MTP Week 8 and 9 Overview...

So I had two amazing revelations at the end of each of my past two training weeks.

Revelation at the end of Week 8: In the course of the next 6 months (starting with the St. Paddy's Day 10K I ran at the end of this week), I will run 100 miles worth of races!

Revelation at the end of Week 9: I only have three more long run weekends, followed by two weekends of taper runs, until my marathon!

Week 8 Recap...

Monday: 3.0 miles in 28:42...nice easy run to work out my muscles after the extremely hilly 16.0 mile run I ran the previous Saturday.

Tuesday: Stretch/Rest

Wednesday: 5.5 miles in 51:09 with a 3.0 mile tempo run in the middle at 25:42...ran 1.0 mile to warm up, then did 3.0 miles at 8:34 pace (and felt great by the way), then finished the run with a 1.5 mile cool down.

Thursday: Stretch/Rest...ok, so I was supposed to run 4.0 miles at an easy pace, but Gonzaga was playing West Virginia in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament and, well, a girl has her priorities!!!  And seeing as how Gonzaga blew WV out of the water, it's clear to me I made the right decision.

Friday: Stretch/Rest

Saturday: St. Paddy's Day 10K Run in 54:20...got to downtown Tacoma to be greeted by a blast in the face of freezing cold rain (it was actually snowing in certain areas that morning) and all the wonderfully bright orange shirts of my fellow Fleet Feet HFMT (Half/Full Marathon Training) members...

...We lined up at the starting line, the gun went off, and away we went.  It was extremely cold, and we were soaking wet almost immediately, but it was so wonderful to be racing along and see other members in orange shirts working hard just like I was.  We cheered each other on when we saw each other along the course, which was just the motivation I needed to cross the finish line with a significant PR (personal record).  I got a second wonderful surprise when I went to the computer monitors by the finish line to look up my stats from the race...

...and realized I had placed 11th in my age group (females 25-29)!!!  Overall, it was a fantastic morning, and not a bad way to start my 6 months/100 miles of races!!!

Sunday: Stretch/Rest

Week 9 Recap:

Monday: 3.0 miles in 29:10...felt fantastic after the success at my race on Saturday!

Tuesday: Stretch/Rest

Wednesday: 6.5 miles total in 62:47 with 2 x 2.0 tempo miles in 17:08 and 17:22 respectively...felt ok during the first 2.0 miles, but I was pretty tired for the second 2.0 miles, and had to run it a couple seconds per mile slower.

Thursday: Stretch/Rest...was supposed to have an easy 3.0 mile run, but we had our first track meet of the season and it went extremely late, so I wasn't able to get my run in.

Friday: Stretch/Rest

Saturday: 17.0 miles in 2:49:28...this long run was a great one for me.  I was able to run with one of the other members from the training group, and not only did she and I keep each other motivated, but we kept each other going at an appropriate pace, averaging 9:58 per mile.  I started to get pretty stiff at around mile 15.0, but was still able to finish without walking at all.

Sunday: Stretch/Rest: A little sore today and my knees are in a bit of pain, but with the help of my friend, ibuprofin, I'll power through!

My training is starting to wind down, but never fear, I still have a couple weeks to go, and after my marathon, I'll still have 70ish miles of races to train for, so I'll still have lots of stories to share!

Are you training for any special races?

MTP Week 6 and 7 Overview

The last two weeks of training have been intense to say the very least.  This is due in small part to the fact that we started tempo runs in week 6, and probably in larger part because the last two long runs have been held at Point Defiance Park...

...which is riddled with more hills in one loop than I really care to run once, let alone 3 times in a row!  And yet 3 loops was the required allotment for the past two Saturday mornings.  Here's how the last two weeks have gone:

Week 6 Overview:

Monday: 3 miles in 30:42...easy run day to recover from the long run the week before.  It's kind of difficult, but I have to keep reminding myself that easy runs aren't supposed to be run for time, but for recovery and mileage.

Tuesday: 4.5 miles in 43:40 with a 2.0 mile tempo run completed in 16:48...tempo runs start out with a 1.0 mile warm-up, then this week we had a 2.0 mile run at the pace we hope to run the marathon in, which for me was 8:24 pace, followed at the end by a 1.5 mile cool down.  For the first tempo run I'd ever completed for my training, I have to admit it felt pretty good.

Wednesday: Stretching/Rest

Thursday: 4.0 miles in 38:09...workout seemed a little bit harder, but I was still sick with my sinus infection, so hopefully that was all it was.

Friday: Stretching/Rest

Saturday: 15 miles in 2:37:44...SO MANY HILLS!!!! The 5 Mile Road throughout Point Defiance Park is part of the course for the Tacoma City Marathon, so as part of our training program, the coaches thought it would be a good idea to have us do some of our mileage there...

...which would have been a great idea, had it not been for ALL THE HILLS!!!  In order to complete the 15.0 miles, we had to do 3 loops throughout the park, including three times up an incredibly brutal hill, appropriately nicknamed the "Green Monster".  Had to walk several times on the last loop because my legs were feeling like rubber due to the 1600 feet of elevation gain, and I was sore for the next week, but at least I finished.

Sunday: Stretching/Rest...so sore I could barely move, so stretching was kind of out of the question.

The next week's workouts were exponentially harder to complete for two reasons: 1) I was incredibly sore from Sunday's run, which had caused soreness in my legs, along with a gigantic knot in my right shoulder that was pressing down on a nerve in my neck, causing a significant amount of pain and 2) I still had my sinus infection, and to top it off, the cold that had started it all seemed to be coming back for round 2.

Week 7 Overview:

Monday: 3 miles in 30:08...the soreness in my legs made it all but impossible to keep putting one leg in front of the other, not to mention the fact that every step sent a jolt of pain shooting up my neck.  Aah, the joys of training for a marathon!

Tuesday: 4.5 miles in 43:35 with 2 tempo miles in 8:20 a piece...1.0 mile warm up, then 1.0 mile at tempo pace, then a 3 minute break, followed by another 1.0 mile at tempo pace, and finally a 1.5 mile cool down.

Wednesday: Stretching/Rest

Thursday: 4.0 miles in 36:25...this run actually felt pretty good, but then later that evening I started coming down with my cold...AGAIN!!!! Grrr...

Friday: Stretching/Rest

Saturday: 16.0 miles in 3:03:02...yesterday morning, I was feeling extremely sick (congestion, fever, nausea) and I still had a very good memory of what I had felt like after last weekend's long run.  I decided that I needed to take this week's long run easy, the way I was actually supposed to take all the long runs (again, I need to keep reminding myself that long runs are supposed to be run for mileage, not for time).  The nice part about sticking with people who run at a little bit slower pace than you...you actually have company along the run!  I got to spend the run with some nice people, was able to run the entire course, and don't feel nearly as sore after this week's long run as I did after last week's.  So I guess there is something to be said for running your training runs the way your coaches tell you to.  And not only that, but I got to enjoy the beautiful scenery throughout Point Defiance Park along the way.

Don't get me wrong, the 3 loops still kicked my a$$, but at least not quite as badly as before.

Sunday: Stretching/Rest...today I can actually stretch, whereas last Sunday I couldn't.  So there's progress at any rate!

Well, now that my recap for the past two weeks is done, it's time to turn my attention to Selection Sunday...

...to see which teams are going to "The Big Dance".  Hopefully my Gonzaga Bulldogs get a good seed!!!!

What team are you hoping makes it to the tournament?

MTP Week 4 and 5 Overview...

Week 4 Recap = GREAT!

Week 5 Recap = Sick as a DOG!!!

I love basset hounds (they are my favorite dog), so he seemed like the perfect mascot for my week o' misery...his name is Walter by the way!  Isn't he cute?!

Looking back, week 4 went really well, training-wise.  Here are the details:

Monday: 3 miles in 26 minutes flat...my best time yet.  I was tired at the end, but so proud of my time that I didn't even care!

Tuesday: 8x200 meter hill repeats with 1 mile run to the hill and one mile run back afterward.  My butt didn't hurt as bad this week as it did the week before, and I was also pretty proud of myself because I did the hill repeats on my own, without the motivation of the group, and finished the whole thing...even though there were moments when I definitely wanted to quit!

Wednesday: 7 miles in 67:42...Normally this would have been my rest day, but I was headed to Bend the next day to spend my 4 day weekend with Michael, and since I was going to be in the car most of the day getting to him (and I knew I wouldn't want to run the 7 miles once I got there) I decided to get it out of the way the day before...and ran it in a pretty good time if I do say so myself!

Thursday: Rest/Drive to Bend

Friday: 13 miles in 2:08:35...again, normally I would have run this on Saturday morning, but since Michael was in class until 3pm, I figured it was the perfect time to get my long run in.  I did my run through Eagle Crest Country Club, which after visiting Michael so much, I thought I knew pretty well...but apparently not.  I got lost on a couple of occasions, the routes of which took me up some pretty steep hills.  When I finally finished my run, I was a bit disappointed with my time...that is, until I plugged my Garmin into my computer and realized that along my journey, not only had I gone 13 miles, but I had gained almost 1000 ft of elevation!  No wonder I was so tired at the end!!!

Saturday: Rest/Quality time with the bf

Sunday: Rest/Quality time with the bf

After such a great week of runs, I was looking forward to seeing how well I would do on my Week 5 mileage.  There was only one thing standing in my way...the fact that my wonderful boyfriend had been horribly sick the entire weekend that I had been to visit him.  And there is one inevitable fact about boyfriends that never fails...if they are sick, you will eventually get sick as well.  Therefore, my recap of my Week 5 runs is unfortunately quite short:

Monday: 3 miles in 26:11...I wasn't feeling very sick at this point, so this run went fairly well, though I did feel pretty wiped out by the end.

Tuesday: 9 x 200 meter hill repeats with 1 mile before and 1 mile after...my brain was starting to get a little fuzzy at this point, and I lost track of how many hill repeats I'd completed until I checked my watch at the end and realized I'd done one too many.  If I'd known it was the last training run I was going to be able to complete this week, I'd have done several extra.

Wednesday: Stretch/Rest/The beginning of the cough, chest congestion, fever, and runny nose.

Thursday: This was supposed to be an 8 mile run, but unfortunately it ended up being a day of me coughing up a lung, running a fever, and generally feeling like crap...so no run for me.

Friday: Rest/Sick again...I was foolishly optimistic enough to think that I might be able to make up my 8 mile run today, but I was again so sick that I could barely make it to work, let alone manage an 8 mile run.  At that point, I was facing a major dilemma...I had a 14 mile run the next morning, and didn't want to miss it since I had already missed one of my runs this week, but I wasn't sure if trying to complete the mileage while I was so sick would in fact do me more harm than good.  So I called the amazing people from my Marathon Training Program at Fleet Feet...

                       
...and one of the coaches wisely recommended that I take the day off, get better, and come back strong and well next week. So that's exactly what I did.

Saturday: Rest/Sick as a dog...I thought there was maybe a slim chance I would miraculously wake up well enough Saturday morning to meet up with the group and go for our little 14 mile jaunt...

...but no such luck.  I was still unbelievably sick and could barely lift my head to drink my orange juice, let alone bend over to be able to lace up my running shoes.  I felt bad missing my mileage, but I have a feeling I would have felt worse had I tried to complete the mileage feeling the way I did.

Sunday: Rest/Still sick, but feeling a bit better...I'm trying to rest up today.  I'm starting to feel a bit better, and am hoping that if I lay low today and really take care of myself, I'll be able to get back on the training program schedule starting tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed for me as Week 6 posses quite a challenge after a 5 day hiatus from running...

Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: Our very first Interval Training workout!
Wednesday: Stretch/Rest
Thursday: 4 mile run
Friday: Stretch/Rest
Saturday: 15 mile run
Sunday: Stretch/Rest

What's your best strategy for getting back into your workout routine after you've been sick?

MTP Week 3 Overview...

The moral of the story this week: hill repeats = sore ass!

I don't know who the first runner was to decide that sprinting up a hill, jogging back down to the bottom, then sprinting back up again, over and over, was a good idea for a workout, but I've decided that that runner was definitely a masochist!  With or without the murderous hills, this week wasn't that great for me, time-wise or energy-wise.

Here's the rundown of my mediocre week in training:

Monday: 3 miles in 28:44...I missed my headlamp run with the group because the plumbing in my house was on the fritz and the plumber decided the explanation of what needed to be done should go on ad nauseum until it was too late to make my run, and too dark to run outside by myself.  So to the gym I went, and it just wasn't a very good workout for me.  I did the cross country course on the treadmill, but I wasn't able to finish in a time I was used to, and so overall the night was extremely frustrating.

Tuesday: 8x200 meter hill repeats...with a mile run to the hill, and a mile run back from the hill...oh, and did I mention that you basically sprint up a hill that has a 15-18% grade EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW with a 2 minute break in between each repeat...oh yeah, and part of that 2 minutes get used up jogging back down to the bottom of the hill so that you can start over again.  I know that this will help make me faster and be an essential part of dropping my time so I can qualify for Boston, but I'd be lying if I said I liked it.

Wednesday: Stretching/rest...I don't think I could even begin to explain how sore my ass was after all those hills!

Thursday: 7 miles in 1:08:20...surprise, surprise, my ass was still sore, so I wasn't able to run as well as I thought I was going to, and after dropping 5 minutes off my 7 mile time the previous week, I only dropped 1 minute off my time this week.

Friday: Stretching/rest...umm, ASS.STILL.SORE!

Saturday: 11 miles in 1:45:44...this run didn't feel very good at all, I got tired almost immediately, even though I wasn't running any faster than I had the weekend before, and by the end I was completely exhausted.  I know I should be happy that I'm completing my mileage, but I just feel like, at this point, I should be making progress and feeling better each time.  I just got a little discouraged that I felt worse this week even though the run was only two miles longer than the previous week.  Hopefully this coming week's long run will be better!

Sunday: Stretching/rest...so sore and tired.

So as you can tell, this past week wasn't a combination of my best performances, but hopefully it can only go up from here.  Week 4 is going to look a little like this:

Monday: 3 miles

Tuesday: 8x200 meter hill repeats

Wednesday: Stretching/rest

Thursday: 7 miles

Friday: Stretching/rest

Saturday: 13 miles

Sunday: Stretching/rest

Here's to better weeks...any suggestions to bounce back from a rough training week?

MTP Week 2 Overview...

New shoes, head lamps, and bald eagles...the three things that characterized this week's training runs.

Here's the low down on my weekly runs:

Monday: This was the first week where we did an evening group run, complete with reflective gear and head lamps!

 I had never run with a head lamp, so this was a totally new experience for me...and I thrived!  I felt invigorated running in the dark, probably because no one could really see me, so I didn't have to worry about looking funny or people watching/judging my running.  I ended up being the first member of the group to finish the 3 mile run, and I ran those 3 miles in 26:59!  Fastest time yet.

Tuesday: 7 miles in 1:09:13...I was suffering from the three blisters and bum toenail I had earned the week before from my too small running shoes, so I decided to complete this particular run on the elliptical machine at the gym to try to give my feet a bit of a break since I wasn't going to be able to purchase a new pair of shoes until the next day.  I used the Cross Country setting on the machine to simulate a hill workout, so I still got a pretty good 'run' in.

Wednesday: Stretching/rest...Headed out to Fleet Feet in Bonney Lake and used my day off to get a new, bigger pair of running shoes.  Tried several pairs on, and at first I had a very hard time trying to pick out a pair of shoes that were a full size too big, but eventually I ended up choosing my very first pair of Brooks running shoes, the Brooks Ghost 4!

Aren't they beautiful?!?!?!  I'm normally an Asics girl, but I'm pleasantly surprised with how comfortable these shoes are to run in!  I would recommend them with two thumbs way up.

Thursday: 8 miles in 1:17:32...used my new shoes for the first time as I did my 8 miler along Ruston Way, and dropped 4 minutes off my time from the previous Saturday.  Pretty freaking awesome if I do say so myself!

Friday: Stretching/rest...calves and shins were a little sore from the previous day's long run in a brand new pair of shoes, but other than that I felt great.

Saturday: 9 miles in 1:25:49...the Saturday morning group run was a little on the cold side when we started out, but I was feeling pretty good, and ended up keeping all of my mile splits under 10 minutes.  Additionally, I was spurred on/inspired by a bald eagle that flew directly over my head as I was cruising along at around mile 4.

It couldn't have been more than 50 feet above me, and it was an amazing experience!  I even ended up finishing my last mile with a 9:10 split, my fastest split of the run!

Sunday: Stretching/rest

Overall, this was a great running week.  I'm starting to feel more confident that I'm going to slowly, but surely, work my way toward my ultimate goal...qualifying for Boston!  This coming week should be interesting as not only do we start our hill training, but we also hit double digits on our long run...

Monday: 3 mile head lamp group night run
Tuesday: 3.5 mile with hill repeats (yikes!)
Wednesday: Stretching/rest
Thursday: 7 mile run
Friday: Stretching/rest
Saturday: 12 mile run (double yikes!)
Sunday: Stretching/rest

MTP Week 3...HERE I COME!!!

MTP Week 1 Overview...

For those of you who aren't used to my seemingly constant abbreviations yet (blame it on the day job...teachers are constantly shortening words to save themselves writing time/hand cramps), MTP stands for Marathon Training Program.  Well yesterday marked the end of my first week of training for the Tacoma City Marathon...

...and it was definitely a little harder than I thought it was going to be.  Before the MTP, I was averaging, at most, about 10 miles per week.  The first week out, we did a total of 24 miles over the course of four separate runs.  The increase in total mileage was pretty rough on me, especially since, for some unknown reason, I unwittingly chose fairly hilly courses for my 6 mile run on Wednesday and my 7 mile run on Thursday.  Thankfully, those two runs made my relatively flat 8 mile run on Saturday seem like a breeze...ok, 8 miles was nowhere near a breeze, but at least it didn't kill me! So here's the breakdown of my first week of torture...I mean training:

Monday: Ran 3 miles in 27:21 along Ruston Way...relatively flat, but I still got tired toward the end.

Tuesday: Stretching/rest...very sore!!!

Wednesday: Ran 6 miles in 59:39...actually had to split the run into two parts: I ran the first 4.6 miles in 46:12 near my school along a couple of our cross country runs (the Telephone and Bridge Runs combined) and had to stop because there were too many hills, so I drove home to give myself a little rest, and ran the remaining 1.4 miles in 13.27 around my neighborhood.

Thursday: Ran 7 miles in 1:14:02 on the Nyanza/Telephone/Bridge Runs combined...had to walk up a couple of the bigger hills because my legs felt like jello from the day before, but I ran the entire mileage together, so I was prouder of myself than I had been the day before.

Friday: Stretching/rest...stretching hurt a lot, so I pretty much just rested...so sue me!

Saturday: Ran 8 miles in 1:21:04 with the entire training group out on the Orting City Park Trail...I only stopped at the designated refueling stations to get water/gatorade, but otherwise I ran the entire time.  Interestingly enough, my best splits (and also the miles where I felt the best) were on miles 6 and 7...found that kind of funny.

Sunday: Stretching/rest...stretching felt great today, and I wasn't as sore as I thought I'd be.

The one thing I did learn the hard way on my run on Saturday is that my running shoes are a bit too small and I need to get new ones desperately as I now have 3 huge blisters and one toenail that is threatening to fall off. (Sorry if I grossed anyone out there!)  Even with that, I'm still pretty excited about the MTP and am excited to see how I feel after my runs this second week.  My schedule for Week 2 is as follows:

Monday: 3 mile head lamp group run
Tuesday: 7 mile run
Wednesday: Stretching/rest
Thursday: 8 mile run
Friday: Stretching/rest
Saturday: 9 mile morning group run
Sunday: Stretching/rest

Thanks for keeping me honest guys...hope you are enjoying my escapades in running!

I'd like to get some variety in my weekly runs, so...do you know of any good running routes in the Tacoma area that aren't completely flat, but also don't have hills so huge that I keel over dead trying to run up them?

Ready or Not...

...Here it comes.  And by it, I mean my Marathon Training Program through Fleet Feet Sports Bonney Lake.

I haven't been so great about keeping up with my running over the past couple of weeks, but I'm extremely excited to start this program tomorrow.  The best part about the training program is that each participant gets their own online workout log to which the coach submits a personalized workout every week.  This coming week, my workouts are as follows:

Monday: 3 mile run
Tuesday: Stretch/rest
Wednesday: 6 mile run
Thursday: 7 mile run
Friday: Stretch/rest
Saturday: 8 mile group run
Sunday: Stretch/rest

Thankfully, there is a huge accountability factor in that you have to record the workout you did each day in the online workout log, so that the coach knows which workouts you are completing and which you aren't.  I suppose you could lie about what you had done, but what would be the point of that because you wouldn't be preparing for the marathon at that point.

So, my workout is decided, the Garmin watch and iPod are both fully charged and ready to go, it just needs to be tomorrow so that I can get started!

Anyone else participating in a training program right now?