Somehow, The Marathon Returned - comments welcome!

[nancipants]

I really admire your commitment to training and doing these crazy long runs in the heat! WAY TO GO on that 20 miler, seriously. Sorry to hear about your blisters -- other than that, did your feet hurt? I know the goal was to fix the long run aches and pains, so hopefully they at least resolved that issue. Also sorry about your mom. Aging parents are stressful. ::hugs::

Thankfully, the rest of my body felt fine (well, as fine as you can after running 20 miles!). My feet didn't start hurting until the second half of the run, and other than the specific pain near the blister, it ws just general "you've been on your feet too long" soreness. So I consider the shoes a success! I do want to try a 5.5 wide instead of a 6 and see if there's much of a difference.

And thank you. I'm the only caregiver for my mom and she insists that she's fine, so it's doubly stressful.

 

[nancipants]

Catching up before my race tomorrow:


September 23: 30 minutes easy. My legs felt a little heavy still and I didn’t want to push with race paces, so I just did a nice slow run. My ankle was bothering me, but felt better the more I ran.

September 24: 2 mile progression walk and core workout.

September 25: Drill run. Just did the drills, no hills or race paces, since I wanted to keep taking it easy before my race.

September 26: Rest. Picked up my bib for the Margaritaville10k!

The race starts at 7 am tomorrow so I’ll be heading to bed soon. Thankfully it’s only 20 minutes away so I can wake up at 5 and have plenty of time to get ready.

I don’t have a specific time goal, because it’s super hot and I reserve the right to slow down if needed, but I would like to keep a steady pace throughout the race. I’m going to alternate 60/30 and 30/30 intervals and run according to feel, and see what that gets me. I figure this will be a good baseline for later in the season, when the weather is much more conducive to racing.

 

[jmasgat]

Good luck and have fun!

 

[RuntheMouse]

Hope you had a great race!!!

 

[nancipants]

course was long, but I still beat last year’s time.

 

[Erika10021]

90 degree weather!?! You are a machine, I am super impressed with finishing and with that time too? I would have been a puddle.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Great job!

 

[RuntheMouse]

Way to go! That heat oooffff!

 

[nancipants]

90 degree weather!?! You are a machine, I am super impressed with finishing and with that time too? I would have been a puddle.

To be fair, I think that was quoting the high for today. But it was a feels like of 75-78 while I was running.

 

[avondale]

Great race in those conditions! Congrats!

 

[The Expert]

Awesome job, Nanci!

 

[nancipants]

I should do a race report before my next race, right?

Margaritaville 10k was a fun time, as usual. It’s definitely a “vibes” race, as it’s way too hot to try for a fast time unless you’re the dude I saw in the lobby wearing a Boston Marathon shirt. This year was the inaugural half marathon, and I was very skeptical of how it would go considering the time of year and it did not look like they had enough water stations on the course map. Plus, I have no idea if they had porta potties for the half course. Anyway, I did the 10k and the course was slightly different than last year. I liked it better overall, although it still just gets way too hot once the sun rises. We started at 7, earlier than last year, which was greatly appreciated. My goal was to keep as consistent pace as possible, I mostly stuck to that goal until the last mile. I set my watch for 30/30 intervals and basically alternated 60/30 and 30/30 the entire race (although with a few extra walk breaks later on). I started to get annoyed near end of the race when the 10k course merged back with the 5k course. Because they started half an hour later, the course was filled with walkers and it was so hard to maneuver around them. I’m not used to having to do that so late into a race and expending extra energy when I was getting really hot really threw me off. (This is by no means criticizing walkers, but rather how the course was set up. Although there were several annoying groups just like at Disney.) also, the mile markers were off and the course was long. Despite that, I beat my time from last year! And if the course hadn’t been long, I would have been below 1:20. So overall, a good start to the race season!

 

[col1]

I don’t know how you manage in that heat and humidity, I did one 2 mile run at the all star resort last year before sun came up and it nearly finished me. So to you and congrats on beating you previous time on the long course.

 

[nancipants]

I don’t know how you manage in that heat and humidity, I did one 2 mile run at the all star resort last year before sun came up and it nearly finished me. So to you and congrats on beating you previous time on the long course.

Thank you! I'm a lot faster in the winter.

 

[nancipants]

September 28 - October 11

September 28: Recovery walk. 1.31 miles, 36:45. I think this was with the dog.

September 29: 2 mile progression walk. 39:06. Did this on the treadmill at 2.8, 3.0, 3.2, and 3.3.

September 30: Easy run, 3.12 miles, 45:14. Also did lower body strength training, 20:20.

October 1: Upper body strength training.

October 2: Drills and hills workout.

October 3: Skipped strength training so an inadvertent rest day.

October 4: Rest day.

October 5: 10 x 800 repeats.
WHEW. This started out fine but got really rough around the 7th interval. Goal was half a mile in 5:45 or 11:30 pace. I was generally slightly faster or on pace, except for the 8th and 10th intervals. By then it was really hot so it's fine.



After that, I went to Disney for the Crowned Athletics pop-up shop so I walked from Hollywood Studios to the Swan Reserve, then back to the Boardwalk. We took the boat back to DHS.

October 6: 2 mile progression walk, 39:32. Also made up core strength training from the previous week. (Plus I didn't want to do strength training the upcoming Friday before my half marathon.)

October 7: Tempo run. I did 3 miles this time with the goal of getting faster each time. I did 30/30 intervals for the first 2 miles, and then alternated 60/30 and 30/30 for the 3rd.



Also did a short lower body strength training session.

October 8: Upper body strength training.

October 9: Easy treadmill run. 2.15 miles, 32:31.

October 10 (tomorrow): Planned for a 30 minute easy walk.

October 11 (Saturday): "rest." Driving up to Amelia Island for my race.

October 12 (Sunday): Amelia Island half marathon! (more of my plan for that in the next post)

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I should do a race report before my next race, right?

Margaritaville 10k was a fun time, as usual.

You had me at "Margaritaville"....

Well done.

 

[nancipants]

You had me at "Margaritaville"....

Well done.

I forgot to mention, but they DO give out (very tiny) margaritas after the race, as well as Landshark lager. I did not partake, but I picked up two cans of Landshark and gave them to my husband.

 

[nancipants]

Amelia Island Half race plan

I could joke here and say I don't have a plan. After all, it's October in Florida which usually doesn't mean much of a change from September weather!

HOWEVER. The weather report is now gracing us with lows that start with a 6. The current weather forecast is showing 64 at race start and 70-ish when I hope to finish. This might seem super hot for a lot of races, but for October in Florida, it's glorious! Even better, Coach Twiggs is from the area and told me the course has a lot of shade near the end of the race. The forecast has been trending warmer the past few days, but I'm hopeful it'll stay in the 60s at the start, at least.

All that being said, I'm still planning to start with the 3 hour pace group, but I might break off around the 10 mile mark, or maybe even the halfway point, if I'm feeling good and the weather is cooperative. My current half marathon PR is 2:58:18, while my magic mile race prediction is 2:42:20. That's unrealistic with the temps and my current training, but I'm pretty confident I can at least beat my PR. Which is exciting! I was previously planning to drop back if I needed to once the temperatures rose, but now I'm hoping the opposite is possible. We will see!