It's Not the Years, It's the Mileage - birthday marathon training journal

[nancipants]

and it'll work. at some point, you might freak out and be worried, but the plan will work.

Yeah, I have seven days straight of running leading up to Christmas, including double long runs on the weekend.

I will look for you.

 

[nancipants]

I did have a question regarding strength training, so I thought I'd ask here in case anyone else could find it useful. @DopeyBadger I'm been doing 10-20 min strength training videos over the summer and want to continue that through marathon training. Currently I don't have particular days set for that, but I want to because it will help me be more consistent. So considering my current training plan, is there a better or worse day to do the videos? Or does it not matter? I usually do one day for lower body, one day for upper body, and one day for core.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I did have a question regarding strength training, so I thought I'd ask here in case anyone else could find it useful. @DopeyBadger I'm been doing 10-20 min strength training videos over the summer and want to continue that through marathon training. Currently I don't have particular days set for that, but I want to because it will help me be more consistent. So considering my current training plan, is there a better or worse day to do the videos? Or does it not matter? I usually do one day for lower body, one day for upper body, and one day for core.

Your plan is 5 days per week of running with three peak weeks of 6 days. The 5 day per week running schedule is:

M- Easy
T- OFF
W- Hard
R- Easy
F- Easy
Sa- OFF
Su- Long or Hard

and 6 days per week is:

M- Easy
T- OFF
W- Hard
R- Easy
F- Easy
Sa- Easy/Mod
Su- Long or Hard

So I would aim to do the following when adding in strength realizing that running remains the primary:

M- Easy
T- OFF
W- Hard + Upper
R- Easy
F- Easy + Core
Sa- OFF + Lower
Su- Long or Hard

M- Easy
T- OFF
W- Hard + Upper
R- Easy
F- Easy + Core
Sa- Easy/Mod
Su- Long or Hard

This should keep the easy days easy, and the hard days hard without overdoing it. Because of the six days of running, I wouldn't recommend doing the lower body workout.

 

[nancipants]

Thanks, @DopeyBadger! Exactly what I needed to know.

 

[nancipants]

Copying @superchime, I also gave this journal a title change for marathon weekend. (Plus, I have no time to write anymore, so it's really run, work, parent, run.) Points to the first one of you to get the reference.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Copying @superchime, I also gave this journal a title change for marathon weekend. (Plus, I have no time to write anymore, so it's really run, work, parent, run.) Points to the first one of you to get the reference.

No points for me as I had to look it up. Good one though!

 

[Naomeri]

Copying @superchime, I also gave this journal a title change for marathon weekend. (Plus, I have no time to write anymore, so it's really run, work, parent, run.) Points to the first one of you to get the reference.

 

[nancipants]

Well, I'm back! Just like Indiana Jones, I got kicked around a bit the past few weeks. Maybe I should have kept the old journal name?

The first two weeks of easy running went great, and I completed every run. I kept the pace slow and the heart rate low.

September 2-8: 5 runs, all easy, 16.2 miles.

September 9-15: 5 runs, all easy, 16 miles.

And then I got sick. It was so weird; I ran 4 miles on Sunday morning and felt great. I ran near my mom's house which is completely flat and everything felt easy. We went to a get together at a cousin's house, and my throat started getting that post-nasal drip feeling. I had a headache by the time we left to drive back to our house. After 1.5 hours in the car, I felt like death warmed over. I've never felt so bad so fast. I still don't know exactly what it was. Some daycare crud that made my son sick for less than 24 hours but knocked out my husband and I for over a week. My sinuses are finally (mostly) clear. I took two covid tests a few days apart and both were negative, so I'm assuming it was some sort of cold/sinus infection. Do not recommend. I'm just grateful it happened now and not a few months from now - and it's a reminder for me to get my updated flu/covid shot!

I took a full week off running. I was able to walk the dog after a few days, and it felt nice to get outside.

September 23-27: 3 runs, all easy, 9.1 miles. I'm annoyed because I was supposed to do a M tempo run last Sunday, but still wasn't feeling 100%, so I decided to skip it. Overall, all these runs felt good.



Tomorrow is the Margaritaville 10k. It's going to be hot. I checked the weather, and the low temps are finally supposed to dip into the 60s next week. Why couldn't it be a few days earlier??? Blah. The course is flat, though, so at least that part will be easy. I'm not sure if I'll be able to PR in the heat, but I'm going to try and see where my fitness level is. Going to pick up my bib tonight, have some Bento takeout, and drink lots of Liquid IV.

 

[GollyGadget]

Good luck and have fun!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Glad you're feeling better! Good luck tomorrow! Fingers crossed for some cloud cover and a nice breeze, at least...

 

[superchime]

I caught an illness at Springtime Surprise that moved in that quickly, it was weird and not fun! Glad you're on the mend and I hope you have a good race. Margaritaville looks like a fun place to run.

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Good luck! Obviously by my handle, I love Jimmy Buffett.

I had that same crud and finally, two weeks later, feel like it's done. I didn't bother going to the 10K I had last weekend. After a week of trying to be good, I stuck with my recovery plan and I DNS'd.

 

[nancipants]

Race Report: Margaritaville 10k

tl;dr: That sucked. Will not do again.

Much longer story:

The Margaritaville 10k was held at the Margaritaville resort in Kissimmee, Florida. It is located off US-192 near the 429 expressway, on the grounds of the old Splendid China attraction.

Last year, I did the 5k. I trained for a sub-40 PR and succeeded with 38:24. It was disgustingly hot, but cloudy.

This year, I decided to sign up for the 10k since I knew I'd be training for the Disney Marathon and could use this race as a catered long run/fitness gauge.

However, I ended up not looking forward to this race for several reasons.

1) I had just gotten over being sick and missed an entire week of running. I was feeling better by the time the race came around, but not as prepared as I could have been.

2) The previous year, the 10k course did the 5k loop twice. This was nice because the first part of the course had some buildings that blocked the sun, and because you were running around the resort, the sun didn't hit as hard. This year, they changed the course so the 10k course left the resort at the back of the loop and did an out-and-back portion along an adjacent two-lane road. This road is NOT flat. (And they released the course map a week in advance, which was not nearly enough time to prepare for the inclines.) Also, the "back" portion of this road travels east, meaning we'd be running directly into the rising sun. Finally, they did not close the entire road, only the west-bound lane, so it got crowded and we had cars driving right next to us on the "back" portion.

3) It was disgustingly hot. I don't know if it was any hotter than the previous year, but there was less cloud cover, which really slowed me down during the later half of the race. It's a lot easier to run a 5k in 78 degree weather than 10k.

My alarm went off at 5:30. I dragged myself out of bed, got ready, toasted my bagel, and was out the door by 6. It didn't take long to get to the resort. The parking lot was pretty full so I had about a five minute walk to the actual resort. I had picked up my bib the day before so all I needed to do was go to the bathroom and warm up. In retrospect, I would have gotten there later. The 10k race started last (why? It's longer???), and I waited until the last wave to go, so I crossed the start line at 7:38.

I'm not sure what my exact times were for the first few miles because I didn't see the mile markers and had set my watch to manually lap. I also hit the lap button by accident during the fifth mile, so that time got messed up. I ran 30/30 intervals, but ran for an extra interval when I was feeling good and walked a few extras toward the end. I started out pretty good, definitely not as fast as I wanted to be, but my first two miles were around a 13 minute pace. The next two miles were mid 13s, and the last two were around 14s. My heartrate spiked into zone 4 during the "back" portion when we were running straight into the sun (between mile 3 and 4) and there was no getting it down after that, no matter how much I walked. During the last two miles, I kept telling myself, "This is for Western Way. Just keep moving forward. Run when your watch tells you. Don't worry about pace." Then the 10k course had a short jaunt around a parking lot to add the extra .1 miles, and I said, "This is for Blizzard Beach!" Hopefully, though, the temps will be cooler for the marathon. *crossing fingers* I felt like throwing up every time I stopped for a walk interval, but thankfully, no throwing up occurred.

Because I was doing intervals, I kept leap-frogging with a few people and basically willed myself to stay in range of them. One woman noticed my Crowned Athletics outfit (the Force Fighter tank and shorts) and said "May the Force be with you!" I, of course, replied, "And also with you!" She mentioned she was running Princess dressed as a Ahsoka, so we had a short exchange before she and her friend pulled ahead, at which point I said "Good luck!" because I had no intention of keeping up, lol. But I kept seeing her up ahead of me, and she didn't finish much farther ahead of me, so I felt good about that. I also kept tabs on a few other people (woman with hydration vest, woman in purple tank, woman with black running belt, man with orange tank top), and we all ended around the same time. It was a fun way of keeping up my pace without staring at my watch. I'm not sure how feasible that will be during the marathon when it's much more crowded, but I'll try, anyway!

All in all, while this race was definitely NOT fun, I'm glad I did it because it taught me some good lessons for future races and it really tested my mental toughness. I don't think I've run that long in zone 4 before (my Garmin says I was there for 41 minutes), so it's nice to know that like The Expert's training diary says, I did NOT die. I had a cooling towel on my neck and wrist and I think that helped. Clothing wise, the Crowned Athletics shorts felt AMAZING. I love them in general, but this was the longest run I've had them on for and they were perfect. I will definitely be wearing the Glitter Black shorts for the marathon!

Final stats:

Time: 1:25:18
Avg pace: 13:40. (Training plan calls for 12:48, or 13:34 with adjusted T+D, so I wasn't that far off!)
Distance: 6.24
Avg heart rate: 149 (it felt MUCH higher, haha)
T+D = 155

 

[DopeyBadger]

Sounds like some brutal conditions, but way to persevere! That'll be needed during Disney for sure!

 

[superchime]

Congrats! It sounds like you made the best of an un-fun situation.

 

[The Expert]

During the last two miles, I kept telling myself, "This is for Western Way. Just keep moving forward. Run when your watch tells you. Don't worry about pace." Then the 10k course had a short jaunt around a parking lot to add the extra .1 miles, and I said, "This is for Blizzard Beach!"

Great way to put it in perspective!

I'm not sure how feasible that will be during the marathon when it's much more crowded, but I'll try, anyway!

IME you will definitely see a lot of the same people at different points on the course, even if you've stopped or changed pace. It's funny how I will spot people at the finish that I saw in the corral that morning, even when I've felt my race was all over the place.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Way to go on a very un-fun race!

 

[GollyGadget]

Sorry the race didn't go so well but you kept going! An important skill to learn ahead of your first marathon.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Good job getting through a challenging race!

 

[avondale]

Great job with the race! That T+D is brutal for something that long.