You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[GollyGadget]

Do you wear a hat while running? I'm not the best person to ask about sun protection but I do typically wear a hat if it's sunny to protect my pretty face

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Do you wear a hat while running? I'm not the best person to ask about sun protection but I do typically wear a hat if it's sunny to protect my pretty face

Yep, I wear a visor. Depending on the angle of the sun, it may or may not help...

 

[Herding_Cats]

Other than the increasing sun, I still felt good until the half-marathon point, when a carousel of minor aches started cycling through. First my glutes hurt, then my quads, then my hips, then my foot, then back to my glutes. I ignored it all but it started to get tiring.

I feel all of this. Body complains about one spot. Tell it to talk to me about it later. So it switches to a different part. "Let's see if she'll listen to THIS one." Ugh.

With about 5K to go, I was ready to be done, and my mini-celebration had devolved into a general sense of "oh good, are we there yet?" With about 3/4 of a mile to go, I had finished my 2L bladder of water. Then, finally, I was done. I felt okay until I slowed to a walk, when my legs promptly screeched, "WHAT have you DONE to us??" The first couple of minutes of my cooldown walk probably looked a little like I was drunk. This is why I don't do run/walk.

My legs ached for the rest of the day, but once I remembered how to walk again, I actually felt better when I was up and moving around than when I was resting.

Indeed. What HAVE you done to your legs?! Forcing myself to get off my butt and move after the races was the hardest thing I've ever done; and I've had 4 kids without so much as an IV. And I will never forget the guy at the resort watching us get off the bus after the full first be a bit concerned (and curious about a race bus maybe?) and then completely crack up as we tried to navigate the stairs down to the ground and then *walk*

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I will never forget the guy at the resort watching us get off the bus after the full first be a bit concerned (and curious about a race bus maybe?) and then completely crack up as we tried to navigate the stairs down to the ground and then *walk*

Lol I can only imagine!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Lol I can only imagine!

my personal tip: if your quads are shot (and i knew from my first marathon and "running" down a hill at mile 22 that mine would be after completing goofy) go down the bus stairs backwards. Different muscle group. And if you fall forward its into a step less than a foot from you, and not down 3 steps onto pavement.

 

[Cabius]

Around 9 miles in the cloud cover started to clear, which was unfortunate because I still haven't figured out sun protection on long runs. If I put sunscreen on before I leave, I'll have sweated it off by the time I need it anyway, and if I carry it with me, which I don't want to do, I can't put it on because I'm all sweaty and don't want to stop running. Has anyone come up with a workable strategy for this?

I've done spray-on sunscreen a couple of times, mostly on my head and neck (as a bald man). That's not really something I want to carry with me for an entire run, but if I feel like I will need it I might loop back past my house, or else stow it in a tree where I'll loop back at the appropriate time.

You might also get a more lightweight sunscreen stick that you could carry with you -- smear it on, and then rub it in at your leisure without slowing down too much?

Also -- great run! Sounds like they hay is in the barn, as they say. Good luck with your cutback/taper.

 

[striker1064]

my personal tip: if your quads are shot (and i knew from my first marathon and "running" down a hill at mile 22 that mine would be after completing goofy) go down the bus stairs backwards. Different muscle group. And if you fall forward its into a step less than a foot from you, and not down 3 steps onto pavement.

I appreciate that you think any of us are coordinated enough to go down stairs backwards in normal conditions, much less right after a race.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I appreciate that you think any of us are coordinated enough to go down stairs backwards in normal conditions, much less right after a race.

I thought it was actually easier because I could lean forward into the hand rails rather than trying to lean back and do triceps dips down the stairs.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

You might also get a more lightweight sunscreen stick that you could carry with you -- smear it on, and then rub it in at your leisure without slowing down too much?

That's a good idea - I may give it a try next time I have a run that will take me into sunny times.

Also -- great run! Sounds like they hay is in the barn, as they say. Good luck with your cutback/taper.

Thanks!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

December 12 - 18, 2022
Marathon training week 13 | 21 days until WDW Marathon
In which I actually find a hill, sort of, and my dog has a lot of emotions

Monday
Planned: 10 min easy + drills and strides + 1 min @ 5KP (7:54)/1 min easy + 2 min @ 10KP (8:12)/1 min easy + 3 min @ HMP (8:36)/1 min easy + 2 min @ 10KP/1 min easy + 1 min @ 5KP/1 min easy + 2 min @ 10KP/1 min easy + 3 min @ HMP + 10 min easy
Completed: 10 min easy (10:53) + drills and strides + 1 min @ 7:27/1 min easy + 2 min @ 7:46/1 min easy + 3 min @ 8:23/1 min easy + 2 min @ 7:47/1 min easy + 1 min @ 7:40/1 min easy + 2 min @ 8:09/1 min easy + 3 min @ 8:25 + 10:59 easy (10:00)
Total: 0:45:58, 4.91 miles, 162 bpm

Matt Fitzgerald calls this a fartlek run, and it's one of the few repeated workouts in the level 1 marathon plan. It was pretty easy the first time I did it in week 7, and it was pretty easy this week too. I was only moderately off of my paces too, so I'm calling it a win.

Plus: lower body strength

I hadn't done this video before, but it's a nice variety with a little bit of pilates and HIIT in addition to the strength. I did the strength portion twice because it seemed pretty short and I still had plenty of energy after my run.

Tuesday
Planned: 45 min easy
Completed: 50:15 easy (10:38)
Total: 4.72 miles, 144 bpm

My loop was a little farther than I thought, so I ended up with a few extra minutes. My left hamstring and calves were a bit tight - either from the strength training or left over from Saturday's 18-mile run - but it wasn't a problem.

Plus: core

Wednesday
Planned: 45 min easy
Completed: 46:02 easy (10:47)
Total: 4.26 miles, 140 bpm

Nice and easy except for random, intermittent left knee pain towards the end of the run. When it wasn't actively doing strange stabby things, it felt fine. Weird. I resolved to be better about doing all of my PT exercises and not just the three that I've been using as my warmup.

Plus: upper body strength

Normally I save upper body strength for Friday, but we were headed up to the beach for the weekend and I didn't feel like going to the gym there.

Thursday
Planned: 45 min easy
Completed: 47:31 (10:36)
Total: 4.48 miles, 149 bpm

Normally this would have been my second workout of the week, but I switched that to Friday because I was supposed to do a hill workout and the beach has something at least approaching a hill. My knee had a few twinges again but was mostly okay. I'm not sure why my average HR was a notch higher than most of my recent easy runs, but I decided not to worry about it unless it keeps happening.

Friday
Planned: 10 min easy + drills and strides + 4 x 2 min uphill@HI(7:09-8:04)/3 min easy + 10 min easy
Completed: 10:03 easy (10:26) + 4 x up the hill fast/down the hill slow + drills and strides + 11:40 easy (10:20)
Interval splits: 2:20 @ 7:26, 1:48 @ 7:29, 2:06 @ 6:57, 1:43 @ 7:33
Total: 51:05, 5.35 miles

So the one hill I can get to even at the beach is a bridge, and it's not all that much of a slope. But it goes up so I counted it, and it was even about the right length to be close to two minutes running up each side. So that's why the times aren't exact; I started at the bottom of the hill and ran to the top, then jogged down the other side and repeated the process. I'd say it was comfortably hard - and no knee issues.

I started out thinking I was supposed to do four hill repeats, but then halfway through I kept going, "Or maybe it was five?" I stuck with four because if I did five I would have to do six to get back and I didn't want to. However, since I had forgotten to do drills and strides at the beginning, I did seven strides instead of my usual 4-5 when I did them before the cooldown. Just in case.

Unfortunately, my watch recorded absolutely no HR data for any of the hard parts.

Saturday
Planned: 12 miles easy
Completed: 13.32 miles easy (10:43)
Total: 2:22:44, 148 bpm

I have been rereading Matt Fitzgerald's Run Like a Pro, which is where my training plan comes from, leading up to the marathon in case it had any good tips that slipped my mind. I had forgotten that it basically didn't talk about racing at all, so it wasn't particularly helpful in that regard. But it did remind me of just how slow easy runs are supposed to be. According to Fitzgerald, an easy run should stay before the first ventilatory threshold, which is about 65% of your VO2max pace. (In the book part he talks about VO2max pace and in the plans he calls it maximum aerobic speed, or MAS. I don't know why, but either way he means the pace you can sustain for six minutes at most.)

Per the calculator on his website, my VO2max/MAS pace is 7:09 (I think; it's not that user-friendly). Sixty-five percent of that is 11:00 per mile, and I have not been running that slowly. I think I'm still okay running in the high 10s, but the high 9s I've been doing for a lot of my long runs might be a little too fast for this plan. It doesn't seem to have hurt me, but I decided to try slowing down for this run. I figured it would still be shorter than my 18-mile run anyway. And it was pretty!


ID: A straight, paved path with trees on either side forming a canopy overhead.

I'm actually really proud of how easy I kept it. My watch once again didn't record some HR data, this time from the first half of my run. So my actual average HR was probably even lower than 148, which is already well within my easy range. And yes, I did run 1.32 miles farther than I was supposed to - my running math was a bit off at one point, and then I missed a turn when I got back to the neighborhood. Running in new-ish locations is fun but also hard


ID: A trail bounded by pine needles from the trees on either side.

Shockingly, despite the excellent weather (temps in the mid-50s when I started and mid-60s when I finished) and relatively low humidity, I didn't see any other runners and only a few walkers/bikers. What do people do on their Saturday mornings there?? In DC the trails, streets, and any other conceivably run-able surface would be packed in those conditions. It worked out for me, though, because I got to spend a couple of hours on these lovely, open paths.


ID: Just a peek of a lake beyond a clearing surrounded by massive trees.

Fuel
Pre-run: yogurt with apple and granola plus coffee
42 min: vanilla bean GU
85 min: Maurten gel
Post-run: vanilla yogurt smoothie

So I brought my hydration vest and bladder up to the beach, but unfortunately I forgot the slider that holds the bladder closed I did have one of the squishy water bottles that fits in the front pocket, so I carried that and a plastic water bottle. However, the plastic water bottle developed a hole in its side a couple of miles in, so I drank as much as I could and tossed it. Then I had to make a pit stop a couple of miles later I didn't quite have enough water for the remainder of the run, but at least my second gel was isotonic so it still worked.

Since I had a later-than-normal start (it was chilly in the morning and I wanted breakfast and coffee), my dog thought he should go for a walk as soon as I got back. Here he is hovering while I stretch, waiting for me to get up and get his leash.


ID: A Rottweiler standing and looking at the camera with sad eyes. He looks like a puppy because he has an enormous head, but he is 7-ish.

Sunday
Planned: rest
Completed: rest

Before we headed back from the beach, we took my dog out to walk by the ocean. He loves it. His favorite is to try to eat the ocean


ID: The Rottweiler turning back to look at the camera while walking along the beach with the ocean in the background.

Then we drove back to Orlando and he had a lot of feelings. When he sees us packing things up, he's always torn between excitement (he loves the car) and terror (before I adopted him he was picked up as a stray and spent several months in a shelter). Normally he's pretty quiet, but when we're getting ready to head out the door all the emoting spills out and he makes a lot of very unusual and slightly concerning sounds. Dear parents' beach neighbors, despite all the screaming, my dog was not being tortured this afternoon; he just has no emotional regulator

Total
Mileage: 37.04
Time: 7:37:02

A pretty light week, which is what it was supposed to be.

Coming up
Remember last week when I said the week with the 18-mile long run was by no means the hardest one of the plan? Well, we've finally gotten to it. Because that's what you want two weeks before your marathon? I guess?

In addition to three 60-minute easy runs, I have:

• 10K @ 10KP+5% (8:38)
• 8 x 600m @ 5KP (7:54)/1 min rest
• 60 min @ SSP+1 min/mile (9:40) + 60 min @ SSP (8:40)

All that plus Candlelight Processional on a chilly Friday night, Christmas Eve on Saturday, and Christmas Day on Sunday...wish me luck! But it can't be all that bad - none of them are 30-second intervals or hills

 

[azrivest]

Per your recommendation, I tried Fitness Blender for the first time this weekend. Do you do the whole routines each time? The upper body strength workout was almost 40 minutes-ish and I cut out a few of the exercices during the burnout portion. But you're right, it helps for accountability. I'm less likely to cut back on a set or two if I'm following along with somebody. Oh and I liked that the guy actually seems to be working hard and not just breezing through his workout.

So thanks!

 

[GollyGadget]

Your dog looks like he’s 6 ft tall from your stretching angle

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Per your recommendation, I tried Fitness Blender for the first time this weekend. Do you do the whole routines each time? The upper body strength workout was almost 40 minutes-ish and I cut out a few of the exercices during the burnout portion. But you're right, it helps for accountability. I'm less likely to cut back on a set or two if I'm following along with somebody. Oh and I liked that the guy actually seems to be working hard and not just breezing through his workout.

So thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it! I do the whole video but pick my routines based on how much time/effort I want to put into them. There's a good range, so if I only want 10 minutes, I'll find a 10 minute video, and if I have longer I'll do something longer. I do sometimes skip the warmup if I'm doing it after a run.

And yeah, it's reassuring to see Kelli and Daniel struggle sometimes too! It's nice when the "influencers" set an example where it's okay to not be perfect all the time.

 

[HangWithMerida]

Those trails are really pretty. Here, they would be packed in such pretty conditions too. I guess people at the beach like to sleep in. Your dog is really pretty!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

December 19 - 25, 2022
Marathon training week 14 | 13 days until WDW Marathon
In which we celebrate, but the weather does not

Monday
Planned: 1 mi easy + drills and strides + 10K @ 10KP+5% (8:38) + 1 mi easy
Completed: 1 mi easy + drills and strides + 10K @ 8:32 + 1 mi easy
Total: 1:20:48, 8.76 miles, 170 bpm

I finally found a pace I can get right. All that HM-pace practice over the summer must have actually paid off, because every time I looked at my watch I was basically spot-on. I picked it up some in the last mile-ish so the average was a little faster. Felt great except that my right calf was super tight during the CD for some reason.

Plus: lower body strength

Since my morning run was so long, I didn't have time to fit strength training in before work and had to save it for the end of the day. I didn't feel like doing it at that point - plus I was a little worried about my calf - but I decided I should at least start, and if I felt bad I could stop. I picked a relatively easy routine, and it ended up being okay.

Tuesday
Planned: 60 min easy
Completed: 1:00:54 easy (11:00)
Total: 5.52 miles

I accidentally split this run in two by stopping my watch instead of pausing. My calf was still a little tight, but mostly it went fine.

Plus: core

Wednesday
Planned: 60 min easy
Completed: 1:00:15 easy (10:31)
Total: 5.72 miles, 148 bpm

I felt nice and peppy this morning, and my calf was a lot better.

Thursday
Planned: 10 min easy + 60 min @ SSP+1 min/mile (9:40) + 60 min @ SSP (8:40) + 10 min easy
Completed: 10 min easy (10:01) + 60 min @ 9:38 + 60 min @ 8:29 + 18:13 easy (10:24)
Total: 2:28:23, 16 miles, 163 bpm

Well, here it is, the hardest workout of the plan. It should have been on Saturday, but I did not want to spend two and a half hours outside in below-freezing temperatures, so I swapped with Thursday's workout. Then it ended up raining on and off for much of the run, so . Still better than cold.

Weather-related complaints aside, it went pretty well. I was definitely feeling the effort, but I wasn't dragging at all - in fact I was able to up the pace a little more the last couple of miles of the SSP segment (because I was still farther from home than I wanted to be and I was trying to cover more ground). Of course, then by the end of the segment I was very tired, but I still managed to run the rest of the way back and finished right at 16 miles.

Fuel
Pre-run: raisin bran muffin, I think (I didn't make a note at the time and can't remember for sure)
During the run: a combination of GUs and a Maurten every 40 minutes or so
Post-run: yogurt smoothie

I didn't lay around after the run either; my mom, my brother, and I headed to Epcot for the afternoon. Practice for the marathon! We rode Guardians again (still awesome) along with Test Track, where my brother and I, as is our tradition, designed a truly atrocious car.


ID: Words cannot describe this car. It is lime green with stars on the body (Christmas-y!) and physically impossible to enter/exit, see out of, or probably drive at all. I should also note that it is solar powered, because why not.

We also tried the food at the China holiday booth, which was yummy. And we saw Joyful and the Voices of Liberty perform, yay.

Friday
Planned: 60 min easy
Completed: 1:01:45 easy (10:56)
Total: 5.64 miles, 148 bpm

I was a little nervous about this one after Thursday's monster run, but I figured I'd see how it went and bail early if necessary. It turned out fine; I was slow and sluggish at first but felt pretty reasonable after a mile or so.

Plus: upper body strength

Once again, I did not feel like it. I almost convinced myself to skip it, but instead I went with a shorter routine than I had originally planned and managed to get through it.

Then we headed back to Epcot for Candlelight! We had dinner/lunch/whatever meal is at 4 p.m. at Le Cellier, which I had never tried before. It was pretty good but not amazing. Then we did a couple of rides while waiting for our 8:30 show as the temperature dropped precipitously. By the time the show started, we were all bundled up. (Well, my mom and I were bundled up. My brother and my dad had put their jackets on.)

Our narrator was Cal Ripken, Jr., who was okay. (I voted, as I do every year, for Neil Patrick Harris. Still have not seen him.) This year they changed up the narration as well as some of the songs. The biggest one was shifting to a medley of Joy to the World and the Hallelujah Chorus - it was confusing! We couldn't figure out what to do with that, and I was sad because every year I practice the Hallelujah Chorus so I can sing along but then I couldn't because they kept switching back to Joy to the World in the middle. It was still good but I liked the old version better.

Saturday
Planned: 1 mi easy + drills and strides + 8 x 600m @ 5KP (7:54)/1 min rest + 1 mi easy
Completed: 1 mi easy (9:49) + drills and strides + 8 x 600m @ 5KP/1 min rest + 1.12 mi easy (10:01)
Interval splits: 7:45, 7:50, 7:42, 7:45, 7:33, 7:54, 8:11, 7:15
Total: 57:03, 6.37 miles, 166 bpm

T+D from 131 on Friday morning to 54 on Saturday. Look, I know some of you like running in the 30s. But I do not. At all. I did not want to do this run and once again almost convinced myself to skip it. Eventually, though, I bundled myself up and told myself I could bail early if it was too miserable.

Because of my layering, I couldn't look at my watch during the run without a lot of work. And when I tried to set up pace alerts, I had technical difficulties. So I got to do this one blind! My watch will tell me the duration at the end of the interval and I calculated that each interval should be a little less than 3 minutes, but that was all the feedback I had during the run. I had to go by feel and could only adjust based on the previous interval. And it actually went...well? Unbelievably (let's remember that I'm generally terrible at pacing), I wasn't that far off most of the time. I mean, sure, #5 was a little fast, and I dialed it back too far for #7 and then massively overcompensated in #8, but overall I was surprisingly impressed with myself.

Needless to say, I did finish the run and it wasn't even that bad (except at the end of interval #8 when I was praying desperately that I hadn't miscounted and had another interval left to go - whew). I'll still trade this weather for the 131 any day, though.

Sunday
Planned: rest
Completed: rest

Merry Christmas! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, spinach and artichoke dip for lunch, and turkey with stuffing, biscuits, cornbread, potatoes au gratin, asparagus, and corn for dinner, along with plenty of wine and a massive chocolate cake. Yum! My dog still hasn't finished opening his presents because he got distracted by a bully stick, but he did get to open a new squeaky ball, and I think he likes it


ID: A Rottweiler curled around a red ball on the couch

Total
Mileage: 48.01
Time: 8:43:43

For sure the most intense week of the training program and peak mileage as well. Also there were kind of a lot of points where I didn't feel like doing something but did it anyway, at least in part because I would have to write about it in my training journal later

Coming up
I've got one somewhat challenging workout today (which I'm saving until the temperature gets above 50), and then it starts to get easier before the marathon in two (!) weeks. Also at some point this week I have to add a random rest day or a random easy run to shift my long run back to Sunday. I haven't decided which yet.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

'22 in Review
In which it rhymes. (Not all of it. Just the title. You're welcome.)

This morning I did my last run of 2022, bringing my total to 1,017 miles for the year! Pretty hard to believe, especially when you look at the month-by-month breakdown:

January: 12.77 miles
February: 26.21 miles
March: 27.1 miles
April: 60.92 miles
May: 52.93 miles
June: 50.71 miles
July: 81.45 miles
August: 104.62 miles
September: 103.12 miles
October: 151.71 miles
November: 161.79 miles
December: 183.76 miles
Total: 1017.09 miles

Beyond the numbers, here are a few more new accomplishments from this year:

Joined the DISboards! Hi new friends, hope to see some of you next Friday and/or Sunday!

Started a training journal (and watched my posts get longer...and longer...and longer ).

Ran 7 races, including my first 10K, first sub-2 HM, and (hopefully since we're still waiting on corral assignments) s2/B corral POT.

Actually followed (more or less) a training plan for the first time, and then did it again. (Turns out taking your training seriously makes you run better - who knew?)

Incorporated speedwork into my training.

Learned to run easy...a few different times.

Spent way too much money on running gear...

Ran in the cold. Like, below freezing and everything.

Kept up with strength training even while running 40+ mpw.

It's kind of hard to believe that 2022 is over when so much of my year has been focused on a race that's still a week away, but that's what the calendar says. So congratulations to everyone on making it through this year, happy new year, and good luck to all of us running at MW!


ID: Fireworks above Cinderalla's castle

 

[WillRunForPizza]

December 26, 2022 - January 1, 2023
Marathon training week 15 | 7 days until WDW Marathon
In which it's a new year and suddenly Marathon Weekend is right around the corner

Monday
Planned: 10 min easy + drills and strides + 14 min @ LTP (8:14) + 5 min easy + 14 min @ LTP + 10 min easy
Completed: 10 min easy (10:34) + drills and strides + 14 min @ 8:03 + 5 min easy + 14 min @ 8:09 + 10 min easy (10:32)
Total: 59:00, 6.41 miles, 170 bpm

If last week made me think I might actually be getting better at pacing, this run quickly disabused me of that notion. I just couldn't find the right place to settle in.

Plus: lower body strength

I liked this one. There are a lot of exercises focused on one leg at a time, so I think it's good for running. However, the description lies; it's two sets in groups of three, not one set per exercise.

Tuesday
Planned: 60 min easy
Completed: 1:00:04 sort of easy (10:18)
Total: 5.83 miles, 158 bpm

This run was going fine until an off-leash dog suddenly sprinted straight at me. Luckily it veered aside at the last minute, but I was very surprised, and not in a good way. And then the woman walking the dog just kind of shrugged and went, "oh, sorry" like she didn't care at all. Grrrrr. What if I had been a kid on a scooter rather than an adult going for a run? What if the dog had kept going? Having a dog myself has left me with nothing but contempt for people who walk their dogs off-leash in populated areas. Ugh, I'm mad again just thinking about it.

Anyway, I stewed over that for the rest of the run and my pace and HR both remained elevated. I kept trying to slow down, but then I would think about the stupid woman again and get distracted and accidentally redeploy my anger-fueled speed. Not my favorite run.

Wednesday
Planned: 55 min easy
Completed: 57:21 easy (11:00)
Total: 5.21 miles, 150 bpm

My HR for this run was about 5 bpm higher than I would expect, and I'm not sure why.

Plus: core

I've done this one before, but it was harder than I remembered.

Thursday
Planned: 30 min easy + 8 min @ LTP (8:14) + 4 min @ CV (8:04) + 2 min @ MAS (7:09) + 5 min easy
Completed: 30 min easy (10:29) + 8 min @ 8:12 + 4 min @ 8:02 + 2 min @ 7:14 + 5:56 easy (10:31)
Total: 49:55, 5.17 miles, 162 bpm

I actually did pretty well with the paces! But the workout felt harder than I expected, especially that last interval which really felt like I was running at MAS at least. This trend is somewhat worrying.

Plus: upper body strength

Worrying trend or no, can't skip the strength training!

We also took a brief trip to MK to see the holiday show and fireworks. It's the one they do for the Christmas party but added during regular park hours just for a few days. It wasn't listed in any official materials, but apparently people still knew about it, because the hub was very crowded. The crowds were a bit much for me, but the shows were fun. I liked when they brought Clarabelle Cow out on a sled escorted by reindeer, and the Paul McCartney theme sprinkled throughout the fireworks show.


ID: The castle dressed up as a Christmas sweater with meteor fireworks rising up on either side.

Friday
Planned: 50 min easy or rest
Completed: rest

To shift back to having my long run on Sunday (because the marathon is on Sunday), I had to have a weird rest day or add an easy run. I was leaning toward an extra easy run, but since I had been feeling unusually fatigued and had a higher than normal resting HR, I decided sticking with the rest day was a wiser choice. Maybe my body was fighting off some kind of infection, even though I didn't have any other symptoms.

Saturday
Planned: 50 min easy
Completed: 50:22 easy (11:09)
Total: 4.51 miles, 144 bpm

Happily I felt better after the extra rest. I kept it extra easy and my HR was correspondingly low even though it was prettttty humid.

Sunday
Planned: 10 miles easy
Completed: 10.14 miles easy (10:07)
Total: 1:42:35, 157 bpm

Last long run before the marathon! I made a halfhearted effort to slow down but mostly just let it go. It did leave me questioning my racing shoe choices, though. I ran this in my planned marathon shoes: my new Ghost 15s, which are half a size bigger than my old ones on account of how I keep destroying my toenails. However, my feet ached a bit on the run, so I'm considering wearing my NB 880s instead. So many decisions!

Fuel
Pre-run: raisin bran muffin
37 min: espresso love GU
72 min: salted caramel GU
Post-run: yogurt smoothie

Total
Mileage: 37.25 miles
Time: 7:25:45

The taper has truly begun. If only I hadn't had this random fatigue, I'm sure this week would have felt super easy...

Coming up
Five more runs in the training plan! Very light and easy leading up to the big day...is it time to panic now??

 

[GollyGadget]

This run was going fine until an off-leash dog suddenly sprinted straight at me. Luckily it veered aside at the last minute, but I was very surprised, and not in a good way. And then the woman walking the dog just kind of shrugged and went, "oh, sorry" like she didn't care at all. Grrrrr. What if I had been a kid on a scooter rather than an adult going for a run? What if the dog had kept going? Having a dog myself has left me with nothing but contempt for people who walk their dogs off-leash in populated areas. Ugh, I'm mad again just thinking about it.

I had a dog run after me in my run yesterday! It was totally friendly but I still had a moment of panic. I will never understand off leash dogs in town.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

I had a dog run after me in my run yesterday!

I have been chased by a dog on a bike. I find that squirting them with my water bottle usually helps deter them.

 

[HangWithMerida]

Off leash dogs are probably my biggest pet peeve. Dogs are fine, but I’m not one of those people that pets random dogs. If I know a dog I probably like it, but if I don’t know it I am wary. I’ve had too many nip at me. My favorite is when people say, “Oh, she’s friendly!” To which I usually reply, “If I had a dollar for every person that said that. Your dog is still supposed to be on a leash.” I don’t understand why people don’t get that I don’t want to interact with your dog.