Week 13 Phoenix Marathon Training Recap

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Yep, it’s that time!!! TAPER TIME!!!

Can’t believe it’s already here–after 13 weeks of training, I am 3 weeks away from the big day and…

and I’m not sure how I feel….excited? Yes. Scared? Yes. More scared than excited? Kinda.

Maybe nervous is better. I’ve worked so hard this training cycle. Harder than the first time I did Phoenix Marathon (I was 7 months post pregnancy so any hard core training was just not feasible with 2 under 2) and way harder than Marine Corps Marathon (my dream race with no real goal goal). This time, I’m no a mission to get a sub 4:30. So I def have a goal. My paces in my training lead me to believe that I can meet that goal but the unknown of race day is what has me nervous. I just won’t know until the day arrives. That’s hard.

Anyway, last week was a good week of running. I was suffering through a nasty head/sinus cold–I don’t know what was going on but my head and nose and throat were not happy–but I still managed to get some decent runs in.

On Monday, I stayed home and rested. I knew I wasn’t well and wanted to give myself some recovery time. But I was back at it on Tuesday meeting up with my run club buddies. One of my friends who I hadn’t seen in months was there. She doesn’t do cold very well so rarely if ever, makes it out during the winter. But with warmer temps in the Valley lately (I’m not even going to tell you about our awesome weather), she was there and ready to run. I love running with her because she. is. fast. But like achievable fast. Like the kind of fast I can do if I push myself but can’t do if I tried to do it every day kind of fast.

I'm hoping for this pace at my next race. Fingers crossed.

I’m hoping for this pace at my next race. Fingers crossed.

I used to run these paces with her last spring but hadn’t really been pushing myself lately like that in a while. I have a 10k next weekend that I’d love to run in that pace–my PR is from that race last year and I love to beat it. We shall see.

Wednesday was Yasso’s at the track. Last week I averaged a 4:10ish 800 for the 7 that I did. I was hoping to keep it more at the 4:06 I’d done two weeks prior. Wednesday night? Success.

Nailed the track workout and rode a pretty awesome runner’s high the rest of the night:

8×800–4:08, 4:06, 4:06, 4:02, 3:58, 4:02, 4:02, 3:58 (with a short recovery in between each set)

running circles under a full moon

running circles under a full moon

By Thursday though, I was exhausted. My head and throat were really bothering me and I felt like the 4 miles I had planned wouldn’t be as helpful as a day’s rest. So I took the day off. Not completely though. Salt tagged me to take on Day 4 of the prAna challenge she’s been doing and attempt the following yoga pose:

flexibility is not in my bag of tricks unfortunately

flexibility is not in my bag of tricks unfortunately

There’s really not a whole lot of bending going on, but I was a good sport and shared my yoga “pose” with the world anyway lol! I took the rest of Thursday and Friday to stretch and foam roll and try and get myself healthy for the weekend.

Because Saturday I had my second and LAST 20 miler!!!

I wasn’t sure how I’d do considering I wasn’t feeling 100% and I told my husband that if I felt like I couldn’t go on or that I was doing more harm than good, I’d call him to get me. Luckily, I didn’t have to do that as the run went pretty awesomely.

My friend that I’d done the first 20 with agreed to the insane start time of 4:15 a.m. There were 4 others who’d decided to also start in the middle of the night (I swear, I love my running group. We’re all a bunch of crazies) and we all got started right away. 4 of us 6 were running similar paces (me and Jen, and 2 others) so we were in good company. The first 10 miles went by smoothly and without a hitch and before we knew it, we were halfway done! It had seriously felt like it’d flown by. And it kinda had as we’d done this 10 faster than we’d done the first 10 in the previous 20 miler.

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Besides mile 10, I’m pretty proud with the consistency.

We took a potty break after mile 10 and then headed right back on. The short break had made my legs a little stiff; I could especially feel it in my left knee, but I kept trucking. I made it to mile 15 still feeling good and took a GU. With 5 miles left, I was pumped I’d been running so well. Miles 15 and 16 chimed away both at 9:17 and Jen and I looked at each other incredulously–whoa there! We regrouped and continued on. I could definitely feel my left knee but the pain wasn’t anything intolerable and I finished the 20 miler feeling really, really good with the run.

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The second half was little all over the place as far as splits lol!

I was very pleased with the run and I felt good the entire way. Even running out of water at mile 18, I felt good. (I was running with my hydration pack–I don’t plan to during the race.) My knee hadn’t bothered me throughout but when I was done, oh boy. It was pretty instantaneous. As soon as I stopped, I felt my knee start to bruise and swell. It was super tender to the touch.

Once I was home, I immediately iced and that helped. I had to run (not literally, thank God) to my daughter’s soccer practice so I didn’t have much time to ice but as soon as that was over, I was back with the ice pack on the knee. I’ve been icing twice a day since Saturday and it’s already feeling better. I don’t want to psych myself out at all or let negative thoughts start to creep in. I know I’ll be fine and I know that I’m prepared for this race and I know that regardless of the outcome, I’m already super proud of my training and how far I’ve come as a runner.

Seriously

Seriously

If someone had told me a couple months ago I’d run 20 miles (for the second time!) at a 9:44 average pace and still feel like I could’ve kept going……no way I’d believe them. No way.

 

And there you go! Three more weeks until the big day–here’s hoping the knee heals and February 28th arrives with sunshine and perfect weather 😀

Total miles: 29.02
Water intake: B I missed my water goal 3 out of 7 days but did have one super stellar day (Saturday) where I drank a zillion gallons.

–How was your running week? Did you race or have any races coming up?

–What’s your taper strategy? How do you keep from getting the “taper crazies”?

 

Marathon Training Recap Week 16 and some other thoughts

It seems like I’ve taken this taper thing a liiiittle too seriously lol!

Yeah, I’ve done nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. But last week’s 20 miler had been iffy because my husband was out of town. He’s actually still out of town. I had planned on squeezing in my workouts after work and before daycare pick-up (it’s like a 2 hour window) but I ended up swamped with end of quarter grading that I never left work early to run. I know I could have put the grading aside, but I figured the more I got done then, the less I’d have to bring home to grade during Fall Break. Which I’m on now! YAY!!!

So this solo-parenting has left me absolutely exhausted. After my 20 miler last Saturday, I didn’t do anything the rest of the week 😦

My mom flew in on Thursday night and I was able to run on Saturday.

I was really looking forward to this because one of my local running groups #RunEatTweetAZ was putting on a fun run for charity, collecting old shoes and raising money/awareness for pediatric cancer.

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These 10 miles were tough. I hadn’t run all week so I’m blaming tired, rusty legs (but really, I’ve kinda felt my legs heavy throughout my entire training 😦 ) Anyway, I got it done and was very happy 🙂 Can’t you tell?? Lol!!

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That was pretty much it. This morning I went for an easy, quick 2 miler on the treadmill while my mom did some elliptical. We chatted the entire time and it was fun to have a mom/daughter workout–we hadn’t had one of those in years!!

Total mileage (Sun-Mon)=12

Soda count=I’ve been averaging about 1 a day 🙂

And the other thoughts…

Yesterday, quite a few running friends online and in real life ran the Chicago Marathon. It was so freaking inspiring reading and seeing their race pics and stories. It was seriously the boost I needed going in to Marine Corps. I must have stayed up til like 10 (that’s late for me!) on Instagram and Facebook just catching up. I read about people getting PRs, others having not so great races, and others simply happy with the experience. What I couldn’t get enough of was just the happiness that runners exhibit post race. It’s like we’re in so much pain but we’re happy?! It’s so insanely awesome!

I read about one girl who struggled with cramping but fought through to finish with an amazing time and another girl who struggled with cramping and had to reevaluate her goal. I love reading about others’ experience; I feel like I learn so much from them.

I feel like I’ve battled some motivation issues with this training–I blame the heat–and I feel like while I’m so freaking excited about running Marine Corps, I’m more excited about the experience and not so much about tackling a PR. I mean, I hope I get a PR, but really, I’m going in to this race so totally about the race itself. I’ve never been to D.C.; I’m so excited about that. My dad was a Marine; I’m so excited to run a race with meaning. And, I have a passion for American history. This race is completely about enjoying the experience.

I think having that mindset all through training is what has kept me from freaking out about paces and goal times. Sometimes that’s not what it’s all about.

I hope you guys have a great week! How’s the running going?? Who ran/raced this weekend!?

Marathon Training Recap Week 14 and Esprit de She 10k

Taper, taper, bo baper, fee fi, fo faper…taaaaaper!!!!!

I’m in good spirits and let me tell you why…

I DID MY 20 MILER THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!

Remember, I cried about how I wasn’t going to be able to and that I was worried I’d have to do it 2 weeks out? Crisis averted.

So my husband’s away on business and I’ve been solo-parenting. This was why I wasn’t going to be able to squeeze it in. But, my mother-in-law pulled through and spent the weekend with us, thus allowing me to long run on Sunday. Yay!!!

And it wasn’t just about being able to do it, I was able to do it and be happy with the results. SUPER yay!!!

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Yes, please direct your eyes to the last four miles. I finished so strong and that made me so freaking happy.

I started off with a slower pace than usual but I didn’t mind as I really wanted to last the entire way. The beginning pace was around the 10:45/mile range. That was about the first 7 miles.

Mile 10 I pulled a 10:10 from out of nowhere and then miles 13 on, my pace was steady around 10:30. Right where I wanted.

And I don’t know what the heck happened the last four miles lol! I might’ve wanted the run to be over with jajaja!!

So that was my long run 😀

The previous Thursday I ran the Esprit de She 10k. I had been looking forward to this race because it’s an all women’s race known for it’s awesome post-race festivities. But, because my husband was out of town, I wasn’t going to be able to partake in them 😦 It really did look like a lot of fun too as they had chili for post race yumminess and a bubbly bar (where you’d get a free wine cup/glass)!

Anyway, the race was a double 5k loop (boo!!!) on pavement with a brief stint on grass (boo!!!). It was also a short course with my watch stopping at 5.79 (boo!!!)

It was also a horribly run race on my part (super boo!!!)

One of the things I’ve been working on throughout this training are consistent splits and I’d been doing really good at getting them how I’d like, even sometimes negative splitting.

But holy shit, did I royally eff this one up.

First thing I did wrong? Thinking I could keep up with a girl in my run club. She’s someone who I’ve always “shadowed”, someone who is juuuust faster than me, enough that I can somewhat keep up with extra effort. (Although lately she’s been killing her training and is become almost impossible to shadow.)

Yeeeeah, so she pretty much blew me away.

The first mile beeped 7:3o-something and I was done after that. Talk about a perfect way of burning out.

My goal had been to maintain an 8:30 pace then entire way and hope to finish strong. What the hell was I thinking starting out so fast? I wasn’t thinking. Clearly.

I was able to hit 8:30 the next two miles but then the second 5k was just an inconsistent hot mess.

You live run and you learn.

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On a super cool bright note, this was my high school BRF’s first 10k and she pulled out a 4th place overall finish! Badass status!

Prior to Thursday, I had run on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 miles respectively

 

which brought my total mileage for last week (Monday-Sunday) to: 35.8

Soda count: I lost count 😦

–Anyone else excited it’s Oc-freaking-tober??!!

–How’s your running going? Who’s got fall races?

–P.S. Salt‘s back! ❤