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!!

Product Review: Legend Compression Leg Sleeve

I mentioned earlier this year that I was selected to be part of the Bib Rave Pro program.  What this means is that I am given the opportunity to test out running-related products and have race codes to promote (which is why you should follow me on Twitter @amyschlott).   In exchange for the products, we are asked to write reviews.  Thus, I am starting a new section on my blog:  Product Reviews.

The number of reviews I do will depend on the number of opportunities I am given, so I don't expect this to be weekly.  I personally am not a fan of reading "sponsored posts" on blogs. Thus, I aim to be completely honest to my experience so that these do not have that feel.  Please know that outside of the product that I am given to test, I do not make any money or other compensation for these posts.  I will always title these posts with "Product Review" so if you are really averse, you can skip them :)

Product:  Legend Compression Leg Sleeves

If you have been reading my blog for a year, you know that I first started dabbling in compression leg wear while training for Boston last year.  I would say that I have tried a few brands, but am by no means an expert on all things compression.  In general, I would say that I benefit slightly from using compression sleeves, and lately I have been having some tight calves so I am using them for more than just long runs.  In winter, compression sleeves also provide an extra layer of insulation to the lower leg which I also find nice.

This is my first experience with Legend brand compression leg sleeves.  To be honest, I had not even heard of this company prior to being offered these calf sleeves.

I selected the Small/Medium size after measuring my calf at 14" at the fullest part.  The Legend sleeves sizing for Small/Medium is 13.75" - 17", so my calf measurement is on the small end of that range.

One of the differentiating factors for Legend is their #RightNotTight slogan.  The calf sleeves for running that I was sent provide 15-20 mmHg graduated compression.  Knowing this, I was expecting the Legend sleeves to feel less tight than other calf sleeves that I have tried, and this expectation was met. In fact, I felt that the sleeve was not compressive at all at the first few seconds of wearing them, thus I was doubtful that they would do anything.  I wore them for a run and they definitely were comfortable and my calves were not sore afterwards so I was pleasantly surprised.  They were MUCH easier to get on that other brands that I have wore and the material is more breathable, so I would imagine they would not get as hot in summer weather.  (If you were stuck on the 20-30 mmHG compression, Legend does have that product, however, I have not tried that.)

I was also interested in what level of compression is truly supposed to provide benefit.  To that end, Salty Running recently featured a blog post on this.  I set off to review the articles mentioned in that blog post as well as my own research.  One of the studies mentioned in that blog post mentions a range of 8-30 mmHg as providing benefit during running.  A second study linked to in that blog post used sleeves with 18-20 mm HG over the calf area and demonstrated benefit during running.  I found a review article published in December 2016 in the journal Sports Medicine titled, Is There Evidence that Runners Can Benefit from Compression Clothing?  The abstract states that there is evidence that runners can slightly benefit from compression clothing in terms of time of endurance performance, muscle damage, inflammation, but that there are no significant gains in running performance based on the studies reviewed.  Upon exploring the methodology in the full text article, 32 studies met the inclusion criteria for their review and these studies use of compression had various pressure, which ranged from 7-46, with most falling in the 15-30mm HG range.   My take away?  Legend's compressive pressure is within this range and the comfort of not being super tight is a bonus.

However, the next run I had in them (without washing in between), the sleeves were actually falling down on my run.  I stopped twice during the run to adjust.  I noticed that the logo was on the back of my shin, and all the pics on the website had the logo on the front.  My other hypothesis was that they need to be washed after every use to maintain compression.  Is this true?  I emailed them to find out.

I received an almost immediate response to my email from the President and Founder, John Thomas.  A+ for customer service.  His response indicated that "washing does help to a point, but usually not necessary".  He thought that perhaps since I was on the low end of the size range, exchanging for an XS may also be a solution (which he offered to do free of charge).  He also indicated that he has not heard of the sleeves falling down and so he would be interested in doing testing on my sleeves if I did decide to send them back.

I decided to give the sleeves one more go, post washing and with the logo on the front before deciding.  I had zero problems with them then so I am going to keep the sleeves and chalk my slight issue with them as user error.

Overall, my opinion on compression sleeves is that it is variable by person. Legend is a great option, particularly if you have found other sleeves to be too tight/uncomfortable.

Save 20% on your order with code "rave20".

Disclaimer: I received a pair of Legend Compression calf sleeves to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

Addition to the 2017 Race Calendar

I am excited to be doing the 2017 Milwaukee Running Festival half marathon again this year!  Even better, I am participating for free due to winning an Instagram contest sponsored by Momentum MKE , a running coach service.

The race is October 15, several weeks earlier than last year.  I loved this race last year and it is the site of my current half marathon PR: 1:29:14!  It's officially added to the 2017 race calendar (on the sidebar to the right).

Thanks Momentum MKE!

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Week 2 Training Recap + Icebreaker Marathon Relay Race!

Week 2 didn't get any easier. (I know...you're sitting there shocked.) My husband's grandmother passed away last Wednesday so we had lots going on.  Additionally, I got sick (again) with a sore throat, congestion and laryngitis.  I still managed to get runs in 6 days last week and had the Icebreaker Marathon Relay Race!

Monday
Plan Says:  Easy 2 miles

What I did: 4.25 miles, 31:12 (7:21 avg pace).  Another shorts run in January!

Tuesday
Plan Says: Off

What I did: 5.2 miles, 41:47 (8:02 avg pace) Yay!  Above 8:00 pace!

Wednesday
Plan Says: easy 3 miles

What I did: Off.

Thursday
Plan Says: easy 3 miles

What I did: 5.1 miles, 40:16 (7:54 avg pace)
It had snowed overnight so I did this in Yaktrax. The snow was not a clumpy snow this time so the Yaktrax worked beautifully.  No slippage. I felt very sluggish and the beginnings of the sore throat.

Friday
Plan Says: easy 3 miles

What I did: 4 miles, 31:58 (8:00 avg pace).  More sore throat and sinus action!

Saturday:
Plan Says: easy 4 miles

What I did:  Today I had the Icebreaker Marathon Relay at the Pettit National Ice Center.  The track is ~450 m around and like last year, Oiselle had a great presence.  We ended up with 8 teams of 4 people each.  Each of the 8 teams had the same strategy:  Every person runs 12 x 800 (really 900m).

Based on my experience last year, I knew my lungs and throat would hurt by the end of the day. Since I already had a sore throat, I knew it would be worse.  I drank a lot of warm Nuun in the beginning which really helped.  I was sorry I didn't bring more.  I did about a mile warm up with my team and then we were off.  I again was the lead runner, which I love because it is the first laps are the only time you can truly be competitive since it is near impossible to tell what place you are in and who is on what team during the other laps of the event.

I CRUSHED my first split, likely due to the fact that they started off playing Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run.  (Since it is indoor and around a track, they play music the whole time.)  I was really happy with my splits for the race, which ranged from 3:07 - 3:17.  My legs started to feel heavy towards the end but I still maintained an even pace.  My team finish time was 2;48:04, good for 4th place.  We missed 3rd place by 3 seconds!!!  The event was more competitive this year.  Last year my team won this race easily with a 2:43:10.  This year's women's team won with a 2:36:15!!

I was very run down afterwards.  I used my Roll Recovery R8 and drank lots of warm nuun and tried to go to bed early but had trouble sleeping.

Sunday:
Plan says: off

What I did:  We had my husband's grandmother's funeral and my grandfather's surprise 80th birthday party lined up for this day.  It was slightly emotionally draining and I still didn't feel that well.  After the day's events were over and we got the kids to bed, I managed 3.5 miles on our NEW TREADMILL!  The treadmill arrived Wednesday and we unpacked it that night and brought it down to our basement piece by piece.  Originally we had planned to put it in the unfinished portion of our basement but my husband thought that was too depressing.  The problem was that the finished part of our basement has carpet and I didn't buy a treadmill mat.  Hello Amazon Prime.

The treadmill mat arrived on Friday so we spent Friday night assembling the treadmill.  It took us 1 hour and 15 minutes and was definitely not bad.  And do you know who is running on that treadmill as I type?!

YES.

My husband.  AHHHH!  I'll turn him into a runner yet.

Weekly Total
Plan says: 15 miles
What I did: 29.85 miles

Outside of my race, my runs were on the slower end which I was happy about even though some days they felt a little strenuous, likely because I was not feeling 100%.  Bring on week 3.

Weekly takeaways: 
1. Need to continue to try to slow pace down on the easy days.
2. Continue working on mobility from the hip down.
3. Warm Nuun is amazing.

Friday Links!

What a week, which is culminating in me having another bout of sinus/cough and laryngitis.  FUN!  I am looking forward to running in a 4-woman team for the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon Relay tomorrow.  Last year, my team won the women's division! I'm hoping to repeat this year.

Here are some links:

1. Here's What A Former Running Prodigy Has to Say to the Haters
Lesson: Be Kind.

2. Vaulting Over Fear
I'm still working on my "mommy neutral face" in regards to parenting

3. Athletes for Yoga: Alysia Montano
Includes a code for a free month of JasYoga!!

4.  I just signed up for the Women Who Fly sweepstakes put on my Hoka One One.  They have 4 "tracks" with 4 elite "coaches". I signed up for the marathon and my mentor is Magdalena Boulet! I followed Magda on social media after listening to the ROO interview with her.

Sweepstakes implies contest right? I love this contest because just for entering you get training tips from the mentor and the grand prize is a weekend trip to Santa Barbara to "train, eat and hang out with the 4 women".  Um...yes please!

Enjoy your weekend!

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Training Week 1 Recap

I have wrapped up the first week (of 18 total) of marathon training.  I should have considered it a sign that I had to change up the plan on the VERY FIRST DAY due to icy conditions.

I mentioned that the plan starts off very slow and that I was going to try to continue with the current rate of running I had going (~28-30 miles per week) until week 6 when the plan would essentially "catch up" to my current mileage.  For simplicity's sake, I am going to post what I should have been doing per my plan for the weekly recaps.

Monday
Plan Says:  Off.

What I did: Off.  I wanted to run this day and have Tuesday be my day off since that will be my official "off" day.  Unfortunately it was an ice storm all day so I had to make it an off day, since I do not yet have an indoor running option (P.S. Treadmill gets delivered TOMORROW!).

Tuesday
Plan Says: Off

What I did: 4.57 miles, 34:05 (7:28 avg pace)

Wednesday
Plan Says: easy 3 miles (easy defined as 8:13-8:49 avg pace)

What I did: 5.5 miles, 42:12 (7:40 avg pace) over Runch!  I woke up early to get this run in before work, got dressed, started running and was sliding all over the place.  DAMN ICE!  I called it quits after 3 minutes.  The temperatures warmed the ground enough so that by lunch, it was no longer slippery and I got a good run in, and a break from the office!

Thursday
Plan Says: off

What I did: 3.45 miles, 26:01 (7:33 avg pace)

Friday
Plan Says: easy 3 miles

What I did:  Set my alarm for 5 AM to get a run in prior to the day since we were leaving after school/work for a long weekend in Wisconsin Dells with my siblings and mom.  At 4:50 AM, my son woke up with a mild fever and headache.  I cannot make this shit up!  No running that morning for me. I think to myself that I can maybe get a treadmill run in at the resort after kids go to bed.

Then, I start feeling sick myself in the afternoon.  I somehow got myself home to chug some pepto-bismol.  My husband scraped me off the couch to get into the car where I promptly fell asleep in the front seat for most of the 2 hour drive.  I got to the resort, chugged some more Pepto, got lost in the resort with my 3 year old.  AHHH.  The two of us went to bed early.

ZERO miles ran.

Saturday:
Plan Says: easy 4 miles

What I did:  Despite the fact that 3/4 of my duffel was running clothes, I passed on the long run.  I still wasn't feeling well.  I took a nap instead of ran and went to bed early.

Sunday:
Plan says: off

What I did:  I felt back to normal by Sunday so I decided to go for a run around the resort.  Except for the fact that in my nausea episode Friday night I forgot to grab my Garmin which was charging by the computer.  I grabbed and ran with my cell phone.  Based on the activity monitor on that, I believe I ran 3.6 miles.

Weekly Total
Plan says: 10 miles
What I did: 17.12 miles

While I am happy that I at least cleared the week 1 plan total, this is almost half of what my goal mileage was for the week.  Womp womp.  Not exactly a stellar start, but it is a new week!

Weekly takeaways:  
1. Need to continue to try to slow pace down on the easy days.
2. Continue working on mobility from the hip down.  (Calves, right anterior tibial tendon still cranky)
3. Runch is a good option to try to work in one day a week!

Friday Links!

1.  Love Oiselle's Destroy // Create campaign

2.  Kate Grace is moving on!

3. Kara Goucher on Meditation & Yoga

4.  Working on Pumping my Calves - I don't know if it is due to the weather, some biomechanical imbalance, or what, but my calves cannot loosen up. ARGH! 

5.  Bookmarking this link (Build Mental Strength on the 'Mill) for Wednesday when my treadmill arrives!!!!

6.  This motivational trick

7. How I got my attention back