I couldn’t do it.

And that’s really what it boils down to. I just couldn’t make it happen.

I know that many people have kids, have jobs, have training plans and somehow find a way to fit it all in. I thought I could be one of those people.

But I’m not.

Not right now.

The last couple of weeks have found me running three times a week. Three. Each week I would tell myself that I would prioritize my runs, each week I wouldn’t.

Last year in August I ran 153 miles. This year, for a “BQ attempt”–84.

After the second week, I e-mailed my coach and told her I was throwing in my white flag. It had nothing to do with her or her workouts. I love her and I love them. I loved the challenge, seeing paces I didn’t think I could..and doing them. But because I wasn’t doing ALL of the workouts, I knew I was only setting myself up for injury.

I’m not sure anymore… what my plans are. I’ll still run St. George, but I won’t be doing CIM. I don’t know if I’ll do Phoenix. I don’t know when my next marathon will be.

What I do know… is that life goes on.

I’ve had some pretty good races in the last year. I think it’s time I took a little break.

❤

 

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!

Week 5–St. George Marathon Training: All Together Now…

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

…THIS IS HARD.

and I know it’s “supposed” to be hard. And I know that it’ll make me stronger. And I know that it will all be worth it.

But it’s still hard.

Monday, July 3rd–8 Miles; 2 mile WU, 5×1 mile @7:15 pave (1:30R), CD to complete mileage

I was still in my hometown and I needed to do this run, so another 5 a.m. run it was.

I made my husband do this with me and he heard the struggle (me swearing) on each mile. There’s no way I could’ve come close to these times without him–this shit hurt. And I didn’t hit the mark on any of the miles, but I was still pleased with how I did. Except for that one split that wasn’t even close–that has been a recurring theme in this training…a random split that’s way off, lol

SPLITS
-7:20
-7:25
-7:20
-7:37
-7:20

Tuesday, July 4th–Core strength, stretching, foam rolling

It was Independence Day and we actually traveled back home on this day so a good chunk was spent in the car. I made sure to do some core work and rolling when I got home though.

Wednesday, July 5th–6 Miles; 1.75 WU, 6-5-4-3-2-1 minutes @6:50 pace, CD

Soooo, with work looming, I’m getting myself used to evening track workouts and this was the first one of this cycle.

Not recommended.

I wasn’t expecting to hit my paces because of the heat, and except for the first and last intervals, I didn’t. (The six minuter was actually supposed to be 7:00 minute pace and I was close–the rest were supposed to be 6:50.) But nonetheless, I was really happy with this run.

Thursday, July 6th–Core strength, stretching, rolling

I haven’t gotten myself to bike/spin for cross training but I have been keeping to doing some core work at home. I’m hoping it’s sufficient enough, lol!

Friday, July 7th–6 Easy Miles at 9:17/avg

I met up with my BQ training buddy Ashely for this run. Nothing fancy (including no picture, jaja!).

Saturday, July 8th–15 Miles @9:47/avg

I did not have this. 😥

Absolutely awful.

You know how there’s moments in your training where you doubt you’ll reach your goal. That was this run for me. I just couldn’t move. Couldn’t. And to think that I would have to run 11 more miles than this at almost two minutes faster, completely crushed my spirits. There’s no way I can do it.

I know it’s hot. I know it’s supposed to be hard. I know this. But it still sucks. I looked back at my summer training last year and I nailed a 15 miler around this same time period. And actually, last summer’s running was good! This summer, while my speed work has been great, my long runs have been incredibly abysmal.

At least there was a pretty sunrise #thelittlethings

Tomorrow is another day.

And that was Week 5..sigh…..I know, I’ve been doing pretty good so far and we’re going to have those runs/weeks. But I feel like every long run this cycle has been so hard. The long run specifically.

Total mileage: 35

–When in the training do you (if ever) struggle with believing in your goal?

–Do you prefer short and fast or long and “slow” runs? I used to prefer the latter, but I’ve been doing a lot better with the shorter stuff. The long run has not felt “slow” or “easier” at all, lol!