Training Log 7.13.15-7.19.15

Hello! I’m sitting here Sunday night, not quite ready to say goodbye to the weekend. To say we had a good one would be an understatement. There were lots of trails (for both running and hiking), DIY house projects we’ve been talking about doing for ages, brownie-baking mishaps and brownie-baking successes, and wine. It was one of those weekends you need after a week of crazed vacation madness. It was great and I am not ready to go to work tomorrow.

What I am ready for, however, is training week #2. After feeling blah about my first week of training, I had a long run that helped me fall in love with this process all over again. It was on a killer trail and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, before I talk about that, let’s look at the rest of the week, too!

Monday – 4.5 miles, hill repeats

This was my first set of repeats that was merely to run up and up and up. Usually, my hill workouts include a shorter hill–something around the 0.10-0.15 of a mile mark and are generally pretty steep. I run it all out as many times as I can stomach. This time around, I wanted to get used to running up a lot further than I was used to, but to do it at a speed that was manageable.

I chose a hill that I HATE. It’s long. About 0.40 of a mile long. And it’s a steady, steady incline. it’s a hill that generally makes me feel like crap. I always have trouble with it and it makes me question the shape I’m in, REGARDLESS of the shape I’m in. So, I ran up it 5 times. I needed it for the workout, but also for the mental toughness. I needed to conquer that bastard. It was brutal, but I felt SO GOOD afterwards.

Tuesday – 3 recovery miles with Rudy

I decided to take the Ru-dog with me for an easy morning run. It was MY mistake to take him on a trail for our first run back at home. The dude was let loose at J’s parent’s huge backyard for a week, and allowed to chase all the squirrels he wanted. Let’s just say my arms hurt after this from pulling his leash so much. I cut it at 3 because I couldn’t handle it anymore! The good news was that he wanted to sniff at everything, so our pace was nice and slow.

Wednesday  –  5 miles, 8:08 avg

I had seen a trail on my warm up before my hills on Monday that I wanted to check out, so I went on it Wednesday after work. Turns out, it was just another way to get up to Buffalo Park. So, since I found myself there, I decided to turn the workout into some kind of speed work. I ran some fartleks: 30 sec hard x 30 sec rest for 3 miles. It was my first time doing any kind of speedwork since February and let me tell you…it was rough.

But that view cannot be beat.

Thursday – Deck of cards workout x 2

I did the Deck of Card workout twice. Once focused on abs with the following : Sit ups, crunches, reverse crunches and leg drops (is that a real thing? I think I just made that name up). The second time around I did push-ups, tricep dips, squats and leg lifts. BRU.TAL.

Friday – 3 miles, 8:17 avg

Nothing remarkable. Just some easy miles after I got off work and before a storm hit. It was refreshing and joyful.

Saturday – Long run, 7 miles

THIS RUN WAS BEAUTIFUL #trailporn

I had heard so many people tell tales of how amazing this trail was, and have been trying to get out there to run it for over a month now. I finally made it, and it did not disappoint. I was originally planning on doing about 8 miles, but found that the elevation changes–minor as they were (started at 8750 ft and went up to about 9k)–plus a harder week than I had run in a while had killed my legs. I decided to cut it down to 7 and work on building my mileage over the next few weeks.

I have a new favorite trail and I will be returning soon.

Sunday – 4 mile hike with my guys

We woke up to quite the gloomy day. It was overcast and we were threatened with rain all day. But, we had plans to hike and hike is what we did.

Anytime I get to spend on trails, especially with J, I’m not going to complain about.

Total miles: 22.5 

Pretty significant jump from last week (14 miles) and a solid first week back in training. I feel pretty good about it and am looking forward to continuing my momentum. I was having a tough time finding motivation earlier this week, but after that stellar run on Saturday, I remembered why I was out there doing this. Because I LOVE to do it! I love spending my weekend mornings out in the woods doing what I love. For the time being, my focus is on enjoying the trails I have access to. Come November, that’s going to change as I shift into marathon training and winter forces me back onto the roads. Until that happens, I’m going to enjoy my time exploring new areas and trails, and look at my upcoming races as opportunities to continue building my endurance and strength and enjoying time with others that love what I love to do too.

Thanks for your continued support and encouragement! You guys are the best and I so appreciate your presence on my little corner of the interwebs here.

Creating a Training Plan

Hello lovely people, happy Wednesday! Is anyone else feeling like this week is dragging it’s feet? I’m pretty sure it’s been Thursday since, like, Monday. That always seems to happen when I’m looking forward to something at the weekend though.

Since making the announcement that I’m running another marathon this winter, I’ve been working on tweaking a training plan for my fall races + marathon training. I talked about it a bit in my post about choosing another marathon, but one of my main concerns is avoiding burn out. I LOVE to train, but I also don’t want to feel like I’m rigidly stuck in a never ending training cycle. So, the question became, how can I train so I’m ready for these intense races I have in the fall, while also holding back so I’m not going into marathon training in November already tired, burned out, and with dead legs?

From training this January….SO looking forward to running in those temps again…not.

I got asked a really interesting question this past Monday, which was whether I was planning on training for the marathon on trails. To an extent, I’ve always trained for marathons with some “trail running”. This mostly consists of running on the nicely kept, pretty flat, urban trails that circle around town. They’re beautiful and fun to run on, and easier on my body than constant road running. But, those aren’t the trails I’m running on most of the time now. Lately, I’ve been tackling more technical, more incliney (totally a word) trails that are much more challenging and not that appealing to fast paced 18 mile training runs.

I don’t want to train for the marathon solely on trails. It’s important to balance the amount of road running and trail running, so when I transition to marathon training my body doesn’t experience any kind of shock from the change in terrain. So, balance is the name of the game, my friends!

As I started mapping out my training plan this is what I kept in mind:

• The need to build a base. I’m still working towards my usual amount of mileage and have been in the 14-18 mile range for about a month now. It’s time to kick it up, but without increasing my overall mileage too quickly.
• The need for speed. An 8 minute mile is HARD for me right now. I know that the majority of my speed will come back as my endurance comes back, but I need to incorporate speed training into my weekly routine.
• Hills. I have a looooot of elevation gain in my upcoming races and I need to practice running UP more.
• Balancing trail and road running.
• Making sure I have planned rest weeks strategically planned in order to avoid burnout and injury as much as possible.

So, instead of trying to do everything at once, I decided to focus on one race at a time.

Flagstaff Half Marathon

For the Flag Half in September, the plan is to train for mileage as I normally do for any race. Long runs on Saturdays, increasing each week by two miles, with a rest week every three weeks (in my mind I think of it as two weeks on, one week off). The only difference will be my long run will be on a trail somewhere that promises elevation play. I may even try to train a bit on the course itself.

Speed work on Mondays will be replaced by hill repeats. I’ll find a long, steady hill (I have several in mind) and practice running up and up and up.

Tuesday’s will be a recovery run, most likely on the road, and (probably) with Rudy in tow, followed by some basic strength moves (core work, push ups etc).

Wednesday’s will continue to be 1/2 of my long run (6 miler for 12 mile long run, for example) at race pace. For the Flag Half, I’ll probably just try to run with some kind of speed added in: fartleks, or a progression run. It won’t be insane or hard, but it’ll get my legs to remember how to move quickly.

Thursday will be a strength/yoga/Pilates day.

Friday’s will consist of an easy recovery run (again, most likely on roads) followed by some basic strength moves.

Saturday’s are long runs. I only plan on running 12 miles prior to the half marathon, since I won’t need to run more for the half, or for Soulstice.

Sunday’s will be chock full of REST.

Soulstice Mountain Trail Run 

The Flag Half is on 9/16 and Soulstice is on 10/9, which means I only have two weeks in between the two races. So, not a whole lot of extra training will go into prepping for Soulstice. I’ll take a rest week following the half, followed by a 9ish miler the week after and then the race.

Ragnar McDowell Mountain 

I’m not terribly concerned about Ragnar. I plan on really resting for a bit in between Soulstice and Ragnar and before marathon training will pick up. I’ll maintain a good amount of mileage, but may ease back on some of the workouts. I’m really going to use this time to reflect how I feel and act on what my body needs.

And after Ragnar is over, training for IMS PHOENIX MARATHON will be in full force!

My training plan will follow the basic weekly setup as training for the Flag Half, except I’ll be focusing more on speed workouts than hills on Mondays, and transition from primarily trail running, to primarily road running. I still plan on running on trails when I can (according to snowfall), and will utilize the treadmill on those brisk mornings where running outside at 5am is not an option.

I plan on doing some reviewing of my training from the Phoenix Marathon and make necessary tweaks for training this time around.

This is obviously a rough guide to what I hope to be doing this fall and winter. 8 months is a long time to plan for, so necessary changes will be made as they arise. But for the most part, that’s what I’m looking at!

Bring it on!
What do you take into consideration when creating training plans? Do you have a general “routine” you follow? 

Picking a Goal Marathon….Again

Since running my first marathon in 2012, my goal has always been to get to Boston. Or, more specifically, to get a Boston Qualifying time. I distinctly remember telling a friend that I hated the marathon, but I wanted to get that elusive BQ and then I may not even run Boston. It was just about being able to run it if I wanted to.

Seems kind of pretentious now.

Well, I got a BQ. And the kicker? I’m not going to be able to run the marathon…and I really, really want to.

Last week, I was running with a friend who was up from Tucson and we were talking Boston. She qualified a few weeks before I did at the IMS Phoenix Marathon nabbing a 3:31. We were talking about registration and how it all worked, and I learned an important little tidbit. Even if I’m able to register with my time, once it fills up, they’ll start bumping people out, according to their time. Having a mere 17 seconds off the required time, I’ll be one of the first people dropped.

It dawned on me immediately that this meant another marathon. I didn’t make it a secret after the Phoenix Marathon that I don’t like the marathon. It’s hard on your body, the training and the race itself, and it’s hard on you + whoever is in your general vicinity.

I’m not going to lie, my first reaction was disappointment, followed immediately by frustration. In that moment, I did not want to race another marathon. I wanted to enjoy my fall racing schedule full of trail runs and races and then enjoy a leisurely winter before gearing up for an easy marathon training cycle for Boston. I was looking forward to running a marathon–one I have been dreaming of for three years now–with no pressure or time constraint to worry about.

The bonus of not being able to run Boston this year? My consolation prize is a trip to Peru. Through a series of events, there happened to be an opportunity to go to Peru the same week as Boston next April. I, of course, stated that I worked too hard to get into Boston to not go, given the opportunity, and J supported that decision and said he would join me in Boston. So, even though I’m unable to run Boston, I’ll get to enjoy a special trip with my guy that week anyway, and that’s not bad at all.

So with that nailed down and decided, the task came down to picking another marathon to race. I spent all day last Tuesday looking at marathons, looking at my calendar, looking at potential training schedules, all to find the ideal race, time of year, and when to begin training again.

Here were my considerations:

1. My fall racing schedule. Right now, I’m currently registered for the Flagstaff Half Marathon (trail), the Soulstice Mountain Trail Run (…trail, in case you weren’t sure), and Ragnar McDowell Mountain (trail). It’s pretty dang full already. And I’m considering another trail run in August…Adding in marathon training wouldn’t be impossible, but I’ve experienced serious moments of burnout before and I don’t want that to happen again. Additionally, I was really excited about spending the fall on the trails, and only the trails. The idea of throwing road training in there too didn’t overly excite me.

2. How I would integrate the trail + road training. My primary concern was this: trail running is the different side of the same coin as road running. These trail races I’m doing is purely to do them. Both the Flag Half and Soulstice are essentially up mountains. Flag gains 1100 ft in 13 miles and Soulstice gains about 1781ft in 10 miles. For neither of these runs will I be concerned with time. It will purely be for the experience. And Ragnar is just for fun. I’m not terribly concerned with maintaining speed work, as much as I am for making sure my legs will be ready to climb and descend that much. The plus side is my emphasis on hill training will make me a stronger runner overall. However, I’m afraid of losing too much speed work in September and October and worry that would affect my overall marathon goals.

3. Burnout. It’s a real problem, people. Too much training and stress definitely makes me want to not run. I’m concerned that piling my plate too high will result in a less-than-stellar performance and racing another marathon won’t actually be beneficial to me.

4. Timing. It’s what I’ve been getting at this whole time. My friend was trying to get me to register for the California International Marathon in Sacramento on December 4th, but for reasons listed above, I was concerned about adding a marathon onto the tail end of my fall schedule. But, I also didn’t want to train through the winter, but I didn’t want to race in May or June because I have no idea how long we’ll be in Peru and from what J could tell me, the running situation didn’t sound ideal. I didn’t want to risk not running for two weeks when I should be peaking in my training. I’m not picky at allllll…..

With those four concerns in mind, I started researching marathons. I started off by looking in November and December. CIM was a consideration, though I was hesitant since the entry fee was rather high, plus we’d have to fly to Sacramento, rent a car and hotel room…etc. The fees were piling up. So, I looked at other races in CA-namely the LA area.

I looked at a Run Revel Marathon in the San Gabriel Mountains, but it was the same weekend as Ragnar. Then I looked at the Santa Clarita Marathon–which I got rather excited about running. I grew up in the SCV, so it would have been a hometown marathon for me. But, alas, it is also the same weekend as Ragnar.

Then I started looking at the Houston Marathon. It’s in January, flat, at sea level, and we’d have a free place to stay. We’d have to buy plane tickets, but we could find those pretty cheaply this far in advanced…

Then my friend told me about the IMS Marathon in Phoenix. It is also flat, in the middle of February and CHEAP. Entry fees are $35 right now. Compared to Houston’s $135, it seemed like a no brainer. It’s also so close that we would be saving SO much more money. And in the end, that was the clincher for me. Between the two courses, there’s not a whole lot of difference in regards to elevation change. They’re two weeks apart, so training won’t be terribly different (and IMS is later, so I have a little more time to train), and we’d be able to bring Ru-dog, which is always a bonus.

Now that’s it’s all said and done, I’m registered, and this thing is for real…I’m excited. I know I’m capable of a 3:30 Marathon and I’d really, really like to get it. So, hopefully all this different kind of training will pay off and I’ll be coming into marathon training in November a stronger runner!

Let the BQ #2 Journey begin!

Oh, hey there.

Yowza friends! Sorry for the radio silence over here. I’m popping in for just a quick update and then I’ll be off again.

Friday I had every intention of a great Friday Things post, but then I woke up with the worst stomach bug ever. I had to drag myself into work for a few hours since my coworker had taken the day off, but after 3 miserable hours I was able to go home and sleep it off. And thank goodness for that, because I had plans to meet THESE GIRLS for the weekend!

My very best friends and I were able to get together for the first time in FOUR years. It was spectacular. We spent the night in Phoenix and then my friend Alyssa has been up in Flag for the last few days. It’s been so fun and I’m trying to soak up every minute with them.

Also, this happened.

Yes. I’m running marathon #5. I have a very long, lengthy post in the works about WHY (so many WHY’s!) that I hope to get up in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

That’s all I’ve got for you for now! I’m off to enjoy my last full day with my best friend. Hope you all had a great weekend! And congrats to all those runners that ran this past weekend! Hanna crushed Grandma’s Marathon this weekend and came away with a new shiny PR!

February In Review

Hello March!

Thanks for bringing winter with you.

We had the storm of the season this past weekend, and I could not be more relieved that it decided to show up AFTER we were home safe from the Phoenix. I can’t imagine needing to do a training run in that. I also had the luxury of having a four day weekend, which does not happen often, so I spent most of Sunday and Monday sitting on the couch watching the snowfall.

February was a pretty great month! A 20 miler, 22 miler, a taper and of course the BQ! (I still cannot believe it actually happened). I had a serious case of the taper crazies this time around, but other than that, everything went pretty smoothly leading up to the race. We had some amazing weather in February, including some 70* days, which is unseasonably warm, and I took advantage of it by running after work with the pup several times.

Let’s break it down!

Total miles: 142.7

I didn’t do a training log for this past week, since it didn’t include much running up until the marathon. But, I did 3 easy miles on the treadmill on Tuesday and Thursday, and a very easy, very slow, 2 miles to shake out the legs on Sunday post-race (which helped with my recovery a LOT. I felt much better Monday and even better on Tuesday). I feel really good about this month’s miles. It included my last two long training runs, and my peak weeks of training + taper. Overall, it was just a big month and those miles were probably some of the most important.

Total Days Run: 19

During taper I cut down my days of running to 4x/week, rather than five, and I think it played an important part in resting my legs.

Total Strength Days: 4

Not my best. However, when taper started, I did start incorporating more ab work each week. I tried to do an ab workout at least 4 times a week and I hope to continue that.

Rest Days: 7

The most I’ve ever had since starting this blog, but I rested a LOT during taper, so I’m pretty okay with that. It seemed to work out in my favor.

Goals from January: 

• Stay strong. I’m definitely going to say check on that one.
• Take care of myself–Meaning foam rolling, strength training and general taking care of my body. Ehh….so so. I didn’t do much strength training, or yoga, but I did do a good amount of foam rolling prior to the race.
• BQ. CHECK AND CHECK!
• Get to that start line healthy. Done. I even got made fun of at work for squirting hand sanitizer onto my hands every few minutes, but with the amount of sickness going around in all the galleries, I wasn’t about to take ANY chances.

Goals for March:

• Strength Train: I’m probably going to cut back on running for the next few weeks, so I’d like to up my strength training a bit.
• Run for fun: No watch, no pace goals, no distance goals. Just lace up and head out the door. Now that training is over, I want to run because I want to and go for as long as I feel like it.
• Pose of the Month with Kerry at Yoga on The Run: Kerry posted up that she’ll be doing a Pose of the Month, in which she practices a certain yoga pose every day for the month. She took a photo of her in the pose the first day, and will post her progress over the month. I love this idea. I’m terrible at stretching and rolling, and maintaining any kind of yoga practice, so I’m hoping this will help. I’ll be starting with a simpler pose: Seated wide-legged forward folds, to work on my flexibility (since I have almost none). I started yesterday evening and here’s my beginning photo:

Rudy came and laid right down when I was beginning the pose–he does not want to be left out. Either way, you can see I can’t really stretch very far. I may post another photo sans-Rudy so I can actually track my improvement. I’m hoping this will allow me to recuperate faster from the marathon and let me get my mileage back up to a comfortable level, while also taking care of myself. We’ll see how it goes!

I haven’t quite decided what I want to do now that the marathon is over, so for March I’d like to figure that out, while enjoying running for the sake of running.

What are some of your goals for March? I’d love to hear it!

Race Recap: BMO Phoenix Marathon

Or, “The Race That Probably Shouldn’t Have Been a BQ, but I Somehow Managed It Anyway”

I’m sitting here Sunday afternoon, watching the snow fall and trying to figure out how to write this post. I don’t exactly know how to organize all my thoughts about yesterday, so I’m just going to jump right into it.

(I took barely any photos because I am a bad blogger. So, you’ll have to use your imaginations, or read other blogger’s recaps that did a better job of taking photographs).

Friday afternoon J-Money, Rudy and I hopped into the car to head down to Phoenix. It was raining and kept me checking the weather obsessively. Luckily, it was pretty dang warm in Phoenix (almost 80* when we got there) and sunny. The drive down was pretty uneventful. There was way more traffic than either of us expected, but other than that, fine. Google took us on a really roundabout way to Mesa, including getting on the wrong direction of the 10, then getting off and making a u-turn to get on the right direction and we sat in a fair amount of traffic once we got into Phoenix–Friday rush hour, I guess. We pulled up to the expo at around 3:30, so I missed all the blogger meet-ups, which was disappointing.

We walked in, grabbed my bib, I bought a new pair of Pro Compression sleeves for the race, and then went inside Sports Authority to get my shirt (side bar: this is the nicest race shirt I have ever received. It’s a super cute tank and I kind of love it). We rushed through it pretty quickly since we had Ru-dog with us and it was a tad overwhelming for him.

Trying to get a Bib photo…#reallife

After the expo, we headed over to our hotel to check in and unwind a bit. We were both kind of stressed out, so we decided to order out some pasta from Olive Garden. We carb loaded up while watching a marathon of Modern Family on USA. After eating, I spent some time getting everything laid out and ready for the morning, and was heading to sleep by 8:45.

I got up at 3 and started moving. I made some coffee, ate half a peanut butter sandwich (took the other half to eat before the start) and a banana. After checking obsessively that I had everything I needed, we headed out the door at about 3:50ish.

We had a bit of difficulty finding the bus drop off due to closed streets and detours, but we managed to find it. I kissed Jeff goodbye, he wished me luck and I headed over to the buses. I got onto one pretty quickly and ended up sitting next to a fellow Flagstaff runner! We chatted and right before our bus exited the freeway…it stopped. Our bus driver came over the speakers and said “Uh..the check engine light just came on and the engine just shut off…I’ll call this in and get you another bus.” Not exactly how you want your morning to start. We got a new bus pretty quickly though, and got to the starting line with over an hour to spare.

I went immediately to the Porta Potties and got in line. One thing I will say negatively about this race is the lack of porta potties. The lines were HUGE. I waited in the them twice and ended up finding a bush twice (one was RIGHT by the start line. I think we had about 3 minutes left before the start and I was like oh crap I gotta pee again! Sorry if I mooned any fellow runners. You gotta do what you gotta do.) The time before the race was pretty uneventful. I kept walking around to see if I could recognize anyone and then settled under a heater for the last few minutes. I ate my sandwich and hung out.

They played the National Anthem before we all moved to the start line, and shot off some fireworks (which was so great! I wish I had gotten a photo, but I had kept my phone in my Spibelt and couldn’t get it out in time). I found the 3:30 pace group at the start and settled in slightly ahead of them. Pace groups always mess with my mind, so I wanted to stay just slightly ahead of them, so I wouldn’t have to worry about falling behind (or the crowds that inevitably follow the pacer). I took my jacket off right before the start and crossed the start line about 30 sec. after the gun went off (and more fireworks).

Right away I felt pretty good. I couldn’t really see my pace as it was still pretty dark out, so I just went out on feel. I didn’t want to go too fast, but wanted to see what was going to be comfortable. The weather was perfect. It was cold at the camp before hand, but the minute I started moving I felt fine. I had kept gloves on, but ended up throwing those away within the first two miles. The first miles felt great and easy and I was moving comfortably

7:49, 7:45, 7:54, 7:57

I was worried about moving too quickly, but since I didn’t feel like it was taking much effort I went with what my body wanted to do, keeping as close to a 8 min/mile pace as I could. Around mile 4.5 we started the only major climb of the course. I pulled back and ran the next mile and a half easy. The course at UVM had a few big hills that I ruined my legs on by trying to maintain pace and I didn’t want to make that mistake again. I figured taking it easy on the incline would give me room to make up for it on the decline. Around mile 5, the 3:30 pace group caught up to me and surrounded me. I got blocked in for a while and couldn’t get around them. I finally ended up just squeezing through two people since I couldn’t deal with the claustrophobic feeling. I jumped just ahead to get out of the crowd.

8:17, 8:27

Mile 6 beeped and we were heading back downhill. I opened up my stride and let my legs do what they wanted. This was also about the time where we really hit the wind. It ended up being a headwind for almost the entire race (so much for the hope of a tailwind!) and at 20 mph, it was killer. I found myself counting down to the halfway mark over the next few miles…which I realized was not a great sign. I tried to stay positive, telling myself I felt good and I can handle the wind.

7:42, 7:49, 7:56

Around mile 10, I really started looking forward to the halfway mark. I already wanted to be done, which scared me. The 3:30 group had caught back up, and I stayed just about even with them for a while.

7:53, 8:00, 7:42

We were hitting some rolling hills at this point, going over and under freeways, and the wind was so brutal! I found myself listening to the pace leader as he yelled out turns, eagerly anticipating the moment we would turn away from the wind.

Mile 13 was a 7:52, putting me at a 1:44 half (7:58 avg). It was here that I really started to have some mental game issues. I told myself, regardless of anything else, maintain an 8 min/mil pace. The 3:30 group was still near me, so I ducked in, hoping to draft off them and block some of the wind. It didn’t help, but I was still feeling okay through mile 14. Mile 15 I was starting to tell myself to just get to 16 and then only 10 miles left—5 mile halves. Easy.

8:01, 8:02, 8:06

Mile 17 is where I entered the Pain Cave and I stayed deep, deep, in the cave for the rest of the race.

I started doing mental math–an 8 min mile pace was getting too hard, so how about an 8:10? That would still give me a qualifying time.

8:11, 8:15, 8:18.

Mile 20 is where I broke. I was fighting, fighting, fighting, with myself. Telling myself to suck it up and get through it. It was only 6 more miles and then I would have a BQ! I texted Jeff and told him I didn’t think I had it in me and he texted me back all the right things; I did have it in me, to just push through it, I was almost there.

I fought with myself a LOT during the next few miles. The 3:30 pace group had long since passed me and left me in its dust and I was struggling just to put one foot in front of the other. My quads were burning and I could feel the beginning of a blister on my left foot. I just couldn’t get my legs to move any faster.

8:32, 8:50, 9:10, 8:29

I thought for sure I had lost it. I had slowed down so much and was trying so hard to push myself and just wasn’t moving. During mile 24, I was doing the math and wondering if I could push myself to an 8 min pace for the last 2 miles. I tried, and my legs just weren’t turning over the way I wanted so desperately for them to.

8:28

I slowed to a walk at an aid station, and started debating whether I wanted to try to finish for a BQ and miss it by a few seconds, or just keep walking and accept that today wasn’t my day.

I texted Jeff again saying I didn’t have it in me and he replied “Don’t give up now! You’re SO close!” And I realized that even if I didn’t qualify, I would be more upset at myself for giving up a mile and a half from the finish then if I pushed myself to the end.

9:21

The last mile I gave it everything I had. It was mostly downhill and I kept thinking “Pain is temporary. Do you really want to have to do all this again? Keep going”. I hit 25.7 and was in so much pain and so badly wanted to stop. I had 4 min to get to the finish line in order to BQ. And I just ran with everything I had

7:46

I got to the chute and couldn’t see the finish line and almost started to cry. I actually stopped for a split second and then yelled at myself “WTF ARE YOU DOING? YOU’RE .2 MILES AWAY”. I started running again and almost immediately saw Jeff and Rudy. I grabbed his hand and kept going. I turned another corner, and there was the finish line. I ran as fast and as hard as I could, picking people off at the end, staring down the clock, desperate to finish before it hit 3:35.

I crossed the finish and almost fell to my knees. I managed to make it to a chair near the finish where I collapsed and kept my head between my knees until I stopped seeing spots and I could breathe normally again. I got up shakily, and started making my way out to the food. I grabbed a water, my medal and a towel (instead of a space blanket??? I couldn’t believe they didn’t have space blankets at the finish with the weather) and slowly started moving to find Jeff.

When I finally found him and Rudy, I gave him a huge hug and said “I did it.” My Garmin read 3:34:44. I had done it…just barely.

Final Sats:

Chip Time: 3:34:43

Division Place: 15 out of 99

Gender Place: 88 out of 851

Overall Place: 342 out of 1900

First Half: 1:44:11

Second Half: 1:50:32

20 Mile Split: 2:43:06

Last 10k: 51:37

This race took everything I had in me. It was the hardest race I have ever run. I am so incredibly proud of crossing that finish line with a BQ, even if it was only by 17 seconds. I so easily could have given up and decided that I wasn’t going to do it that day. Do I wish I had a bit of a faster time? Sure. I’m aware that if I hadn’t stopped to walk and text Jeff, or walked at the aid stations, I would have crossed that finish line sooner, but I didn’t give up. I wanted to–so, so badly. I didn’t let myself quit, and for that I am infinitely proud. I know getting this BQ doesn’t guarantee I’ll be toeing the line in Boston next April, but I’m staying optimistic about that. The goal was a BQ and I achieved that on Saturday, despite the shitty wind, despite the way my legs and mind quit.

Overall, this was a really well organized race. The announcers at the start line were INCREDIBLY annoying (or was that just me?) and they needed more toilets, but other than that, it was great. The aid stations were extremely well organized and all the volunteers were great. The spectators along the course were amazing. I saw the same people several times and they all cheered so loudly each time. I can’t really say much for the course, however. The beginning was beautiful and then you were mostly in neighborhoods. At one point we ran by a grove of orange trees, but I was battling the wind and trying to hang onto my pace that I didn’t really notice much else. On a better day, I think this would be an amazing course to PR at. I’m already thinking about running the half next year.

Thanks for all the support and good wishes sent my way last week! It was an incredible experience, as painful as it was. I haven’t been able to process everything about it (perhaps a post on that later), but I did learn one thing: I can do hard things.

Random Thoughts for Race Week

Holy cow guys. Race Week is messing with my head. I am all over the spectrum to feeling so freaking ready and so freaking not. I’m having full blown conversations with myself in my head, with one voice high pitched and freaking out about everything, and then the calm reassuring voice telling me everything is going to be great. So, rather than continue down this road to insanity (and in hopes of not having weird looks on my face anymore that concern the man-friend), here are my random thoughts about race day.

I am playing Russian Roulette with emotions lately. One minute I am SO pumped and excited for Saturday, the next I am freaking out about all my little aches and pains. My heel has been  bothering me off and on for a while and the last week or so it’s been pretty persistent. I’m sure that having to spend most of my days on my feet (even though I’m in good shoes) has something to do with it. It feels better when I’m in my running shoes or my work shoes though, so that’s good. I bought some KT Tape, hoping that may helpa smidge. Also, my hip/glutes are still SO sore. I’m pretty sure that had to do with my run on Sunday. I plan on some stretching, rolling and yoga-ing tonight in hopes of loosening it all up.

I’ve been checking the weather obsessively. Monday there was an 80% chance of rain in the afternoon. Then that moved to late in the morning (when I’ll be finishing running), to the full morning. Then yesterday it changed to rain all day, to rain in the afternoon, to a 20% chance of rain. The little rain emoticon was even gone from the forecast. This morning, however, I woke back up to this:

Back to afternoon showers! I know it’ll continue to change and I won’t really know until Saturday morning, but I can’t help myself. That wind is freaking me out, too, though. UVM in June had a headwind of 20 mph and it slowed runners down about 10  min or so (I crossed the line 7 min shy of a BQ). Luckily, this course is mostly SW facing, so it should be a tailwind for the majority of the course. Clouds means a cooler course, so my fears a few weeks ago of overheating won’t be an issue. I’m remaining positive that it’ll start the downpour AFTER I cross the finish line and am tucked away safely back in our hotel room.

I’m also not entirely sure what to wear. I’ve got my shorts and sports bra…and that’s about it. Tank top? T-shirt? I tend to run cold…so long sleeve? What if it does end up raining. Capris? I’ll probably bring a few different options to make a game day decision.

Overall, I think the most overwhelming feeling I have is anxiety. I’m anxious over just about everything and analyzing  E V E R Y T H I N G .

I know that I am capable of running a 3:30 on Saturday and am confident I can do it. I know the hardest thing for me will be the last 6 miles when my legs start to feel fatigued and my brain starts to tell me to walk.

Too far.

I’m incredibly grateful for the race I had at UVM in June. It was the first time I finished a marathon feeling strong and crossed the finish without having to walk, so I KNOW that I can do it. My biggest focus will be keeping my head in the game, being positive and telling my legs to move a little faster then what’s comfortable.

I have NO idea what I’m going to listen to while I run. My last marathon, I had saved up a few “Stuff You Should Know Episodes” but I haven’t been doing that (oops). I think I may just listen to “Serial” all over again. I know for a fact that it will keep me interested, so that may be my best bet.

I am so stoked to meet all the runners! This marathon is shaping up to be the social event of the season and I hope to meet a few readers (come say hi if you recognize me!) and instagrammers! I’m hoping to drag J-Money to a few of the meet-ups if possible. If you don’t already, follow me on instagram as I’ll be posting updates during the weekend.

And those are all my crazy thoughts. Thanks for sticking with me through that! It feels better to get it out of my head 🙂

Happy Wednesday all!

Have you ever run a race in the rain? What do you recommend wearing?

Any advice to keep your head strong, let me hear it! Love hearing from you!

Training Log 2.16.15-2.22.15

Happy Monday to you! Did anyone suffer through the Oscars last night? Jeff and I attempted, as I usually am a sucker for them, but about halfway through we turned it off. It was just SO boring. I also love Neil Patrick Harris, but I thought he was kind of a dud as a host. Maybe it got better as the night went on, but I was unimpressed!

Anyway, it’s RACE WEEK! 5 days until the marathon and I have no idea how I’m feeling. My glutes are crazy sore for some reason and my heel has been bugging me a bit the last week or so. I’m hoping I won’t need to be on the sales floor too much this week and can sit as much as possible. I am super excited, and absolutely confident that on Saturday evening, I’ll be sitting on the couch getting drunk off champagne and celebrating my BQ. Gonna make it happen!

Anyway, this past week I really embraced the taper. I would go to bed and set my alarm for 5-5:30 and, with one exception, would reset it in the morning for an hour later and run after work. Since it’s lighter outside longer, I figured it can’t be bad to give myself more rest.

Monday – 3 miles, 7.0 mph on treadmill, 1% incline

I usually rest on Mondays, but since I was working that day and taking Tuesday off for J-Money’s birthday, I figured I’d switch my runs around too. 3 easy miles on the treadmill before work.

Tuesday – Rest

J’s birthday. So many activities, but no running.

Wednesday – 3.52 miles with the pup, 8:07 pace

I’ve been loving taking Rudy running with me lately. It’s nice to go on easy runs together after work. He’s been doing a lot better, too. He rarely tries to pull my arm from it’s socket anymore and only wants to stop and pee 100 times instead of 1000.

Thursday – Strength day

I used this workout from Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers. It’s been one of my favorite go-to’s for a quick workout for ages. It’s effective and, depending on your pace, can be thoroughly exhausting. I added some extra arm and ab work at the end.

Friday – 3 miles, treadmill

Another treadmill run after work. I had big plans for another run outside with Rudy, but I got home a lot later from work than I was expecting, so I hopped on the treadmill as it was getting dark outside.

Saturday  – Rest

I had intentions to do yoga on Saturday, but again, I slept in over getting up and then it was my friend’s birthday party, so straight from work we went over to her place.

Sunday  – 7 miles, 8:31 avg

I was getting ready to head out for my run when Rudy started excitedly following me and dashing toward the garage anytime I stepped around him. I decided to take him with me for the first few miles.

How do you say no to that face?

 It was insanely windy. We’re talking, 35mph gusts. So, I ran two easy miles with the pup, dropped him off and headed out for 5 more on a nearby trail. Besides the wind, it was a beautiful day. It’s currently raining/snowing outside, so I’m glad I fought the wind and spent some time outside.

Total miles: 16.5

This week I’m taking it really easy. I’m hoping to squeeze in a yoga session at some point today to stretch out my glutes and run easy Tuesday, Thursday and take Wednesday and Friday off completely to rest. Here’s hoping it pays off!

Hope you have a great Monday!

Training Log 2.10.15-2.16.15

Happiest of Mondays! I’m all thrown around this morning, since I’m heading into work. J-Money’s birthday is tomorrow, so I swapped days off so we could celebrate! I also ran this morning so tomorrow could be a rest day, so I feel like it should be Tuesday already! As is Mondays aren’t bad enough!

The first week of taper is behind me, and besides dealing with a bit of the Taper Crazies, it was a good week of running.

Tuesday – Strength training

I did an arm and ab circuit that left my tricpes sore for days!

Wednesday – 4 easy miles with the pup, 8:00 avg

It was a beautiful evening when I got home from work, so I laced up and took Rudy with me for some easy sunset miles. I’m loving that the days are getting longer!

Thursday  – 7 miles, 8:21 avg

I split this run into two. I ran 5 miles in the early morning and just didn’t have any gas in the tank. So, when I got home from work that evening, I grabbed Rudy and we went out to finish two easy miles together.

Friday – 3 miles on treadmill, 7.0mph

Another easy run. Work was insane busy and I realized midway through my run when I was feeling crazy lightheaded that I hadn’t had much to eat that day. I cut it short and immediately made dinner.

Saturday – Rest

I was going to get up early Saturday morning to do a strength workout, but that didn’t happen. I got home from work much later than I anticipated and J was ready to start our Valentine’s date, so I took the day as a rest.

Sunday – 10 miles, 8:10 avg

I set out for some easy miles before Jeff and I went and explored Pine and Strawberry for the day. I knew I wanted to do double digits and keep it at an easy pace. I didn’t look at my Garmin at all and just counted the beeps for miles, but I ended up running pretty consistently at race pace, which felt really good!

The next few weeks before the race are crazy busy. Work is picking up since we’re going into season, which will mean longer days and hours and more time on my feet. I’m relieved the race is so soon, because man, do I need a break! Gonna keep it easy again this week, and bring my milage down even more. I am getting super pumped for the race though!

Total mileage : 24 miles

How was your Valentine’s weekend? How far did you run this week?

Fighting off the Taper Crazies

The countdown to the Phoenix Marathon has officially begun. As of this morning, there are only SIXTEEN DAYS until I’ll be toeing that start line, hoping for that elusive 3:30.

AND I AM FREAKING OUT.

This week has felt really off to me. Since I wasn’t able to do my long run on Sunday, and then it got cut into pieces on Monday, I don’t feel like I ended my training cycle on a strong upswing. I’m sitting here scrolling through Instagram and seeing other people’s workouts and I can’t help but think..

Did I train hard enough? Am I really ready for this?

And the big one…

What if the BQ doesn’t happen. 

I know everyone talks about the “Taper Crazies”–when you have to suddenly slow waaaay down and do that whole “trust in your training” thing…And dude. It’s effing hard, bro. I am so nervous that this race is going to go to hell.

The kicker is, I KNOW I have no reason to be so worried. I’m usually really ready for the taper. It’s the time to relax and sleep more–run a lot less and enjoy some down time before the big day. I’m usually so wiped out that that is exactly what I need and want, so I take full advantage of it.

For some reason though, this time around my head is an absolute mess.

FO REAL.

My training cycle was solid. I know that. I may not in the shape I was before UVM in June, but I feel pretty fit. Despite this, I catch myself listing off all the aspects of my training that I could have done better.

My strength training was lacking. I can admit that. I cut it down to once a week, and when I did it, it was pretty lackluster. I did an arm workout yesterday and holy hell are my triceps sore today! Not an awesome sign… I didn’t do as much yoga as I probably should have, and I’m suddenly terrified that because my 20 miler and my 22 miler weren’t stellar that I’m totally f*cked. Add to the list that I did no downhill training even though the course is downhill and in my head, I’m totally screwed.

Regardless of how insane I feel, and worried that I rushed this training cycle and didn’t push myself as hard as I should have, I’m trying to focus on the positive aspects of the last few months.

Optimism.

• I may not have PRed at the Fiesta Bowl Half, but I still ran a solid time.
• I had a kick ass 18 mile run.
• I pushed through all the mental crap and finished the crappy runs.
• I pulled myself out of the deep dark black hole of a bad week and kept going.
• I put the work in.

Regardless of what happens on the course on the 28th, I’ll finish another 26.2 miles. That in itself is a big deal. Especially considering the crazy schedule I managed in order to get my training in (a post on that to come!).

I’m hoping this blog post will help me get back into a more stable mental state–I’m writing the crazy out as I eat some more Goldfish (because, carbo loading) and I’ll wake up tomorrow mentally strong and able shut out the Taper Crazies for the next two weeks.

And in the meantime I’m going to continue eating all of the food and sleeping as much as possible…because I can.

And with this motivational quote, I leave you.

Do you fall victim to the Taper Crazies? What are your tips for coping during taper time?