Grandma's Marathon Training: Week 7 Recap

Disclaimer:  I am running Grandma's Marathon in June as a BibRave Pro, which means my entry fee was covered for me. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!  

I ended up going to see my primary care provider about my cough last Monday evening.  My cough was not getting any better and was hurting my chest.  I felt wheezy during Monday's workout.  She diagnosed me with acute bronchitis and gave me a cough syrup with codeine to help me sleep at night, prednisone and an albueterol inhaler.  I wish I could say that all of this was a magical cure all but the fact of the matter is, I am still hacking away, although mostly without the tight feeling in my chest.  Argh.

Regardless, I had a consistent, good week of training.  At one point during my tempo run, I actually felt giddy because I could just feel my body getting in shape.  I do really like the process of marathon training, even on days when I would rather not get out of bed (ahem, last Friday morning).

Week 7 is the first week that a "long" run appears on a Saturday vs. an "easy" run.  These are slightly different in the Hanson's method as the chart below shows:

An "easy" run should be between 8:22 and 9:22 and a "long" run is 30-60 seconds faster than that at 7:22 - 8:52.  I generally fall in the "long" run range for my "easy" runs so I am not worried about this.  Doing my easy runs at an "easy" pace is something I am always working on!

I also decided that I am just going to train at my #dreambig goal pace (6:52/mile) for as long as I am feeling good.  My current speed workout pace of 6:12 is in the middle of the range above so that is fine.  I have been doing my tempo at 6:47/6:48.  I recognize that of course this is easy when my tempo run is 5 miles but I also think that I would be disappointed with myself if I don't try to train to this level and see what happens, of course being attuned to injury risk and overtraining signs.

I ended the month of March with 147.74 miles, which is the highest monthly mileage I have had since September 2017!

Sunday, March 25

Plan Says:  Easy 4 miles

What I did:  Easy 4.1 miles. 34:25 (8:21 avg pace)

Monday, March 26

Plan Says: 8 x 600, with 400 meter recovery in between and 1 mile warm up and cool down

What I did: The workout.  I overslept so had to leave work a bit early to get this in before my daughter's bus arrived home.  This was challenging for me because I was really having a lot of coughing attacks and felt like I couldn't breathe clearly.  I also picked a route with a slight hill, which meant that one way, I was running slightly downhill with the wind at my back and on the other way, I was running slightly uphill into the wind.  You can see in my splits below that there was about a 8-12 second difference between these two routes.  Generally, all of the downhill splits were in line and all of the uphill splits were in line with each other.

My goal time for 600m (0.37 miles) is 2:18.

1.0 mile warm up, 8:11.8 (8:10 avg pace)

1.   Downhill, with wind:  2:09.4 (5:44 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (8:26 avg pace)
2.   Uphill, against wind:  2:17.7 (6:12 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (9:12 avg pace)

3.   Downhill, with wind: 2:12.2 (5:50 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (9:13 avg pace)
4.   Uphill, against wind:  2:18.8 (6:15 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (8:49 avg pace)

5.   Downhill, with wind: 2:08.2 (5:45 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (8:44 avg pace)
6.   Uphill, against wind:  2:16.5 (6:06 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (9:17 avg pace)

7.   Downhill, with wind: 2:04.1 (5:35 avg pace) / recovery: 0.25 miles,  (8:49 avg pace)
8.   Uphill, against wind:  2:16.7 (6:09 avg pace)

1.65 mile cool down, 14:11 (8:36 avg pace)

Tuesday, March 27

Plan Says: Off

What I did: Off

Wednesday, March 28

Plan Says: 5 mile tempo, 1 mile warm up and cool down

What I did: TEMPO! I felt really good this morning.  I chalked it up to the drugs and getting a day off.  I felt good during the tempo, not as jittery as last week and my splits were a little more even.

1.15 mile warm up, 9:28.1 (8:14 avg pace)
5 mile tempo, 34:04 (6:48 avg pace)  Mile splits:  6:51, 6:45, 6:50, 6:49, 6:46
1.5 mile cool down, 12:22 (8:15 avg pace)

Thursday, March 29

Plan Says: easy 4 miles

What I did:  easy 4.7 miles.  38:16 (8:09 avg pace)

Friday, March 30

Plan Says: easy 6 miles

What I did:  6.2 miles, 51:11 (8:15 avg pace)
It was difficult to get out of bed.  I had book club the night before which meant I had two glasses of wine which, as always, meant my sleep was not great.  One of these days, I will just give up drinking wine.  Today is not that day.  I was proud of myself for showing up to this run anyways!

Saturday, March 31

Plan says: long 10 miles

What I did:  10 miles, 1:21:10 (8:07 avg pace)
The forecast for Saturday was not looking good.  Rain rain all day starting EARLY.  I usually allow myself to sleep in on the weekends (read: wake up at 6 AM instead of 4:30-5 window) but I REALLY did not want to run in rain so I kept my early alarm and got.this.DONE!  No rain for me!  I felt good for all but the last mile of this - I definitely felt tired for that.

Mile splits:
8:14 / 8:12 / 8:19 / 8:08 / 8:17 / 7:51 / 7:59 / 8:03 / 8:02 / 8:02

Weekly Total

Plan says: 38 miles

What I did: 40.04!

Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 12 Recap

Sigh.  Last week started off really well.  I was getting workouts done and feeling ok.

Monday, August 28
Plan says: Easy 5 miles

What I do:  You may recall that I was coming off of family sick-fest last weekend so I didn't set a morning alarm.  I also reworked my workouts a little bit so that I wasn't coming off sick-fest and doing speed. My daughter started school that morning so I was going to try to squeeze in a run between work and when she got off the bus.   Due to school restructuring, she was going to be on the bus 10 extra minutes this year and I was going to use them!  I ended up logging 4.4 miles.  I still felt tired.

4.4 miles, 36:12 (8:09 average).

Tuesday, August 29
Plan says: Rest

What I do:  Yes! I had FINALLY gotten back to having Tuesday as a rest day.

Wednesday, August 30
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 4 x 1.5 miles (0.5 miles jog in-between), 1.5 miles cool down

What I do:  I woke up early, did this workout and slayed.  Honestly, my goals for this were (1) to be around 6:30 pace; and (2) to ease into the workout.  I accomplished both.

1.51 mile warm up, 12:45 (8:27 avg pace)

1.5 miles, 10:01 (6:40 pace) / 0.5 miles, 4:25.7 (8:50 pace)
1.5 miles, 9:46.3 (6:30 pace) / 0.5 miles, 4:21.4 (8:43 pace)
1.5 miles, 9:50.3 (6:33 pace) / 0.5 miles, 4:23.1 (8:48 pace)
1.5 miles, 9:48.2 (6:32 pace)

1.1 mile cool down, 8:50 (8:02 avg pace)

Thursday, August 31
Plan says: 6 miles easy

What I do:  6.2 miles easy.  Two days in a row with the morning alarm!

6.2 miles, 51:19 (8:17 avg pace)

Friday, September 1
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 6 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down

What I do:  So tempo run.  I haven't had a good tempo run in weeks.  I decided that I was going to start over with these and work myself up physically and mentally rather than beat myself up over them.  My goal was to do a 4 mile tempo, easing into it and negative splitting.  It was still slower than what I wanted, but the progression of my miles was good.

1.5 mile warm up 12:53 (8:36)
4 miles, 27:33 (6:53 avg, mile splits = 7:03, 6:59, 6:45, 6:44)
1.5 mile cool down 11:44 (7:49)

AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE PLOT TWIST! (As I alluded to in my Instagram post this morning, I stole that from Devon Yanko's Leadville 100 race recap. It's a good one.)

I woke up Saturday morning at 1 AM with a throbbing, vice grip headache that was out of control.  What the hell was going on?!?!  I thought I was going to puke so I crawled (yes, crawled) into our bathroom.  No puke but man I could not shake the jolts of pain going through my head.  I thankfully fell asleep and then proceeded to rot in bed, in and out of sleep, for the remainder of the day, clutching my head.  My husband thought I was on the verge of death.  "I've never seen you like that!".  (He wins some award because he did all of the cooking for my daughter's birthday party AND yard work AND house cleaning AND wrangled our monkeys that day.)

He was Googling symptoms and diagnosed me with a migraine.  I was chugging ibuprofen and it was doing absolutely nothing so he went and got me some Excedrin migraine.  That at least took some of the edge off but I was not able to be upright at all.  

I felt better on Sunday - "better" meaning I was able to get up, shower, and stay upright while Maggie's party was going on.  I wasn't feeling hungry (I hadn't eaten anything since Friday night outside of a small bowl of oatmeal) and still had a headache.

Yesterday I felt a bit better as well.  I still had a headache, but no zingers.  I didn't feel as though I was on the edge of vomiting.  I ate some food, despite not really being hungry.

And here we are this morning.  Still feeling "eh".  Trying not to freak out that I missed two long run weeks in a row and, rather than being back up, like I was anticipating at the beginning of last week, my weekly mileage plummeted below 30 for the first time since the week of June 12.  I have 5 weeks and 5 days until race day.

Plan Miles: 51
Total Weekly Miles: 27.75

Milwaukee Marathon Half Marathon Training: Week 11 Recap

Let's start with some positive news.  With Friday's run, I officially logged more miles in 2017 than I did in all of 2016!

2016 total mileage: 1206.42
2017 total mileage: 1211.61

Huzzah!

Friday was the last time I ran.  Yep.  Two unplanned days off.   My body feels better today than it did in the past several days.  I am hoping to lace up the shoes this afternoon.

Monday, August 21
Plan says: Rest

What I do:  Rest

Tuesday, August 22
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 6 x 1 mile at 10k pace with 400 m recovery in between, 1.5 mile cool down

What I do:  I work up with a very stiff and sore neck, likely from sleeping on my side with my arm at a weird angle underneath my head.  I started running after work and it felt like knives were digging into my neck with every step.  This feeling gradually lessened but it became apparent that I was not going to be doing mile repeats.  My goal was to make it 5 miles and I did it.

5.24 miles,  40:57 (7:49 avg pace)

Wednesday, August 23
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do:  MILE REPEATS.  My neck and shoulder were still very sore.  The warm up was uncomfortable but not as awful as Tuesday so I decided that I was going for it.  I again was doing this after work so my time was limited. Six seemed like SO MANY so I again did the trick of "Just start with 1". I opted to do 5 repeats instead of 6 so I could get a cool down in.  By that time, my body felt shot anyways.  I ran these too fast.  My 10K pace is not in the 6:15 range.  I haven't been happy with the two 10Ks I ran this summer.  My best 10K this summer (also my PR) was 6:46 pace, which is slower than I hope to run this half marathon.  Maybe not a good sign?!  Anyways, my goal for these mile repeats was 6:30.  Totally overshot that.  Probably not the smartest.  I ran two different mile-long loops in my neighborhood and the adjacent neighborhood.  Loop A is hillier than Loop B, which is reflected in the time.  I also stopped during the last two for a breath.  I need to not do that.

1.5 mile warm up, 12:23 (8:15 avg pace)

LOOP A: 1 mile, 6:14.0 / 0.25 mile, 2:10 (8:36 avg pace)
LOOP B: 1 mile, 6:09.9 / 0.25 mile, 2:16 (9:05)
LOOP A: 1 mile, 6:16.9 / 0.25 mile, 2:16 (9:08)
LOOP B: 1 mile, 6:06.6 / 0.25 mile, 2:20 (9:20)
LOOP A: 1 mile, 6:23.6 /

2.05 mile cool down, 17:24 (8:30 avg pace)

I took a epsom salt bath to hopefully help the neck and shoulders.  This was awesome and made me very sleepy.  I still went to bed later than I should have.

Thursday, August 17
Plan says: 1.5 mile warm up, 6 miles at half-marathon pace (6:44), 1.5 mile cool down

What I do:  5 miles easy.  I actually got up with a morning alarm!!!!  Neck and shoulders were still feeling off, but better than the previous two days.  I AM GETTING OLD!

5.1 miles, 42:46 (8:23)

Friday, August 18
Plan says: 6 miles easy

What I do:  I wanted to get in my tempo run but wasn't feeling that great.  My neck and shoulders still felt sore and generally I didn't feel great.  I went out for a run and tried to push several miles.  It was inconsistent but I logged a few tempo miles.

7.15 miles, 52:02 (7:17 avg pace)

Saturday, August 19
Plan says: 10 miles at long run pace (7:30-9:00)

What I do:  Oh man.  Our house was hit over the weekend.  My son started feeling ill Friday during the day and was puking every 3 hours on Friday night.  Luckily he woke up feeling ok on Saturday morning.  I, on the other hand, now had a neck, shoulder and back thing going on that was horrible.  I felt crummy, and had no appetite (unusual for me!).  I took a bunch of Advil and we had a family thing to attend.  We returned home and kids fell asleep at 6PM.  I was not far behind at 8PM.  Then my daughter woke up with fever + headache + body aches.  Luckily she never went the puke route.

0 miles

Sunday, August 20
Plan says: 5 miles easy

What I do:  Again woke up feeling like junk.  My back felt miserable. I still wasn't very hungry. We had a chill day relaxing.  By the end of the day, I felt like I had gotten hit by a bus.  Kids went to bed and I again went to bed at 8PM with chills and body aches.  Luckily I woke up on the other side of the curve this morning so I think we are all back on the mend!

0 miles

Plan Miles: 45
Total Weekly Miles: 32.06

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training Week 4 Recap

I am here to say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I finally started to kick "the illness". Unfortunately, my husband still is sick (he was a few days behind me in the course of things) and has shared the exact same symptoms.  I think my son is on his way out...and then my daughter woke up with it today.  AHHHHH.  I can only hope that our upcoming trip to FL will cure us all for good.

The other good news is that slowly but surely my hamstrings have started to feel better.  I wouldn't say they are at 100% yet but definitely improved over last week.  The tendon on top of my right foot is still bothersome, especially when I wear heels.

Monday Feb 6
Plan Says:  Easy 5 miles

What I did: 4 miles, treadmill 33:50 (8:27 pace) followed by Jasyoga for hips and glutes and the R8 roll recovery

Tuesday Feb 7
Plan Says: Off

What I did: 0 miles, R8 Roll Recovery

Wednesday Feb 8
Plan Says: easy 3 miles

What I did: 5.03 miles, 38:03 (7:34 avg) outside, R8 roll recovery

Thursday Feb 9
Plan Says: easy 3 miles

What I did: 4.2 miles, 35:50 (8:32 pace), Treadmill Run, Jasyoga for hips and glutes and the R8 roll recovery

Friday Feb 10
Plan Says: easy 5 miles

What I did: 3.5 miles, 25:22 (7:15 avg pace), outdoors

Saturday Feb 11
Plan Says: easy 5 miles

What I did:  9.07 miles, 1:10:13 (7:45 avg pace), outdoors

Earlier in the week, my sometimes running partner, B, and I made plans to meet for a run.  She is using the Advanced Hanson Marathon plan to train for Boston so we are not on the same weeks or intensity.  She had 15 miles to do and I had 9 so we did 9 together.  It was really a fun run, we did not push the pace (since long runs on Hanson are meant to be on the slower end of the pace continuum). It was fairly warm out, which was the first day in a pretty long stretch of milder weather we are expecting here in Wisconsin!

Sunday Feb 12
Plan says: off

What I did: off

I wanted to run 5 miles on Sunday.  I was going to have to get up early and do it before everyone in my house was awake to get it in because yesterday was JAM packed with travel and activities.  Given that my husband is in the narcoleptic phase of "the illness", we went to bed at 830 on Saturday night.  All was well until randomly our smoke alarm hooked up to our non-activated security system began going off sporadically all night long.  Hello being up from midnight to 3:30 AM.  Yep. Slept through the 5 AM alarm.  Given that I had already surpassed the mileage for this week, I wasn't too bent out of shape about it.

Weekly Total
Plan says: 21 miles
What I did: 25.8 miles

I was pleased with the week.  I tried to take it easy on all runs to give myself some recovery as I was also recovering from illness.  This upcoming week is the last week of the Hanson plan in the "easy" buildup phase before speed workouts and tempo runs start making a regular appearance.  I finally will break into the 30s for weekly mileage this week!

Weekly takeaways: 
1. Continue working on mobility from the hip down.  Jasyoga and R8 Roll Recovery have been a good combo.

2. Try to get into the habit of going to bed earlier.  In a few weeks when mileage ramps up, I am going to need it.

3. Hydrate!  My hydration has always always been subpar.

4.  Treadmill runs are SUPER easy to run at the pace I should be running at.  Just set the speed and go.  This is more difficult for me outdoors!

5.  My new goal during the workday is to walk the full set of stairs (8 flights) in my building down and up at least one time a day and focus on glute activation.

Podcasts:
I didn't listen to any podcasts last week.

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training Week 3 Recap

I recall feeling like death after the Icebreaker Marathon Relay, after I had taken a shower and my body remembered, "Oh yeah...you are sick" and thinking that I had hit the bottom and would start feeling better as the days progressed.  How I wish that were the case! Week 3 was a slog fest and I ended up getting another virus of some sort, making my sickness venture into the 14 day zone.  While my sore throat and laryngitis cleared up starting around last Monday, it transitioned into a lethargic beast with a sinus and head cold.  Oh, and spread to two other members of my household, causing some breathing issues in my son.  Oh what fun.

It is hard for me to strike a balance between the line of taking a day off to take care of yourself and pushing through things.  I can very easily rationalize a day off as "self-care".  If it were up to me....wait, it is up to me! ha ha ha   The lazy side of me probably would have taken more than one day off last week so I am happy that I pushed myself in that way to get 5 days in.

Fingers crossed and knock on wood, today I feel a bit better than I have in the past 14 days.  Perhaps week 4 will be a winner.

Monday Jan 30
Plan Says:  Easy 4 miles

What I did: 0 miles

We had the burial for my husband's grandmother this day and since I thought I may be on the way out of this sickness thing, I took a day off hoping to jump start my recovery.  Additionally, my legs, more specifically my hamstrings, were still spent from that relay.

Tuesday Jan 31
Plan Says: Off

What I did: 4.1 miles, 35:09 (8:34 pace) Treadmill Run

I started feeling worse on Tuesday.  WHAT?!  I had already used my off day for Monday so I forced myself to get on the treadmill after the kids were in bed.  Hamstrings were still sore.

Wednesday Feb 1
Plan Says: easy 4 miles

What I did: 4.0 miles, 33:49 (8:27 pace) Treadmill Run

Another slogfest on the treadmill.  I was exhausted and my hamstrings were still sore.

Thursday Feb 2
Plan Says: easy 4 miles

What I did: 4.0 miles, 34:00 (8:24 avg pace) Treadmill Run

3 treadmill runs in a row is basically torture for me, but I was sleeping through my alarms left and right.  While I still felt crummy and my hamstrings were still sore, this mentally was TOUGH.  I am proud of myself for getting through this one.  I didn't get any sleep on Wednesday night because my son was up coughing and sick most of the night and my husband and I ended up tag teaming the PPL from work to get him to the doctor.

Friday Feb 3
Plan Says: easy 4 miles

What I did: 0 miles.

I did not sleep at all on Thursday night for whatever reason.  After several days of pushing myself when not feeling great, exhaustion won.  My husband let me take a small nap when he got home after work and then I went to bed early.

Saturday Feb 4
Plan Says: easy 5 miles

What I did:  8.34 miles, unknown total time, OUTDOORS!

Even though I went to bed early on Friday night and slept through the night (yay), I woke up still tired.  Usually my kids come into our bed in the morning and at that point I am awake and up.  I still was in and out of sleep for the time they were in our bed on Saturday morning and it took me a lot of effort to get out of bed.

I wanted to get a long-ish run in since my last long-ish run was on January 14.  I realized right as I was heading out the door that with all of my indoor running lately, I hadn't charged my Garmin.  I headed out anyways figuring I would get data on some portion of the run.

This run was so difficult.  My hamstrings were sore as hell, I felt like a slug.  JUST KEEP GOING.  My watch died at 6.07 miles at which point the time was 45:27 (7:29 avg pace).  I realize that this is not as terrible as I am making it sound.  However, my last long runs were around a 7:00 pace and felt easier than this one did.  The rational part of my brain realizes that I was not feeling well for over 2 weeks and during that time was dealing with my whole house being sick, a death in the family and not getting sleep.  I was still frustrated by this run.

I did some JasYoga and Roll Recovery for my hamstrings later that night which helped a bit.  I again went to bed early.

Sunday Feb 5
Plan says: off

What I did: 6.07 miles, 44:52 (7:24 avg pace), Outdoors

Argh.  This too felt hard.  My hamstrings were still bothering me.  They do not hurt but feel so so tight.  I've never had hamstring issues before.  You may recall that a few weeks ago, my calves were bothering me - same feeling, very tight muscles.  My calves are not bothering me any more - the feeling has moved up!  The tendon along the top ridge of my right foot is also very sore.  It is not debilitating, just noticeable.  All of this has been very frustrating, particularly because I haven't even had to ramp up mileage yet!

During the super bowl I worked on JasYoga sequences for hamstrings, hips and glutes.  My hypothesis is that my weak hips and glutes are causing the calf/hamstring issues.   My birthday is in 2 weeks - if this is a foreshadow of age 36, I don't want it!

Weekly Total
Plan says: 21 miles
What I did: 26.64 miles

This whole week was tough.  Despite taking an extra rest day, I felt like a slug on every run.  I have two more weeks of this 20ish miles base building weeks before shit gets real with the Hanson plan.

Weekly takeaways: 
1. Continue working on mobility from the hip down.
2. Try to get into the habit of going to bed earlier.  In a few weeks when mileage ramps up, I am going to need it.
3. Hydrate!  My hydration has always always been subpar.

Podcasts:
Last winter, I linked to podcasts that I listened to so I will again do that.
1. Another Mother Runner #238 with Green Chef talking Cooking & Food
This had some good tips re: getting dinner on the table - including making more of things that you need, which isn't something that I am always doing.  I feel like I am still trying to get over evil thoughts that doing Whole 30 put into my head re: "good" and "bad" foods so this was good to hear - mainly that eating full-fat dairy isn't going to kill me.

2. I'll Have Another with Lindsey Hein interview with Amelia Gapin
This is my first listen to this podcast.  It was an interesting conversation that I have yet to finish.  I will listen to more of these as I know they have a good reputation, but I wasn't blown away.

I miss the ROO podcasts!!

Hank Aaron State Trail 5K Race Recap

19:58.   

JUST squeaked in under 20 with this one!

Saturday morning I ran the Friends of Hank Aaron State Trail 5K.  One of the leaders within my employer's organization formed a team so it was a free entry fee for me!

I felt really crappy most of last week, culminating in some ear pain on Friday which caused me to stop by urgent care on the way home from work.  The NP barely got the otoscope in my ear when she announced, "Yikes! You definitely have an ear infection."  A stop by the pharmacy and I was on course to have amoxicillin 2x a day for the next 10 days.  I was surprised at how quickly I started feeling better after getting just one dose in!

I woke up on Saturday and still felt tired, but no ear pain.  I had a breakfast of two over easy eggs with spinach and avocado and half a water bottle of Nuun Energy.  After breakfast, my family packed up and headed to the race.

We got to the race about 30 minutes ahead of the start - plenty of time for me to get a warm up in.  Except that I didn't.  I still felt tired and out of sorts so I decided that I was just going to do the race and let it be what it was.

We started up at the finish when a woman next to me asked how fast I was going to run because she wanted to gauge where she was in line.  I told her that I would maybe run it in the mid-upper 19s.  She tried convincing me to move to the front but I stayed where I was (still near the front but not at the line).

The gun went off and I started running.  I was grateful that my ear pain was nonexistent as I was wondering if the pounding during running would affect it.  About halfway through the first mile, I found myself running with another woman.  We were the lead females.  The pace felt comfortable, but at one mile, my watch beeped: 6:04.  Ok, so that is too fast.   My goal for mile 2 was to stay with the other woman if I could.  I was able to do that and our second mile was 6:25.

I felt really tired and hot by the time I was running the third mile.  I just wanted to be done with the race.  I ended up pulling ahead a bit and I didn't have any idea of how far back the woman had fallen.  I was essentially running by myself - time for some major snot rocket action.  Felt so much better to get those sinuses cleared!

I was still really tired so I checked my watch - 2.4 miles.  I then checked my watch every 0.1 miles.  That last 0.7 miles took forever.  You cross a small bridge and turn left right at mile 3 and so I tried to push it in for the final 0.1 mile.  I could see the clock ticking as I was running toward the finish...19:49, 19:50, 19:51 and I tried to just get there before I saw 20.  My final time was 19:58 and I maintained the first place female spot!  The second place female finished in 20:09; the third in 20:35.  I spoke with both women for a bit afterwards.  The second place female injured her hamstring only a few days prior!  She was also in my same age group (35-39).  We were commiserating at how hot it was.  The third place woman (in 40-44 age group) got second last year with a 19:46 (19:40 won it last year) so we were definitely slower than last year's field.  Go upper 30s/lower 40s age group!!!!
My efforts were rewarded with a $50 gift card to Bartolotta Restaurants.  Date night is on me, ha ha ha.

The event was really nicely done.  1,048 people finished the race, 552 of which were women. The post-race party included Sprecher root beer floats, grilled burgers and Collectivo Coffee.  I definitely plan on doing it in future years. There was a lot for my kids to look at while I was running.  While my time wasn't the greatest, I was happy with the race given my coming-off-of-injury, saddled-with-ear-infection-and-inflamed-sinuses status.

My foot was feeling better this weekend.  I think part of the issue was that my calves have been really tight.  I foam rolled them daily over the weekend.

This summer has me feeling old, like I'm falling apart!  Still trying to feel grateful that I am running at all, even if it isn't up to what I want it to be and not nearly as consistent as I wanted to be.

I have no 5Ks left this year...at least that I am registered for.  I have an 8K in mid-September and a half-marathon in the first week of November.  Depending on how I am feeling, I may add to this list but I think it will be good to have a few weeks off from racing.

Race Drop

My BFF and I are not doing the 5K race tonight.  We are under a heat advisory and I slept all of a few hours last night, and still have my sinus infection.  I may be ready to go to doctor for this thing.  I am neti-potting, taking Sudafed, and blowing my nose like crazy but still feel like my head is full and in a fog.

My foot still feels off.  I ran 3 miles last night and it felt ok.  It feels like it is asleep all of the time - so not painful, just not "normal".  It never felt like this at any point yet so I'm not really sure what to make of it.

Blah.  I need a nap.

Marathon Training Week 6 Review

Remember last week at this time when I said I was waiting for this to get easier?

Well last week did NOT get easier.   Quite the opposite.

Lots of things happened in our lives last week, most importantly the death of my husband's grandfather which was emotionally very draining.  My daughter kept us awake many nights with a hacking cough and the combination of emotion and lack of sleep proved to be a thorn in my running side this week.

Monday 2/2
Plan says: OPTIONAL Easy 4-5 miles 

What I do:  Rest.  Nate had a late meeting so I wasn't about to start doing the optional work out.


Tuesday 2/3
Plan says: 10 minutes of Warm Up followed by 4 mile tempo run.  10 minute cool down.

What I do:  We found out about the passing of my husband's grandfather first thing this morning so I did not go to work and thus did not do power yoga as usual for Tuesday.  I did get to the gym late Tuesday night.

10 minute warm up at 7.7 mph (7:47)
4 mile tempo 1 mile at 8.4 mph (7:09), 2.5 miles at 8.5 mph (7:04) and 0.5 miles at 8.6 mph (6:59)
10 minute cool down at 7.7 mph (7:47)

Total: 6.6 miles, 48:36

Wednesday 2/4
Plan says: Rest or cross-train

What I do: Rest

Thursday 2/5
Plan says: Easy 8 miles

What I do: Unfortunately I had to do 8 miles on a treadmill, but I listed to The Moth podcast which helped.  I really wanted to do this EASY and slow, which I struggled with because I wanted to get it over with.

3 miles at 7:53 pace
5 miles at 7:47 pace

Total: 8 miles, 62:49

Friday 2/6
Plan says: Easy 3 miles

What I do: We refinanced our home and then visited with out-of-town family that were here for the funeral and thus, no miles.

Saturday 2/7
Plan says: 18 miles

What I do: BONKED.  Big time.

Every fiber of my being was not into running.  I delayed the start of getting out the door by several hours and then when I finally was out there, I could not get my legs to turn over.  I REALLY struggled mentally.  After a soaked sock from scaling a snow drift at mile 2 and a few slips on ice throughout, I headed back home.

Mile 1: 7:33
Mile 2: 7:26
Mile 3: 7:52
Mile 4: 7:33
Mile 5: 7:39
Mile 6: 7:42
Mile 7: 7:42
Mile 8: 7:30
Mile 9: 7:21

Total: 9 miles, 1:08:21 (7:35 avg pace)

I had a massage Saturday afternoon which was a real treat.  My therapist was very knowledable and a runner herself so I felt a little better after that.  I still struggle with LONG runs.  I easily venture into "why the hell am I even wanting to run another marathon" territory.

Sunday 2/8
Plan says:  Rest

What I do:  Rest.  Funeral was this day.

Week 6 Total Mileage: 23.61
Completed 2.5 of the 4 mandatory workouts.

Marathon Training Week 5 Review

Last week I got it done, but it wasn't easy.  (I'm under the false impression that one of these weeks it WILL be easy, ha!) Unfortunately we were on week 2 of sick kids which meant that I was sharing my sleeping space with a 4 year old who was hell bent on hacking up a lung all night and NOT sleeping.  I am ready to check myself into a hotel to get a full night of sleep!  This week also threw a sore throat at me, but that hasn't progressed into anything...yet!

#sickofbeingsick

I was at the treadmill for 3 of the 4 workouts this week which is what it is.  Yes, I would prefer to be outside but I also wasn't willing to risk slipping on ice after dark.  Given the blizzard we had yesterday, it looks like most of my upcoming week will be on the treadmill as well.  Thank goodness for all of the podcast recommendations I got via Facebook!

Monday 1/26
Plan says: Easy 4-5 miles followed by 8 stride outs

What I do:  4 miles at 7.5 mph (8:00) pace followed by 8 stride outs and 8 recovery periods.  Each stride out was 30 seconds long at 8.5 mph (7:04) pace.  Each recovery period was also 30 seconds long at 7.5 mph (8:00).

Total: 5.07 miles, 40:00.

Tuesday 1/27
Plan says: Negative split 5 miles (2 miles at pace 1, 2 miles at faster pace, 1 mile at faster pace)

What I do:  1 hour power yoga class at lunch.

2 miles at 7.7 mph pace (7:48)
2 miles at 8.0 mph pace (7:30)
1 mile at 8.3 mph pace (7:14)

Total: 5 miles, 37:55

Wednesday 1/28
Plan says: Rest or cross-train

What I do: Rest (my cross-train is always yoga, which happens on Tuesdays at noon)

Thursday 1/29
Plan says: 7-8 hilly miles as 10 min warm up, 6 x 3:30 in Zone 3/Zone 4, recovery as needed, 10 min cool down

What I do: Last time (Thursday of Week 2) I had this workout, I didn't do much of a recovery in between each interval so I did not get to the total mileage.  This time, I figured out how much of a recovery I needed to do to hit 7 miles before hitting the treadmill.

10 min warmup at 8.0 mph pace (7:30) (0.5-1% incline)

6 x 3:30 at 8.3 mph pace (7:14) at 1%, 2%, 3%, 2%, 3%, 2% inclines
2:00 recovery in between each interval at 8.0 mph

10 min cool down at 8.0 mph pace (0.5 - 1% incline)

Total: 7.16 miles, 53:00

Friday 1/30
Plan says: OPTIONAL 3-4 miles

What I do: I totally wanted to do this...but had zero sleep on Thursday so I opted for the rest instead.

Saturday 1/31
Plan says: 16 miles with the middle 6 run at race pace

What I do: Well I tried to do this fast and it bit me in the ass.  Instead of doing the middle 6 at RP (7:30) I wanted to do the middle 6 at 7:15-7:20, since my long runs have been in the 7:20 range.  I was proud of my fairly consistent pacing for the first 5 miles, but it should have been slower and my mid 6 was all over the place, which left my last 5 HURTING.

Regardless, I do like these chunk runs as the strategy of breaking the long run into different "chunks" works well for me mentally.  I focus on the first chunk, then the next, etc instead of thinking about the entire length the whole time.

Mile 1: 7:32
Mile 2: 7:33
Mile 3: 7:29
Mile 4: 7:27
Mile 5: 7:27

Mile 6: 7:15
Mile 7: 7:12
Mile 8: 7:29
Mile 9: 7:26
Mile 10: 6:51*
Mile 11: 6:50*
(ate a Gu)
*what the hell was this?

Mile 12: 7:39
Mile 13: 7:54**
Mile 14: 7:56**
Mile 15: 7:31
Mile 16: 7:34
**payback for Miles 10-11 is a bitch!

(16 oz water consumed throughout)
Total: 16.02 miles, 1:59:14 (7:27 avg pace)

Sunday 2/1
Plan says:  Rest

What I do:  Take a nap and consume large amounts of chorizo cheese fondue.

HURRAY! I made it through the first 5 weeks of marathon training and made it through JANUARY IN WISCONSIN!!!!!!!!!!!  It's all downhill from here. Or not...considering we had a blizzard the first day of February :)

Week 5 Total Mileage: 33.25
Completed 4 of the 4 mandatory workouts plus an hour of power yoga.

Marathon Training Week 4 Review

Well shit hit the fan this week and my running reflected it!

Monday 1/19
Plan says: OPTIONAL Easy 4-5 miles

What I do:  I had a 10 hour workday followed by an evening meeting at church.  I did not run, save for some kiddo chasing around the house.

Tuesday 1/20
Plan says: 1-2 mile warm up, 2 x 2 mile tempo runs with 0.25 miles recovery in between, 1-2 mile cool down

What I do:  1 hour power yoga class at lunch.

Above workout, outside, in the dark (with my knucklelights!) as follows:

1 mile warm up at 7:33 pace
2 miles tempo - 6:52, 6:46 pace
0.25 mi recovery - 8:07 pace
2 miles tempo - 6:35, 6:35 pace
1.25 mi recovery - 7:42 pace

Total: 6.56 miles, 46:33

Wednesday 1/21
Plan says: Rest or cross-train

What I do: Rest

Thursday 1/22
Plan says: Easy 6-7 miles

What I do: 0 miles.  I was exhausted after work so I laid on the couch after kids were in bed.  Went to bed early and woke up around 1 AM and started the puke fest.  Food poisoning? Stomach virus? who knows


Friday 1/23
Plan says: 4 easy miles

What I do:  0 miles. Laid on the couch with my sick 13 month old on top of me.  We were a pair!  No running.

Saturday 1/24
Plan says: 13 miles, finishing the last 15 minutes strong

What I do: Another 0 miles.  My stomach didn't feel great but it wasn't awful.  We had tickets for one of the MKE food tours so I went to that, came home and crashed.


Sunday 1/25
Plan says:  Rest

What I do:  Attempted to do one of the three workouts I missed.  I did 7 miles, 51:32 (7:22 pace).  It should have been easier than it was but all things considered, I'll take it.

Week 4 Total Mileage: 13.56
Completed 2 of the 4 mandatory workouts plus an hour of power yoga.