Catch Up

Saturday - 12 miles. As crazy as it sounds to me this was a pretty easy distance by this point in the training program. It was nice to only have to fill up my fuel belt once and not be sore after a run. I didn't even do an ice bath and felt fine...this taper stuff is feeling good :)

Monday - Easy run. I ran 3.5 miles after sleeping in since it was Labor Day. I ran around an 8:45 average pace.

Tuesday - Spin.

Wednesday - Tempo run. We did 5 miles total with 3 tempo in the middle. The training said to run it at 8:25 and we did it at 8:13. I felt pretty good during the run.

Thursday - Spin.

Friday - Spin.

Saturday I have my last "long run" until the race - 8 miles.

Speed Work - 7 miles

Today's workout kicked my freakin' butt. Seriously, I was dying during it and still am. We did intervals today 4 x 1600 at 7:57 pace. We've done this one before and it was hard but we still managed to go faster than we were supposed to and felt good once it was done. I'm not sure if it is the lack of sleep I got earlier this week (thanks to work and kids) or the fact that my body is just tired at this point in the training.

We did our warm up and it felt just like always the first speed mile was ok we ended up right at 8:01 (fine by me) then recovered for a half mile. Second interval was killer and ended on an uphill (ugh) but we still finished it at 7:58. Third interval was right on target at 7:57, although we were faster than that until the slight uphill at the end of that one too. Then the fourth was just KILLER I had no energy left in me and my legs felt sooooo heavy. Of course we still ran it and were doing pretty good until Lola (Traci's dog) got caught on a mailbox then chased 2 bunnies which threw us off a little but we still managed to finish the mile in 8:10 so I am perfectly happy with the workout.

The hard part is just how tired I am right now. I didn't have much steam before I got up this morning and now I'm completely dragging. I got a diet coke was too early this morning and ate a huge breakfast of french toast so hopefully I'll feel better soon. :)

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.