Marathon Training Recap Week 13

I’m on that roller coaster again.

It’s like I have a good week and then a bad week and then a worse week then an okay week then…

Ugh, last week was bad. I was coming off a great week and hoping that it would carry over. But, it didn’t.

I’m blaming no one but myself. I haven’t been following my plan as closely as I should. Even though I know that leniency is okay and life prevents you from following a schedule to a tee, there should still be some consistency. And there hasn’t been with this training. Totally. My. Fault.

I didn’t start my week until Wednesday at the track. Coming off a 3 days of nothingness, I didn’t have high expectations but still fared pretty well.

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The next day, Thursday, I joined my run club for an Adventure Run at our local RoadRunner Sports shop. It was way harder than it should’ve been…

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That beer stayed full. I couldn’t even drink it.

And then the Worst Run of Marathon Training Award goes to…… Saturday!!!

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It was absolutely awful. My legs felt so heavy and I was just tired.

To be honest with you, that’s how I’ve felt this entire training. Tired. I think I severely underestimated the commitment it takes training for a marathon, being a mom, and working full time. Holy shit, I’m tired.

This run sucked even more because a girl from my run club is pacing a race soon and wanted to maintain a 9:30ish/mile for 13.1. I told her I’d be her guinea and I completely effed things up for her. I felt so bad and she of course was super nice and told me that we all have those days. I honestly was surprised I had even offered because I usually don’t like running long runs with others. I’m always so worried I’m messing up their pace and that anxiety messes up mine and it’s just overall bad news bears. Why I had offered to be her running buddy, I don’t know, but I feel horrible that I ruined her training run.

Anyway, while I was running/slogging, I told her that I was hoping the reason I was doing so bad was because my extra energy was being sent to my sister who was running HER FIRST MARATHON that very morning.

I’ve written about my sister before and how inspirational she is to me; she is the reason I run in the first place.

About 10 years ago, her running career took an abrupt break though, when we were in a pretty terrible car accident, one that left her with little feeling in the left side of her body due to three broken vertebrae.

Yet, after months of therapy she regained enough strength to walk again and months after that, run! She’ll never be able to be the runner she was before but she doesn’t let that stop her from doing what she loves.

She finished her marathon on Saturday in 4 hours and 58 minutes! Killing her goal of finishing under 5! When I got off the phone with her, any woe-is-me feelings about my run that morning vanished. I was so freaking happy for my sister–all that mattered was that she had accomplished a life long goal and accomplished it like a total badass.

That was my week and here’s hoping 14 is my lucky number! One more month for MCM!

ETA:
Total mileage–19.22
Soda count–2 Big Gulps, 2 cans

–How was your running last week? Did you race this weekend?

–Do you have someone that inspires you?

Marathon Training Recap Weeks 11 &12

I missed my training recap of Week 11 somewhat not coincidentally.

It was a bad week.

Monday, September 1, I spent our Labor Day out on the trails for almost 9 miles of awesomeness.

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Then I didn’t run the rest of the week.

😦

It was just one of those weeks where life happened, excuses happened, anything that could/would deter me from running happened….

By Saturday, the guilt had creeped in and I got myself on the treadmill for 10.

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and I totally deserved pizza after 10 treadmill miles

Total mileage for the week: 18.8

Week 12

I was determined to have a better week and I felt like I did.

Monday, I got on the treadmill and ran a 5k x2 benefitting a virtual run a #RunEatTweetAZ buddy had organized. She was helping raise money for her friend who is battling cancer. I decided to run my 5k and run a 5k for my IRun4 little guy for a 6.2

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I was back with my run club on Tuesday and one of my running buddies pushed me to negative split and finish with a fast mile.

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Speed work on Wednesday and I was feeling the heat and running consecutive days. I still managed negative splits and a last fast mile though

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Thursday and Friday I took rest. (I’m supposed to cross train on Thursdays….yeah….)

Saturday I had 16 miles on my agenda. I hadn’t really long runned in a while and was starting to feel super anxiety. I needed to long run.

I woke up at insane o’clock in the morning and got ‘er done.

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My Olson response to anyone asking if I’m a morning person…

Surprisingly, I felt relatively good. I did start to feel my body begin to crumble towards the end of the run though and I had a flashback to my first marathon where I hit the wall at that exact mileage. I know that’s a mental roadblock I need to learn to get through.

Sunday rest.

Total mileage: 30.2

Much better.

Soda count: 3 (<—woo hoo!)

–How was your running week?

–At what mileage do you start to feel your body crumble?

 

100 Days of No Soda–DONE!

Today is the day is the day! I’ve finally completed my 100 Days of Summer Challenge–No Soda!

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Did I celebrate by drinking a Coke? Well….

I did take a sip lol!

I honestly didn’t wake up with an urge to consume 6 cans of Coca Cola. While I was going through this challenge, I’ve had a lot time to reflect on what I’ve learned.

I am a lot stronger than I think.

When I would shock friends by declining a Coke, they were always impressed by how serious I was taking the challenge. Self-discipline is something that I continuously struggle with but one thing I gained during this challenge is the knowledge that I am in control of what I put in my body. I know that I could have cheated or “treated” myself to a drink, a sip, a can, whatever but each time I made the decision to not to.

I make the decisions.

When things are 100% up to me, I feel like I have the responsibility to make the best decisions. I will have no one to blame, no one that I can say put me up to it.

It kinda makes me feel powerful.

One of the reasons I wanted to do this (and many people asked me why I was doing it) was that I was genuinely curious to see if I could do it. I knew myself. I knew that I succumbed to excuses very easily and this would be something legit challenging.

To me, going 100 days is such an accomplishment. I chose a number I knew would be difficult. A month, I could’ve done no sweat. But I knew I wouldn’t feel/see a significant difference. One hundred days makes me feel like a badass. Each day, saying no became so much easier. I remember going to a Pizza Hut Express and ordering a pan pizza and breadsticks and the server telling me that it was only 30 cents more to upgrade to a meal and get a soft drink. I told him, “Nope! All good!”

I’ve changed.

I definitely feel like my confidence has soared because of this challenge but the biggest thing is that my overall perspective on drinking soda has changed. Not only have I become more comfortable declining something I once felt I needed, I truly feel like I don’t anymore. That’s not to say I’ll never, ever drink it again. I know that’s just not realistic. But, I do feel like I’m more conscious of when I really want it. With a meal I feel goes great with a soda? Sure! Just because it’s there and I want something to drink? No.

My body has changed.

The summer weather hasn’t really let me see how the challenge has helped me with running but I think being able to maintain decent paces (for me) despite the heat is a definite win. I know that I would have been dehydrated drinking soda through summer trying to train for a marathon. The extra water intake has been a huge factor in me staying healthy and hitting my targets.

I absolutely feel like it’s prepared me for the upcoming fall season. That I set up my body the best that I could for the races to come.

I’m not going to lie. I was really curious to see how/if my body would change.

It has.

The scale says I lost 7 pounds. I went down a pant size. I’m the thinnest I’ve ever been. But, even then, the biggest difference is just overall health. I don’t feel as sluggish or tired or weighted down. When I once felt that soda gave me energy, I feel like I’ve had more without it. While there were days where I’ve felt like a soda would give me an extra boost, I would remind myself that the challenge was mental. Could I think of other ways of getting that extra energy?

People notice.

It kinda became contagious. When I would decline soda from friends and ask for water instead, it wasn’t rare that they would change their minds and put their own soda away.

At restaurants, I would always order water (with no lemon!) and my husband would follow suit. Then whoever we were with would go with water too. This wasn’t always the case, but we saw it happen more often than not.

My husband was completely on board with the challenge and went the 100 days with me. The person we felt noticed the most was our daughter. Because we drank a ton of water, she would often ask us for it herself. Lauren has always been a fan of water and preferred it more than anything–she must be the only toddler who doesn’t like apple juice!–but I think seeing mommy and daddy constantly drinking water really contributed to her love of it. We smile every time she finishes her sippy and says, “All done agua!” Or when she says, “Mas agua!” (more water!)

I know that she will continue to be an influence in me keeping my soda intake to a minimum.

Overall, I feel like the challenge was worth it. I know that I can hold myself accountable for something, that I can stick to a goal if I set my mind to it, that I can do things that are difficult.

What I’m excited for the most is not so much that I can drink soda now but the fact that I’m just so much more aware. I’ve seen how my mind and body has changed and it makes me feel like I don’t want to ruin the hard work I’ve put in. That is what I think will keep me from going back to my regular drinking habits. I know that I will drink a can or two here and there, but I can confidently say that my days of drinking 6 a day are gone.

I will keep you posted. Thank you for sharing this challenging journey with me ❤

helly

–What is a health related accomplishment that you’re proud of?

–Think you could go 100 days doing something or doing without something? What?