week 10 recap

It was a great recovery week. I got all my runs in and all my mileage - I even added half a mile on Saturday's 14 mile run.

Saturday was a great day for a run - rain and all. Brooke joined me for my run and kept me company for all 14.5 miles. Had a great time catching up on everything. The rain was actually a nice distraction from the humidity, though I was drenched by the end of the run and my feet felt like they each weighed 10 lbs.

I was also able to finish another piece of furniture for the nursery this weekend. It was an end table/nightstand for next to the rocking chair. Steph helped out by painting the carved flowers on the front of the door to give it a little more girly look to it. I'll try to post photos of nursery soon. My remaining tasks are to add an overhead light and refinish a child's rocking chair. I am also helping Steph's sister and best friend with the baby shower - at least as much as they'll let me anyway :)

This week has me very busy at work and once again I will have to be flexible with my running schedule. Awaiting me at the end of the week are two things: a 5k run I almost forgot about and a 20 mile run... not sure how I am going to handle this...

halfway through...

I completed nine weeks of training so far and have nine more left. I capped off my week with my first marathon race pace run. I will admit, I was nervous about this run. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to maintain the pace I wanted, as previous runs I found to be difficult (though these were at half marathon pace and in high humidity). Yesterday morning was almost perfect -- a wonderfully cool 60 degrees and low humidity.

The plan was to run with Jason for the first ten miles and he was wanting to pick up the pace for his run, so we planned to start out right at marathon pace (8:30/mile), but we didn't get there on the first mile, which was probably good. We ran together for the first 7.5 miles, then I was out on my own. My pace was kind of all over the place, but within the range I had hoped to run - in fact some much faster than I thought I would be able to. In all honesty, I felt awesome! My overall average pace for all 15 miles was 8:35/mile... here are my splits:

1. 9:11
2. 8:44
3. 8:38
4. 8:48
5. 8:19
6. 8:39
7. 8:02
8. 8:13
9. 7:47
10. 8:02
11. 8:13
12. 8:22
13. 9:39
14. 8:53
15. 9:15

I felt great for the entire run. I wish I had run a full half mary at this point - I think I could have PR'd. I am now contemplating running a half in September (I actually have two to choose from).

Nine more weeks to go six weeks before taper... wow, lots to do between now and then...

running short

It's been awhile since I have posted anything, but I have been busy. I have been able to run, but my runs have been shorter than scheduled. This past weekends run was a scheduled 20 miler, but I only mustered up 18...

And it wasn't because I couldn't physically do it, it was that I was mentally bored. I was lucky enough to run my first 7 miles with Jason and the next 7-8 miles weren't too bad, but as I got to mile 16, it hit me that I was bored and I did all I could do to get to 18. I am not sure if it was because I ran without music or just was bored in general, but I just wanted it over with.

Then this past week I had a 14 mile run scheduled for Wednesday. I only had time to get 7 miles done in the morning and no time to run after work. I am trying to make up for this in my other runs this week, but I will still fall short on my mileage once again this week...

Luckily, this weekend's run is only 15 miles (though 12 miles are at marathon pace -- my first one), so I am actually looking forward to it.

With all that is going on, I am once again undecided if I will run the full marathon in October, or if I will fall back to the half... for now I will continue to fight for my mileage and will decided in a few weeks, just before I officially sign up (deadline before cost goes up is September 12th).

More to follow after this weekend's run... until then, Happy Running.

recovery + speed

This seemed like a weird combination in a workout, but I followed through with it. The recovery part was the easy part - I was still a little sore/tired from the 20 miler on Saturday. When it came to the 100m strides, it was a little more work, but I got through them.

I also was FINALLY able to get new shoes! I had problems last time around because I was told that Asics did not make my size in the updated version of the Gel Fortitudes... well they do, they just didn't publish that information. So here they are in an updated look - no more orange and grey:

week 7 recap

In a word - "brutal". Once again, I wasn't able to get all of my runs in, but I did get my 18 mile run completed yesterday morning - barely.

I woke up around 6am and felt tired. That was not a good sign, but I managed to get up grab a bite to eat and get ready for my run. I took my time, seeming to try to delay the inevitable. I was almost convinced that I could run on Sunday instead and to go back to bed, but I got out the door and started my run.

I decided the night before that I would try to run on as much of the marathon course as possible. I was still tired and was taking it easy on my run. It wasn't until mile 3 or 4 that I felt better. The temperature was not too bad - low 70's and the humidity didn't feel overwhelming.

I was feeling good at mile 9 and was soon approaching some hills. I sort of had a bit of a panic attack thinking about them, but I had run these hills in many of my runs, so I am not sure what that was about. I climbed them just fine and never really slowed down.

The toughest part of the run was the last three miles. It was dreadful. I was thinking about stopping and having Steph come pick me up. Then I thought I'd run to the local coffee house instead and have her meet me there so I could get an iced coffee, but if I didn't finish this run I wouldn't deserve it so then I told myself to shut up and run and finish what I started. I was feeling the mileage, but I was able to keep pushing. In fact, my pace started to pick up over the last two miles - I really wanted the run over with.

I got done and was even more tired, but also sore. My legs felt like lead. I stretched the best I could and then settled in for a nice soothing ice bath. Afterwards, I grabbed some lunch and then took an hour nap. I felt a little better. So 36 miles for the week - short of even my modified training schedule (Pfitz had it scheduled for 50 miles). I am convinced that I will not be able to follow Pfitz completely - not with my schedule. I know there are people out there who can squeeze in their runs better than I, but so far I think I am doing pretty good.

Next week is another long week. I am going to attempt 40+ miles - 20 of which are my long run. Wish me luck...

Until then Happy Running.