Running Renaissance: Road to Paris 2024

[GollyGadget]

Thanks @xjillianpaige for that amazing amount of info. I'm waiting for my plane now, hoping I can get some sleep and have enough energy for my 8mi run tomorrow.

Congratulations on your 5k, and have a great trip!!
Also, your dog is so adorable! Bucky looks very lovable!

Thank you! Looks can be very deceiving... She can be a sweetheart but only on her terms.

Congrats on your 5K!!

Gracias!

Catching up and awesome recap!! You should rock that statue at your desk (or wherever you work.)

That's a brilliant idea! I have a feeling my husband would be glad for it to be removed from our living room...


I was on a call today with the rest of the race committee and turns out 23:14 was the correct time. The clock guy started early. Totally stoked at this result. Sub 23 here I come!!!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Have a safe flight and a nice time in London!

 

[GollyGadget]

Oct 9-15 Recap (81 Days until WDW Marathon)
This was the first “real” week of training and I was a bit nervous heading into it. The first five weeks were a bit of recovery/ramp up for what was to come and the mileage was also scheduled to jump from 24 to 39, over 50% increase! Even during my training this summer, I never got up to 39 miles in a week.

Monday – Easy 4 + Strength
I was excited on Monday to see an easy 4 miles. This was something I knew I could get done easily. That excitement wore off as the day drug on and by the time I got off work all I wanted to do was take a nap. I did end up taking that nap and when I woke up I could see the sun was already setting. D’oh! I forgot that it’s October and the sun sets at 6p. Luckily, there was still enough daylight left to get in my easy 4 miles.

I took Bucky for ~2 mile out and back in celebration of her 6th birthday and then did another ~2 mile loop. I only know approximates because I wanted a break from tech and just went out and ran easy. I run my neighborhood enough that I feel pretty comfortable saying it was a total of 4 miles but I’m not 100%. Also, by the time I finished at 7 it was getting too dark to be running without a light so I had to head home regardless.

Tuesday – 12x400 @ 7:18
With the break I’d taken from speed training, I was very nervous heading into this workout. Would I be able to find and hold onto the right pace? And what would that pace be? Going into the week, I wasn’t totally set on if I wanted to go for 5K or 10K speed. In the end, I decided to try for 5K speed which meant hitting each 400 interval in 1:49 +/- 1 second. Below are my results and, as you can see, I started off slow trying to find the right pace, but I’m pretty happy about how it ended. 5/12 were +/- 1s, and 7/12 were +/-2s.

1. 1:57
2. 1:56
3. 1:44
4. 1:50
5. 1:47
6. 1:46
7. 1:48
8. 1:49
9. 1:49
10. 1:51
11. 1:46
12. 1:48​

Wednesday – Strength
Blah, strength. I didn’t do it…again. At some point during the week, this article was brought to my attention: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/well/move/what-half-marathons-teach-us-about-running-a-marathon.html Hopefully, I can use it as motivation to actually do some strength training in the coming weeks.

Thursday – 5 @ T (8:18)
The tempo runs always look so frightening on paper. I was nervous about the run most of the day. I still think of myself as a 10 min miler so the thought of running 5 miles at an 8:xx pace seemed nearly impossible. I took Bucky for my warm up around the neighborhood and then headed out. As usual, it took me a while to find my groove. My local runs are fairly hilly which accounts for some of the variation mile to mile but I still think I can do better now that I know what tempo feels like.

1. 8:53
2. 8:25
3. 8:13
4. 8:26
5. 8:30​

Friday - Easy 4 + Strength
Friday was departure day. I had some work I needed to get done plus I wasn’t packed so I put off the run until the afternoon. One last run around the neighborhood for the next week and fairly uneventful.

Saturday - Easy 8
It wasn’t until I was getting ready to leave on Friday that I realized running 8 miles on Saturday was going to be a challenge. My plane was scheduled to land around 11:30a and factoring in customs and travel it would be 1:30 before I reached the hotel. I was hoping to fit in a trip to the ticket booth to get tickets to a show and a tour of the Tower of London before said evening show. As the day wore on, became apparent I was going to have to prioritize.

I opted to go for my 8 mile run and postpone the Tower of London visit. I’m so glad I did. I ran past Buckingham Palace, through Green Park and then on to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. My run through Hyde Park was one of my favorite parts of London. There were so many friendly dogs just venturing around. It was amazing! The run also did wonders for relieving some of the stress the travel had created.


Sunday – Easy 8
After running through the parks on Saturday, I decided to head towards some of the other sights and run along the Thames on Sunday. It was much less crowded in the morning which made running easier and also better pictures with less tourists.

Proof I was there:


Total miles: 40.3
Total time: 6:51:23

This week’s schedule:
M – Easy 4 + Strength
Tu – 8x600 @ 7:18
W - Strength
Th – 5 @ T (8:18)
F - Easy 4 + Strength
Sa - Easy 6
Su – Long 10 (9:00)

 

[xjillianpaige]

Gorgeous photos and amazing spots to run! I should fly over there to go for a run... that seems like a good idea, right?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great training week!

 

[Sailormoon2]

Great training week-awesome shot of London.

 

[GollyGadget]

Gorgeous photos and amazing spots to run! I should fly over there to go for a run... that seems like a good idea, right?

Totally sounds like a good idea to me! I'm happy to be a travel enabler.

Great training week!

Thank you! I was a bit worried with the travel that I might fall off the training wagon but I managed to stick with it and so happy I did.

Great training week-awesome shot of London.

Thanks! Running while traveling is one of my favorite things. It's such a great way to see a new place.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Running while traveling is one of my favorite things

Me too! Although I should say that running is my EXCUSE to travel

 

[ZellyB]

Great job getting those runs in and what amazing photos of what must have been a really memorable run. Love!!

 

[GollyGadget]

Oct 16-22 Recap (76 Days until WDW Marathon)
Once again I was traveling this week, which always makes finding time for running an interesting challenge. I started the week in London, traveled to Oxford for meetings, then flew out of London early Friday morning. Everything was going well until my return. Jet lag/travel caught up with me in a big way and in the end, I didn’t get my runs completed on Saturday or Sunday. Eeeeeeek, not good. Such a bummer after the great week I had just before. I’ll get back on the wagon this week. Luckily, I don’t have any other big trips planned in the next two months to derail me (Ahhh! How did it get to be 2 months?!?!?).

Speaking of WDW coming up quick, I registered for a half on Nov 11 to keep me honest and motivated with my training. Well, that’s less than 3 weeks away now! I haven’t really thought much about the race since the big goal has always been the marathon, but now I’m realizing I should probably set some sort of goal for the day…

Monday – Easy 4
Monday morning was a nice easy run. Once again, I headed for the Thames but this time ran the opposite direction. No big sights but I did find a nice park and a pretty bridge.


Tuesday – 8x600 @ 7:18 (5 @ T)
The schedule on Tuesday required me to get up before 6 to go for my run. Being in a new place where the sun wouldn’t rise until 7, I decided to go for the treadmill. I wasn’t sure if the treadmill would be in miles or km and I didn’t feel like doing all the math required to figure out my speed workout in kms on a treadmill so I switched the tempo and speed runs. The run itself went pretty well and felt quite a bit easier than last week. I managed to accidentally turn the treadmill off twice. The second time was during my cool down so I may have cut that a bit short….

Wednesday (45 min easy)
At some point during the week, I accidentally agreed to go for a run with my Italian colleague Wednesday evening. I sort of thought he was joking, but apparently he wasn’t. I’m blaming the language barrier. I knew my 4 easy miles might be tricky to fit in on Friday with the flight back to US, so I told him we could go for 40 minutes. He managed to persuade me to 45 minutes. Minutes seemed an easier way to measure since he usually runs in kilometers and myself in miles. I ran without my phone so no idea how far we ran, but we did hit 45 minutes pretty much right on the nose.

During the run I asked him about his training and how often he ran. He follows a 3 day week schedule with a long run, speed session, and easier run during the week. He told me the easier run was around 8, like we were doing today. I momentarily freaked out until I realized, he meant 8kms, not 8 miles. Whew.

Thursday – 5 @ T (8:18) (8x600 @ 7:18)
Thursday we weren’t meeting until 8:30 which allowed me to sleep in a little bit more and still fit in my run. It wasn’t light until after 7 with the sun rising near 7:30 so I once again hit the treadmill. Fortunately, the treadmill operates in miles so it was fairly easy for me to calculate how to run my intervals. Bonus, this time I didn’t accidentally turn it off

Friday - Easy 4
By the time I got home on Friday, I was running on fumes. I didn’t really get much sleep and then couldn’t sleep on the plane at all because my brain thought it was daytime and I should be awake. I had previously decided that since I did 4ish easy miles on Wednesday, these would just be bonus miles and I could skip if I wanted. The weather was amazing and husband and I went for a hike so I did get some exercise, just no running.

Saturday - Easy 6 (0)


Sunday – Long 10 (9:00) (0)


Total miles: 22.6
Total time: 3:32:02

This week’s schedule:
M – Easy 6 + Strength
Tu – 6x800 @ 7:18
W - Strength
Th – 5 @ T (8:18)
F - Easy 5 + Strength
Sa - Easy 6
Su – Long 10 (9:00)

 

[GollyGadget]

Oct 23-Nov 5 Recap (61 Days until WDW Marathon)
Bonus week! Since I didn’t post last week, there’s two weeks in one this time around. Lucky you! This past week has been a big one. I’ve officially made it halfway through my training, in terms of weeks anyway. Mileage is another story, that’s like only 1/3 complete…. I’ve missed 4 runs which equates to nearly 92% completion. That’s still an A, right? Unfortunately, 3 of those 4 were in the last three weeks, but I’m back in the saddle now and ready to make some serious gains.

In other running news, I finally took some of my own good advice and went to the local running shop to get fitted. After a particularly painful run on Friday, I decided it was time. It’s been on my to do list for quite some time but just never made it in the top priority. I’ve actually been fitted once before by the other running shop in my area. It wasn’t a very good experience. They didn’t really seem to care all that much that I had come in looking for help. No foot or gait analysis and I ended up with a pair that I never really liked. That’s probably the biggest reason I’ve been putting it off for so long. But now we have a new shop in town, and I’ve had really good experiences with them so far so I wanted to give them a shot.

A little shoe background….I started distance running around the same time the whole minimal trend took off. I never bought truly minimalist shoes, but I’d be lying if I told you that didn’t affect my shoe preference. One of my main tests before I would even try a shoe on was picking it up to gauge it’s weight. If it felt too heavy, I never even gave it a chance. Eventually, I settled into buy Nike Frees from the outlet mall and those worked really well for me for the most part. I loved the fun color options and my runs were pain free for the most part. As my daily mileage increased to double digits, I would feel some discomfort in my knees toward the end and that was the tipping point in deciding I could probably use more of a shoe than the Nike Free.

First thing I did was have my foot scanned and supposedly that’s my foot below. Idk, looks like any old foot to me. It is pretty interesting to look at the feedback though. Based solely on length, my foot size is actually just below a 6. I’ve never worn a 6 in my adult life, usually a 6.5 or 7. Why have I been up a size the whole time? Apparently my ball width is just a tad on the wide side. The funny thing is that my heel width is on the narrow side. So, now I can be self-conscious about my foot shape…. The foot scan also showed that my arch is on the high side but since I’ve been running injury free and with little shoes, the fitter decided to stick with neutral shoes.


In all, I tried on about 5 or 6 pairs of shoes. I couldn’t tell you what they all were. The first pair was Saucony’s and they felt okay, like any other shoe really. I don’t remember the second pair, but it was the same again. Didn’t feel uncomfortable, but not overly impressed either. Next I tried on a pair of Brooks, again, not impressed. The Brooks felt the best thus far, but they all felt a little bit clunky too me. No doubt because I’m used to running in less shoe. Next came a blue pair of shoes in some brand I never heard of. These felt like clouds on my feet. Amazing. I went for a little run on the store treadmill since it was raining out, and I could tell these were contenders. We tried on a few more pairs, some Nikes, and another model from this unknown brand, but none of them were close. I took them off after a few steps around the store, didn’t even need the jog to figure it out.

I went home with a new pair of Altra Escalantes. They cost about twice what I normally pay for shoes, but my knees are worth it. I have high hopes for these shoes. The salesperson mentioned that they aren’t as cushioned as most people wear for a marathon, but that some people just prefer less shoe, including the owner of the store. That made me a bit more confident in my decision and felt less like I was being reckless with my joints. I ain’t getting any younger after all. . So far, I’ve only taken them for an easy 5 mile run, but I’m going to try them out again today for 7 miles. The true test will be double digits.

In non-running news, we made our FP+ selections. It was a lot more stressful than I anticipated. Currently, the plan is to hit DHS on arrival day, MK on Wed, MK on Fri, AK on Sat, and Epcot after the marathon on Sunday. Then we’re flying out Monday morning. If the weather is cooperating, we’re hoping to visit Typhoon Lagoon on Friday, so it’d only be a half day/evening in the park. In the case it’s too cold for a water park, it’s likely we’d switch to a full day at Epcot and visit MK after the marathon. We got all the FP+ I was hoping for, the timing made it stressful. We’re not Disney regulars and while I have a really good understanding of how to visit MK, I’ve only been to AK three times and haven’t quite figured out the best way to enjoy that park with FP+. Neither of us are super into having to follow a schedule on vacation either, so that’s always a struggle. We know it’s better to have the FP+, but we’d prefer to just ride when we felt like it that day rather than planning so far in advance.

Anyway, onto the training recaps. They might be a bit brief this week. I can barely remember what I did this weekend, so remembering specifics from these runs is tough.

Monday – Easy 6
To combat my lack of motivation, I brought my running clothes to work so that I’d go running immediately after work and wouldn’t have the opportunity to sit on the couch first. This worked somewhat. I made it to the trail in my running clothes where I still sat in my car for nearly 20 minutes talking myself into it. It was only 6 miles after all. (Ha, before this summer 6 miles was a long run to me. Not something that would be classified as easy, nbd).

Eventually, I made it out of my car and onto the trail. I never really got into my groove but I made it, 3 miles out and 3 miles back. It’s a good thing I started when I did because it was starting to rain during my last mile but I managed to make it to my car before it really started pouring.

Once I got home, I came across this quote in my Facebook newsfeed. Good timing Runner’s World.

Tuesday – 6x800 @ 7:18
Tuesday, I ran at the indoor track. Running here is always a battle of wills. The walkers outnumber us runners and for the most part, I’ve learned to accept that. The issue is that they walk at least 2 across and then if they’re passing another group of walkers, there’s no room to pass. I’ll shout out “passing on the right” but that usually just confuses them and they stop dead in their tracks like a deer in the headlights.

Goal for the repeats was 3:39. I struggled to find and hold the pace but finally got really close the last two intervals (3:49, 3:48, 3:53, 3:51, 3:43, 3:40)

Thursday – 5 @ T (8:18)
I hope at some point Tempo runs get easier, because right now they’re my least favorite. At one point, I was running through the woods and heard a scary noise as I passed a brick building surrounded by fence and barbed wire. I was pretty sure it was a Demogorgon, but even that wasn’t enough motivation to make me run faster. Mile splits were 8:16, 8:31, 8:27, 8:43, 8:33. There was also this sign… don’t worry sign, I don’t need your help.


Friday - Easy 5
Friday was an easy run right after work. I don’t really remember it so it must not have been too eventful. I did pass by these signs with scary short stories. I either totally missed some sort of community event, or this was a school project.


Saturday - Easy 6
I had to wake up early on Saturday so I could get my 6 miles in and showered before 7:30a when we were leaving for the weekend. Since it wasn’t going to get light out until 7, I opted for the treadmill. Again, nothing much to report.

Sunday – Long 10 (9:00)
Remember earlier when I told you I missed another run? Yeah…it was this one. I let Halloween get the best of me and was not in good shape on Sunday. Mostly, I was just exhausted and had no energy. Yikes, of all the runs to miss, it had to be this one…

Total miles: 32.3
Total time: 5:25:06

Monday – Easy 5
The lack of sleep while celebrating Halloween was still there. I went home and took a nap instead of running…whoops. My run skipping habit always comes in groups. It’s like once I miss one, it’s so much easier to miss another. It’s a slippery slope.

I’ve actually considered switching to 7 days a week just so I didn’t have a chance to get any non-running momentum into my schedule. On the other hand, it’s nice to have one evening a week to just relax at home and catch up on household things.

Tuesday – 5x1000 @ 7:18
Tuesday, I had to rush to get my run in and showered in time for trick or treaters. I don’t remember the circumstances, but I elected to hit the treadmill for this one. I think I forgot my running belt? Or hadn’t packed the clothes appropriate for the weather? I also didn’t seem to track this one in my app, but since it was on the treadmill, I feel pretty confident in saying that I hit my intervals

Wednesday – Easy 5
I wasn’t willing to let another week get by with a skipped run, so I headed out to the trail after work to squeeze this one in. My husband texted me on the way to the trail to let me know it was raining and I should meet him for happy hour instead…silly non-runners. Unfortunately, I had a late meeting and didn’t get going until after 5:30. I made it just over 4.5 miles before it got so dark that I was worried about tripping or slipping on the wet leaves. But hey, 4.5 is a heck of a lot better than 0.

Thursday – Easy 6
Thursday was supposed to be my Tempo run, but I didn’t really have it in me. First, I decided to just go out for a couple miles and then get into the Tempo. I thought after a warm up, I’d have a change of heart. I never did so I decided to delay my tempo run and fit in my easy run that was scheduled for Friday. The whole run was tough mentally, but I made it.

Friday - 8 @ T (8:18)
Time to put up or shut up. Tempo here I come. It was actually sunny for a change so that was nice. The warm up went well and the first mile was right on pace, and the next three were pretty close, but a tad slow. After that, things got a lot closer to LR pace than they should have. As I mentioned, my knees started aching a bit toward the end but I made it through. I think skipping my long runs really caught up to me for this run as I didn’t have the endurance I needed. I’m chalking this up as a lesson learned. Still plenty of time to recover for the marathon, but my training has got to be more consistent if I don’t want to go through this suffer fest again.

Saturday - Easy 5
Saturday I was relieved to have an easy run to put the Friday run officially in the past. I was also really excited to try out my new kicks. I ran around the neighborhood. The temperature was nice but it was still wet outside and I came home with wet socks. Luckily it wasn’t any colder! This is Bucky's "stop taking photos and get moving" face.


Sunday – Long 12 (9:00)
This was scheduled to be 15, but since I hadn’t run the previous two long runs, I elected to set my minimum distance at 12 miles. Knowing I had a half marathon in a week, I didn’t want to totally blow up and thought 12 was a good compromise. At the halfway point, I was still feeling great and considered going a little further before turning around. I was worried that decision might backfire, so I turned around and decided if I was still feeling great after another 6 miles, I could keep going in the opposite direction. Spoiler, by the time I got to 12, I was ready to be done and glad I was back at my car. My overall pace was 9:20 but if you throw out the first two “easing into it” miles and the last two “where is my car” miles, the pace was pretty much spot on (9:06).

Total miles: 45.3 – New Weekly PR! I’ve had months this year that I didn’t even hit that sort of mileage.
Total time: 7:21:13

This week’s schedule: I’ve modified it a bit to account for my race this weekend. Most notably, I’ve moved the Saturday run to Wednesday and pushed the Friday run to Saturday. This is to give my legs some sort of rest before the race. You’ll also notice, no Tempo this week. From what I’ve read, when altering schedules for races, it’s best to swap the Long Run and Tempo days and use the race as a tempo run. I’m certainly not going to complain about missing tempo this week

M – Easy 7
Tu – 4x1200 @ 7:18
W – Easy 8
Th – Long 10
Sa - Easy 5
Su – Madison Half Marathon

 

[Sailormoon2]

Nicely done! And congrats on purchasing an expensive pair of shoes

 

[roxymama]

Catching up and having serious envy about those pictures. How scenic!
Also tell Bucky that the internet people demand more pics of him (SO CUTE!!!)

Congrats on your weekly mileage PR and mucho luck on Sunday.

 

[GollyGadget]

Nicely done! And congrats on purchasing an expensive pair of shoes

Thanks! I had some tough runs this week but I know it'll be worth it.

I think the shoes were nearly as big of an accomplishment. I'm typically pretty frugal and I've never spent more than $70 on a pair but I knew going in that wasn't going to cut it this time and I'd definitely be over $100 and maybe over $150. Having that mindset definitely helped when I got to the cash register.

Catching up and having serious envy about those pictures. How scenic!
Also tell Bucky that the internet people demand more pics of him (SO CUTE!!!)

Congrats on your weekly mileage PR and mucho luck on Sunday.

London was a lovely place to run. I know most people don't like running on vacation but I will always be an advocate. It's a great way to see the sights!

Bucky wants you to know she's a lady. About 87.3741% (I hear the more decimals I use, the more accurate) of people that meet her assume otherwise, problems of being a tomboy... Can dogs be tomboys? I'm assuming so.

Thanks for the luck! I haven't quite set my goals for the race but I'm feeling pretty good about it.

 

[roxymama]

Bucky wants you to know she's a lady. About 87.3741% (I hear the more decimals I use, the more accurate) of people that meet her assume otherwise, problems of being a tomboy... Can dogs be tomboys? I'm assuming so.
.

Please send my apologies to Miss Bucky! And let her know that I find her pumpkin bandana quite fetching (dog pun intended.)

 

[FredtheDuck]

Lurker here, and just wanted to say how much I love that you got some good runs in while you were in London - what a fun way to see the place!

Also, my DH and I both started running during the minimalist craze. BOTH of us actually ran in Vibram Five Fingers for a while, then I switched to Merrell Trail Gloves and wore those for a long time. He followed shortly after. I'm not in minimalist shoes at all anymore (though I do tend to prefer smaller drops). He still really prefers a zero drop but was open to more cushioning for long runs, which lead him to Altra, too. He wears Instincts for longer/tougher runs, and is (so far) sticking with his old Merrell Trail Gloves for short runs and ultimate frisbee. I suspect he'll stop using the Trail Gloves and get another pair of Altras (they have some neat new ones coming out early next year) soon. I'm glad to see that you're wearing them and liking them, and love the sentiment that your knees are totally worth the investment!

 

[ZellyB]

Thanks! I had some tough runs this week but I know it'll be worth it.

I think the shoes were nearly as big of an accomplishment. I'm typically pretty frugal and I've never spent more than $70 on a pair but I knew going in that wasn't going to cut it this time and I'd definitely be over $100 and maybe over $150. Having that mindset definitely helped when I got to the cash register.


London was a lovely place to run. I know most people don't like running on vacation but I will always be an advocate. It's a great way to see the sights!

Bucky wants you to know she's a lady. About 87.3741% (I hear the more decimals I use, the more accurate) of people that meet her assume otherwise, problems of being a tomboy... Can dogs be tomboys? I'm assuming so.

Thanks for the luck! I haven't quite set my goals for the race but I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Accuracy in random made-up statistics is VERY important!

 

[GollyGadget]

Please send my apologies to Miss Bucky! And let her know that I find her pumpkin bandana quite fetching (dog pun intended.)

She forgives you. I like to pretend that she's about 1/5 her size and dress her up. She's not overly impressed by that but doesn't mind the bandanas.

Lurker here, and just wanted to say how much I love that you got some good runs in while you were in London - what a fun way to see the place!

Also, my DH and I both started running during the minimalist craze. BOTH of us actually ran in Vibram Five Fingers for a while, then I switched to Merrell Trail Gloves and wore those for a long time. He followed shortly after. I'm not in minimalist shoes at all anymore (though I do tend to prefer smaller drops). He still really prefers a zero drop but was open to more cushioning for long runs, which lead him to Altra, too. He wears Instincts for longer/tougher runs, and is (so far) sticking with his old Merrell Trail Gloves for short runs and ultimate frisbee. I suspect he'll stop using the Trail Gloves and get another pair of Altras (they have some neat new ones coming out early next year) soon. I'm glad to see that you're wearing them and liking them, and love the sentiment that your knees are totally worth the investment!

So far so good! Took them out again on Monday. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be on the look out for the new ones now!

Accuracy in random made-up statistics is VERY important!

Glad you stopped by to check my accuracy!

 

[GollyGadget]

Nov 6-12 Recap (51 Days until WDW Marathon)
Sorry I’m late again guys, I was feeling a bit down when the week ended and didn’t feel like posting, but here it is….

Random running tidbits:

• I told a stranger that I had went running in the morning, because of course running comes up to anyone I meet. Anyway, he was expecting like a 3 mile run. Imagine his surprise when I told him 9. He then proceeded to ask if that was unusual. Nope, a lot of my weekday runs end up in the 7-10 mile range with warm ups. Then he thought, I probably only ran 3-4 times a week. Nope. 6 days a week. After that he started quizzing me on the original marathon. Turns out, I didn’t know a heck of a lot about it except that the guy died.
• My quads are definitely getting bigger. My husband asked me if it was normal the other day when I showed them to him. I think I’m almost to the point where I can wear this shirt and not be embarrassed that I don’t live up to it.

• Now that my mileage is ramping up, I’m hungry all of the time! No wonder it’s uncommon to lose weight while training for a marathon. Side note, my husband asked me how many calories I would burn running a marathon. I estimated around 2600. He couldn’t even fathom why someone would run that far if it didn’t even mean burning a full pound. Oh well.
• A local HS track team is putting on a Donut Mile fundraiser! I’m for sure going to feel like crap afterward, but there’s no way I don’t participate. Now to figure out how to adjust my training and not puke…

Monday – Easy 7
If you had asked me a few months ago if 7 miles were easy, I would have laughed in your face. Anything approaching an hour was tough, and over an hour was definitely not easy. My how things have changed.

I took Bucky out for the first 2 miles then dropped her off and headed out of the neighborhood. There isn’t much shoulder and no sidewalk, so I probably won’t be venturing out too much as it gets darker but I’m enjoying the different scenery while I can. I ran past these beauties and their not so lovely smell. My boss likes to tell me that is the smell of money, so I try to keep that in mind instead of complaining.


Tuesday – 4x1200 @ 7:18
I left work in a hurry Tuesday to try to squeeze in as much daylight as possible. I made it onto the trail just before 4 which was plenty of time, but I wouldn’t want to start much later. The workout itself was rough. Holy tired legs! I kept telling myself to go faster and my legs kept telling me to shut up, specifically my quads and calves. I was nowhere near the intended 5K pace; in fact, I was nearly spot on with the Tempo pace. My last interval was an 8:10 pace which is only two seconds off my Strength pacing…so maybe my body is just ready to make the switch from speed to strength? My breathing was fine the whole time, so it was definitely a case of tired legs and not cardio fitness.

After work, I came home to this pouty puppy. She was not very happy that I was in my running clothes and not taking her.


Wednesday – Easy 8
Due to her antics (and overall adorableness), Bucky guilted me into taking her on part of my run Wednesday. After the drop off, I headed out of the neighborhood again. I ran through a few nearby neighborhoods and found two houses with Christmas lights up. Ours aren’t up yet, but will be soon. At least now if anyone gives me grief, I know we weren’t the first.

On my way back, I was startled by the beautiful creature picture below. It took me a minute in the dusk to realize what it was. At first I thought it was just a really large stray dog. Once I figured it out, I couldn’t stop playing those videos in my head of people just getting totally wiped out so I was a little nervous. In the end, we both stuck to our sides of the road and all was fine.


I didn’t take my headlamp out and instead opted for my light up ear warmer. This worked well for keeping my ears warm and improving my visibility. I had assumed that my neighborhood was well lit enough that I wouldn’t need a real light, but turns out that isn’t the case. After some minor tripping on the uneven sidewalks, I headed in, only completing 7.5 of the 8 miles.

Thursday – Long 10
Thursday I had to take my car in for new brake pads and rotors. I guess those are important to have, especially with winter coming quickly. This put a little kink in my schedule so I elected to wake up early and get my run in before work. I must have miscalculated just a smidge, because I only made it 9 miles before I needed to be back at my house ASAP. I had just enough time to pack my lunch, shower, and make it to the appointment right on time.

The temperature was around 30 when I set out. The coldest I’ve ran in this year but a good opportunity to test out race day layers. The run itself could have gone better, I couldn’t seem to hit the 9mm pace and the closest I got was 9:14. There was a 700 ft elevation gain during my run and I think that definitely had an effect compared to the 250 ft of my 12 miler last week. The other factor was definitely my tired legs. While they weren’t yelling at me like they were on Tuesday, I think they were looking forward to a break on Friday. On a positive note, I ran for 90 minutes both Wed and Thurs but Thursdays run was 1.7 miles further

Saturday - Easy 5
I woke up early on Saturday to get my run in before tailgating. It was wicked windy outside but I knew of a nearby trail that would provide some tree cover. The plan worked and the only really cold parts were the parts to and from the trail.

It was a fairly easy run and boosted my confidence a bit compared to the other runs earlier in the week. It was also really nice to run around my old stomping grounds. Most of my training for my first half marathon was done around Madison and I try to fit a run in every time I’m there for the nostalgia.

Sunday – Madison Half Marathon
Ughhh, this is why I didn’t want to post this weekly recap. I was really looking forward to ringing that PR bell but it just wasn’t meant to be. I didn’t get very much sleep, which isn’t unusual for a race, but I also wasn’t feeling well. On top of all of this, the weather was not promising with rain and cold temperatures. In the end, this was my very first DNS and I’m majorly disappointed. It took me a long time to come to the decision, but I knew I wasn’t up for the potential suffer fest and I really didn’t want to jeopardize my marathon training any more than I already had. I had a less than desirable race at my half this past spring and that was partly because I pushed myself in a race the week before even though I wasn’t feeling well.

Total miles: 35.5
Total time: 6:17:40

This week’s schedule: Week 11 means switching from speed to strength. I’ll get to slow down a bit and it should help with my tempo runs, so I’m looking forward to the change. Assuming all goes well, I’ll officially be back on schedule. You’ll also see I added strength back in the mix. Hoping to stick with it a little better than last time which only lasted 3 weeks.
M – Rest
Tu – 6x1mi (8:08)
W – Easy 5…maybe strength?
Th – Tempo 8 (8:18)
Fri – Easy 5
Sa - Easy 8…maybe strength?
Su – Long 16

 

[roxymama]

The t-shirt cracks me up.
And for the record I can't drive past a field of cows without pointing and saying "Cows!" and I'm well into my 30's.
I may have thought "Cows!" when I read your post.

So that you don't feel alone...I had a DNS around this week last year too. It was hellish weather and I had a cold. So I skipped it in favor of feeling better for another race later in the month. It sucks that our bodies and the weather don't always cooperate. Sometimes you just know if it's a battle you want/need to fight or not.

Also I am glad you did not get run over by that deer.