Marathon Monday: 10 weeks

Since the last thing you need is yet another picture of my sneakers, here is Peggy Sue post swim. (She's closing her eyes for dramatic effect.)

Oh, hey there! Sorry to leave you hanging last week. I'm still alive. I'm just injured. And when I'm injured, I'm miserable. And when I'm miserable I curl up in a little ball and cry -- and I don't blog.

I finally acknowledged last week that my IT band needed more than a day off. So I took off SEVEN whole days. I spent the week icing, strengthening, rolling, and eating lots of leafy greens and Omega 3s. Saturday I went for my first run -- 3.1 miles -- and I'm happy to report it went relatively well. My IT band was still tight --but it didn't hurt -- and I felt great later that day and Sunday. I'm going to slowly start ramping up my mileage this week and it better go well!

Unfortunately, I think this little hiccup may have cost me a Boston Marathon qualifying time. Honestly, when I look back, I realize my body wasn't strong enough to handle such quick paces. My endurance levels are there but I guess my muscles and my ligaments and all that jazz aren't. Which is lame but I have to respect it.

My new goal is to finish in under 4 hours, and then I'm going to spend the early part of the winter getting stronger so that I can hopefully get closer to qualifying at a spring marathon! In a weird way I feel relieved. I really wanted to qualify in October but at the same, the thought of it made me anxious. Almost as though my subconscious knew I wasn't ready. I feel significantly more relaxed about my new time goal and once I figure out exactly where my IT band stands, I'll be re-planning my training schedule.

It's a slightly scary place to be just 10 weeks before the race but for now, I'm trying to stay confident. And just (foam) roll with it.

To go: 10 weeks | ?? miles 

Completed: 6 week | ?? miles 

If you missed it: Week 16 | Week 15  | Week 14 | Week 13 |  Week 12

Marathon Monday: 12 weeks

I'm a total running nerd so I love the weekly tongue-in-cheek "motivational" posters by Runner's World. You can check them all out here

I can't believe I have four weeks of training complete! Craziness.

All my hydrating and healthy eating paid off, and I had one of my best runs ever last Thursday. A 5 mile tempo, in which I did 3 miles at a 7:44 min/mile. If it sounds like I'm bragging, well, I am. I felt like the woman in the above poster. Peggy Sue joined me but she's not bragging since a 7:44 min/mile pace is a walk in the park for her. Literally. She was speed walking the entire 5 miles. Bitch. 

So yes! Everything was going exceedingly well and I was prepared to write an entire I'M GOING TO QUALIFY FOR BOSTON post. But then Saturday's long run (12 miles) happened and things went sour. My stupid STUPID IT band started acting up yet again. So much so, that I had to skip the Color Me Rad 5K Sunday and leave poor Alex and Danielle hanging at 6 a.m. I'm stretching and icing nonstop, and I'm hoping that all the strengthening I'm doing at Bar Method (which I'm OBSESSED with) will start to pay off soon.

If anyone has any advice on getting over IT band pain PLEASE share! I'm pretty much up for anything. And if you're also suffering from IT band pain (sorry, friend!), make sure you check out this Runner's World article. Super helpful!

To go: 12 weeks | 347.2 miles 

Completed: 4 week | 73.42 miles

If you missed it: Week 16 | Week 15  | Week 14 | Week 13

Marathon Monday: 13 weeks

I spent this past training week breaking in my latest pair of New Balance 890s (first from left) and Googling "the effects of alcohol running". Did you know it can take up to three days for your body to recover from a night of drinking?! No wonder all my celebrating has made me significantly slower -- I literally felt like I was dying half the time and don't even get me started on my attempt at a hill workout. FAIL.

But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (right, Kelly Clarkson?) so I'm still hell-bent on qualifying for Boston. I'm getting back on track (I feel like I said this last week ...) by chugging water and eating tons of veggies, and I also just bought a Gilt City voucher for 6 weeks of unlimited classes at The Bar Method, Boston. This crazy-ass barre workout supposedly turns you into a long, lean, fighting-machine. Or as Alex put it, "You'll look like a supermodel!" I'm going to take my first class tomorrow before work and I'm super pumped. 

I'm mentally preparing myself for buns of steel and sub-7 minute speed workouts by the end of summer. 

Because that's realistic, right?

To go: 13 weeks | 343.7 miles 

Completed: 3 week | 53.42 miles

If you missed it: Week 16 | Week 15  | Week 14

Marathon Monday: 14 weeks

It's Monday and I'm still completely dazed from my phenomenal (crazy) Hamptons weekend so I apologize if this post is a little loopy. Hopefully after hydrating and sleeping my brain fog will lift and I'll able to function like my semi-normal self.

For starters this weekend was so much fun! I can't even begin to describe it since it's all such a blur. I know I laughed nonstop with the bride-to-be, drank wine, made tons of new friends, rode a horse on a beach, drank wine, danced like a maniac for hours, swam in the pool and the ocean, drank wine, etc. Amid all that awesomeness, I did squeeze  in one tiny run "along the beach" -- and by that I mean the beach in our backyard was .25 miles long and I mainly ran on the road for 3 miles. Regardless, there was a beach in my backyard. How cool!?

Overall week 15 of training was extremely lax. In addition to my vacay, I skipped Tuesday's run because my IT band was still iffy. Wednesday I did a few slow miles to test it out (all clear) and Thursday I totally rocked it with a 5 mile tempo run -- my hardest run of the week. Yes, I skipped Sunday's long run. I was on a beach and then on a ferry and then it was 8 p.m. and I watched Dogs in the City and ate pizza with Jack. (Side note: Dogs in the City? BEST SHOW.)


I'm going to try to do 10 miles today though not sure how that's going to go in my woozy state, but I ordered brand new sneaks so I'm pretty pumped. They're teal and NB 890s v2. I'm hoping they help me get my act back together for week 14. 


OH and that picture? That was taken on my crappy BlackBerry. As much as I hate that thing -- I'm impressed it pulled this off. (OK and I worked some Photoshop magic.)


And ... that's all I got. 

To go: 14 weeks | 402.2 miles 

Completed: 2 week | 29.5 miles

If you missed it: Week 16 | Week 15

Marathon Monday: 15 weeks

My first week of training is done (yay!), and while it was insanely hot, I managed to fit in all my runs, stay on pace, and not melt. My right IT band is acting up a smidgen but otherwise I feel awesome and on track! 


Sunday I ran the B.A.A 10K with Alex and Jennifer and had an absolute blast. Since I needed to do a 10-miler that day, I ran the 4 miles from my home to the start line (like a total bad ass). Unfortunately, I got caught up in race day excitement and ran 30 seconds faster per mile than my training schedule dictated. Oops!

And speaking of training schedules, here's mine (per request): 

(Yes. I keep my training schedule in an Excel spreadsheet. And I color-code it. It's all good. )

This plan is a mix of Runner's World Smartcoach and an intermediate marathon plan from the Runner's World magazine. It took me an embarrassingly long time to come up with it but I'm quite happy (and confident) with the end result. 


Plus, it's pretty to look at. 

To go: 15 weeks | 414.2 miles 

Completed: 1 week | 19.5 miles

If you missed it: Week 16

P.S.  -- I'm SUPER excited to be featured in The Saga of a Twenty-Something and The Scribble Pad's Nine to Five series today! I'm wearing bright neon pink pants and talking about my day job. Read it here and here. 

Outfit details.

Marathon Monday: 16 weeks

 

Don't you just love it when a weekend goes EXACTLY as you envisioned it? I had the most relaxing yet productive two days. I didn't check my email, Twitter, OR Facebook for all of Saturday and it was complete bliss. Instead I went on a phenomenal hike/run with my gal Peggy Sue at Blue Hills Reservation (yes she's wearing a backpack), cleaned my closet (FINALLY), and finished the book, Bloom (a must-read -- as in drop-whatever-you're-doing-and-get-this-book must-read.)

And this relaxing weekend was exactly what I needed considering the next 16 weeks will be consumed with training for the Mohawk-Hudson River Valley Marathon on October 7.

I absolutely love the start of training -- anything seems possible. Nothing hurts. You feel strong. Fast. You truly believe this training cycle is going to be best one yet. You're going to be the fittest you've ever been. Hello, six pack abs! You even convince yourself you're going to qualify for Boston.

For those who aren't runners/obsessed with running/crazy, Boston is the mecca of marathons. You can't run Boston unless you a. raise thousands and thousands of dollars for charity, or b. run ridiculously fast for your age. Of those two options, running ridiculously fast scares me less than having $5K charged on my CC because I didn't raise enough money in time. 

So this means I need to run an average of an 8:12 min/mile pace for 26.2. I need to finish in 3 hours and 35 minutes or less EXACTLY -- not one second over. It means cutting an hour off of my marathon time.  

It's pretty insane ... but at the same time, I think it's doable for me if I train correctly. My half marathon pace is what it should be for that goal, and with one marathon under belt, I'm a bit more prepared to tackle the distance (though I know you're never REALLY prepared as anything can happen.)

Yes - it's a lofty goal -- and I'm willing to accept that it may not happen. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to work my ass off and try! And in the process, I'm going to do weekly marathon training recaps -- reflections on how things are going. Training for a marathon is hard and it can become extremely overwhelming at times -- I had several breakdowns last cycle. Hopefully by reflecting at the end of each week on everything I've accomplished, I'll be healthier mentally (and I won't unload all my feelings on my poor fiance).

So here we go! Week 1!

To go: 16 weeks | 435.2 miles

Completed: 0 weeks | 0 miles