Week 1 Recap

Here we go, folks. Attempt #1,271 of a marathon cycle. AGAIN. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I make it through more than a mere 2 weeks or so.

Starting with last week, I've got 12 weeks until my next marathon: The Sun Health Arizona Marathon. So, I figured that was plenty of time to get myself into half-way decent shape. My goals as of right now, are: 1. To finish and 2. To Finish under 4:30. 

So, that means that I need to actually attempt to train. I feel like I trained OK for the Oklahoma City Marathon back in April, and the wind killed me and I still managed to run a 4:46. Soooooo. Hopefully a sub 4:30 can be in the cards for me in 12 short weeks.

Am I following a training plan? Nope. Am I being coached? Nope. I don't think I'm quite ready for either one of those right now. But, my plan is to slowly increase my weekly mileage and eventually get to a point where I'm focusing on 3 runs a week. (Similar to the FIRST training plan thought process).

Typically, I run twice a week with my buddy Steve. He is WAY faster than me and we generally run faster than I normally would on my own. As the weeks go on, I'm going to start using my runs with him for tempo runs, etc. But, for right now, I'm just calling my runs with him as "steady state" runs. Which, to me, means... running slight faster than comfortably hard. I'm not officially timing the runs, but, I do keep an eye on when I hop in and out of the car, so, I have a general idea.

The other key run of the week, is the Long Run. Which, I hope to incorporate "fast" miles in every week. You'll see what I mean as we go along.

So, here is how Week 1 shaped up:

Mon: Off

Tues: 5 miles around 9:40 pace with Steve. (I was still recovering from a cold, so, we took it easier than normal).

Wed: Off

Thursday: 5 miles around 9:15 pace.This run felt fantastic.

Friday: 3 mile run and 2 mile walk after

Saturday: 10 miles at a 9:15 pace with my drill sergeant Bitch, Melissa. Seriously, she saved my butt on the run and pushed me to get this run done at that pace. I was thrilled!

Sunday: 3.5 mile recovery run. This FELT like a recovery run, which was kind of nice. Been a long time since I've felt like that.

So, I'm starting out slow and I can't say that my mileage will ever hit the 50-60 mpw range. But, I'm just going to do the best I can and hopefully bump up my weekly mileage and get to a point where my recovery runs can be a little longer as well.

What can happen in 8 weeks?

Remember back in like May and I was all... I'm going to start basebuilding and I'm going to start doing some workouts. I'm going to be hella prepared for the Des Moines Marathon in October!!!!!!!

Me, in May.

And then summer happened and it got humid as fuck and then there were vacations and bottles of wine on friday nights and then a beach trip and now it's fucking mid-August and I've got no base and no speed and no endurance and yet, I'm still planning on doing a Marathon in 8 weeks.

Indeed.

So. Should I drop down to running the half and focus on that? Yeah, I definitely should. That is the smart thing to do. But, am I going to do that? Nope. Nope. Nope. I'm going to push forward and see what the hell I can do in 8 weeks.

This is what my body is saying to my brain right now.

So, please, join me.... here on the blog. Where I will be recapping each of my 8 weeks and what I've done or not done in order to survive a marathon in 8 weeks. Originally, I had thought I'd try to break 4 hours again in that race. Now, I just want to finish the race with my shin bones intact.

I do have some good news to go along with this ridiculous news!!!!!! I have actually been LIFTING!!!! As in... consistently using weights and doing push-ups and shit. I KNOW. I can't believe it, either!!!!! And even crazier, is I'm actually really having fun doing it. 

Another plus... I've been doing really well with cleaning up my diet lately, as well. So, if I can finally put all three together: lifting+running+not just eating popcorn and ice cream for dinner, but salads and stuff = a decent shot at surviving the next 8 weeks, as well as the race.

So, here we go... I'm in the middle of week 1 right now. Stayed tuned for the possible shitshow.

The Plan, lately.

So, now that I'm back to running with friends for 3 runs during the week, I've kind of abandoned the Run Less, Run Faster training plan. Although, if I really think about, I'm still basically following it's principles.

I'm running 2 pretty hard runs a week (courtesy of my faster running partner, Steve) and then a long run on the weekends. (And a couple of other easy runs sprinkled in for laughs). For now, the hard runs during the week, are me just trying to keep with Steve for the first 20 minutes and then me trying to push the last 2-3 miles because I'm ready to be done. We haven't been following any particularly type of workouts or anything, although, I'd like to incorporate some of those soon. For now, I'm just too fucking lazy at 5:30 to think about anything other than putting one foot in front of the other without having a fucking heart attack while doing it. #gettingintoshapeissofuckingfun.

Admittedly, I used to kind of scoff at the Run Less, Run Faster plans. But, after attempting to follow it for like a month and going over the plan in detail, it is NO Joke. I'd like to really follow the training plan to the letter at some point. I think it could really get someone into shape.

Oklahoma City Marathon is in about a month and I haven't abandoned my sub 4:00 marathon goal quite yet. I mean, is it most likely a pipe dream? Could be. But, I think a lot can happen in the last month leading up to a race. That's what I'm banking on, at least.

Next up: 20 miles on Saturday even if I have to walk/crawl for the last few miles.

Marathon Training: Week 1 Review

So, my marathon training officially kicked off last Monday. Work has been absolutely nuts this week, so I am just now getting around to talking about it.

I'm training for the Flying Monkey Marathon in November. It's hilly and hard, but I've done it 3 times before and I'm ready to tackle it again.

Me in November, probably.

If this were two years ago, I'd email the ole Coach Bitch and have her draw me up a training plan. But, I know that being held responsible to a plan that someone makes for me, would cause too much anxiety right now. Unfortunately, this is not going to be one of those training cycles where I can say YES... Tuesdays are speedwork days and Thursdays are mid-length long run days. Sadly, the way my schedule is right now, each week is going to be different.

So, I am going to have to make do with what I have schedule-wise.

Roughly, that means this... Run When I Can.

Now, this is what I hope that's going to look like:

Weekend Warrior: I am going to capitalize on my weekends. Once I get up to half-way decent shape (hopefully only a couple more weeks till that happens), I am going to pack my weekends with running. That means, Running Long on Saturdays and running again Semi-Long on Sundays.

Tuesdays Off: For whatever reason, Tuesdays are my hell day at work. So, instead of scheduling runs for that day and then feeling terrible that I missed a run. I'm just going to make that a scheduled off day. If something happens, and I'm actually able to get a run in that day, then I will! Bonus!

Mid-day Runs: I am going to ATTEMPT to start scheduling 1 mid-day run a week. My productivity at work peaks from 7am-11am and then again from about 3:00pm-6:00pm. So, I'm hoping to bite the bullet and go to work with my hair in a ponytail one morning and then slip out for an extended lunch in the middle of the day to run, shower, get ready for the second half day of work. Starting out, I probably won't need much more than my allotted 1 hour lunch, but as the miles inch up, then it will (hopefully) get closer to 2 hours. It sucks to have to re-apply makeup and all that in the middle of the day, but I think it could be a good solution to maximizing my productivity at work and getting a quality run in.

Now, did I employ any of that in Week 1?

 Nope.

But, I did find this adorable gif of a puppy and a pool of water. 

Also...

Treadmill: The KoB has a treadmill. I should take the opportunity to use it more than I do. Yes treadmills suck and I did 3 miles at one time on it last week and wanted to stab my eyes out with a dull kitchen knife the whole time. But, it could come in handy for doing quick EARLY morning runs since I can't leave my dog at home alone at my place early in the mornings.

Adorable? Yes.

But also conniving.

He goes apeshit in the mornings when I try to leave 

him before quiet hours are over (7am)

As soon as it's 7:01am.

Nary a peep.

Asshole.

So, week 1 looked like this:

Total Mileage: 26.5 miles

Cross-training: Almost an hour and a half total of weights, yoga, pilates. 

Long run: 9 miles

Not exactly burning it up out there, but ya know, we all have to start somewhere.

 

Track Break.

One of the things that Coach suggested for this go around* is to eliminate track work. I didn't hesitate one second in agreeing with her.

Now, don't take this the wrong way. I absolutely think that track work builds speed and strength. I am proof of that. And furthermore, I always enjoy track intervals. And I'm good at them (for marathon training at my paces, we aren't talking blazing speeds here). It's fun to whiz around a track and end up out of breath and holding your knees. I love that feeling.

But there are a few reasons I'm okay with skipping it this time around.

1. I have always maintained that for me, track workouts don't build confidence.
I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's because I don't come from a track and field background. So, I don't just automatically associate certain times with certain paces/speeds. I honestly don't know what's good or bad, so, its' not like I finish a workout and think.. DAMN, I'm so fast. I just think... DAMN, I killed that workout. But then I'm like.... WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Or maybe it's because I don't have a very mathematical mind. I have a hard time calculating time when I'm running (or, let's be honest... any time). So, I'm not thinking... ohhhh this is XYZ pace. I'm just like... is that the pace I'm supposed to hit?

I will say that 1600s do build confidence, because... (duh) easy math.

2. It's not a weakness.
Generally speaking, I haven't had much trouble in the past getting my track workouts done. I barely ever missed one and I almost always hit my target paces.

Track work is so zen for me. I love how explicit it is. Do XYZ at QRS for T times. It gives me a break from my brain and appeases the part of me that loves order and specifics.

Since I'm not trying to PR at this spring race, I really want to work on my weaknesses and the execution of the long run is really my weakest link. So, I want to focus more on tempo runs, marathon pace runs, and doing specific paces DURING my long run. Mentally, the long run feels like the opposite of track work. Where the track intervals soothe my OCD by giving my brain something to focus on, the long run just feels like a mental mess, where my brain doesn't have something to hold onto, so, it's just out in lala-land and easily manipulates me into feeling like I'm tired when I'm actually just fucking bored.

3. It makes my weakness even weaker.
So, here's the deal. I do my track workout early in the week. It's a specific set of paces, distances, and numbers and so it's easy for me to just get caught up in doing them and I usually get a little competitive with myself and do them faster than I'm supposed to. I nail the shit out of it and then come Saturday for my long run, it's less specific and my brain has time to think and get bored, and since I'm physically exhausted (see: track workout from earlier in the week) and I just get the miles in.

I think spending time focusing on the long run WITHOUT track work during the week, will help me start to build my tolerance of exhaustion for training and make me realize how I'm SUPPOSED to be doing my long runs, and maybe I will take things a little easier at track workouts in the future, with that in mind.

All this to say... I will still be incorporating some fast running in my training. I will be doing progression runs and hill repeats, strides, etc. The fun leg-turnover kind of stuff to build strength and some muscle memory. But, for these 14 weeks of training, I will not be visiting the track. And I actually think that this track break will turn me into a better runner in the long run. (Hahahahha).

The track will still be there when I'm ready for it. But for now, it's time to harden up and get these long runs under control.

What's your training weakness? Any other Long Run Weaklings out there?

*I need a name for this training cycle. Any suggestions?

Week 1 Recap

For the first time in what feels like a really long time, I actually went OVER the mileage that I was supposed to. Which, is kind of the opposite of what I should be doing in the first week. But instead of slapping my wrist (it was only 2 measly miles), I'm stoked that I actually made myself do what I was supposed to without slitting my wrists, whining to everyone I know, or making some dumb ass excuses. 

So. Yay!

There was one drawback, though. I was supposed to do 2 workouts and a long run and I only managed to do 2 out of 3 of those things. I did my long run and I did a 40 minute progression run. I did not do a run with 4 miles at Marathon Pace. 

My kind of math.

Coach and I have decided that it is important to pick a goal marathon time, only because how else do I know what paces I'm supposed to be running? So, we picked one that seems doable and practical. And while, I haven't exactly recorded a bunch of marathon times in that range, the pace seems very attainable given my current fitness level (which, is not too bad for short distances, but pretty fucking terrible for longer ones).

On my long run, I tried to get out of my brain. I realized, that generally speaking, I still love the way running feels physically. Even when my legs feel like shit and the hills seem never ending, my body overall still feels okay. But, mentally... man, I am really struggling. I am just bored as fuck. And I think that's a big part of the big 2014 running cut back.

Yup.

So, I am hoping that getting back on track with some workouts will help. I've also asked for a new ipod for christmas (my previous one mysteriously disappeared awhile back). I think that once I just get back into my Routine of running, I'll be fine. But, it's getting to that point, that's going to suck.

Anyway, week 1 down and I feel good.