My Last Long Run

Saturday was the last long run in the training program - the second 20 miler. Rather than figure out a new course we started at Traci's house ran most of our normal loop then headed out to the River Trail. We only overlapped on the trail for 6 miles (3 out - 3 back) so it wasn't too bad. For some reason this 20 was harder than the last one. We finished it at a 9:50 average which is right on with where we are supposed to be for the training (the goal was 9:57 pace). I didn't cramp up or bonk but I also didn't feel nearly as strong this time.

My nutrition was the same. No breakfast, accelGel at mile 8, shot bloks at mile 12, accelGel at mile 17. For the marathon I plan on pushing back the nutrition to miles 8, 13, and 18 and 23 if I need it. I took my endorolytes and did 5 water and 1 gatorade in my fuel belt.

I sat in my ice bath for 15 minutes instead of 10 just to make sure I got all the swelling out and during my bath I drank my recovery drink hot instead of cold. Traci gave me that sweet tip and it was fabulous. I stretched good and other than VERY tired legs on Saturday I wasn't sore on Sunday.

This morning we did a 3 mile recovery run and my legs felt fine. My left hip was pretty sore for the first 2 miles but then it finally let go. I really need to make sure I'm doing all my hip exercises to keep it strong enough for the race in 3 weeks. 3 weeks ..... OH MY GOSH!!!

Speed Work

I forgot to post this a few days ago....we did speed work on Wednesday. 5 miles total. First mile was a warmup then we did 3 miles at an 8:20 pace (we actually averaged 8:13) then a mile cool down. I didn't mind the distance at all since it was the shortest speed workout we've done in a while.

Tomorrow we run 20 again! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Recovery Run

Today's run was a little over 3 miles. My legs are actually not sore at all after the half-marathon and I felt good on the run this morning. There was even a good size hill towards the end of the run.
We have another 20 mile run this weekend so I'm very glad my legs are feeling rested enough.

Park City Half Marathon

I ran the Park City half marathon on Saturday with the girls. This week is actually scheduled to be a recovery week in our training program and when we signed up a few months ago it sounded like such a great idea but as the day got closer I was dreading running 13 miles instead of 7 like we were supposed to. The goal was to run it like a training run so that we will be ok for our 20 mile run coming up this week.

I didn't eat anything in the morning and it was nice because we didn't have to take a shuttle just show up and run. The run was on a gravel or paved road up and back course. My feel got a little sore from the rocks - but luckily no blisters. The first 7 miles were pretty much all a gradual uphill but then it was nice to have the last 5 with a gradual downhill and only 1 uphill coming back. It felt good to stride it out and pick up my pace a little the last half of the race. I didn't cramp up at all and felt good even at the finish (much different from the Moab half). But my time was within a few seconds of the time I got in Moab - which is good since that time I pushed myself hard and hurt and this time I ran the same speed without hurting and pushing hard so I guess that means I've gotten stronger and faster during the marathon training.

I took 2 endurolytes before the run, drank about 30 oz of water/gatorade on the run, took and accelGel at mile 5 and shot bloks at mile 9 1/2. I drank my recovery drink after and walked around quite a bit after and stretched and I'm not sore at all today.

Recovery Run

Today was another 5 mile recovery run. My legs felt fine and aren't sore or tired anymore from the 20 miler. I'm loving my new shoes and I think they are a good part of the reason my knee and hip aren't tight anymore. I've also started taking glucosamine everyday just in case.

Spin - Endurance

Today we did endurance in spin. We started with a 10 minute over-under hill. Move up the tension for 3 minutes then attack the hill for 2 minutes then up the tension for 3 minutes and finish with a 2 minute attack.

Then we moved into hi-lows (2 minutes hill sprint - 2 minutes flat road sprint then 1 minute of each twice)

We did this whole thing twice and it was a great endurance workout.

Recovery Run

This morning was a nice easy 4 mile run. My legs took a while to loosen up - almost a full mile. My garmin is out of batteries so I have no idea what the pace was and honestly I don't really care. I just need to get a few miles in and stay healthy for a few more weeks.

Long Run - 20 miles

Holy cow - I did it. I ran 20 miles!!!

Rather than do the same out and back that we have done for all our long runs Traci found a course from Wallsberg to Provo Canyon. We left around 5:30 am and started running right around 6. The course had a lot of rolling hills and some fairly challenging hills between 9 and 11 miles. We tried to take the "adventurous route" off the road and over to a path but there was a guy in his truck at the fence so rather than climb it when it was clearly marked private property we turned back and ran on the side of the road the whole way. The funny part is that I was being a "ninny" about going off-road so when we started on this very rocky trail I was mumbling to myself about how I was going to twist my ankle and Gretchen kept laughing at me with all my complaining :) The bad part about running on the road was that it was longer than we needed so we ended up walking about 1.5 miles to get to the car for our cool down. It was good for me but that doesn't mean it was fun.

I didn't eat before the run just drank some water (and had to pee by mile 3 - oh well) I did my first AccelGel at mile 8 then did Shot Bloks at mile 13 and another AccelGel at mile 16. I drank about 60 ounces of water/gatorade on the run. Took 2 Endurolytes before the run and 2 at mile 15. No cramping during or after the run. Woo Hoo!!

We did the majority of our run between a 9:20 and 9:45 pace then started feeling good at about mile 17 and picked up the pace the last 3 miles to about 8:30. It was a tough pace and there is no way I could have held it longer than 3 miles but I was so ready to be done running that there was no reason to slow down at that point.

When I got home I did a 10 minute ice bath, drank my Accelerade and hurried off to take 6 kids bowling for Tayson's b-day. My legs were pretty tired for a couple of days and the top outside of my quads are tight and tender when I use my stick to roll them out.

Now it's time for a recovery week!

Speed Work

Last Wednesday we did our speed work. 4 x 1600 at 8:02 pace. We started with a mile warm-up right about 9:30 pace and then did our first 1600 at 8:00 pace. Then we walk/jogged for a half mile then did our second one at 7:55 pace. Our third one was 7:47 pace and our fourth was 7:50. I was pretty darn tired by the middle of our 4th one but we just kept going to get it over with. Then we did our cool down. The full distance was about 7.5 miles. It was a very challenging workout but I feel like we went at a perfect pace and I felt pretty good once it was all over.

Recovery Run

Today we had a 5 mile recovery run on the schedule. We were all feeling good so we ran it a little faster than planned and finished the 5 miles right at a 9:02 avg. This week is our hardest week of the entire training program. Scary. We have an 8 mile tempo and 20 mile long run later this week.

I didn't take an ice bath after my 16 mile run last week and I'm still feeling a little achy. I'm going to try to stretch good the next few days so that all the soreness goes away before our long run.

Long Run - 16 miles

We had another 16 mile run today. We ran it at a 9:31 average pace and it felt harder but not too bad. I did the usual - drank lots of water, 2 endurolytes before the run, hammer gel at mile 8 and shot bloks at mile 13. I got new shoes and they felt great. My left hip is still hurting a little bit but once I get moving it lets go and I have a tight muscle in my left butt cheek :)

Next week is our hardest week of training and I'm a little nervous about it.

Speed Work

Saturday night Traci and I did our speed work since schedules are a little crazy this week. We started around 8:30 pm and it was still very hot outside. I drank water on my way over but I was still thirsty the entire run.

We did a mile warm up right around 9 min/mile then about 4.5 at 8:18 pace walked a little then ran back in around a 9 min/mile again. It was tough since we went faster than we were supposed to (8:40 was the goal) and it was sooooo hot.