This week was a low mileage week, in order to rest the legs. Here's what I did...
Monday
I was supposed to run 5 miles at 13:53, but ended up only running 3 at a pace of 12:30 per mile.
Tuesday
Was a day off...yea!
Wednesday
Was an extremely long day! Had a huge event on Thursday to prep for, plus meetings all afternoon, one of which was across town. Got back to the office around 5 in time to go to the board meeting and listen to one of my students speak about her experiences at Clark. She was wonderful and I am so proud of her! I finally left work and headed to the gym around 7pm. I'll be honest I was so tired I didn't know if I was going to make the whole 5 miles I was supposed to run, but I did! All 5 miles at 13:53 pace
Thursday
Another very long day, with a major event in the morning, then meetings all afternoon. I'm not happy about it, but I decided to skip my training run that night. I know I shouldn't have, but I needed the night off to lax and recoup from the week
Friday
My normal day off
Saturday
Did 5 miles at 13:53, just like the training plan said!
No funny tales from the gym this week. I have to figure out how to post here better. It's too much to post after every run, but I feel like I miss stuff if I only post once a week. I need to find a compromise. Next week I lower my mile pace in the training plan, so that should be interesting.
Days till marathon: 233
Training runs left: 139
Total training miles: 66.25
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Gettin in the groove
Saturday was long run day and there are two exciting developments...
1) I was able to do the whole run! 10 miles at 13:53 pace, only stopping at each hour mark to let the treadmill rest and refill my water bottle. Yeah me!
2) I was able to do the whole run, in my new 5 toed socks, and I didn't have any new blisters when I finished! Wahooooo!!! My feet were a little sore, but nothing like normal after a run of that long. I think my new socks are going to work! I can't tell you how excited I am about this.
Another great thing about yesterdays long run, I was a bit sore after the run, and definitely felt tiredness in my legs, but I figured the real test would be how I felt when I woke up this morning. I was even pensive when I first woke up, figuring I would be in pain as soon as I moved, but NO! I felt like normal today, only the tiniest bit of soreness. I was shocked, but so happy that my training is working.
Tales from the gym:
-'Beats by Dre' guy is often at the gym when I am there. He is always dressed hysterically, always has his headphones on, and always on the elliptical going AS FAST as he possibly can. His face is always super intense too. This kid cracks me up. I saw him yesterday and had to stop myself from laughing out loud, it's just hilarious.
-As I settled onto the treadmill yesterday, two guys got on the elliptical about 3 or 4 machines down from me. I was just starting my workout, and didn't look over to see who they were. After a grand total of 1 min on the elliptical one of the guys started being very loud and obnoxious. Making tons of groaning, screaming noises. It was beyond obnoxious. By the way they were acting I figured they were in high school. At one point, one said "I should stop soon, I'm starting to stink. That's how you know when to stop, when you start to stink". Real workout gurus they were. Anyhoo, the loud one kept this up for about 20 min, then they decided to go to a different machine. I thought "great" because this would be my time to see what they looked like. To my shock these dudes were probably about 25 or 26. Really dudes, really???
Days till marathon: 231
Training runs left: 143
Total training miles: 49.25
Friday, February 17, 2012
Week of Feb 13-17
It's been almost a week since my last post and I though I would try writing a weeks worth of training in one post...
Monday, Feb 13th
My legs were still tired from my 9 mile run on Sunday, and my poor big toe had quite a blister on it. I was supposed to run 5 miles at a 13:53 pace but after about 1.5 miles I could feel the blister getting worse so I ended up my running 2 miles at 13:53. Not what I was hoping for, but I was trying to prevent a longer setback.
Tuesday, Feb 14th & Wednesday, Feb 15th
I was supposed to run both of these days but I took the days off to let blisters heal again. I figured if it hurt just to walk around at work it wasn't going to feel any better by trying to run on them. I also did even more research about blister prevention. I'm just still so baffled by this recent problem. All my years of playing soccer I never had this issue. Even during trainings for other half marathons I never got this many blisters. I would usually get them on race day but hardly ever during training and definitely not the kind that prevented me from doing my training runs. It's very frustrating. I hope to have a solution now though! See Friday below. :)
Thursday, Feb 16th
I thought my blisters felt good enough to go running again on Thursday, so I taped, put on vaseline, double socked, laced up and went to the gym. The whole time hoping this would be the last time I would have to do all this just to go running. I was supposed to run 4 miles at 13:53, and I almost made it. I ran 3.75 miles at a mostly 13:53 pace, after the 2nd mile I increased the speed after each lap to mix it up a bit. The toes felt pretty good and no new blisters. At this point it is just trying to get my one blister to heal. It's pretty deep so it might take a while.
Friday, Feb 17th
Normally I have Fridays off from training, but since I decided to rest my feet a couple of days this week I decided to go on Friday. I had Friday off from work, which was great! I went into Portland to exchange something at Nike, went to REI, and texted Mirranda on the way home to see if she wanted to meet up for an impromptu lunch at Lapellah. It was a great day. We had lunch, weren't rushed to get back to work, and the best part....beer in the middle of the day!!!! The real exciting part of Friday was the trip to REI though. I went there to purchase what I hope will be the solution to my blister problem. I have hit official running dork status, I bought 5 toed running socks. And ya know what...I don't even care how ridiculous they are! If they stop my blisters it will all be worth it. I read reviews about them on line and people swear by them, saying they never get blisters, even run ultramarathons and never get blisters. I am very excited about this prospect, because if this doesn't work Mirranda and I are pretty sure amputation is the only other option. I have to give full credit to Momma Dubs for the idea. During one of our talks when I was blaming her for my mutant toes she joked that I should get 5 toed socks and it occurred to me that it would be something worth trying, so thanks mom! :) If these work it will make up for the mutant toes you gave me. I was supposed to do another 4 miles at 13:53 on Friday, but with trying new socks and knowing I have a long run to do on Saturday I only ran 2 miles at 13:53. I feel ok about it though, because I want to have the legs to get my long run in. Plus one of the miles was at an incline (started at 2, finished at 5), so getting some hill training was good. I used my new 5 toed socks for the first time, and so at s good! My toe hurt a little but only because it's healing from a blister. No new blisters tonight! I'm looking forward to doing a long run in them and really being ale to see the difference! Guess we will see tomorrow when a 10 mile run is on the schedule.
Days till marathon: 233
Training runs left: 144
Total training miles: 39.25
Monday, Feb 13th
My legs were still tired from my 9 mile run on Sunday, and my poor big toe had quite a blister on it. I was supposed to run 5 miles at a 13:53 pace but after about 1.5 miles I could feel the blister getting worse so I ended up my running 2 miles at 13:53. Not what I was hoping for, but I was trying to prevent a longer setback.
Tuesday, Feb 14th & Wednesday, Feb 15th
I was supposed to run both of these days but I took the days off to let blisters heal again. I figured if it hurt just to walk around at work it wasn't going to feel any better by trying to run on them. I also did even more research about blister prevention. I'm just still so baffled by this recent problem. All my years of playing soccer I never had this issue. Even during trainings for other half marathons I never got this many blisters. I would usually get them on race day but hardly ever during training and definitely not the kind that prevented me from doing my training runs. It's very frustrating. I hope to have a solution now though! See Friday below. :)
Thursday, Feb 16th
I thought my blisters felt good enough to go running again on Thursday, so I taped, put on vaseline, double socked, laced up and went to the gym. The whole time hoping this would be the last time I would have to do all this just to go running. I was supposed to run 4 miles at 13:53, and I almost made it. I ran 3.75 miles at a mostly 13:53 pace, after the 2nd mile I increased the speed after each lap to mix it up a bit. The toes felt pretty good and no new blisters. At this point it is just trying to get my one blister to heal. It's pretty deep so it might take a while.
Friday, Feb 17th
Normally I have Fridays off from training, but since I decided to rest my feet a couple of days this week I decided to go on Friday. I had Friday off from work, which was great! I went into Portland to exchange something at Nike, went to REI, and texted Mirranda on the way home to see if she wanted to meet up for an impromptu lunch at Lapellah. It was a great day. We had lunch, weren't rushed to get back to work, and the best part....beer in the middle of the day!!!! The real exciting part of Friday was the trip to REI though. I went there to purchase what I hope will be the solution to my blister problem. I have hit official running dork status, I bought 5 toed running socks. And ya know what...I don't even care how ridiculous they are! If they stop my blisters it will all be worth it. I read reviews about them on line and people swear by them, saying they never get blisters, even run ultramarathons and never get blisters. I am very excited about this prospect, because if this doesn't work Mirranda and I are pretty sure amputation is the only other option. I have to give full credit to Momma Dubs for the idea. During one of our talks when I was blaming her for my mutant toes she joked that I should get 5 toed socks and it occurred to me that it would be something worth trying, so thanks mom! :) If these work it will make up for the mutant toes you gave me. I was supposed to do another 4 miles at 13:53 on Friday, but with trying new socks and knowing I have a long run to do on Saturday I only ran 2 miles at 13:53. I feel ok about it though, because I want to have the legs to get my long run in. Plus one of the miles was at an incline (started at 2, finished at 5), so getting some hill training was good. I used my new 5 toed socks for the first time, and so at s good! My toe hurt a little but only because it's healing from a blister. No new blisters tonight! I'm looking forward to doing a long run in them and really being ale to see the difference! Guess we will see tomorrow when a 10 mile run is on the schedule.
Days till marathon: 233
Training runs left: 144
Total training miles: 39.25
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Long run Sunday!
Today was long run day. It was the first long run I was able to do since I was resting my poor blisters last week. I was supposed to do 9 miles at a 13:53 pace, and I finished each step of it! Wahoo!!! I will admit to stopping twice. Once at the 1 hr mark because the treadmill had to reset and so I refilled my water bottle, and again at the 1.5 hour mark, I walked for about .125 of a mile. The whole run felt great! I was so happy with myself. :)
Unfortunately I did come home with another blister, this one on my big toe. I had taped it up so it wouldn't have any friction between the tape on the toe next to it, I think I might have taped it too tight not leaving any room for the swelling feet do when running. Ugh, one way or the other I'm going to figure out these damn blisters.
Usually I'll do my long runs on Saturday, but since I had yesterday off I decided to go down to the Nike Outlet. I needed some new running pants and shoes. Let me just say, deciding on which pair of shoes to get next was stressful! It took five pairs of shoes, in about 3 different sizes, and over 30 min for me to decide which ones to get. And after all that I just ended up going with the same pair I have now, just the newer version. I was so stressed and frazzled about getting the right pair of shoes that when I grabbed a second pair of running pants on the way out I grabbed the wrong size and now I need to go back and exchange them. So ridiculous.
So week 2 of training done! Looking forward to the upcoming week!
Days till marathon: 238
Training runs left: 148
Total training miles: 31.5
Unfortunately I did come home with another blister, this one on my big toe. I had taped it up so it wouldn't have any friction between the tape on the toe next to it, I think I might have taped it too tight not leaving any room for the swelling feet do when running. Ugh, one way or the other I'm going to figure out these damn blisters.
Usually I'll do my long runs on Saturday, but since I had yesterday off I decided to go down to the Nike Outlet. I needed some new running pants and shoes. Let me just say, deciding on which pair of shoes to get next was stressful! It took five pairs of shoes, in about 3 different sizes, and over 30 min for me to decide which ones to get. And after all that I just ended up going with the same pair I have now, just the newer version. I was so stressed and frazzled about getting the right pair of shoes that when I grabbed a second pair of running pants on the way out I grabbed the wrong size and now I need to go back and exchange them. So ridiculous.
So week 2 of training done! Looking forward to the upcoming week!
Days till marathon: 238
Training runs left: 148
Total training miles: 31.5
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Two weeks in!
Ah the weekend! It was a very long week that went by way too quickly. Not enough time to get everything done at work, and ended on a horrible note. I haven't been this excited for a weekend in a long time. I need it.
The good part of this past week was that I was able to get all my training runs in, and I felt good in each of them.
On Thursday a speed run was scheduled. The schedule called for 1 mile at 13:53, 1 mile at 11:15, a .5 mile jog, 1 mile at 11:15, a .5 mile jog and a final mile at 13:53. I didn't follow the schedule exactly according to plan but I did get the sped run in and to my surprise I actually felt really good while running, well for the most part. I adjusted the schedule just slightly to do 1 mile at 13:53, 1 mile at 11:30, .5 mile jog, .5 miles at 11:30, .5 mile jog, .5 miles at 11:30, 1.0 miles at 13:53, for a total of 5 miles. A small part of me wishes I would have stuck to the training the way the schedule set it up, but only a small part. In the end the run went better than I expected it to. I wasn't really sure if I would be able to do two miles at 11:30, just seemed to fast for me. I was tired and so when I was done, but it sure felt good to finish it.
Usually Fridays are my day off but since I had to move workouts back a day this week I had to go yesterday. And let me tell you, after the week I had, and the way it ended, a bourbon on the rocks sounded WAY better than going to the gym. But I dragged my butt to the gym anyway. Only had to do 4 miles at 13:53. I was dragging a bit, from the long week, from the hard run the night before, but I powered through and finished the 4 miles. There were quite a few times I wanted to stop but then I thought of all the frustration from the week and it just made me mad and I pounded the rest of the run out.
Tomorrow will be my long run for the week, 9 miles. I'm sure I will struggle a bit, probably have to walk a bit, but I'll get all the miles in. While the half marathon isn't until May, I decided to sign up for the Shamrock Run 15k, so I need all the training and mileage I can get. It will give me a good short term goal to work for, before May 20th!
Days till marathon: 239
Training runs left: 149
Total training miles: 22.5
The good part of this past week was that I was able to get all my training runs in, and I felt good in each of them.
On Thursday a speed run was scheduled. The schedule called for 1 mile at 13:53, 1 mile at 11:15, a .5 mile jog, 1 mile at 11:15, a .5 mile jog and a final mile at 13:53. I didn't follow the schedule exactly according to plan but I did get the sped run in and to my surprise I actually felt really good while running, well for the most part. I adjusted the schedule just slightly to do 1 mile at 13:53, 1 mile at 11:30, .5 mile jog, .5 miles at 11:30, .5 mile jog, .5 miles at 11:30, 1.0 miles at 13:53, for a total of 5 miles. A small part of me wishes I would have stuck to the training the way the schedule set it up, but only a small part. In the end the run went better than I expected it to. I wasn't really sure if I would be able to do two miles at 11:30, just seemed to fast for me. I was tired and so when I was done, but it sure felt good to finish it.
Usually Fridays are my day off but since I had to move workouts back a day this week I had to go yesterday. And let me tell you, after the week I had, and the way it ended, a bourbon on the rocks sounded WAY better than going to the gym. But I dragged my butt to the gym anyway. Only had to do 4 miles at 13:53. I was dragging a bit, from the long week, from the hard run the night before, but I powered through and finished the 4 miles. There were quite a few times I wanted to stop but then I thought of all the frustration from the week and it just made me mad and I pounded the rest of the run out.
Tomorrow will be my long run for the week, 9 miles. I'm sure I will struggle a bit, probably have to walk a bit, but I'll get all the miles in. While the half marathon isn't until May, I decided to sign up for the Shamrock Run 15k, so I need all the training and mileage I can get. It will give me a good short term goal to work for, before May 20th!
Days till marathon: 239
Training runs left: 149
Total training miles: 22.5
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
February 8th
On Monday I ran again after giving myself a few days off from running to allow some blisters to heal. On the schedule was a 5 mile run, and I finished it blister free! I will admit I walked twice for about a total of 1/4 of a mile, so not that bad, I'm not too upset with that.
I knew I was going to have to work pretty late on Tuesday so I pushed the weeks remaining training sessions back a day.
Tonight I was scheduled to just run 4 miles but I did it no problem! It was probably all the frustration and stress I had pent up from the week that needed to be let out with my run, but whatever it was, it was probably my best run in quite a while. Not really looking forward to the speed run that's scheduled for tomorrow, but one way or the other I will get the miles in!
Also, I see some annoying and hilarious things in the gym, and I cannot keep them to myself so I will now put them into...
Tales from the gym:
*'Beats by Dre' guy was back tonight (from a couple of posts ago), except this time he decided to double layer the tank tops instead of the t-shirts. Good move really, I mean it almost got to 50 degrees today
*something I will never understand...why do some people feel like talking on the phone is an appropriate thing to do when working out? a) to the teenager behind me today, trust me the other 10 people around you tonight did not care about your waitressing job or all the intricacies it involves, and b) if you can carry on a phone conversation you are not working out, you are merely moving faster than a walking pace. Come on people!
Days till marathon: 242
Training runs left: 151
Total training miles: 13.5 (run), 22 (bike), 1 (stairmill)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Super Sunday
Just a quick update for today...still trying to let my blister heal pretty well before making it any worse. I was supposed to do a long run today, but since it's still the first week of training I thought it would be better to have it heal up instead of risking a worse injury. Still wanting to get a good workout and cardio session in I went to the gym. Instead of running I did 40 minutes on the bike, going about 11 miles and doing a hilly course to work the legs well. After the bike I went to the stairmill and did 15 min, going a little over a mile. I can certainly feel my legs this afternoon, so even though it wasn't running I'm glad I was able to get some cardio in. I'm hoping to start running again tomorrow, Monday. Hopefully the blister will have healed up enough to not have any pain when running. It doesn't hurt to walk on it anymore, so that's a good sign :). Thinking good thoughts for tomorrows workout!
In a SuperBowl side note: I don't like to say I hate anyone, but I have some pretty strong feelings against Eli Manning. Anyone who whines like a baby for getting drafted #1 overall, pouts when he has to hold a Charger jersey up, then makes sure he gets traded to NY because that will be better pisses me off. Just be glad and happy you got drafted that high you ass. So needless to say, not happy that the Giants have won the SuperBowl...ugh, it really sucks.
Days till marathon: 245
Training runs left: 152
Total training miles: 9.5 (run), 22 (bike), 1 (stairmill)
In a SuperBowl side note: I don't like to say I hate anyone, but I have some pretty strong feelings against Eli Manning. Anyone who whines like a baby for getting drafted #1 overall, pouts when he has to hold a Charger jersey up, then makes sure he gets traded to NY because that will be better pisses me off. Just be glad and happy you got drafted that high you ass. So needless to say, not happy that the Giants have won the SuperBowl...ugh, it really sucks.
Days till marathon: 245
Training runs left: 152
Total training miles: 9.5 (run), 22 (bike), 1 (stairmill)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Small Setback, Staying Positive
These damn mutant toes! When I made my training plan, I had Wednesday off since I was going to the Blazer game. The game was great, but it was also good so I could give my one horrible pinky toe blister time to heal. On Thursday it still hurt a bit, but got better over the course of the day. That night I thought I would go to the gym and try to get my run in. I'll admit I was not looking forward to the tempo run that was planned, but I really wanted to be able to gt my run in. I got all ready, extra toe protection: moleskin, tape, etc. I was able to get 1.5 miles in and that was it. I could have pushed through for the full workout, but I could fell my toe getting worse and I didn't want to make my blister even worse than it already was. So I stopped running and biked 11 miles instead. Not quite the same intensity level as running would have gone, but at least I still got some cardio in.
It's frustrating to have an injury so early in training, especially since leading up to official training my feet were fine, ugh. So my new, blister induced plan...I took Friday off, will take Saturday off, Sunday do some biking, stair mill, maybe the elliptical to get some cardio in, then hope to run again on Monday. The good part is that it is still early enough that if I miss a few training sessions it won't be an enormous setback. It's still not the way I wanted to start, but better to have a tiny setback now, than a big one closer to race day. Let's all think good healing thoughts for the mutant toes :).
Days till marathon: 246
Training runs left: 153 (Thursday wasn't a full training, skipped Friday for healing)
Total training miles: 9.5
It's frustrating to have an injury so early in training, especially since leading up to official training my feet were fine, ugh. So my new, blister induced plan...I took Friday off, will take Saturday off, Sunday do some biking, stair mill, maybe the elliptical to get some cardio in, then hope to run again on Monday. The good part is that it is still early enough that if I miss a few training sessions it won't be an enormous setback. It's still not the way I wanted to start, but better to have a tiny setback now, than a big one closer to race day. Let's all think good healing thoughts for the mutant toes :).
Days till marathon: 246
Training runs left: 153 (Thursday wasn't a full training, skipped Friday for healing)
Total training miles: 9.5
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