Well, I've been in quite a funk lately...work wise and running wise. Late February through March I just couldn't seem to get in a groove with keeping my training schedule up. Between dog-sitting, being sick and having way too much going on at work, I just couldn't get in a rhythm. Part of me is mad at myself for not following my training plan exactly, and another part of me knows that I needed a bit of the mental rest. So there is nothing I can do to change it now, just have to move on and move forward. I promise myself to be better at posting updates too. Even if no one else reads this, the point was for me to have a history of my marathon training and it doesn't do any good if I only post once a week. So even if they are short, there will be more frequent posts!
Here's an recap on my most recent runs:
March 18th: Shamrock Run, 9.3 miles
After last years miserable Shamrock Run I told myself I wouldn't sign up for it again. It was freezing, crowded, pouring rain, etc. Mirranda had said the same thing after last year, but apparently we both forgot about that and proceeded to sign up for the 15k again this year. This year it was much better! Mirranda and I went with a friend we work with, Joe and it was a really good time. The race was supposed to begin at 745 but was delayed because of an Amtrak train, they didn't want us to have to stop for it during the run. So I think we finally got started around 815. And let me just say, I HATE the start of races. Even though I always start at the back I swear the first mile is just people plowing past me, fast as hell. I know I'm slow, but that first mile of a race is torture. So the race is going along well...the at about mile 2 we had to stop for the Amtrak! After all that waiting all us slow people still had to wait. I did laugh at the guy who had to stop for the train first who turned to everyone and said "I just want you all to remember I was ahead of you" :-). Things were going well till about mile 3.5 when the hills started. Oh Terwilliger. An evil, evil person made those hills. So I walked up most of the VERY steep hills. And of course, during the hills is when we got wind, rain, sleet and a bit of snow. The good part about the hills, is that once they are done, the last 3 miles are all down hill. Downhill can be just as bad on the knees as uphill, but overall it is easier. I finished the race in 1 hour 59 min and 30 seconds. I was hoping for under 2 hours and 5 mil, so I was happy about my time. The huge shiny medal was worth it, it always is :-).
March 27
Regular training: 4 miles
March 29
Regular training: 4.25
April 1
Regular training: 10 miles
My training schedule had me scheduled to run 12 miles, but since I have been slacking I am good with the 10 miles. It was a hard 10 miles. I felt good through about 5 miles, but had a couple struggles to fight through on the last 5. It's really interesting, and I can't quite figure it out, but I run on the treadmill and when I run at 4.3 I am usually fine, no matter how long I am running for. When I go up just one notch to 4.4 I will be ok for a mile or so, then I feel really fatigued. It is literally a difference of like 20 seconds per mile...why my body thinks this is such a big difference I can't understand. Oh well, I'll keep working on it. Overall I fell good about the run today and hope I can use it to propel me back into staying on top of my training...only 2 weeks till the Corvallis Half Marathon!
Days till marathon: 189
Total training miles: 116.8 miles
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Quick Update
Long week, so not much to write about, but just a quick update on the last few training runs.
Thursday, March 8: 4.5
Saturday, March 10: 7 miles
Tuesday, March 13: 4.5 miles
Days till marathon: 203
Total training miles: 89.25
Thursday, March 8: 4.5
Saturday, March 10: 7 miles
Tuesday, March 13: 4.5 miles
Days till marathon: 203
Total training miles: 89.25
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Feeling better and back at it!
Well, I am finally starting to feel better...FINALLY! That cold really wiped me out. Today was my first day back running after feeling better. I was a bit worried about going back because, even though it was only a week, you can lose all that running endurance quick. I did my first run in over a week tonight, 3 miles, and felt pretty good. A little tired still, but I think that's just because I am not quite 100% yet. It felt good to be back at the gym running though!
I need to be focused in my runs over the next two weeks. I signed up for the Shamrock 15k and will need all the training I can get in these next two weeks. I'm not concerned at the distance much, but it's a pretty hilly course, so need to prepare for that.
Here's to finishing the rest of this weeks runs, and hopefully feeling 100% health wise too!
Days till marathon: 215
Total training miles: 73.25
I need to be focused in my runs over the next two weeks. I signed up for the Shamrock 15k and will need all the training I can get in these next two weeks. I'm not concerned at the distance much, but it's a pretty hilly course, so need to prepare for that.
Here's to finishing the rest of this weeks runs, and hopefully feeling 100% health wise too!
Days till marathon: 215
Total training miles: 73.25
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Sick Week
After my run last Sunday I could feel a little tickle in my throat and stuffiness in my nose. I knew I was getting sick but I was hoping that it would just be a quick cold, maybe a day or two. I woke up Monday morning and felt like shit. I ended up working half days on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This cold kicked the crap out of me. Very stuffy nose, then to my head, then back down to my throat, where it is finishing its stay currently.
It was really frustrating to be sick for a few different reasons:
1) I didn't have the energy to go running all week. It was all I could do to get to work a few times. I wanted to run, but I knew if I spent energy doing that it would be taking away energy I should be using to get better.
2) I was dog sitting my favorite little doggy, Gabbi, this week. I knew I was going to dog sit for about a month, so I had rearranged my training schedule to accommodate watching her, so I wouldn't have to leave her alone more than when I was at work. So to rearrange all the training and then not be able to train was frustrating.
3) I was sick for a week in October with strep throat. It took me out. Missed a whole week of work. Knowing how sick I was then, not that long ago, it just seemed silly to me to feel so out of it with just a cold. Seemed absolutely ridiculous, but it was true, this thing took every ounce of energy I had this week.
4) I'm a pretty healthy person. I hardly ever get sick. Between the strep throat and this damn cold, plus a few other sickness here and there in the past year, can't ever remember being this sick this often. I hope I've used all my sickness up for a while. That's either the case or I'm getting old, and I'm not ready to del with that so it has to be that I've gotten all my sickness in for a while.
As I told Mirranda, you can tell I felt like crap because I didn't even car how I looked at work this week. Didn't do my hair nice once. Even wore what I call my work pajamas one day (basically chino pants, t-shirt and cardigan). For those that know me, that is not an outfit I wear to work when I feel ok. :)
So the basic message of this post is that I missed a whole friggin week of training. Even today I'm not feeling great yet. Hoping that I'll be all better on Monday and can start the training again. Also hoping taking a week off won't eliminate all the hard work and training I had done before.
Days till marathon: 218
Total training miles: 70.25
Sunday, February 26
Normally I have Sundays off but I moved some trainings around this upcoming week since I am dog sitting. So I ran on Sunday. Did 4 miles at 13:42.
Total training miles: 70.25
Total training miles: 70.25
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Feb 20-25
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
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 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
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