Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 15

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Hanson's Marathon Method, Marathon Training, Taper, TCS NYC Marathon, Weekly Recap October 17, 2016

Taper taper bo baper, fee fie fo faper….taaaappeeer!!!!

Even though Hanson’s doesn’t have a real taper, I still have to celebrate finishing my last long run of the cycle!! 😀

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Last week, I said I wanted to focus on making my easy runs easy since I knew Week 15 was a peak week. Happy to report that I did pretty good!

Monday, October 10th–5 Easy Miles, 10:30 average pace

See that? ^^ 10:30 average pace! It wasn’t too hard running slower as I was beat. I ran in the evening and it was 95 degrees out.

Tuesday, October 11–9 miles: 1 mile WU, 3x2miles @8:35 target pace (w/800R), 1 mile CD

My goal was to not run the 2 miles sets any faster than I needed to. I’ve been doing these strength runs a lot faster than needed and I really want to..I guess not work harder than I need, lol! I programmed the workout on my watch and it would yell at me when I was going too fast. Even though I’ve gotten better about consistency with my paces, I wanted them to not be consistently fast jaja!

1st set–8:34 average
2nd set–8:27 average
3rd set–8:34 average

Yay!

Wednesday, October 12th–GLORIOUS REST DAY

This was also “Skip Starbucks” day and I’m happy to report that my overall total for The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research fundraiser is $3,200!!! 😀 To those who donated to this important cause (and I had many blogger buddies contribute)–THANK YOU!!! ❤

Thursday, October 13th–1 mile WU, 10 miles Tempo @8:45 target pace, 1 mile CD

I was very nervous about this run. It was the first (of three) of my long tempo runs and also the longest mid-week run I’ve ever done. You can tell something was up because it was a tale of two halves. The first half was too fast (like usual) and the second half was just right (where I told myself to get it together). I wish they were reverse so I could have had negative split halves but all is well. I was very happy with getting through it and still feeling good at the end.

First 5… (at mile 6 I said, “Whoa Helly!!”

…last 5

Friday, October 14th–5.5 Easy Miles @9:33 avg. pace

I know, I know…9:33 isn’t an easy pace. I headed over to the hills to meet up with some friends and honestly, I just kinda got caught up with chatting. It made me feel pretty good though, that I was talking while running up and down hills.

It was a super early run (4:00 a.m. wake up, 30 minute drive, 5:oo a.m. start) and it being the second of back-to-back early runs, I was beat when I got home. I started to feel a little tickle in my throat and just not well. I tried not to think about it too much and took some Nyquil before bed that night.

Saturday, October 15th–6.5 Easy Miles @10:32 avg pace

It was easier to run slower as I was still not feeling good. Luckily, I didn’t have to do this at crazy o’clock so I was able to get some rest. My kids had a race that morning, thankfully not too early, and I got to just wake up at our normal time.

My daughter smiled and laughed her way to 2nd place

❤

and my son finished in style jumping to the finish line

Sunday, October 16th–16 Miles at Long Run Pace, 9:30 (actual, 9:14 avg pace)

Having felt sick all weekend, I was not looking forward to this run. I slept horribly, waking up with chills (but sweating), and coughing throughout the night. I planned on starting at 5 a.m. to get 6 miles in and then meeting up to finish off 10 with a friend and my MRTT group. But, I couldn’t wake up. I just felt so tired that when my alarm went off at 4:30, I just couldn’t. I ended up starting at 5:40, getting 2 miles in, and then doing 12 with my buddy at 6 a.m.

Despite feeling horrible (I was sweating but cold), when I started running it seemed like my body/legs just knew what to do. I was hitting my paces and some (a lot) even faster but still consistent. My friend and I talked the entire way so the entire run was conversation pace; I didn’t feel like I worked for any of these miles.

I was SO happy with this run. It was the confidence booster I needed finishing of my highest mileage week ever and beginning the end of this training cycle. 🙂

Splits:

***********

And that’s a wrap on peak week! Total Mileage: 54 miles It was a tough back end but all the training leading up to allowed me to finish strong even though I wasn’t feeling 100%. I’m very happy with how this week went and even though I’m starting to really get nervous about the big day, I’m also really excited 😀

Oh, and super congrats to Katrina on smashing her marathon this weekend with a massive PR!!! You go girl!!! So freaking inspiring!!! ❤

–How do you mentally prepare yourself for race day? (As they say, the hay is in the barn and now I just have to run smart these last few weeks and believe in my training–tips on how to do that?)

–Did you race (or track anyone) this weekend?

–Do other people’s successes motivate you? It sure does for me!! I had so much fun following Katrina and seeing her Instagram celebration post!

Week 15 Phoenix Marathon Training Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Marathon, Marathon Training, Phoenix Marathon, Running, Taper February 23, 2015

This is it! I’m officially on my LAST training week of Phoenix Marathon. WOW.

Last week was a tough, tough week health wise. We were all sick and dad was out of town the entire week and this mommy was exhausted. I tried my hardest to make it all about resting and recovering for me. I’ve been soooooo sick and the taper crazies have been at an all time high as paranoia over whether I’ll get better by Saturday lingers in my head. My kids were also sick last week and either one or both of them stayed home from school the entire week. 😦

Luckily, it looks like we’re all on the mend. Fingers crossed that we all continue on the healthy train.

Okay, last Sunday and Monday I did nothing but Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate. My knee was still being funny and that along with my cough was stressing me out big time. Monday, I was off from work because of President’s Day so I was able to just hangout at home with my kids (who were also sick that day).

Tuesday, I mustered up energy to meet up with my run club for my usual 5 miler. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be considering how awful I felt. It might’ve been just what I needed to make me feel better 🙂

Wednesday I was supposed to go to track but I was just not feeling good. It had been a long night with my kids, my daughter especially, who was sick and wanted to sleep with mommy. I took a rest day and planned for a run on Thursday.

I was able to get in a pretty decent 4 miler the next day. Again, I felt good despite lack of sleep and a stuffy head.

Fridays are my usual rest days and my husband came home from his work trip 😀 I was SOOO excited for him to be home. I don’t function well without him and then on top of that, being sick made him being gone that much more tough to handle.

I managed to get a decent night’s sleep and my run the next morning, Saturday, was planned for 6 a.m. (sleeping in for me!). I met up with my run club and talked with a few friends. I was wanting to go 8 miles and most of my buddies were shooting for 6. I erred on the conservative side since I still wasn’t feeling good and oh boy, was I glad I did.

Those were tough 6 miles and they did nothing for my confidence level. My legs had the same heavy feeling they had when I ran Lost Dutchman the week before. I just felt sluggish and each mile felt like eternity. My average time definitely felt a lot worse than what it actually was: 9:33/mile.

But I got it done and I celebrated my last long run of the training cycle by heading straight to my daughter’s last soccer practice 🙂 Technically, next week is her last day but because of mommy’s marathon, we’re missing the official last day.

Goooooo team! (My daughter’s in the pink–total mommy fail for not having her in uniform lol!)

On Sunday I had big plans to go to a book signing. I’m an English teacher and I am always looking to see what authors are visiting the valley. Well a couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail notification from one of my favorite bookstores that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was doing a signing of one of his young adult books! Basketball? Books? YES!!!

I got to the bookstore early despite having been assigned a group letter (I was C and yeah, it went all the way to Z!). My buddy and got in line and then one of the bookstore people asked if I’d hold the Group Letter for my group: my first official pacer job! 😀

I'm having fun pacing, not sure about the guy behind me though lol!

I take being a pacer seriously 😀

Two hours of standing later (yeah, that def wasn’t conducive to my tapering), I finally got to meet the big guy!

Yay!

It was so awesome. If you’ve been a reader of mine for a while, then you know that I’m a pretty huge basketball buff. Getting to meet Kareem is definitely a top moment for sure!

All in all, a decent week. I’m finally feeling better and I plan on just resting as much as I can as the big day approaches. I’m trying to have the same relaxed mentality I had for Fiesta and RnRAZ when I went in without much stress and ended with great results. I think it’s harder this time because this is THEE race I’ve been training for you know?

Total Miles: 15 miles

Water Intake: B+ (I did good this week! Only missed 2 days and not by a lot!)

–How was your running week?

–What athlete would you like to get an autograph from?

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?