Chicago Marathon Training - Week 17

Umm marathon week! 

I will probably do another post so this is just a quick little recap. 

Still tapering. Things were going well until they weren't. Wound up sick and bed ridden. Womp womp. My anxiety level about this though was really more feeling lazy than missing runs would derail me by the marathon. 

When I had my DNF at Hartford last year (which I was supposed to taper down from before NYCM) my mileage was all sorts of wonky leading up to NYCM and I ran a 4:29 - with no hill training, while sick! 

I know my body is ready for the mileage. I just want to fly to Chicago and hit that start line healthy. That is all. 

Here was last week's training:

Monday - Cross Train! Arc 30 min / AMT 30 mins

Tuesday - 4.22 miles @ 9:28

Wednesday - 3.15 miles @ 9:31

Thursday - 3.2 miles @ 9:22

Friday - This was my planned rest day. I was going to run because I had a wedding that night and rest Saturday but I felt like shit. I somehow thought that I would feel better Saturday after being up all hours and drunk. Spoiler alert - did not happen.

Saturday - I wanted to die. Hungover. Fever. Got home at 10:30am from the wedding and got out of bed 3 times the entire day.

Sunday - I WILL RUN. JK. I will not run. 

Total Miles: 10.57 miles. Sigh. 

Dirty German 50K: 3 Days out from my First ULTRA!

Officially 3 days away from ULTRA MARATHONER status.

This is getting real.

And in typical me fashion I keep calling it a baby Ultra since it is the minimum there is to dip into "ultra" status. But whatever. 50K. More than a marathon. This is the good stuff.

More importantly, I think this has FUN and no pressure written all over it.

I went into the marathons with secret and not so secret time and pacing goals. But folks, we aren't on the roads any more.

While yes, I do want to finish this in under 6:30 - in reality, I am really just looking forward to having FUN. And enjoying the experience.

I haven't been training in trails and I mean I have kind of had an epic season of racing that has been continuous since last September so what better way to finish it off than 31.068 (not precise or anything) sweaty miles through the woods?

I have also felt a bit off for a while now. I'm not quite "training" but more or less have been in taper mode since the weeks before the NJ Marathon. Then recovery. Then race. Then taper.

My legs have responded pretty well to all of this for the most part. But after this there will be lots of unstructured lets just run and do what we want time.

And some meetings with potential run coaches.

But that is for another day, another post.

And plenty of FUN. Summer is about to kick off and I am looking forward to lounge chairs, pools, beaches, bbq's and some adult beverages in my life. Not to mention a killer tan...and not one that involves horrendous tank top/short/sock tan lines!

So anyway. Back to this week.

Post half marathon life this week went a little something like this:

Sunday: 6.25 miles steady pace for 2.5 then 400's at 8:30 recover for 400 at 9:30
Monday: an hour on the elliptical and lift
Tuesday: an hour on the elliptical and lift
Wednesday: 45 mins elliptical and lift / 3 un garmin monitored miles
Thursday: 6 miles @ 9:39 - yeah I figured the treadmill would bore me by 3 not.so.much.

Apparently bore me on an elliptical a couple days in a row and I will even love the treadmill and not want to get off. Legs felt so refreshed though. Which was great since I had been having some soreness the beginning of the week (and scared me enough to not run Monday and Tuesday...I hear you running God's I know I know I need to learn to invest in rest days...).

Oops. My shoes made me do it.

Ideally:

Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 50K

But, I am sure that won't go as planned...since this morning was a total fail (3 planned). At least I did not push the pace at all! But lord I was ready to just run my heart out. Then when I hit 6 I remembered I need to do that times 5 on Sunday and that helped me slow my roll right on off and home.

So here we are just a few days out. And it is like waiting for Christmas to come. I am just as if not more excited than I was for Miami aka first marathon.

Potentially more so, because with Miami I was (perhaps not so) silently banking on pacing and time goals. I swear I really really am not with this one. Don't expect A/B/C goals from me!

I want do however want to PR in m&m and pb&j eating while running. I'm all for hitting those kinds of PR's.

Any ultra runners out there have any bits of advice for me? I'm ALL ears!

Weekend Recap: 6 Days Out from the Marathon!

Can we insert a holy s*it moment. I kind of want to throw up and do a victory dance at the same time.

Officially less than one week until the NJ Marathon. I cannot believe it is here. At this point (well technically about 2 weeks ago) there is nothing left to do, you've trained and prepped and now all that remains is continuing to taper down and get ready to run the crap out of 26.2 miles.

I actually had (for me) quite the active and eventful weekend. I did this before the Miami Marathon as well...got to be the couple weeks before and I came out of my hibernation. It helps distract from all the down time that I have since I am not doing a bazillion workouts each week anymore.

Let's see this is how I kept myself occupied.

This finally happened and I am in love. This is my third and I love love love it!

Left wrist :)

The weather was gorgeous and boy do I have the tan lines to prove it! I was supposed to run a 5K Sunday and long run Saturday...my Saturday got a little jumbled so I bailed on the 5K and did a short run Saturday and long on Sunday.

Apparently getting "less fat" as I like to call it (and no I do not think I am fat, but I am actually actively putting my plan in place of 'not acting like a vacuum' anymore and eating ALL the things) makes you speedier.

This happened:

Splits of 8:45, 8:35, 7:57, 7:44 - HUH? what? I wasn't "trying" until the end. Just trying to keep a natural pace.

Pace was actually 8:17 I just didn't reset

Then Saturday got busy with work stuff and my favorite part - the lazy ass persons answer to foam rolling aka: massage FTW! It. Was. Glorious. And my masseuse thought I was tensing my muscles when she worked my calves that is how tight they were. Yeah, I know. I don't stretch. Or foam roll. Or anything.

Can I have this every day? No?

Topped off by filling myself full of homemade carb goodness:

Sunday I took my sweet ass time getting out of bed before knocking out a little over 8 miles. LAST LONG RUN! and it went amazing. I challenge myself to set my Garmin screen to the time and just run a route I knew. Came back with these splits: 9:31, 9:12, 9:09, 9:06, 9:06, 9:06, 8:50, 9:06, 8:39 apparently I can run a mean 9:06. I will take that for a last run.

AVG pace actually 9:07

 

Gloriously sweaty

And finally it was time for my BFF's Birthday brunch. And this is all you need to know about why I was in bed at ohhhh like 7pm. One photo will sum it all up.

So there you have it! A pretty fantastic weekend if I do say so myself.

I feel ready for this race. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. I will get into goals and plans and pacing later on in the week. Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Anyone else going to be in NJ this weekend? Also, am I the only one who's Garmin really makes me neurotic? I need to get back to learning to run by effort versus the data that thing is spitting out at me.

Tapering On

9 DAYS.

Wow, this marathon is going to be here before I know it! While it seems that Friday took FOREVER to get here this week at the same time I am amazed that we have entered the single digit countdown to the NJ Marathon.

After the Asbury Half on Saturday, I decided to take ANOTHER unprecendented rest day since my hip was bothering me during the race (who am I?). But all seemed to be fine. I think it was mostly shoe choice that day. Noted.

I am trying to be really smart during this taper. What does that mean? Well, let me tell you!

This means that I am not going to go and do "extra" workouts. While this marathon training cycle the only "plan" I technically followed was for long run placement (I will let you know how winging it for a marathon goes soon enough...) but I am following a "plan" for the taper.

This week, I have only done the prescribed (okay, kind of a lie) runs. I did eek in a few extra miles but honestly I want to keep this weeks mileage around what next week will be WITH the marathon.

Went a little something like this:

• Monday - 3.15 miles @ 9:02 pace
• Tuesday - 7 miles @ 9:20 pace
• Wednesday - cross train + lift
• Thursday - 6.32 miles @ 9:29 pace
• Friday - 4.26 miles @ 9:23 pace

On tap for the weekend = 8-10 miles tomorrow and then a 5K on Sunday.

Should hit the mid 30's this week which is perfect for me leading up the week before.

Minus Mondays miles having my legs feel completely and utterly dead, every other run my legs have felt refreshed and ready to just go go go. A nice feeling to have going into the marathon.

And it's not even getting a big all star section, just a note: stomach = fine. (insert happy dance and knocking on wood and continuation of eating the same things over and over).

The only thing I will say is that while for the most part my runs have been energized, I have been feeling pretty lethargic.

I miss two a days.

And also, what do people do when not working out both before and after work? This extra time and stuff...confuses me. Sleep? Be social? Relax? I just don't know what to do with myself it seems so abnormal.

Yes, I am aware that I 100% have issues.

But I am trying my best to not over exert myself and go into this marathon being smart. Results of said experiment in being smart will be seen soon enough.

Hope everyone had a fantastic week and is enjoying this almost warm spring weather!

Does all the extra time during taper drive anyone else crazy?

Taper Week + Injury (?)

Happy Monday! 

And for those that raced over the weekend (which seems like EVERYONE) a big CONGRATS!!! It seemed like this weekend was PR City. And I am SO having a case of jealousy and can't wait to race my pants off.

Kind of. 

I'm a tad bit worried about my foot and what is going on with it. But not worried enough to go see someone about it. I have a feeling that the advice and/or diagnosis is going to go something like "oh hey maybe don't run so much on it" or "total rest".

And all I can say is with my race schedule...

I've got training to do! Half marathons, Marathons and Ultra's to run!

On Saturday I had some magazines to read so I spent a lot of time on the elliptical with that before running a good 3 miles at HM pace. After I walked it out on an incline for a while. I just felt the need to be moving but knew I shouldn't run too much with the long run on Sunday.

My foot felt a little achy, but it feels better running than anything else. I should say that I was responsible and iced it...but that didn't happen. I did stretch out a lot focusing on my calves which I was told to do since if it is tendinitis then that would be helpful.

Sunday I was super lazy and more interested living vicariously through everyone racing the NYC Half to get my butt out of bed. I woke up so that I could watch the coverage which was awesome. GREAT race by both the men and women! But then had lots of trouble motivating.

Mr. Hal Higdon called for 2 hours of running - not specific mileage so I finally set out around 1:30 or so. 

My foot pretty much "ached" the duration of the run. Not unbearable pain, but definitely uncomfortable. I'm less than amused. 

I managed to cover 12.5 miles in those 2 hours. I tried to not pay attention to pace only to keep myself dialed back when I took off out of the gates sub 9 min pace. Bad news for a LSD run but hopefully good news come race on Saturday!

On another note, I have once again gotten to the bad habit of not fueling for these "long" training runs. My stomach and fueling improved greatly over the fall since I knew I HAD to do it for the marathon - however - I took one gu during my run on Sunday and oof disaster. I probably won't be fueling for the half this weekend. Especially if I am on track to PR. I do not have a stomach of steel and will need to retrain it in the next few weeks for the NJ Marathon.

I am going to actually taper this week! So with drastically reduced mileage and both Thursday and Friday off I am hoping that helps a bit. Plus I guess I will stretch. And maybe ice. Or something like that.

Anyone with a great race weekend? Tell me about it! And let me live vicariously through you! 

(Phantom) Pains

Now that I am officially in taper mode for the marathon, of course all I want to do is run faster and further than I am supposed to.

Exhibit A: tacking on an extra mile and adding some speed.

Of course I have also been researching tapers and such for the past few weeks being the nerd I am to get as much information as possible on the best approaches etc. Which brings me to the apparently not totally uncommon "phantom pains".

I have been having weird twinges and aches the past few days (but conversely have felt AMAZING while running). My hips are feeling a little achy, my knee has some pain but when I run I feel fine, in fact better than fine in that I have been running faster than marathon projected pace. 

I should note: I have a "safe" goal pace which is on the slower side that I am planning on starting off the marathon with. I have my secret goal pace and then my ohmygod I would die if I could hit that, pace. I plan on starting conservative and assessing from there. Part of why when I am running faster than 9:30 I'm not TOO concerned since that is pretty slow for me; but race day who knows.

So after extensive research (thanks Google!) I have found many articles such as this one from trusty Runner's World supporting that I am not in fact going insane, am not going to wind up injured and unable to run but that this is all common in the weeks leading up to the race. Phew. I feel better but diving into the unknown distance of the marathon does drive me crazy. Unchartered waters of never having run one. A mix of excitement and anxiety. 

One thing that I have been focusing on in the mean time is making sure my nutrition is on par so here are some of my go to's and meal prep:

Obsessed with making this: ground turkey with fajita/taco seasoning then adding diced tomatoes and green chilies 

Chocolate peanut butter banana oats! Bring to work and just add water!

Tons of sauteed veggies to add to meals

Spinach, turkey sausage and roasted pumpkin seeds. OMG delicious.

Okay, NOT on the pre-marathon nutritional plan but these pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream frosting are to die for.

I can pretty much eat the same thing for days without getting bored so I spend time making large batches of meat and veggies and just am able to grab and go for my meals. I like to keep things pretty simple. I don't need fancy meals for just me! It is easy to whip up something delicious in no time at all though.

So here's hoping that I don't let this stupid taper get me too wound up. Luckily my training still has me running 5 days a week and only one extra race day next week before the marathon. 

And, since I am heading to Miami a few days prior to the marathon - with my bestest running buddy - and staying with my sister, I am thinking that relaxation and sun and fun leading up will be distraction enough from the taper. It is just getting through the next week until then that might drive me crazy.

Sigh. Runner problems.

Here Comes the Taper

I don't think that today could have gone any more perfectly if I had wanted. A gloriously mild winter afternoon for logging 20 miles.

Not going to be sad if that is my "training" slow pace

Oh wait, my stomach was a slight disaster at times but I finished running almost 4 hours ago so how quickly the mind forgets; especially when on runners high.

Pretty sure the stomach issues were the result of Friday nights "dinner" marshmallows and teddy grahams. Chocolate to be specific. It was a delicious sugar shock to my system and a couple days later was definitely still feeling it. But, whatever, I know for the real show three weeks from now I won't be eating crap at all leading up to it and do not anticipate the same issues (fingers crossed).

But overall from start to finish, my body felt great, my mind was in it to win it and had the race been today, I would have kicked some ass, I am confident in that.

We tried to keep the pace slow and hovering around 10 min miles and were having a great time catching up and running together - it had been since before the holidays so we were a little excited to be together again. There were some middle miles that were a bit slower and some that were a bit faster but overall it felt easy. Towards the end the last few miles I had so much energy! I can't help but think that this is a fantastic thing and that I hope my body mimics this come race day.

Being winter we also didn't have water fountains on during our route which meant that fueling went a little something like this: shot blocks prior to start; gu at mile 4; bought a bottle of water + another gu at mile 12; then sipping water for the remainder as I carried the bottle. So umm as my post run weight loss of 10 pounds showed, I am plenty dehydrated and the goal is to have 4 gu's throughout the race. I more held off because my stomach was being so testy throughout.

I also didn't listen to music until the last 4 miles it was great just being present in the moment. I am trying to do this more and more lately to focus on how I am feeling rather than get totally lost in the moment. That is great for some of the runs but I just felt it was important to be focusing on how my body felt; my stride and foot fall and breathing.

I just can't believe that in November I was saying no way no way no way will I ever do a full marathon...and here we are 3 weeks from now I will be a marathoner (God willing there are no disasters race day).

So now it is time for the infamous "taper" I am thinking it will be a good reprieve from all the mileage while still running most days. If you are curious I have been following Hal Higdon's Intermediate I plan. I had used his plan for my first half marathon a few years ago and found it a great guide. I decided to go with the intermediate plan because I was already logging marathon training mileage; just without going over 12 miles in my runs on the weekends.

I loved the moderate run Saturday followed by the long run Sunday with the thought that your legs would be tired so; you wouldn't go out too fast, and they would be a little bit tired going into it. Hoping to mimic race day conditions. I followed it about 90% I would say. I juggled some rest days (which came to bite me in the ass a couple times) and added/subtracted mileage (more add to be honest hehe) as needed. I think it set me up for a great race day.

So taper taper taper time! I think my legs will be nice and rested come the marathon. And this coming Sunday have a nice 10 miler (which I will add 2 miles to for my long run goal) to set myself up with a race a couple weeks out which I think will be great for that race feeling since it has been a few weeks.  

Oh and no more marshmallow and teddy graham dinners. Noted. Sorry stomach.

Obligatory gorgeous sunset.