Gone Crazy: Week 2

My second week of super-condensed marathon training is in the books. It was another seven days of surprises but the biggest one has to be how quickly I've gotten back into the swing of training full bore. Cranking out 35 miles seemed like a long shot but 35.3 miles later I'm still going strong.

I started out the week with a slow 7 mile slog on dead legs. I happened to be working near my old home and decided to take a run on the Yough River Trail for old times sake. Apparently my body just hates flat and hot this year. I'm sure that bodes very well for Darlington (insert sarcasm here).

On Tuesday, my running partner/best friend's boyfriend and I decided to attempt two loops of our cemetery route. According to my Garmin, one loop is about 500 feet of gain and 500 feet of loss in 4.5 miles. We decided to cut the loops down to 5k even by walking to and from the cemetery. We were both miserable by the end but we finished our hilly 10k without any lasting harm.

 Elevation profile for one full loop of the cemetery

After two very slow, tough runs in a row I took the hint and rested Wednesday. It must have worked because the rest of my week only got better from there. Thursday I headed to North Park and ran the 5 mile loop around the lake. My only goal was to run it as hard as I could and see what happened. I ended up completing the loop in 43:40 for an 8:44 average pace. I was spent but thrilled!

Yeah, that happened.

Friday was pretty much a recovery run with the Electrodash 5k actually being 2.36 miles and too crowded to really run. I'm sure the forced slowdown was exactly what my legs needed so that my running partner and I could run long Saturday. We managed to cap off the second week of marathon training with a 12 mile run that was almost exactly the same pace as my 10 miler last week. 

YES!

Sunday I did a short 3 mile shakeout run to hit my goal of 35 miles for the week. I'd love to hit 40 miles for week 3 but I'm not sure it's feasible. I have to keep reminding myself that it's more important to arrive at the starting line healthy than over trained. So my A goal will be 40 and my B goal is to beat this weeks 35 miles. I guess my all-else-fails goal is to get in a 14 mile long run and a few other runs during the week.

And now I can start to panic because we are less than 5 weeks out from Darlington! 

Week in Review: Big TEN!

This has been a week of highs and lows and crazy times. I sometimes doubted myself but in the end I always exceeded my own expectations and usually had fun doing it.

Yes, I giggled. I'm still 13 at heart sometimes.

Monday: 7 mile steady state run. Ended up being a progression run because the effort felt too easy.

Tuesday: 2 mile warm up, 1 mile/800m/400m/200m ladder workout then repeat in reverse. 1 mile cool down. Total: 8.5 miles + 30 minutes of yoga

Wednesday: 8.5 mile easy run.

Thursday: 1 mile warm up, 60 minute tempo run, 1 mile cool down. Total: 8.5 miles + 15 minutes of yoga.

Friday: 6.5 mile easy run + 30 minutes of yoga + 30 minutes of core strength.

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: 21 mile long run.

Total: 60 miles in 10:25:01

To add to the craziness of the week our treadmill was still out of sorts. It wasn't until today that a maintenance guy was able to come to our house. It turns out Shane and I aren't exactly 'average' treadmill users. The technician was able to see how many miles are on our roughly two year old treadmill. The answer? 1,804 miles and 284 hours of use. Unfortunately the model we were sold is not up to that kind of use and beating, especially at the speeds Shane and I need to run for speed work and such. Replacing the drive belt (and possibly the motor) is a temporary solution but it's only a matter of time before our treadmill goes to an early grave. So now the hunt (and RESEARCH this time!) is on for a new and commercial-grade torture device.

Lake view during my long run

 

Another exciting event this week was Shane's first published article. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it but Shane started his own blog. He has a knack for writing apparently (though he still needs help with spelling - must be a boy thing!) and the Mon Yough Trail Council asked him to contribute an article to their Milepost newsletter. I'm very excited for my husband!

 

 

Shane's article

 

The weekend was the most up and down part of the week. From Saturday to Sunday one of my friends was running Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Endurance Run. She is very similar to me in terms of running times and distances. However, she has trained REALLY hard in the last several months and I was interested to see what it would mean for her in terms of ultra performances. I was thrilled to see her finish with a smile and collect her first buckle. It gave me a lot of hope for Burning River in less than 6 months! EEK!

 

Another view of the lake

 

As I drove to North Park for my long run Sunday morning I was saddened to learn of the passing of a member of the running community. I decided then that the frigid temperatures and blowing snow didn't matter. I was lucky to be out there and able to run. I threw in an extra mile to honor the indomitable spirit of a women that many knew and loved. Her passing will leave a hole in the hearts of many runners.

 

Despite the ice clinging to my brows and lashes I was determined to make it a good run.

 

In all, it was an excellent week for my running and, even though I may have to suffer through the weather more often in the near future, I am blessed to be a runner. Whether I have a treadmill or not, whether I ever get that one hundred mile buckle or not, and whether I ever hit all 50 states or not.... It's been a hell of a ride and I'm glad that I've been able to share it with so many inspirational people.

Week in Review: Week 8

Two months down already! I can't believe I'll be starting to taper for Shamrock in just another month or so! This week was a great week aside from the dog incident. I also got in some fun on the trails so I have some pictures to make this a little less boring.

Shane decided to jump a stream instead of taking the bridge

Monday: 4.5 miles of hill work. 10 minute warm up, 5 minutes at 8% incline, 2 minutes at 4% incline, repeat. Really happy with how much easier the hills are becoming! I actually forgot I was on 8% at one point and tried to increase it!

Taking a tree over the water

Tuesday: 50 minute tempo run. 7.25 miles. I actually didn't feel like this was tempo effort. Guess I'm getting faster!

Sleep running? :)

Wednesday: 7.25 miles of 9:1 run/walk. Not much to say about this workout.

I took the bridge

Thursday: 6.5 miles including 8 x 400m repeats. I really surprised myself by being able to complete this one at the prescriped paces.

Shane stopped to do pull-ups during the run

Friday: This is the day I was jumped on by the dog. It should have been a repeat of Wednesday. Instead it ended up being 1.14 miles on the trail and 1.86 miles on the treadmill to make 3 miles total.

Horses!

Saturday: 18 mile long run. I had to break up my long run because Shane's parents were watching the girls. I ran 15 miles in South Park and then ran the 3 miles home from his parent's house to our house.

Tiny Shane but pretty trees

Sunday: This was scheduled to be a rest day but since Friday got so messed up I went ahead and did 3.5 miles of 9:1 run/walk. It felt fine which I was pretty excited about the day after a long run!

Total: 50 miles in under 9 hours of running! Woah!

Week In Review: Part Two

This week was another tough one but I feel like I handled it better. It started off deceptively easy with a 60 minute walk then progressed through speed work, steady state runs and a tough long run. So here's my week in review:

Monday: 4.2 miles of speed walking on the treadmill with inclines.

Tuesday: 1 mile warm up, 20 x 1 minute at faster than 5k pace (7:30 per mile) with 1 minute at 4-5MPH recovery, 1 mile cool down. Yes, that's right.... TWENTY repeats!

Wednesday: 70 minute steady state run.

Thursday: 0.5 mile warm up jog. 30 minutes of strength training: front squats, lunges, curls, rows, and then form drills.

Friday: 2 mile warm up, 3 x 10 minutes at 5k pace with a couple minutes recovery in between, cool down.

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: 13.1 mile trail run.

Total: 39 miles

The trail run was AWFUL. It's been raining for days and the trails were nothing but mud and wet leaves and rocks. I can't believe I stayed upright the whole time!

Nothing but mud

 

Muddy Shoes

 

On a really cool note check out what I got from my Secret Santa! Nothing like a little extra motivation on the Christmas tree and my book shelf!

 

 

Week In Review

I think it will help me (and maybe those of you who want to follow in my madness) if I post a review of my training. I'm going to try and make this a weekly post, hopefully every Sunday, and use it as a way to keep my motivation up.

Because we all need more cat pictures on the interwebz

 

So here is the week of November 26 to December 2 in review:



Monday: 5.5 miles at 10:45 avg. pace + CrossFit

Tuesday: 6 miles at 9:58 avg. pace. This included speed work intervals.

Wednesday: 5 miles at 11:56 avg. pace. Recovery run + CrossFit.

Thursday: Rest. (Sick)

Friday: Unscheduled rest day due to being sick.

Saturday: 6 miles at 9:52 avg. pace. The middle miles were fast tempo.

Sunday: 10 miles at 11:20 avg. pace. A shorter version of a long run.

Total: 32.5 Miles


All in all it was a good week except for the illness that snuck up on me Wednesday. Let's just hope this week doesn't hold any nasty surprises!