Week 22

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

Buddha

Week in review:

Monday: 5 miles easy. Felt meh.

Tuesday: 6 mile tempo run. Felt like shit. Wanted to quit at 5, but The KoB convinced me to keep going. Ended up being the fastest mile and felt the best. 

Wednesday: 7 miles easy. Felt meh.

Thursday: 9 miles. Felt meh.

Friday: OFF.

Saturday: 4 miles with legs that felt like shit bricks. Spent the rest of the day at Cedars of Lebanon Park for the Frostbite Half Marathon hanging out with Liz and watching the KoB jog around.

 

Just a stroll in the park. Show-off.

Sunday: 11.8 miles at Percy Warner Park with The KoB's Sunday morning crew. Felt fantastic. EXCEPT, I have a new corn between two toes and that little fucker hurts like a bitch. 

All-in-all. First week of taper is exactly what I expected it to be...

Week 21

"Losing hope is not so bad. There's something worse: losing hope and hiding it from yourself."

Walker Percy

Last week was an absolute and utter trainwreck.

After recovering from the black plague (I am NOT a good sick person. Living alone for 5+ years has not helped with this. As I just pretty much wallow around in my pajamas and randomly yell expletives), I figured the rest of the week would be awesome. For one, my birthday was on Friday and I was excited about that AND it was going to be the hardest marathon training week, which, in a sick and twisted way, I was also excited for.

And it was the longest and hardest running week I've ever had (on paper), but to be completely honest... I don't even fucking remember that. My running felt no different than any other week. 

Wednesday started the week's downward spiral. Wednesday afternoon I got some disappointing news and while I spent an hour long run with The KoB that afternoon bitching and moaning about it, afterwards, I still hadn't shaken it. Thursday somehow turned into a pretty damn good day. But, by my birthday on Friday, I was a live wire. Any and every little thing would result in my eyes welling up with tears. There are about 2-3 times a year where my hormones get out of whack and I can never pinpoint when it's going to happen. It must have something to do with my cycle and the moon or the tides or some other granola bullshit, but whatever it is, when it happens, I am a MESS. And frustratingly, I know it's irrational and not me, but it's so overwhelming that I can't help it. As it turns out, Friday, those hormones started flowing. HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY. WORK LATE AND GO TO THE GROCERY STORE AND BUY YOURSELF A SAD SLIVER OF SHITTY RED VELVET CAKE, SING "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" TO YOURSELF, AND EAT IT WHILE STANDING AT YOUR KITCHEN COUNTER LISTENING TO BON IVER'S "RE:STACKS" OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

To be clear... it was my choice. Earlier in the week, I had told my family and the KoB that I didn't want to celebrate my birthday on Friday, because I had my last long run early Saturday. Normally, I am a sane and reasonable person and this would not have been a big deal. I had no idea that my hormones were going to turn me into a 14 year old, self-obsessed, melodramatic, depressed bitch.

Unfortunately, Saturday I wasn't feeling much better. After crying to my mom on the phone that morning and then crying to The KoB on Saturday night (I am the best daughter and girlfriend EVER!), I felt a little better emotionally, but I still felt like an irrational, crazy person.

I woke up on Sunday morning and felt more like myself.(GET OUT OF MY BODY, HORMONES) I saved my recovery run for the evening where I realized: holy shit. I ran 70+ miles this week. Emotionally, the week was pretty fucking rocky... but training-wise: it was an awesome week. Silver linings and unicorns and whatnot.

Because this is a running blog afterall:

Speed: 10x800s- Yasso style

Long: 20 miles at a specific pace

Total: 70ish miles.

Per usual, I did NOT want to do the 800s. And after each one, I contemplated quitting. BUT, I stuck with it and got them done and I have to say... they really weren't all that hard. I was just kinda bored. See ya this fall, Yasso.

My long run, I ran 6 miles on my own and then met up with Striders for a 14 mile group run. It was snowing. SNOWING. And the snow stuck to the roads and sidewalks, so I was a little cautious and ran a little slower than I would have liked.

 The good news? 20 miles felt like nothing.

At the end of the week I had 70+ miles WITH a day off. Yeah... I'd say it was a good week. (The KoB pointed out on my log that if I were counting my weeks Sunday-Saturday like weirdos do, that I would have had an 83 mile week. WHAAAAAA?).

I am happy to report that I am back to normal (normal for me, that is) and now that my hormone level is back to regular, it's time for me to catch the Taper Crazies!!!!! (Thank god those two times didn't collide. THE HORROR!).

Week 18

The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
- John Pierpont

Week 17 was all about OMGZ am I peaking too early? During Week 18, I had an epiphany:

Uhhh... Dude... of course you're running really well right now...

 YOU'VE BEEN TRAINING YOUR ASS OFF FOR 17 WEEKS.

Like, am I an idiot or what? It's not called peaking... it's called fitness. HELLO. And right on cue Coach sent me an email with the subject line: "Peaking Fear" (seriously, did I hit the running coach jackpot or what, folks?). The email was about how awesome I've been running (naturally) and about how she thinks I've still got a couple of notches to crank before the race. And between that and the realization that I shouldn't be worried about running so well (duh) I put those peaking fears to rest. I've still got some climbing to do before I hit my Training Peak.

So, now... it's time to worry about something else... PLENTY of things to choose from...
1. GI Issues. Ugh.
2. Fueling. Before and during the race.
3. Weather. Is it ever too early to start worrying about race day weather?

Week 18 was a step-back week. And at the beginning of the week, I was a little frustrated by it. I felt like I was feeling good and just kinda wanted to push onward. But, by the end of the week, I found myself prefacing all kinds of sentences with the phrase... "well, this is my LAST step-back week till the marathon." And, I swear to god it rained like everyday last week, so, it was nice to hear the rain in the morning and roll over and go back to sleep. Good timing, Coach!

The workouts:
Speedy: 6 mile Marathon Pace run
Long: 20 miles
Total: 50ish

The pace run went well. It was a bit fast, but I felt pretty good. It was also on this run that I officially asked The KoB to pace me for the whole race instead of just the last 10 miles. His response? "Thank god, I was afraid I was only going to have 10 miles that day." Seriously. Swoon.  

The long run was interesting. It's amazing to me how fast long runs go when you're running a LOT during the rest of the week. I mean, sure it took me 3 hours and 15 minutes to run 20 miles, but it went by pretty fast. I ran the 11.2 loop (in the pouring rain. At least it was 65 degrees!) and then had my friend Liz join me for the 9 mile add-on to Radnor Lake and back. It helped having her there with me for those last miles until my stomach starting acting up on me a bit.

I ended the week with 48 miles and TWO rest days. Glorious. Back to the grind, folks.

Week 17

At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.

Frida Kahlo

I love the holidays. And when I say I love the holidays, I mean... EVERYTHING about the holidays. Of course, I love the focus on family and friends, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I also LOVE wrapping christmas presents, looking at my lit up christmas tree as I relax on the couch, christmas parties, and those white chocolate covered pretzels (good god I ate about 4 pounds of that shit on christmas eve). YES, I know it's all wrapped up in consumerism and blah blah blah bullshit. But, it's just a fun time of year. I love to celebrate EVERYTHING. So, it's only fitting that I love the holidays.

Another reason I love the holidays is because it's kind of like the last stop for me until April. From January 1st until April 15th, I will be practically chained to my desk (and this year, I suspect to be worse than usual). So, it's like the final blowout of enjoying extra time off until April. THERE WILL BE A VACATION AT THE END OF APRIL/BEGINNING OF MAY. MARK YOUR CALENDAR, KoB.

Which makes me pretty happy that the bulk of my training was done BEFORE the shit tornado of Tax Season starts. And while I've still got about 3.5 weeks of HARD training left, I'm already used to running 60+ miles a week, so it's not going to be a hard adjustment to try and fit my running into my schedule.

ENOUGH DRIVEL.

Another fantastic week of training. I don't know what the fuck is going on... but, I am in a groove, folks. My greatest fear is that I've peaked too early. I practically ask everyone I come into contact with if they think I've peaked too early. Obvi, this is just my brain trying to find something to freak the fuck out about, because I can't just be chill and cool about my training. NOT WITH 6 WEEKS TO GO.

The week:

Speedy: Ladder. 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 800, 400, 200

Ridiculous: 7 mile drunk/hungover run.

Long: Ehhh... not really a long run, but a 13 mile tempo run.

Total: 60ish.

I had never done a ladder workout. NEVER. I was kind of excited to do it, I figured it would go by fast and be fun, because there's a lot of thinking involved and trying to keep things straight. But, alas, it was not that much fun. It wasn't awful, either though. I pretty much hit all my marks (boring) but, the most notable thing is that it was also my first time to do a 200 and it was the WORST. OMFG. My short little legs can't turn over fast enough to get up to cranking speed.

Insert cute dog gif.

On Tuesday, I met up with Coach and Cheryl for a Cocks Bowl Game Viewing Party and ended up drinking wayyyy too much. Go Cocks! And then I was supposed to meet The KoB at 5:30 outside my place to get my run in. I got home from the bar at 4:30 and decided to take a little "nap." The next thing I knew, I woke up at 5:30, in a panic, and immediately started to head outside to meet The KoB and tell him that I just needed 5 minutes to get dressed. When I opened my door he was standing there. After frantically getting dressed and heading out, about 3 minutes into the run, I realized that I was extremely hungover. My head was pounding and I felt like I could vomit at any moment. Luckily, I kept with it (I had already hijacked The KoB's run, so I didn't want to pansy out on him) and about 3 miles in, I started to feel okay. This is why Amy shouldn't day drink.

My long run was a tempo run at the RUN BITCHES HALF MARATHON (more on this event later). I was super, duper nervous about this workout. It felt like I hadn't done a tempo run in forever and I wasn't sure how 13 miles at marathon pace was going to feel. Surprisingly, it didn't feel all that bad. It was challenging, for sure... but definitely do-able. That run was a HUGE confidence booster. HUGE. Now, all I gots to do is run twice that in a few weeks. EASY.

 Me, bitching to The KoB about the race course.

Week 16

*

WEEK 16. OMFG! I mean, for a lot of normal people 16 weeks is a full training cycle. Shit. Things are starting to get real up in here, y'allz. 

The week:

Fast- 5x1600s.

Long- 20 miles.

Total- 65ish.

I have to admit, I was pretty damn happy to see 1600s on the schedule. But, then, I was slightly horrified when I realized I had to do 5 of them! WTF?

The KoB met me on Christmas morning and we banged these out. Probably too fast, but they felt good and I felt good and it just happened.

5x1600s? Nailed them, bitches.

(This ALMOST makes me want a poodle.)

The long run was a Run Bitches event. And it was cold and rainy/sleety and I was generally kinda crabby about the whole thing, but still managed to get 19 in. Thank god for running partners. This would not have have happened without my friends.

I ended up having to run at 8pm on Sunday night to get my weekly mileage in, but even after drinking most of the afternoon, I felt pretty good.

I'm feeling good, generally. But, I'm trying to stay focused in these last few weeks. It's easy for me sometimes to accept that my fitness is there and let things slip a bit in the home stretch. I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN, this time. 

I should also probably sign up for the race at some point, huh?

*I don't have a good quote for the week, so, instead of just putting something completely irrelevant, but catchy up there... I just opted out.

Week 15

That’s the only way I know
Don’t stop till everything’s gone
Straight ahead never turn round
Don’t back up, don’t back down
Full throttle wide open
You get tired, you don’t show it
Dig a little deeper when you think you can’t dig no more
That’s the only way I know 

Ben Hayslip and David Lee Murphy (performed by Jason Aldean)*

Fitness-wise, I think I turned a corner about a month ago. That's the easy part. All you gotta do is do your workouts and the fitness comes. I'm proud to say that I've been pretty good about my workouts so far, I haven't skipped one or bailed early on one yet (I probably have the KoB to thank for that). (There's still a few weeks to go. Ahem).

I've known from day one that the real challenge for me and this marathon is about 95% mental. To get to that start line on February 17th and believe that I can achieve my goal, that's the hard part. But, I'm starting to turn the corner there, too. I've still got a few weeks to build confidence, but I'm headed in the right direction (cue me knocking on every available wood surface right now).

My schedule had this awesome little tidbit from my coach:

So. Nine weeks...Which really means about 7 more weeks of work and 10-12 days of tapering. These will be the hardest weeks.

So, that's exciting. I'm strangely looking forward to the grind of these last few weeks. BRING IT.

What I was not excited about seeing on the schedule: 800s.

WHAT?

The meat of the week:

Fast: 8x800s 

Long: 17 miles keeping an eye on the pace.

Total: 65ish

Ugh. I HATE 800s. But, luckily, these turned out to be pretty fun. The track was pretty windy, but I had the KoB there to keep me from pansying out and we pretty much nailed them. BOOM, YASSO. TAKE THAT.

The long run was a Run Bitches event. Coach, Cheryl, Liz and I had a great time running as apart of a big group that got together to raise money for the families of Sandy Hook. Despite the boring-as-shit course, we chit-chatted and pushed each other to a pretty decent pace. I felt pretty good the whole time and was thrilled to finally get the exact mileage that was on the schedule for my long run. 

My plan all week was to get EXACTLY 65 miles, but Sunday's run did not go as well as planned and I ended up with 63. I'm a wee bit disappointed, but I'll take it. I'm looking forward to a week in my future where there is a 7 as the first number. 

 *Yes, I quoted a Jason Aldean song. We've gotten to that point of training where OMG EVERYTHING IS ABOUT MY TRAINING. Including cheesy country songs. No shame.  

Week 14

If you wanna fly, you've got to give up the shit that weighs you down.

Toni Morrison

Surprisingly, after that half marathon PR (!!!), I was not sore. Like at all. I did experience dead legs for most of the week, though. Luckily, it was a step-back week and Coach encouraged me to take a day off and she let me use the race as an excuse to bail early on a long run. YAY FOR LAZINESS!

So, there's really not a lot to report from last week. I only ran 40 miles and had a nasty fall on Tuesday evening.

The End.

Actually, not the end. So... I realized this weekend that I've been been a total slacker lately. So, it's time for some things to change starting TODAY.

1. MORE YOGA: Ugh. I have been totally slacking on the yoga lately. I have started practicing at home a lot more (which I actually enjoy) because I'm a picky bitch when it comes to teachers/classes/studios and my regular studio kinda pissed me off recently, so I've been staying away from there. BUT, it's a lot easier to just skip it altogether if you're not going to a class. So, I gotta keep myself accountable and try to up my at home practice. SOMEONE OPEN A DHARMA YOGA STUDIO OR A JIVAMUKTI STUDIO IN NASHVILLE, PLEASE! THANK YOU.

Related to the yoga... I've also been slacking on my meditation and pranayama practices. As in NOT DOING THEM AT ALL. Ugh.

2. MINDFUL EATING. I've been really lazy about watching what I eat lately and I can tell... in my clothes, my attitude, my skin, the mirror. It's time to step away from shoveling whatever food is in the vicinity into my mouth and start thinking a little more about what I'm eating and how it's going to make me feel. Less sugar, more spinach. Less coffee, more sparkling wine. What? Okay, okay.. less booze, too. Blarg.

Good thing I stocked up on booze this weekend. 

Oops.

3. LONG RUNS. So... lately, I seem to always come up with a good excuse to bail early on my long runs. Last week it was the half marathon, the week before that it was I had to get home in time to meet my mom, and the week before that I'm sure it was something else. The point is... there are always excuses I can find to bail early on a long run. But, the race is in 2 months and it's time to take the long runs seriously.

So, there ya have it. I've put it on the blog, so now I gotta do it. (Sorry for all the yelling in today's post. I BLAME THE COFFEE. Oops. Sorry).

Make me feel better... have you guys been slacking on all the things lately, too?

Week 13

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” 

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

If someone would have referenced the above quote to me last week, I probably would have kicked them in the shins. But thankfully, a week later I can see how melodramatic and whack I can be.

Last week was a bitch. Not necessarily running-wise, but just in general. I was on nervous breakdown watch at work. I am still experiencing some network problems that keep me from being able to do any work, which, ummm... Is pretty fucking stressful, y'all.

My running was fairly light on the workout side. I really only had one workout to complete and I was a total fucking mess before it even started. Soooo... Without further adieu here's the week...

Workouts: 

Fast: The tempo run from hell (4 mile progressive with each mile 15 seconds faster than the previous).

Long: 14 miles with some tempo miles in there.

Total: 60+ish

So, yeah, the tempo run was pretty much fucked before I even started it. I did it on Wednesday night and luckily I had The KoB there to run it with me. Initially, I was pretty excited about the run. It was going to give me a chance to see how I felt running at a slightly quicker pace. But, by the time I met up with The KoB and got started with the warm up, the excitement was gone and frankly, after a long couple of days at work, I just kinda felt like dogshit and running a workout was the last thing that I wanted to do. As we got closer to the park, I actually felt myself starting to TEAR up. WTF?

We got started and the first one felt pretty decent, but there was a discrepancy between my gps watch and the landmarks for the one mile loop. The first couple of miles, according to my watch I didn't hit my splits the way I was supposed to and that just sent me into a bit of a tailspin, mentally. Luckily, The KoB was there and wouldn't let me fall apart physically. We finished them and I was totally wrecked. I got home and basically went straight to bed. 

The next day when I logged my workout, Coach came on and left a message about why all the sorrow? That I had hit my splits perfectly. But, it was just one of those days. One of those days where the workout comes hard and leaves you feeling weak and defeated, even if you did exactly what you were supposed to do. Running/training can really fuck you up in the head, yo.

My long run deserves its own post, so stay tuned for that.

The rest of the week went really, really well. I got in two longer midweek runs, two doubles and I still managed a rest day and ended up with over 60 miles for the week. BOOM.

(For once, I actually have an excuse for typos, boring writing, and grammatical errors. Please excuse it all as I type and post this from an airplane on an iPad. Which, btw, holy fucking shit is it hard to put the cursor where you want it. If this were my iPad, it'd be floating down 10,000 feet somewhere over Oklahoma. Instead, I've just injured my index finger from an hour of aggressive tapping. Ugh, technology. Blarg).

Week 11

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, simply surrounded by assholes. 
                                                                              William Gibson.

Well, folks, after weeks of awesome runs where I felt like I was riding a fucking unicorn on my tempo runs, the shit finally hit the fan.

It was inevitable.

Here's some boring background information that you can just skip if you're not into the whole THESE ARE MY EXCUSES, FEEL SORRY FOR ME type of thing. So, last week was a perfect example of life affecting my running. I recently fell into a new project at work that is equal parts AWESOME and HARD. It's pretty much become solely my responsibility and I'm not really getting the support/help that I thought I would have. It's challenging and I really, really enjoy it... but last week things kinda came to a head. I was waking up in the middle of the night anxious and frantic and jotting down journal entries that needed to be made (aka accounting bullshit). I'm never the type that just FEELS stressed out. It always comes out in other ways... like insomnia, irrational fits of crying, drinking too much, no appetite, etc. And I found out the hard way that you can't hide from stress. It will hunt you down (in your sleep,even) and fuck you up.

The workouts:

Fast: 5x800s 

The Tempo: 6 miles 

The Long: 17 miles

The Total: 60 miles

My interval workout is when I realized that the stress was getting to me. I ran my first and last interval about 15 seconds slower than I was supposed to. This is something new for me. I'm used to blowing it out on interval workouts, so the fact that I couldn't hit my intervals was quite disappointing. So disappointing that I actually fucking cried when they were over. WTF? Crying during your cool down = Stressed. I tried to keep it from Steve, but I'm pretty sure my ragged, crying breath is quite different than my OMG I'm going to die from running fast breath. Lame.

The next day I had an easy run with the KoB that felt absofuckinglutely terrible. Misery loves company as we were both struggling during the run. My upper body felt fatigued, my insides were stabbing me with side stitches, and my legs felt like I was running through concrete. Awesome!

By Thursday, I was sure that I was turning a corner in my Shitsgiving Week. Thankfully, The KoB met me for my tempo run and while it was an absolutely beautiful morning, the run felt pretty fucking awful. I managed to crank them out and felt better towards the end than I did in the beginning. But, they did not come easy and I ran them too goddamn fast. If The KoB hadn't been there, I would have definitely quit after the first one and then would have wound up in a heap on the ground crying and begging someone for a ride home.

After that run, I took a rest day. And proceeded to go out with my friend Liz for a happy hour that was only supposed to be a couple of beers. Four beers, three cocktails, no lunch or dinner, and about 4 hours later and I was lying on my bathroom floor puking my guts out. That lasted for about 10 hours. For about 3 of those hours in the morning, I laid in bed yelling expletives and groaning as loud as I could. (In between getting up and running to the bathroom, of course). Needless to say, I skipped running that day, too.

So, after two rest days I went out for my long run on Sunday. I didn't know what to expect (particularly after I was pretty sure that I actually puked my entire liver out on Saturday morning), but against all odds, I had a pretty damn good long run. Thanks in large part to Steve meeting me and kicking my ass on the 11.2.

With two rest days I ended up with way less than 60 miles for the week. But, I got my workouts and long run in, so, the week was not lost. Last week sucked, but it's those kind of weeks that give me confidence. Even though I wasn't hitting my intervals in Tuesdays workout, I stuck with them. And even though I felt like giving up during the tempo run, I kept at it and actually did really well (TOO WELL, I know!). When running feels good, it's easy. Too easy. But knowing that I stuck it out when it got tough... that's where the real stuff is. 

Although, for fuckssake, let this week be better.

Week 10

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.                        Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Last week, after I spent about 45 minutes regaling every detail of my 10 mile race success to The KoB, he offered up one piece of advice (and when The KoB offers up unsolicited advice, my friends... YOU TAKE IT): Careful not to run your easy runs too hard/fast this week.

And yeah, totally makes sense. It happens to us all the time. We have a good race and we get a little too big for our britches and we bust it out on our easy runs. But, DUH. Easy runs are supposed to be easy. EASY. (And by us/we, I mean I/me). It was great advice and after my first two runs in the week, I realized... FUCK. I'm doing exactly what The KoB told me not to do. And then I was tsked tsked by Coach who warned me that my workout later in the week was going to feel REALLY bad if I didn't take it easier.

She was right. Oops.

Recap:
Workout: 5x2:00 Hill Repeats
Long: 15 miles.
Total: 55-60 miles total.

I was happy to see hills on the schedule, because, I am totally sucking it on hills lately. I mean, it's a workout that I REALLY hate. But, it's something that I REALLY need. I just have no fitness or confidence on the hills. So, while these repeats SUCKED and they were super, duper slow. It's good to get them done and I know that in a few weeks/months I'll start seeing some progress. Do y'all do hill repeats?

My long run was a Saturday morning tour of Nashville:

How that was only 15.63 miles, I'll never understand.

I slept in a bit, had some breakfast (still experimenting), and headed out. It was one of those runs that just WAS. It wasn't great, it wasn't terrible. It just was. I don't know why, but I was really nervous about getting this run done. I was afraid that I'd talk myself out of doing the full 15, or that I'd be bored as fuck and get lazy and start walking. But, none of that happened. 

On Sunday, I had to run a few easy miles to get my mileage for the week and so I headed over to Percy Warner Park for the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon. I ended up running 5ish miles, a few of those with my friends Liz and Melanie and then spent the rest of the time spectating friends and The KoB. That deserves it's own post, so that's all I'll say about that for now.

Another week down.

Week 9

The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.

Joseph Campbell

Week 9 was a cutback week and I wasn't even all that pissed about it. I mean obviously, I grumbled and kicked the ground a few times when I found out, but I didn't mind it. TOO MUCH.

To be completely honest, I'm trying really hard not to pay too much attention to my training on a daily basis. Nine weeks of training so far has put me into a pretty good place, fitness-wise and I'm trying not to get too excited when I have a good tempo run or whatever. I'm just trying to think of them as crossed off the to-do list. Not crossed off with hearts and daisies next to them.

It's a little early to get excited. But, I am gaining confidence. Which is more important than excitement, anyway.

Week 9 workouts:
Fast: 5 miles at 8:35ish
Fastish: 5x400s at 2:00
Race: 10 miles.
Total: 40ish

I did my tempo run on my own and nailed it. Scary thought, but I think tempo runs are becoming my favorite run of the week. WHAT THE FUCK? Mentally, they are the most challenging and I always have a mini freak out session right before I start a tempo run. They can either be:

1. A huge confidence booster that has you spending 4 hours a day with the McMillan Calculator.

or 

2. A soul crusher that makes you feel like a slow-ass, lazy shit that just wants to go home and bury your face in a gallon of ice cream.

For now, I'm getting intimate with McMillan, but I'm sure the ice cream days are coming.

My track workout of the week was just to get my legs ready for race pace on Saturday. I had these explicit instructions from coach: Don't run these any faster than this or I'll kill you. Thanks. 

Done! My legs felt like shit the morning that I did them, but it helped loosen them up a bit, I think.

Overall, another successful training week down, another boring recap. I swear to god, there will be tears and blood and ice cream at some point. But, I'm glad it wasn't this week.

 

Week 8 Review

There are times when a feeling of expectancy comes to me, as if something is there, beneath the surface of my understanding, waiting for me to grasp it.
                                                                                      Sylvia Plath

Holy moly. I've been training for 2 months? It does not feel like that at all.

Another good week for me and another boring recap for you. Woo!

The meat of the week:
The fast: 5 miles at 8:40ish pace
Bonus workout: Hill repeats, 4x2:00 minutes.
Total: 50-55.

For my tempo run, The KoB met me and it was a good thing, because I was not feeling it, at all.

Exactly, Ron.

I kept thinking that if we warmed up a little more, that I'd start to feel better. But, after 2.5 miles or so, The KoB  had to kick my ass into gear nudge me to get started. And you know what... the tempo miles didn't really feel much worse than the warm up miles. I mean, they were hard, of course, but sometimes running sucks no matter what the pace and that day was one of those days. Once we got rolling, I completed the miles pretty easily. But was super happy to have the KoB there. Otherwise, I would have totally bailed on the workout FOR NO GOOD REASON.

The hill repeats. Okay, so apparently to everyone else this sounds like a pansy workout. But, y'all... I haven't done hill repeats consistently... in like.. YEARS. I was struggling my ass off. Blarg. They were hard, but I got them done. And am looking forward (kinda) to gauging my progress on the same death hill in the future.

I don't really feel like I had a long run this week. I ran 11 miles on Sunday, and that was my longest run of the week, but I dunno... it doesn't seem all that long. Anyway. Against all odds the run was AMAZING. I had planned on getting up early on Sunday morning and getting them done, but I couldn't drag myself out of bed. I was exhausted, so I slept in and then dragged my ass out of bed for a big breakfast (priorities). 2 hours later I went out for my long run at 12:30. I assumed that it was going to be awful, that my heavy breakfast was going to jostle about and make me sluggish. But, uhhhh... you know what? It was actually AWESOME. I couldn't slow myself down. It was like the perfect mix of coffee and homefries or something. I dunno. I ended up with like 54 miles for the week. (Full disclosure: that's with running everyday, so... pretty lame).

Another good week in the books. I feel like I'm over the hump and coasting a bit now. I have a feeling that shit's about to get real, though. It's about time to stock up at the liquor store, methinks.

Week 7

You cannot use someone else's fire. You can only use you own. And in order to do that, you must first be willing to believe that have you it.
                                                                                          Audre Lorde

Whew. So after a seriously awful week 6, week 7 turned into a really, really, good week. My legs felt great, and I easily (ish) completed all my runs for the week.


BORING, I know.

The details:
Fast: 8 miles total with 4 miles at 8:45
Long: 15 miles
Total: I GOT THE OKAY TO RUN 60 MILES! HELLSFUCKINGYES, bitches!

My tempo run was probably one of the easiest workouts I've had in a long ass time possibly ever. The miles clicked along and I felt fantastic. After I was done, it felt like I'd just jogged leisurely around for 20 minutes or something. SPECTACULAR.

The Long, I ran 15 miles and felt pretty damn good. One thing I'm noticing lately is that it takes me a LONG ass time to get warmed up and in a groove. Not sure what that's about (need to fit more yoga in?), but it's kinda annoying. It's like after 30-45 minutes that's when things really start clicking for me. WEIRD.

For the week I finished up with 59 miles. Here's a tip, if you have to run 11 miles on a Sunday to get your planned mileage for the week, and you're in a different city, and you have a friend volunteer to run part of it with you... DON'T GET YOUR FRIEND DRUNK THE NIGHT BEFORE. Because she will be too hungover to run with you and it's going to be too dark to run by yourself in a different city when your boyfriend goes for his run with his fast friends, so you'll have to run 10.5 miles on the goddamn treadmill in the hotel. OMG, I wanted to slit my wrists after about 1 mile.

So, despite that sour end to the week, overall, the week was really good. I'm getting my runs in easily and feeling good. This week marked 16 weeks out from the marathon. Holyfuckingshitballs.

Week 6 Review

*

Last week's training was terrible. I was basically running with sore muscles every freaking day.

Monday, I was still sore from the race on Saturday. Tuesday afternoon, I took a hot yoga class that I apparently OVERstretched in every position in. I was practically an invalid for the next 3 days. I have NEVER been as sore during runs as I was Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Good lord it was terrible.

I'm just glad the fucking week is over with. And now, I'm scared to go back to that yoga class even though I love the people that opened the studio and I want to support it, but jesus christ, I just can't handle being that sore and the room is so hot and makes you feel so stretchy that it's so easy to overstretch and then you'll be sore for DAYSSSSSS and prone to run-on sentences. UGH.

Here's the particulars of the week:
The fast: 5x400s @ 2:00 ALL BY MYSELF.
The long: 14 miles.
The total: 55 miles.
Wildcard workout: 8 miles on the trails for a Relay.

Well, I knew it was coming. My coach had told me the weekend before that there were going to be some workouts that I was going to have to do alone. BUZZKILL. And this week was one of those weeks. Turned out alright though. Of course, I did them way too fucking fast and was slapped gently on the wrist sarcastically teased by Coach AND the KoB. POINT TAKEN, YOU GUYS. Math=hard.

My long run went surprisingly well... Particularly since I waited until Sunday to do it. I felt like shit for the first couple of miles, but got warmed up and instead of bailing at 11, like I had the option to, I kept going. SUCCESS. Running with the Run Bitches helped.

I was so excited that I was allowed to run 55 miles, but sadly the soreness I had all week meant I only made it to 53. Honestly, with how lousy I felt, I'm surprised I managed to get that many in.

The RUN BITCHES ran a marathon relay this weekend. Upcoming post on that.

Yes, there are team shirts.

Adios, week 6. You piece of shit.

 

* Since last week was so freaking godawful, I don't even have an inspirational or thought-provoking quotation to start the review with. All I can say is... sometimes running sucks ass.

Week 5 Review

"The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails."
                                                         William A. Ward

You know you're training when you see your running partner for the first time in two weeks and all you can think of to answer his "what's been goin' on?" question is to tell him about your running. Yup. That's about it.

That's not entirely true. I did just survive the last big deadline of the 2011 tax year and instead of being jubilant and excited about it, I've mainly just been exhausted. It's actually times like this that I'm glad to be training. It's nice to know that I'm always making time for something for ME despite the work craziness. Or it could just be that I'm a self-obsessed asshole and nothing's going to get in the way of what I want to do.

So... on to the training.

My coach was in fucking Ireland for like 10 days or some shit, but thank god she got back last week. I am happy to report that I got a passing grade for my training while she was gone. And now she's back and bossing me around again and pissing me off like she's supposed to be. YAY.

The Quick: 7 miles total, 4 miles at 8:45 pace.
The Dirty: 14 mile long run.
The Total:  50.

The results:
Well, the workout was the same as the previous week and while it wasn't ice cream and roses and puppy dogs, it wasn't awful. The KoB and I ran them a wee bit fast (averaged 8:30s), but I was pretty happy with the overall outcome.

So, my long run was a 1 mile warm up jogging around a parking lot and then I ran 13.1 miles in a half marathon. More to come on that.

I actually ended the week with 49.9 miles. BOOM.

Overall, I don't really remember last week. I take that as a good sign. This is my happy place in training... 50-55 miles a week with only one workout a week. It's like the lazy woman's perfect training. For the past few weeks I've felt good. The runs have been easy, my body feels good, no muscle fatigue or exhaustion (well, Sunday's run felt pretty god damn awful after the race on Saturday). I'm trying to enjoy this... phase 2 is quickly approaching.

Week 4 review.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
                                                                                         Maya Angelou

I realized this morning that I love and hate Monday's all at once. Work-wise, I HATE Mondays. I work all week to whittle my to-do list down and then I get here on Monday morning and have to write up a new list and fill it with a whole new week's worth of stuff. DEPRESSING.

But training wise. I love Mondays. I can look back over my last weeks worth of training and be happy/proud with the final outcome. Sure, you can bet that a lot of those runs sucked ass. But, I got them done and logged. And with starting a new week of training, there is excitement there. Is this week going to be a good week? Am I going to feel awesome? Is this the week that I start to get some confidence in my running? SO MANY EXCITING VARIABLES!

So, since this isn't supposed to be a post about the upcoming week, but the past week, I need to STFU and get this recap really going.

Overall, last week was GREAT. Most of my runs felt really good. I think I've finally gotten myself into the training mode and things just clicked really well.

One issue, I've been having some problems getting my ass out of bed in the morning (which means I get to work a bit later than I'd like), but I think I've pinpointed the problem (it came to me while I laid in bed, bailing on my morning recovery run)... I've been kinda lax about taking my vitamins lately. WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO REMEMBER TO CONSISTENTLY TAKE VITAMINS? Jeebus. So, I'm going to be a little more diligent this week with my B-complex, B-12, and Iron pills. I think that will help.

The meat of week 4:
The fast(ish)- 7 miles total 4 miles at 8:45ish.
The long(ish)- 13-14 miles.
The total- 50ish.
The wildcard: a 5K where my expectations were (of course) set wayyyyy too fucking high.

For this week's "tempo" run, I dragged the KoB over to the track with me and we ran my 4 miles there. I thought it was going to be tedious and mind-numbingly boring. But, it was actually fantastic. I felt really good. The pace was a little aggressive, but it felt manageable. It was awesome. I think we ended up averaging around 8:40 for those miles. SUCCESS.

For my long run, I met up with my friend Liz on Sunday to run 13-14 miles. She was running 22, so I didn't feel bad about keeping her on the slower side with my pace. Except... we actually didn't run all that slow. I ended up with 14.5 at an honest pace and am thankful for running friends like Liz who push me out of my comfort zone a little, pace-wise. Plus, I can think of no better way to catch up with friends than running a couple of hours with them.

The wildcard.... ugh, for some GODFORSAKEN reason I've been itching to "race." I've been trying to find a 5k to run and decided that this weekend was it. I spent all of Friday psyching myself up for a PR attempt the next day.

Spoiler alert: It didn't happen.

More on that debacle later this week. 

Overall, even a shitty race attempt and a rough long run can't ruin the week. Week 4 was a good week.

Week 3 Review

 It is never too late to be what you might have been.
                                                      -- George Eliot

Holy crap. I'm already done with week 3. I think that's the worst thing about marathon training: it makes time fly by. One day you're thinking... awww shit, I gots all kinds of time before the race and then the next week, you're like holy shit, the race is in 3 weeks! It's scary.

Anyway, this week in running, truthfully, kinda sucked. The following was noted in my running log, each describing a run from this week:

Dogshit.
Sucky Sucky Sucky.
Fucking sucked ass.
Horrifically boring.

Yay!!!! Marathon training!

Now for the details.

The fast: Repeat of last week. 6 total miles with 3 miles @ 8:45-8:50 pace.
The long: 12 miles.
The total: 45 miles.

So, the tempo run was really, really hard. I managed to run the 3 miles at 8:34, 8:34. and 8:48. But the "sucky sucky sucky" from above came from that run. I just felt like crap.

Exactly.

I did my long run on Friday before I left town and while parts of it felt amazing, parts of it felt awful (mainly all the uphill parts). I went to Percy Warner Park and ran to the 6 mile marker and then turned around and ran back. Surprisingly, I kinda liked that route. (Skipping 9 mile hill always makes for a better run. However, running the backside of 3 mile hill is RIDICULOUS). 

On Sunday, I managed to drag my ass out of bed in Lexington and run the most boring out of town run I've ever had. Our hotel was in a weird area and there were very few sidewalks (none along the main road), so instead of running an out-and-back (my favorite run), I had to ziggity zaggity all over a neighborhood.

 The arrow is where I had to run off in the woods for a potty break. Ugh.

Week 3 sucked. But, it's over now.

Edited to add: Pay no attention to that elevation profile. I was not running up and down mountains, the scale was ridiculously small, like a total range of 20 ft or something.

Week 2 Review

Everything is energy and that's all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics.
                                                                       -- Albert Einstein

Week two. Well, it looked eerily like week 1, except a couple more miles thrown in there for good measure. THIS IS HOW EXCITING IT'S GOING TO BE AROUND HERE UNTIL FEBRUARY 2013!

The plan:
The fast: 6 mile run with 3 miles in the middle at 8:45-8:50 pace.
The long: 10-12 miles.
The total: 40 miles.

The reality:

I pretty much owned that tempo run. (8:26, 8:23, 8:40). If you call, almost puking at the end of the third mile, owning. I had The KoB and Steve dragging my ass down and up the hill on Belmont Blvd for that workout. Ouch. In all honesty, it's too goddamn fast. I gotta slow down on these tempo runs. BUT, in my defense, my legs felt pretty fantastic the rest of me felt like shitballs.

The long run was a Run Bitches event at Percy Warner Park (FYI, The Run Bitches is what Tanya, Cheryl and I call ourselves when we get together to run. We have also tried to recruit another Run Bitch, Melissa, to the group. I'm not sure she's fully on board with the Run Bitches, but she has agreed to run a marathon relay with us, so there's that). Steve was an honorary Run Bitch for the morning. For whatever reason, I felt amazing for the run on Saturday. Despite the fact that my body felt awesome, my head still bitched and moaned like a little pansy and forced me to walk a little on 9 mile and 3 mile hill. Ugh. TOUGHEN THE FUCK UP, AMY.

Other notables from the week:
1. I stretched the shit out of my hamstrings in yoga class on Thursday evening. Thanks to Utthita Hasta Padangustasana:

Aren't boobs fat? Why are they are on a muscle/anatomy drawing?

I'm just jealous that even she has better boobs than me.

HolyJeebus.

And my runs Saturday, Sunday (and even Monday!) were hell for it. Good lord. I've never been so sore before. Note to self... stick with Tree Pose from now on. 

2. The Run Bitches had beers on Saturday afternoon to discuss upcoming bitch schoolery, etc. Apparently, the beers I had were higher alcohol content than I am used to and I was hurting on my Sunday recovery run. Out of 20 more training weeks, how many Sunday recovery runs are going to turn into "Hangover Runs?" Wagers?