Success!!!

Week 13 was a glowing success. I followed the schedule exactly!!! Breakdown is as follows:

Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Saturday: 4 miles
Sunday: 14 miles

Total: 32 MILES!!

I won't lie, 14 miles was probably one of the toughest long runs I've had in a while (my first long run of 6 miles was probably the toughest because of the heat and my foot hurting), so this probably ranks as 2nd hardest. Last week's 12-miler seemed pretty easy (relatively speaking). On the 14-miler my legs were really hurting for the last 3 miles . I'm guessing it is because of my high mileage the rest of the week. But, it was a success so I'm happy and feel like I am getting back on schedule. I don't have a time however because my garmin's battery ran out in the first mile. I think I ran it in about 2.5 hours which is decent. I ran two 7 mile laps which mentally is not my favorite thing to do, but I did it and that is all that matters...right??

This week I'm going to slightly pull back to give myself time to recover which is probably a great idea considering the pathetic fitness center they have at the Sheraton I'm staying at. Today I attempted to run 4miles on the treadmill at said fitness center, but the treadmill obviously hadn't been recalibrated in at least 10 years. To get to a comfortable jog, I had to put the mph at 9.0. I normally run between 5.5 and 6.0. I decided I couldn't base my run on distance because it was clearly off so I decided to run for 45 minutes to get as close to 4 miles as possible. The treadmill said I ran 7 miles in 45 minutes which for me is pretty much impossible. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise in.

Confession Time

I finished week 16 with 23 miles. I had to cut my long run short on Sunday to 8 miles because of Grandma's shrimp stew. Totally worth it!!

Week 15 didn't go so well. I only managed to run two days that week. I was in Tucson for work and unfortunately the hotel did not have a fitness center. I have no excuses for Thursday and Friday of that week though because I was home and didn't get off my lazy butt. I ran 3 on Saturday and 10 on Sunday for a pitiful total of 13 miles.

Week 14 went a little better. I ran 4 miles on Tuesday, 5.5 on Wednesday, and 4 on Thursday. I wasn't able to run on the weekend because of various life events, but made up for it on Monday with a long run of 12 miles for a total of 25.5 miles.

This week I have 28 miles planned and hope to stick with my training schedule for here on out. Only 3 months to go and it is do or die time. When I have more time to blog, I may update everyone on my run-ins with nature including 2 deer sightings which almost gave me heart attacks. I'm kind of a scaredy-cat if you didn't already know that. Also, I want to post pics before my long run next week so everyone can see just how ridiculous I look with my ten million add ons hanging off of me.

Week 16--Midweek Post

So much to catch you guys up on....

I ended Week 17 with a total of 26 miles. I ran 11 on Sunday to round out the week. Then, I took the first three days of this week off. I was just burnt out and was super busy. We have new carpet and tile in the house and are working on the finishing touches like sealing the grout and getting the shoe molding installed and painted. I also hired a housekeeper to take some of the burden off me. Hopefully once this is all done, I will be refreshed and have a renewed interest in training. Well, I'm trying to get back on track so last night I ran 6 miles on the treadmill in just under an hour. It was nice to run again although I was upset with myself for not following the training plan. I plan to run 6 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday to end the week with a respectable 24 miles. Let's see if that happens considering tonight we are having a fun night out at a fancy restaurant for my sis's birthday.

In other birthday/training news, my lovely husband got me a Garmin 305 for my birthday. I haven't taken it out of the box yet, but I'm excited to use it on my runs this weekend! It will be fun to keep track of my pace/mileage/heart rate!! YAYAY!

Also, the finisher's medal has been revealed. Here it is!

Week....I Forget...Update

Okay, so I'm tiring of this whole training business. Maybe it is because life is busy or because I'm having blood sugar issues or because the marathon seems too far away, but my motivation is lacking. In spite of this, I still managed to fulfill most of the mileage last week. I ran 5 on Tuesday, 7 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, and 11 on Sunday. Nothing too exciting occurred. I did have a run in with nature on Wednesday as a snake slithered by and shortly after a cardinal almost flew into me. That got my heart racing for sure, but other than that, it has been uneventful. I have a couple longer runs planned for today and tomorrow, but I have a feeling I may cheat and shorten them a bit and just run a little longer this weekend. I'm finding that I really enjoy my one longer run of the week, but the running in the 4-8 range during the week is really getting me down. Partly because if I want to do it outside I have to wake up super early and that just hasnt been happening and if I don't wake up, I have to do it on the treadmill at night which sucks. I need to just get my butt out of bed but I just can't seem to talk myself into it at 5:45am. Also, next week is a pull back week, but maybe I will trade and run more next week.

And, at the wise suggestion of a commenter I have altered my goals. I have 3 goals.

Attainable: Finish marathon in under 5 hours
Moderate: Finish marathon in under 4:30 hours
Pie in the sky: Finish marathon in under 4:15

So there you have it in writing. Less than 4 months to go!!!

Training Recap

Back from beautiful Marshall, TX. Training last week was not the best. I managed 5 miles on Tuesday and 7 miles on Wednesday, but then took off Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Sunday I tried to make up for my slow week and ran 10 miles. It was a good run with beautiful weather and candy lined streets.

This week I am attempting not to skip any of my short runs. Like last week, I've run 5 miles on Tuesday and 7 miles on Wednesday. I'm planning a 4-5 mile run tonight.

I'm getting slightly fatigued with this whole training thing. I've scheduled a doctor's appointment for tomorrow to make sure there is nothing wrong besides just being tired from training. I'm having some moments where I feel very weak and just overall icky. This doesn't happen during my runs and sometimes happens on my rest days. So, it could be stress, allergies, the weather change, over training, or something that is not good. Hopefully I'll get some answers tomorrow but I'm not completely confident that this is something that is easily diagnosed, but we shall see.

Signed up for the Marathon!

I signed up today and paid my money. No turning back. I'm going to rock this thing.

Also, I'm changing up my training schedule. We are now 18 weeks out so today will be Day One of Week 18. I'm also changing the weeks to start on Monday and end on Sunday that way my weekly mileage totals will not get messed up when I switch my long runs from Saturday to Sunday. Most training plans are 18 weeks long so today is the official beginning of training!!!

Double Digits Baby!

Yesterday, Sunday, I completed my first 10-miler. AND I did it in 1:45. No, not one minute and 45 seconds. One hour and 45 minutes. If my calculations are correct, which they very well may be wrong, I averaged 10:30 miles. THAT IS AMAZING. I'm starting to get the confidence to actually believe that instead of just finishing....I'm going to kick this marathon's a$$! Okay, so maybe that is an overstatement but with 4 months left to train I'm feeling really good about changing my goal time to 4:30. Okay....so maybe it is wrong to get ahead of myself and all the books say to just finish your first one and not worry about times, but 4:30 isn't a particularly fast time and I keep underestimating myself, so maybe just maybe I can run faster and longer than I think I can.

So, that is the latest news. I did a bad job of recapping last week because I was super busy and just a little disappointed in myself for not following my schedule last week. But, here is the update:

Sunday: 9 miles in 1:42 (sore from 5k so went super slow, but it was a good, fun run...i love running slow!!)
Monday: off
Tuesday: 4 miles on treadmill in 41 minutes
Wednesday: tired, stressed, busy + full of excuses
Thursday: same
Friday: same
Saturday: 4 miles on treadmill in 42 minutes

Big announcement later today...stay tuned. :)