Posts tagged training

So on Sunday is my first marathon. As you can imagine I have a lot of things going through my head. So this post is going to be all over the place.

I have spent so much time preparing for this thing. I never thought it would actually happen. I remember talking about the possibility of a marathon a a year or so and getting all teary eyed just at the thought. In my head running a marathon was not something I should be able to do. But here I am 2 days away from running 26.2 miles!

I have felt pretty good about it and then all of a sudden today during lunch I have started freaking out a bit. I just hope I am prepared enough. It is supposed to be a beautiful day 45 degrees at the start, 69 for a high and partly sunny the whole day. 

We are heading down to the race tomorrow and staying over night. I am super excited because my family is coming too. My parents, the Hubs, my brother, his wife and their 2 boys will all be there. I am looking forward to spending time with them and enjoying the moment with some special people in my life :)

People always say not to have any goals for your first race and just enjoy it which I plan to do. But I still feel the need to set a goal. So here are my three goals.

1. Finish and enjoy the race

2. Finish in 5:30

3: Finish in 5 hours.

The last one is my ultimate goal and if everything falls right it is totally doable. All the race calculators say I will come in right around 5 hours. But I know crazy things happen on race day. So I am planning on coming in on 5:30 and maybe I will be surprised.

The McMillan calculator compared to my 10k two weeks ago:

I am sure I will update you tomorrow. After we check into the hotel and check out the expo.

This past weekend was the Twin Cities Marathon. I did not run in the marathon but I did run the 10k the day before. 

It was a beautiful fall morning. I believe it was about 30 degrees. This is pretty close to perfect for me running wise. I hoping for similiar weather for my upcoming marathon. 10 Days!!!

I barely made it to the race on time. Between road closures and my GPS giving me grief it was a bit stressful. I got the race site 30 minutes early. I had to grab my packet, put my bib on and what not, run back to the car to drop my things off, go to the bathroom and get to the starting line. I was literally going to the bathroom when they were calling 3 minutes to start. I somehow got it all done. Definitely not my favorite way to start a race.

I finished in 1:03:54. So I finished 4 minutes slower than last year. But I was not actually “racing” this race. I just did it for fun and I really enjoyed it. :)

Some pictures from the weekend:

Sometimes I look like death when I run. 

But I always love to race especially with friends :)

Then I went over the Expo and pretended I finished the marathon. If I only looked liked that when I raced instead of death.

Last week went much better than the previous week. So I was super happy with that. :]  I managed to get to the gym before work every day. 

Monday. It started with a 3 mile run. I had a pace of 9:50.

Tuesday: I started the New Rules of Lifting from Women. I was nervous as all get out before heading to the weight room. But I just went with it and pretended that there was no one else in the work room. It worked really well and I am pretty much in love with Heavy Lifting.

Wednesday: I went another 3 miles with a pace of 9:50 again.

Thursday: I went with Stage 1 Day 2 of NROLFW. Love.

Friday: Rest Day.

Saturday: I was going to do my long run. But it was my dearest friends birthday and she asked me to meet her for a pedicure. So I went with that and pushed my long run to Sunday. My sister was coming down for a visit so we went for a three mile walk.

Sunday. Long Run Day. 12 miles was on tap. I had to do it on the treadmill because between church and what not I did not have time to drive to the running trail. So I had a date with the ‘mill and Biggest Loser via Netflix.

I was able to get a pretty good pace of 10.15 throughout the 12 miles. It was hard. I had to stop at mile 6 for some more water. At mile ten my left hip was hurting so bad that I had to stop and stretch it out. I actually did not know if I would be able to continue. But I took it minute my minute. And I finished it. I am so happy with that. If I could keep that up for my Half in two weeks it would be a PR :]

After the run I stepped of the treadmill. I could barely walk. I decided that it would be a great night to do my first ice bath.

So I spent some quality time freezing my tush off. It actually was not as bad as I thought it would be. I had my iPad and hot chocolate handy :] I also tried out my compression sleeves after the shower. 

All in all it was a good training week. Now it is time to taper and get ready for race day. I am looking forward to racing and seeing all my running buddies :]

It was a fairly good training week. There was some good and bad training in there but  I did what I set out to do and that is what counts.

Monday: It started with BodyPump. It was the first time I had been back there in a couple of weeks. It felt really good to be back and lift some weights. My Body could tell that it had been a while and was tired.

Tuesday: I was supposed to run 3 miles. But there was a lot of drama in my 11 hour work day. I was drained. So I skipped it and relaxed at home. It was much needed. 

Wednesday: I ran my three miles that I was supposed to run on Tuesday. It was hard. My legs were still feeling Monday nights BodyPump Session. But I stuck to it. I finished 3 miles with a 9.43 Pace. After that I went to BodyFlow. It was a nice class and a stretch that my body fully enjoyed. :]

Thursday: I ran three miles with a pace of 9.41. The pace was not much faster than the day before but I felt so much better. I felt if I needed to I could run on and on. I love those runs!

Friday: A Rest Day!

Saturday: My long run day. The whole week I was planning on doing 10 miles on the treadmill while watching the Biggest Loser. Then came the problem we were up north and the gyms up there do not have Wifi so I could not do that. I do not think  I could run on the treadmill with out watching tv on the good ole iPad. So It was about 45 degrees and sunny out. So I thought I would take it outside.

It had been a long time since I had run outside for that long. There is a lovely lake around there that is 9 miles around which in my mind is close to 10. So I went with it. Of course 10 seconds into the run my Garmin decided to go to Pot. So I whipped out the trusty ole Cell Phone and used the stop watch to make sure I stay with my ratios. I went slower than I usually do but I enjoyed the run so much! It was nice to enjoy the wild life and country air. Sometimes I really miss that. I ran the nine miles in about 1hr and 45 minutes. Pretty close to where I should be for long run pace.

I am so proud of myself for running that thing. I remember when I was in High School we had a bikeathon around the lake. I barely made it a mile or 2 without catching a ride. Now I am running it. :]

Sunday: Candlelight Yoga. My body needed a really good stretch and that is what it got.

I have some really cool things coming up this week. On Wednesday, I am meeting a running friend for supper. I cant wait to talk running and life with her. I am planning to attempt my first Spin class on Thursday night. Then on Saturday I am meeting more running friends and running the Get Lucky 7k (4.3 Miles) I am thrilled to be entering running season again!

So I completely my 3 miles run. It went pretty good :] I honestly think I could have went further if my head did not get in the way and tell me I was done. This is one place that I need to work on in my training. It went a lot better than Saturday morning did. I think it was because Friday night we went out and I did not eat the greatest and all day today I ate pretty well. Lesson learned!

I am thinking about putting the 30 Day Shred on hold until I am done training for my upcoming races. It is just too hard on my legs. They need more rest time in between training days and the 30 Day Shred does not provide that. I want to be able to give it my all when I am training. I am thinking of doing some Yoga Videos. So I can still get the strength in. Do you have any good Yoga recommendations??