Marathon training weeks IDK and IDK +1

Week IDK (ok, I just checked back on the blog...week 7)

*This was a rest week with less mileage and all easy runs.

Scheduled: Monday-6 mi easy run; Wednesday--6 mi easy run; Saturday--5 mi easy run.

Saturday was also the Castlewood Cup, a 9.3 mi trail race, which effectively eliminated "easy" from the day's possibilities. That's ok, though, bc it meant I could run less during the week.  Somehow, though my running is all my idea, I end up bargaining with myself the way a kid will attempt to wheedle the least possible amount of chores.  I figured that since I was scheduled for 17 total miles I could just run 4 Monday, 4 Wednesday, my 9.3 on Saturday, and come out even. 

Monday: Since I had run 16.8 on Sunday to finish up that week's plan, I went ahead and skipped my Monday run, thinking that surely by then my youngest would be better (he'd been sick since the previous Wed. night) and figuring I could fit it Tuesday between N's dr. appt and when I had to be at work.

Tuesday: The best laid plans...instead of one dr. appt, I had two bc J was still sick.  My morning consisted of bouncing around among 3 towns and two doctors.  Good news: N's knee is going to be fine without further medical attention; bad news: J has the flu and will eventually miss a week and a half of school.  Additional bad news: no time to fit in run before work, and no interest in running 5 miles after parent-teacher conferences til 7:30.

Wednesday: 5.1 miles at 11:09 pace, leaving me short about 2.5 miles for the week.  Oh, well.

Saturday: Castlewood Cup.  Awesome 15K trail race.  Plus an additional 2.4 miles of forced warm-up/cool-down due to having to park .5 miles from the start, making me almost dead on for the week.

I'm so environmentally friendly that I recycle pictures, too. :)
Running at the Castlewood Cup with my friends Jim and Luke

Week IDK+1 (aka week 8)

Sunday: (Cross train) Roller bladed with my 7 year old for 1.5 hours, then played basketball in nice shoes and hurt my foot.  Brilliant.

Monday: Scheduled: 2 miles @11:09; Actual: 2 miles @9:58.  This run hurt.  My foot hurt, but the rest of me hurt, too.  About 3/4 of the way through I started thinking, this is supposed to be an easy run, maybe I should take it a little easier. Oops.

Tuesday: (Cross train) 48 min/14.2 mi on stationary bike.  Foot still hurting.  Ice is becoming my close friend.

Wednesday: Scheduled: 7 mile tempo run. 1 mi w/u, 5 miles @9:44, 1 mi c/d

I actually got up at 4:30 a.m. to run.  Not that that's so remarkable, but it was good for me.  During HM training, I was really good about getting up early to get in my runs.  The cold and this winter's icy conditions got me off track on this, and I've ended up choosing sleep most mornings I've planned to run.  On top of that, I was concerned about my foot and not wanting to exacerbate anything, and I had the mental weight of knowing that tempo runs are my nemesis.  I typically blow most of my tempo runs.

This was a weird run.  My body just felt off, very weak.  I ate a Luna bar right before running, and maybe that just wasn't enough time, because I felt the way you feel when you're really hungry.  My legs, while feeling weak, didn't feel tired at all while I was running, and I never felt like I was running that hard (and I almost always feel like I'm running hard, even at my "easy" pace).  The splits: w/u- 10:21, tempo miles--9:44* (based on other miles, I think it was faster, but I hit stop instead of lap), 9:24, 9:15, 9:16, 9:32.  Did 1/2 mile c/d.  So, I felt like crap and beat my goal pace by 15-29 seconds each time.  Strange.  Is that the benefit of the rest week? 

Saturday: Planned: 18 miles @ 11:09, actual: 18.1 miles @ slow pace.  Not sure how slow because I was running late and forgot to start my stopwatch.

Team Godzilla has a regular training run at some local trails on Saturday mornings.  Since some of the people I've been running with were racing today, I joined in.  I also roped my friend Wade into going, which I'm sure he really appreciated after last night's torrential rains came through.  :)  We did about 10 miles on the trails and got to see firsthand some of the damage from Sunday night's tornadoes/straight line winds (depending on where you were in the area).

You can see the trail in the foreground

The fallen trees made for some nice walk/climb breaks.  We met up with Jim, who'd run with me last week as I finished at Castlewood, and he led us all over the trails.  These are in the same area as I usually run in town, but he took us to some different parts. Overall, the trails weren't too bad, though we had several very muddy, very wet spots. 


We needed another creek crossing to clean off our shoes.
Incidentally, I wore my replacement pair of Smartwool socks, and they survived the run intact.

 After ten miles on the trails, I was ready for some "easier" road running, so we went back to the cars and changed shoes.  I also grabbed my water bottle, which I'd forgotten on the first leg.  Luckily, Jim had come prepared with extra.  Off we went on the road/paved trails.

Did I say "easier"? Hmmm, not so much.  We'd been well protected back on the trails, but the wind found us on the road.  Brrr.  Plus, I was getting tired.  That's ok, though, because we "only" had 8 more miles to go.  Jim was wearing his Garmin, so he was in charge of keeping track of mileage, and I did my very best to keep the are we there yet-s to a minimum. 

We decided to loop back around to where we'd started, which led to us taking a dirt path between trails.  It didn't look to bad at the top, but once we'd committed to our path, we found ourselves walking in soup.  So much for changing socks and shoes! All you could do was laugh and try to pick the best path. 

Does it look like my left foot is coming down uneven here? It's the one that's hurting, and I'm not sure if it's the angle of the picture, if I was favoring it, or if there was just something on the trail.

I won't lie, the last 3 or so miles were tough for me.  If Jim hadn't been along, I'm sure I'd have been doing some walking.  My feet and legs were pretty sore.  He was very nice and encouraging, especially when you consider he'd probably have been done a lot sooner if he hadn't been dragging me along.  Towards the end, he said something about finishing with good form, and I told him, "If 'good form' means 'not crawling on your hands and knees', I'm all over it." 18.1 miles and a new distance PR. :)

I was so sore when we were finished.  I know I had to look like a fragile little old lady with the way I was walking.  In fact, I hurt so much that I resorted to an ice bath.  Now, I don't look like Amanda in a bikini, so there's no video of my first ice bath, but I do have proof.

Ice cubes, cold water, and an ankle bracelet made of dirt.  Nice!

As one would expect, it was sooo cold!  I started off with just a little warm water, got in, and then turned the water to cold and added the ice.  I managed to stay in there, huddled in my t-shirt til the ice melted.  Huge difference.  When I stood up to shower, my legs felt great.  Once they regained feeling, they were a bit sore, but nothing like they had been.  I'm a believer!