Marathon Training - Vacation

This is a recap of weeks 14 and 15 of marathon training. I had so much to do to get ready for vacation that week 14 was in the crapper. My car died on the Wednesday and ended up in the shop and I couldn't have gotten to Bedford anyway without hitching a ride. (Which I was offered, but because I had too much to do, I didn't take). I also missed my two last long runs. a 29 km and a 32 km. I had the routes all planned out, but in the end, I bailed. I was really iffy on running that kind of distance in unfamiliar territory. I am disappointed with myself. But I will deal with it.

It's been so long, I can't even remember that far back.

Week 14

Monday -  1.6 km - Mile rest day.

Tuesday -  2.6 km - Today was our association spring fling so I couldn't do tempo after work and unfortunately, I forgot and didn't get up early enough to do 6 km. But it was still tempo pace.

Wednesday - 1.6 km - So very tired today from the excess everything last night. I remember this week now. Oh boy it was busy. And my car broke down to boot.

Thursday - 6.5 km - I did yesterday's 4 x 800 missed workout. That was really, really hard.

Friday - 3 km - Got up early and hit the treadmill. Worked until lunch time and then hit the road.

Saturday - 3.8 km - This was the start of 10 days of Sam and I out for our morning jaunts.

This is us sporting our new Canadog Cani-cross harnesses. 

Sunday - 5 km. We went exploring Salisbury, Massachusetts.


Week 15

Monday - 3 km. Marathon Monday. After walking and standing for hours and hours and hours. I still had to make sure I got my run in.

We had a great viewing spot. We were about 500 m from the finish line. This is the women's first place sprint to the finish. Not a great picture but it was great to see live.

Tuesday - 15 km. Sam and I went out for our 5 km walk, then I hit the road for a 10 km. I had planned to do my long run today, but it just didn't happen. 15 of 29.

Wednesday - 5 km. Sam and I out for loops.

Thursday - 7 km. Sam and I headed out for our morning romp and were rudely interrupted by an off leash dog. Effer. Scared my little baby. We geared up the harnesses and headed out on the town for a tour.

Friday - 1.75 km. This turned out to be a rest day. We headed out for our morning walk but Sam just was not into it at all. So we called it a day.

Saturday - 5 km. Our last full day in Massachusetts.

Sunday - 15 km. Sam and I hit the loops for our last morning. Then we headed to Groton Massachusetts where I ran a 10 km race. I PR'd the heck out of that thing. By a good 8 minutes. I was very happy with this pace. This was a little slower than marathon goal race pace, but I'm ok with that. Even if I'm 15 - 20 seconds slower than that on race day, I will be thrilled.

I also didn't do my last long run today. 15 km of 32. This, I am concerned about. Heading into the taper this week. 3 weeks to go. The plan calls for a 23 km long run on Sunday. I'm wondering if I should up this by an additional 4 - 8 km. Just cause.



Week 14 / 15 - 25 of 59 km run the first week and 52 of 64 km run the second week 

                - 792 km run in 2015
                -  0 lbs lost this week. - Didn't weight at all these 2 weeks.

                - 18.3 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 11.4 lbs to lose to goal. 3 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 515 days and counting
                - Boston vacation was awesome!

Now lets get back to the task at hand.

Marathon Training Week 13

5 weeks until the big day. And I have a huge ITB problem. This is not going to be good. Time to really start getting diligent with the ITB exercises. It would really suck to work this hard for 18 weeks only to be derailed by an injury. Vacation is next week, and although I'd like to say I will keep to the schedule, I know I probably won't. Which is probably I good thing. Rest for what ails me.

This week I also hit the 500 day #runstreak milestone.

Thinking back over this week. It wasn't a great mental week. Or Physical week. I spent most of the week fighting off a cold that finally grabbed hold on Saturday. And a lot of this week I was fighting stomach problems which don't make for good runs, but they also drain strength too.

Monday - 2 km. Rest day and strength. I see a slight improvement in my strength stamina. That's a good thing. I like this strength program. It's not intense. It doesn't take long. And I don't need any equipment if I don't have any available. I just need to find make the time to add more sessions during the week.

Tuesday -  6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. This was the sub 6:00 km pace that I had two weeks ago. It was uncomfortably uncomfortable. I hope to improve on this next week.

Wednesday - 15 km. HILLS! I am so glad that this was the last night of hills. 10 x 500 m @ 6%. I wasn't feeling the greatest with this run. The cold is trying to get hold. Stomach problems all day.

Thursday - 8 km. Treadmill run after supper. Not a bad pace for having a full belly of chinese food.

Friday - 6 km. Got my run out of the way early. I'm starting to doubt my choice of too many treadmill miles in the run of a week. I hope that it doesn't bite me in the ass come race time.

Saturday - 1.6 km. Runstreak day 500!!!!! And I celebrated with a mile rest day run. Well actually we went to the campground today and lugged our camping gear up the hill on snowshoes. That was a huge workout. 3 trips up the hill with heavy loads. Then I ran a mile on the treadmill once we got home.

Sunday - 23 km. Long run. It was an absolutely beautiful spring day for a run. We ran the Bluenose Marathon route in Dartmouth. The bridge of course was a major shit fest. Actually it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past. So, thanks to my co-runners for distracting me. :)



Week 12 - 62 km run this week 

                - 715 km run in 2015
                - 1.3 lbs lost this week. 

                - 18.3 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 11.4 lbs to lose to goal. 6 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 501 days and counting
                - 20 minutes of weights plus 45 minutes heavy lifting and lugging.

                - 6 days until my Boston vacation. 

Marathon Training Week 12

I'm slow on the draw this week. Really busy on the home and work front these days. Month end. Income tax time. Business bookkeeping. Campground business. Association business. GAH! The list keeps getting longer and longer. Boston bound on the 17th. I hope the snow is gone by then. Just heard from the campground we are supposed to stay at, and they still have snow. Not a surprise, but not good. Not good at all. I should probably check to make sure that if BeachRose falls through, we can stay at the State Park. Because I don't think I'm in the mood to camp for a week at the Wal-mart.

Back to the task at hand. There are only 6 weeks left to go until the big day. I am very confident that I'm going to knock at least 30 minutes off of my marathon time. The A goal is a 58 minute PR. That's the time I'm training for, and that training is going very well But I do know that all the stars need to align in order for this to happen.This week was a very, very tiring week. 90 km in 6 days, from Sunday to Friday. And I felt how tired I was with every step.

As I type this post I am eating a delicious salad. Burnside got a new Freshii restaurant this year. Their salads are SOOOOO GOOOOOD. But they are really, really expensive. The Metaboost Salad that I get costs $12 something with tax. That's an expensive salad. So I don't get them very often. This week however, after the gluttony of Easter, I needed a food kickstart so I bought all the ingredients for the metaboost salad and have been eating them all week.

Freshii Metaboost Salad

Romaine Lettuce

Kale

Edamame

Mango

Carrot

Almonds

Goat cheese (I bought a goat cheese with fig. So delicious)

Tofu (I pan fried it in the honey balsamic vinaigrette)

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
1 TBSP Honey
4 TBSP Olive oil
1 tsp mustard powder
(next time I'm going to add garlic)

Monday - 1.6 km Mile rest day. Did some strength training. I've modified the strength program to suit my needs. HA! I definitely felt the workout on Tuesday, so my changes are ok.

Tuesday - 6 km Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. This was a tad slower than I wanted and it was still very very hard. But like I said, it was a very tiring week and I felt the workout from Monday night.

Wednesday - HILLS!!!! 14km. 9 hills. Only 1 more week of hills to go.

Thursday - 6 km. A steady run through Bedford after our clinic talk. My paces were really consistent for this run. The most consistent I've ever run. 6:49 6:53 6:49 6:56 6:56. The talk was with a Boston qualifier and an Ultramarathoner. It was an interesting discussion, it just could have been more.

Friday - 32km Good Friday long run. Emotionally this was a really fun run. The group I run with are a fun bunch. Physically this run was a real pain. And I mean that literally. The route was on "rural" roads (Rocky Lake Road) and so the grade was very uneven, which flared up my ITB. That last down hill on RL was excruciating. Things I learned while on this run. I need a water belt with more capacity. I need more sugar. Gels are good, but sometimes I need a quick rush. And take tylenol in case I have any pain. I'm ok with the liver damage. Here's an interesting article on meds and runners.

I've been seeing all of these pics with the #fitsnap hashtag. I didn't find out until this week, that it's actually an app. Fitsnap. Here's my first pic from our 32 km long run.

Did I mention that we stopped for munchies?

Saturday - 1.6 km rest day. As can be expected, I was tired. The knee felt ok. So that's good. The plan was to get some strength in today too, but I didn't. However, the Spartan Race is in 9 weeks, so I really should get my act in gear. Yes. I am registered for this race. Yes. I'm scared. :)

Sunday - 10 km. Ran from home today. This is the first run from home in months. The old knee started bothering me at the 5 km mark so we headed back. But I was running on uneven road, so I'm not too too concerned right now. I'm doing my exercises (PS: that's a video showing 10 exercises. It's legit because they are the same exercises I paid money to a physiotherapist for)

Week 12 - 72 km run this week 

                - 653 km run in 2015
                - .2 lbs lost this week. 

                - 17 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 12.7 lbs to lose to goal. 6 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 494 days and counting
                - 20 minutes of weights 

                - 13 days until my Boston vacation.