ATL Publix Marathon Training (7 weeks til race week)

Week beginning thoughts: Well I guess I'm really marathon training now that I've got a greater-than-half-marathon run under my belt.

Monday
Did: 5.7 mi mountain bike ride
Day off from work today for MLK Day, but it was SO COLD this morning (19F was the thermometer when Scott took D to school - yes, daycare was open!). So we spent the morning doing things around the house and then headed up to Pleasant Ridge in the early afternoon. I quickly realized how tired my legs were from yesterday's long run efforts in the crazy wind, so I made up my mind to get in one good lap and then let Scott take a second lap solo. Considering it usually takes me 40-45 mins per lap, and this one took me over 56 mins, it was a good call. Made one lap much better to handle, mentally. I just wasn't feeling the ride in general today, but getting in one lap and clearing all of the parts of the trail that usually give me trouble was a good feeling.

Tuesday
Did: 6.7 mi @ 8:39/mi
Originally planned for the full 7-mile route but my runner buddies got cold and we decided to cut it a little short. Still, a good run for sub-freezing temps. Apparently Garmin thought I was brave, too, because I earned this badge today:

Today was the first run of the winter where I had to bust out the fleece-lined tights, but even so I was pretty comfortable (other than my face) once we got moving.

Wednesday
Did: 2 mi treadmill + core/PT
Need to squeeze in some extra miles, so did 2 quick miles on the treadmill @ 8-min pace followed by core & PT routine. Nothing too exciting, just doing what I could in limited afternoon time slot. Ugh, I hate not getting in my workout in the morning but the rain and other scheduling challenges have made that hard this week.

Pushups. 

Thursday
Did: 6.5 mi @ 8:13/mi avg, 4x1-mi repeats
Oh today was a good run and I NEEDED it. While I would have loved to be out in the 60F sunshine, my need for speed(work) had to take precedence, so treadmill it was. Plus I was also in the mood to run with some music today, which I won't do outdoors. I didn't have a plan going into the gym, but decided on mile repeats at ~5k pace. I decided I'd do 3 and see how I felt... and after the third I was wanting another, so I did 4 total at a sub-7:30 pace. For the third and fourth repeat I ticked up the speed every tenth of a mile, finishing at sub-7. Woo!

Friday
Did: strength + 1mi treadmill
Did about a 30-minute lift (kind of half-assed, wasn't really feeling it) then did a mile on the treadmill to shake out some of the leg soreness in preparation for Saturday's anticipated long run.

Saturday
Did: 16.06 mi @ 9:51/mi avg
Whewwww long stroller run! It seems like these are going to turn into basically all-day affairs now that runs are getting towards the 3-hour mark. It's too cold to start early with the stroller, so we waited until it got above freezing and headed downtown to park at the zoo. Met up with Dale & Robin to do a few miles with them first, then I continued with D in the stroller, did some loops around Cleveland park downtown, and finally headed north on the trail for the out-and-back portion. Our turnaround point was just past the Swamp Rabbit cafe & grocery, by which point D had fallen asleep. I considered not stopping or waking him up, but I knew he and I both were in need of a snack. Scones acquired, we continued the trek back towards the car, with a planned stop at a playground that D had spotted on our way out... it was 3/4 mi from the car, so mentally I was OK with a longer stop being so close to the end.

The Liberty Bridge & falls park were photo-worthy

I let D play for about 15-20 mins, then we packed up and made our way back to the car. Even doing that last less-than-a-mile was tough, though. I was tired but pretty pleased with the run overall. I knew it wasn't a fast one, but that's not what long runs are for, so I'm good with it.

The best reward was at the end when D (completely unprompted) goes, "You did a great great great great job Mommy, I'm so proud of you!" 😍 Adorable. Makes every minute worth it!

Sunday
Did: 13.6 mi mountain biking
Today was my "birthday group ride" (tomorrow is the actual day) and was a great gathering of friends and a leisurely day on bikes in Dupont Forest! I was a bit hungover from Saturday night's festivities (dinner & beer, what else?) but the cold crisp air and getting the blood flowing certainly helped clear the cobwebs. It wasn't even as cold as I'd expected it to be, which was a nice surprise. Great fun day with biking friends!

Week-ending thoughts:
Weekly miles = 32.3 (goal of 35)
Fell short on my weekly mileage goal this week, so I'm going to have to figure out how to work in another day of running to make this feasible. I'm still active every day of the week, though, so it's not like I'm just relaxing and wasting time! Gonna have to trade out something somewhere. Happy with the overall week, though, and super happy with Saturday's run. Yessss MARATHONNNNNNNN!

ATL Publix Marathon Training (8 weeks til race week)

Ok, so I'm still doing the Greenville News 5k this coming weekend, but honestly none of this training has been specifically for it... so let's shift focus to the REAL DEAL: MARATHONNNNNN.

I also struggled with how to title my entries... what week am I on? I start the entry on Monday, but don't post til after my Sunday workout... anyway, I realize it doesn't actually matter. So I'm writing the title based on the day I know I'll post the entry. Whee.

Ok, so... this week's goals: 14-mile long run, 30 miles total for the week

Monday
Did: strength
Another solid session today, despite the fact that it was HOT in the gym, and by the time I'd left, every elliptical and treadmill was occupied (happy new year!). 😑 Similar approach as last week... 4 sets of each exercise, first 3 were 8-10 reps at a "high" weight, then dropped lower weight and increased to 12-15 reps on the 4th set. Feeling good. Also weight myself so I get a starting point of "pre-marathon training" just to keep myself in check through the next couple of months. Although if I go out every Saturday and drink 6 PBRs like I did this past weekend, it won't be hard to maintain a high calorie count. 😂😬  (I'm totally kidding, that's a terrible approach.)

Tuesday
Did: 5x800, 1x400 = 7.34 mi @ 7:46/mi avg
Track #10kTuesday! The downtown group was running "slow & easy 5" which didn't fit the bill for me today, so I met up with one of the downtowners who runs at the Furman track on Tuesday mornings and did some speedwork. YES this was fast! I haven't been at the track since my summer attempt at a 6:00 mile so I knew this workout would be a struggle. He was doing 800s, so I said, sure, why not. UGH 800s are hard. I managed 5 of them in the time we had, and then squeaked out a 400 at the end. This was a tough run but felt so good to get 7+ miles done before work!!

Wednesday
Did: 7.3 mi mountain biking
Actually went mountain biking at lunch today - whaaaat! Scott was showing a new kid around the trails and wanted me to come out with them, too, so I figured hey, good day for some cross-training! It was good, challenging, and of course nice to get out in the woods and away from my desk.

Thursday
Did: 4.75 mi @ 7:54/mi
Um, what?? Sub-8!? No clue where that speed came from, but I'll take it! This makes me happy that I didn't do the early run group and took the risk of squeezing in a run mid-morning in between a crazy meeting-filled day.

Friday
Did: core & stretching
Got in another short session of core and stretching. Seems a good substitute for yoga, and I like having a day to focus on core. I should do more throughout the week, but, y'know... time, and all that. Wanted to do a longer session but got interrupted by the fitness class about to start in the gym, so I finished up what I could.

Saturday
Did: Greenville News 5k
Race Report here

Sunday
Did: 14.1 mi @ 9:17/mi avg + Sunday Funday Yoga
Whew, this was a tough stroller run! The forecast was WIND, and it was right. I started out running 2 miles with Dale, Robin, and Luna starting at Furman, then we parted ways and I ran down almost to downtown before turning around and heading for as top at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery (where I'd promised D he could get a snack).

The trail was very quiet today.

Snack time!

We took a little break, though I was so concerned with keeping D happy and warm that I completely forgot that I'd planned to use the bathroom, refill my water bottle, and eat a snack myself. Oy. Whereas the wind had been mostly a tailwind on the way "out", it was definitely a headwind on the way back. I felt it in my hammies and glutes for sure. I could tell D was getting cold within the last few miles, so maybe that motivated me to run faster than I really wanted to, but I was surprised with how consistent my pace was for the most part, despite headwind vs tailwind. Was glad to be done by the time we rolled back into Furman though!

We did it!

Week ending thoughts:
Miles run = 30.32 (goal was 30). On track!

Feeling great about this week and hitting my mileage goal, but also realizing that next week's goal (35 mpw) is going to be even tougher to hit. Gonna have to either add in another run day or increase mileage on several days. Still exciting to keep running though and happy with how training is going / feeling good physically and mentally.

Greenville News Run Downtown 5k

Pre-race thoughts: Hoped the weather (rain) would hold out, wouldn't be too cold, and that I could manage a decent pace with the stroller. My time from last year was 24:28. I'd hoped to beat that time, but knowing last year I had a full marathon recently under my belt, I wasn't sure what the result would be.

Race morning was uneventful, and thankfully the early-morning forecast looked clearer than expected, so the stroller running was on! We got downtown in plenty of time, I did a mile warm-up lap, gathered with the company group for a photo, then lined up for the start. I could tell the usual thousands of people were not there for this race, likely due to the crummy weather predictions. It did actually start raining on us as the race was starting!

The first mile or so was frustrating dodging people, even though I thought I'd lined up in a reasonable spot for my intended pace. Oy, the joys of self-seeding. It's obvious by the pace graph and mile splits how GO!/slowwww/GO! it was.

up down up down

Mile splits: 8:41, 7:22, 7:22 (oh yes, finally consistency!)

Final result (by gun time): 24:26 (2 seconds faster than last year... I guess yay for consistency there, too!)

Greenville News 5k (Week 7/8)

Week Beginning Thoughts: First full week back on a regular schedule (for work and such). Kinda excited. AND IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO RAIN ALL WEEK (until Saturday). YAY.

Monday
Did: strength
Great lift today. Felt good, strong, did 4 sets of everything with the first 3 being higher weight/8-10 reps then the last set dropping about 20-50% of the weight I started with and doing 10-15 reps. Did all of my core PT at the end and some of my old "normal" core routine with the medicine ball. I know my abs aren't (and probably never will be) completely back together, but I've missed being able to see my abdominal muscles so I'm gonna get 'em back. Hopefully continuing both the PT exercises alongside the standard ones will balance each other out.

Tuesday
Did: #10kTuesday treadmill ladder
Well, no early downtown group today - apparently everyone stayed up too late watching the Clemson game! So I headed into the office and hopped on the t'mill for a ladder workout. It seemed to go by pretty quickly, and I managed 6:30-6:45/mi for each of the speed segments of 400/400/800/1200/800/400/400. Once I got done and was cooling down, I realized if I hustled I could get a sub-50 time, so I sped back up to the end and finished in 49:44 - woohoo!
Also did my Big 5 stretching which felt nice with the muscle soreness already setting in from yesterday's lift.

Wednesday
Did: 4.3 mi @ 8:03/mi avg
Had planned to do the indoor stationary bike today since it's a biking day, but it was soooooo beautiful outside that I decided to run, and boy I'm glad I did! Gorgeous! And FAST!

Plus, I also did a thing... 😁

MARATHONNNNNNN

Thursday
Did: 4.79 mi @ 8:54/mi
Rode the wave of yesterday's running high and decided to meet the early downtown group this morning. We did the "Friday Five(-ish)" route because the person who WAS going to lead ended up having to cancel... and nobody else was feeling very creative or ambitious. 😂 It happens.
Anyway, we did the approx. 5 mile loop, felt amazingly easy to run the pace we did, though I struggled to catch my breath the first couple of miles due to the temps around the freezing mark. Still, a great run and looking forward to more! MARATHONNNNNN.

Friday
Did: core, PT, bodyweight strength
Got in a short strength session and did pushups, stretching, and core/PT. I did P90X Ab Ripper routine, all of my PT, some various bodyweight strength exercises. Felt good to get in a short session.

Saturday
Did: 12.0 mi @ 9:16/mi avg w/ stroller
This run felt SO. GOOD. I did the first 8 miles solo (with D in the stroller) starting from the park near the zoo downtown. I ran North on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which meant climbing up out of Falls Park and finally flattening out (or gradually climbing the rest of the way) to just past the Swamp Rabbit Grocery before turning around and going back to meet my friend Megan & her little one. I felt like I was flying, and I clocked one mile at 8:11! Had a couple of sub-9 miles. Got back to the car, met up with Megan, then we did a shorter out-and-back for the final 4 miles. We got sleeted on for about 30 seconds, but that chilled the temps significantly. While the first 8 were comfortable, it was COLD by the end, and we were all glad to get back in the car. Great long run!

I was even good and stretched by the fire once I got home!

Sunday
Did: 12.4 mi mountain bike ride
Met up with the Upstate SORBA group for a casual ladies' ride this afternoon. Started at White Duck Taco / Birds Fly South and pedaled down the Swamp Rabbit Trail to try out the new Sliding Rock Creek Trail and some of the existing trails around Cleveland Park. It was just a few miles of actual single track, with the rest on the Swamp Rabbit, but it ended up being a nice fun ride at a casual pace, and of course meeting other gals who mountain bike is always a bonus. Plus, the tacos afterwards were on point.


Week-ending thoughts/summary
MPW goal: 25+

Goal = met!

Ended up with a bit over 27 miles for the week. Quite happy with this! Thankfully the weather cooperated and gave some nice running opportunities through the week. Hoping that continues. Feeling good!

Training Plan: ATL Publix Marathon (Sunday 3/17/2019)

As I've included in my weekly post (to be posted on Sunday), I'm now officially registered for the 2019 Atlanta Publix Marathon, race date Sunday, March 17th, 2019!

I'm doing this with my running BFF and am SO EXCITED. I'm not shooting for a specific time goal, just looking forward to enjoying a nice long (looonnnngggggg) run together. Plus, it's on St. Patrick's Day, so there will likely be festive running outfits and beer (maybe not green though... eugh). 😁☘

My training plan will therefore be fairly loose and flexible, and I've decided to simply have 3 goals by which to frame my runs:

1. Long run of appropriate distance each week, with a single 22-miler as my maximum distance. I also intend to do all long runs with the stroller. Yay additional 40lbs.
2. Gradual increase of weekly mileage, with max. of 45 mpw. Starting point: 20 mpw.
3. One faster/speedwork run per week, just to keep me from doing all "junk" miles. 

I plan to maintain my strength training, biking, and at least one rest/yoga day per week. I'm hoping with the inclusion of only a mpw goal that I can still make room for enough biking (especially on the weekends) so that I'm still well cross-trained. That's one thing I always miss during & after marathon training, is the fitness & fun of biking. I've made such progress, especially on the mountain bike, that I'd hate to backslide. We'll see.

So, in conclusion: MARATHONNNNNN!!!! 😁☘😁☘😁☘

Greenville News 5k Training (6/8)

Ummmm so I thought I posted this on Sunday or Monday like usual but it only shows as a draft... and the draft only goes through Tuesday... soooo, here's the completed & back-dated post!

Week beginning thoughts: I keep calling these "Greenville News 5k training weeks" but I'm not really doing anything specific to the 5k and I've definitely not done any speedwork. Maybe I will, maybe I won't?

Monday

Did: 1.05 mi @ 8:50/mi

Just a quick rainy mile in the morning before heading up to Asheville to escape the rain and entertain ourselves with beer & friends.

Tuesday

Did: 23.9 mi road bike ride + 6.23 mi run

Dropped D off with the grandparents this morning and headed up to Brevard (again to escape the rain) to ride on the roads. It was a beautiful day to be on the bikes, and had some great calm mountain scenery. 

Country roads

Pretty mountains at my side

After our ride, we had lunch at Pescado's Burritos (yum) then drove over to Tuxedo Park so Scott could continue his ride home and I could have a new/interesting location for my #10kTuesday. The burrito was heavy on my stomach, so it was a slowwww run, but got it done. 

The sun came out briefly

Pretty lake!

I had some left calf tightness again, but a few walking breaks helped loosen it up and it felt ok the rest of the run. I'm wondering if I need new shoes (tight calves + shin splints are usually my sign). We'll see, I have a new pair waiting in the wings. I also stretched (Big 5) when I got home. Trying to make a more concerted effort to do that.

Wednesday
Did: strength
First workday since 12/21, back at the gym for some strength training. Got to wear my sweet new dino tank top from my mom's group gift exchange. :D


Thursday
Did: 5.13 mi @ 8:49/mi 
Early downtown group, rain held off, great run.

Friday
Did: rest
Rainy day, vacation day at home, just rest.

Saturday
Did: 9.4 mi @ 9:56/mi
Hellooooo sunshine! Ran in the neighborhood with D (he insisted he did NOT want to "run on the trail"), which meant HILLS. I did every feasible road, no intentional repeating or overlapping, and managed just shy of 10 miles. Not bad!

D wanted a pic with the bulldozers

Sunday

Did: 20.5 mi road bike

Headed out solo on the road bike and could tell the legs were tired. Got in 20 and felt good. 

OK seriously, I don't know where this entry went... I know I wrote it because I remember posting all those pics before! Grrrr....