Marathon Training Week 12

Marathon Training Week 12 is upon us.  Here’s my recap of the week!!  

Sunday 9-20-15

Today is the Whitewater Half Marathon!!  I love this race!  I had such an awesome time last year here that I couldn’t wait to sign up for this one again.  We arrived pretty early to the race since I have control issues and need to be at the race early.  I freaked out on everyone this morning to get moving, which in turn made my hubby drive like a crazy person because of my own insanity.  Needless to say we were waiting around for a half hour before start time.  At least we found a decent parking spot! :)  

Anyway, the it was cold to start the race, but I quickly warmed up.  I am thankful that I wore shorts and a tank top!  It was actually pretty warm by the time I finished the race.  I was sweating buckets like usual anyway.  The first 3 ½ miles were torture.  My right calf and foot were so tight!  I wanted to quit I don’t know how many times!  It was almost unbearable at times.  But I am thankful that I pulled through since after mile 4 they loosened up and I was able to maintain a decent pace of about 11:00 minute miles.  I wish I would have been able to push my pace a little faster, but I was using this as a training run also, so I didn’t want to over do it.  However, I have noticed that because I am training more for longer distances that my pace has slowed quite a bit; however, I seem to have the stamina and endurance to run those longer distances with a slower pace.  I kinda like that!  Anyway, I GU’d at mile 6.5 and we received GU packets at mile 7.  I didn’t use that GU until after the race.  I made sure to walk through most of the water stations and grab water and Gatorade there.  The water was nice and cold at these stations which was really awesome because my handheld bottle gets warm really quick!  The course was mostly flat except for a few hills.  I forgot about the hill after mile 9 that takes you past a cemetery.  This is the steepest hill of the course and, of course, by this time, we are all getting tired.  It’s so not fair.  There were a few people walking it, but I refused to walk.  I pushed it up the hill and then slowed at the top where it flattened out.  I’m proud of myself for getting up that hill!  This was such an awesome race!   Have I said that before?? Hee hee!  But seriously, it is laid out nicely and the volunteers are amazing!  Handing out water, cheering us on, making sure we are safe by directing traffic.  Very awesome!  Seriously, if you want to be a part of an awesome race, this is the one to be at.  Plus, you finish on the high school track and they make sure to call out your name as you are entering the field!!  It’s really a great race!!

I’m liking my medal also!!  But I’m all about the bling anyway!!  LOL  Finishing time from my super awesome Garmin was 2:23:13!  Not a PR overall or for this race.  Last year I ran it in 2:22:32. But last year I wasn’t training for a full marathon either.  I’m still very happy.  

I am spending the rest of the day relaxing, blogging, reading, and enjoying family time.  Yeah for a Steeler win also!!!!  

Monday 9-21-15

Hubby had to be up early for work today so it was up early for Laura also.  Good thing I wasn’t running today and it was Arm Day!! I popped in P90X Back and Biceps.  I lifted heavy once again and added in some extra hammers, bicep curls, and concentration curls with my 30s of course.  I am really loving how strong my arms are feeling.  I feel like I can lift anything.  I hate to say it, but I am really excited and can’t wait for marathon training to be over so I can grow my muscles some more!  I know it will help me to lean out and thereby, make me a faster runner.  I am going to try to push my morning runs to a faster pace also since they are shorter.  I’m hoping that helps with my speed, endurance, and maybe some weight loss.  Until then I’m going to try my best to eat as healthy as I can.  What is really nice is that I am super busy at school and don’t have time to really even think about food.  Although, I really need to train my family to quit eating when then get home from school.  Or maybe it’s just me that needs to do that.  I seem to want to eat everything in sight when I get home.  I guess it’s really just something that I need to work on.  I’m going to try anyway!    

Tuesday 9-22-15

7 miles were in the books for today!  It was a lovely run!  I pushed myself to go longer distances between breaks and tried to keep the pace up as well.  My legs felt surprisingly good after running my race Sunday.  It felt really great!  It was a great run with great weather!  I am such a fall runner.  I love these cooler temps.  They really help me to enjoy my runs that much more.  I really feel like I can run forever when the temps are this nice.  50s with little humidity!  I still come home drenched in sweat and taking off my sports bra is still a challenge, but it’s all worth it!

Wednesday 9-23-15

I had an early meeting at work this morning so I had to cut my run short and get up earlier.  6.2  miles were completed though and I am super happy about that.  I did the same thing as yesterday and pushed myself to go farther and faster.  It felt amazing!  I felt super powerful and strong the whole time.  Well, until the skunks at the end of my block scared the crap out of me.  I usually see the skunks on the other side of town.  I’m a little worried that these skunks are so close to home, especially with my 3 dogs.  That would be all I need!  Hopefully they stick to the end of the block near the farm!  

Thursday 9-24-15

It was such a beautiful morning for a run.  5.5 miles were accomplished this morning.  I knew I was going to have a lot of miles this week with my race and training, so I wasn’t too upset about only running 5.5 miles.  My legs were tired and sore, but again I pushed through and it felt amazing!!  I am feeling really great on these runs, so much so that I am thinking about adding in some speedwork and hill work in the afternoons.  I need to do something extra!  I’m feeling heavy and I don’t like it.  

Friday 9-25-15

Boy has it been a busy week!  It flew by though!  I’ve had meetings and parties and late nights but it is so worth it.  Arms were the focus today as it is most Fridays.  Because of my late night partying with some friends, I didn’t get up as soon as I would have liked, but I managed to lift heavy with P90X Shoulders and Arms.  It felt good to work my arms.  I am still torn between gaining muscle and focusing on running.  It usually happens on days that I lift.  I want to have nice, defined muscles.  But I also want to be a strong, fast runner and to be able to do that, I need to run.  So I’m going to go back to what I have said in the past.  Right now I will be focusing on making it through my marathon in November.  After that it will be off season for running for me, so I can then focus on building lean muscles which will help me to lean out and become a faster runner.  That’s the plan right now anyway!  But we all know how much I like to follow a plan! NOT!

Saturday 9-26-15

18 miles are done!  I can’t believe I ran that far!  This is my longest run to date and I honestly felt like I was going to die most of the way.  This was not my best run.  And it made me question whether or not I could actually run my marathon.  This is not how I wanted this run to go.  It just started off on the wrong foot from the get go.  I really wanted to go out at 6 and meet up with some other runners to help keep a faster pace, but I was so tired from all the activities this week and watching the Homecoming game last night, that I snoozed and snoozed and didn’t really even realize what time it was.  I finally rolled out of bed at 6:30.  I then wanted to be out the door by 7 by I had to tape my PF and eat and get ready and get my water and GU ready, so it was about 7:15 before I actually left the house.  I quickly realized that my outfit was not correct for the weather.  I was wearing my favorite capris and a short-sleeved t-shirt.  However, the sun was shining and getting warmer and warmer the farther I went.  Towards the end of my run, I thought I was going to melt!  My pace was not what I really would have liked it to be either.  I started out trucking along at 11:30 minute miles.  That quickly went down hill to 12 and 12:30 and by the end it was 13.  Not real happy with that, but my walking breaks were short (the only longer ones were to GU) and my body felt better running than it did walking.  This was definitely a challenging run.  i got in my head several times and pretty much told myself that I just need to finish and not worry about my pace or total time.  It was bad!  I usually never think like this.  It was really surprising after having such a great race last week and a great 17 mile run the week before.  I am wondering though if it has to do with the fast that my half marathon was on Sunday and Sunday is usually my rest day.  Last week I really didn’t fully rest at all.  I was always doing something, but I felt so awesome about it.  We’ll have to see what happens this coming week as I am running in the Henry Vilas Zoo Run Run tomorrow.  It’s only a 5k for me but I usually don’t run at all after my long runs.  We’ll see what happens.  It probably won’t be a PR or anything, but I love this race!!  It’s the first race I ever did and I love continuing my tradition every year.  This will be my 4th year running it.  My kids even run in the kid’s race!!  It will be fun regardless.  I’m going to do my nails tonight and relax finally!!

Until next time, Run on, my friends!!

And always remember:

Laura