Running. I'm still doing it.

No big shocker there. I was (fortunately?) blessed with the gift of stubbornness, so even when I hate it, I won't quit.

Last week was a recovery week, so my mileage was lower. And it felt SOOOO good. I swapped my LR to Saturday, because my dad came into town Saturday night and I didn't want to have to run Sunday morning (since he was only here for a little less than 24 hours).

Fenway nights (also, I now realize how much I look like him)

I was supposed to run 8 miles on Sunday, but I waited too late and ended up only doing 4. My week looked like this:

Monday: Vinyasa Flow Yoga, 1 hour, sweatfest! I am almost embarassed by how much I sweat in yoga.

Tuesday: 9 miles, easy pace (8:50)

Wednesday: 6.5 miles, easy pace with 5x800 in the middle. I was really tired that day and the 800s were a struggle. They went like this: 3:35 on the first two, forgot to time the third, then 3:43 and 3:37. Not terrible. I would like to run them again when I feel less drained.

Thursday: 4.5 miles, recovery pace (9:20) - made the mistake of running this one near a body of water at night. OMG bugs. I swallowed at least 4. As one of my DM friends said, extra protein for the day!

Friday: rest

Saturday: 14 miles, 90% MGP (8:37). AWESOME weather. Seriously, high 60's in August? It was amazing. Not pushing too hard, just ticking off the miles.

Sunday: 4 miles, recovery (9:20).

This week has been a little more of a struggle. I felt a little ill on Monday & Tuesday - I had a terrible headache for 2 days that was exacerbated by running. I think it possibly had to do with not drinking enough water or salt imbalance. I worked on that and felt much better yesterday.

And I will start doing my weekly recap right after the week actually happens, haha. I start teaching 5 fitness classes next week - I am so nervous but very excited and grateful to have some employment. It will also be interesting to see how this works with my training schedule. I am teaching studio classes that focus on step cardio/ strength training, so I anticipate I might have to go down to running one less day a week so that I'm not totally miserable and sore. But I am looking forward to the challenge!

Back on Track

After I bitched and moaned my way through last week (if any of you actually read that drivel, I'm sorry) I ended up having a really good running week. I finally hit 50 miles! And I pretty much did it all with no real issues.

My training week looked like this:

Tuesday: 6 miles (treadmill, slow progression), lifted weights

Wednesday: 9.5 miles (5 on treadmill, 4 outside) in the AM, 4.5 miles in the evening

Thursday: 6 miles (recovery pace)

Friday: Yoga

Saturday: 6 miles + speed - 6x100m strides

Sunday: 16 miles (12 at 8:25 pace) AM, 2.5 miles with the dog PM

All in all it was a good week. I had a job interview for a fitness instructor position on Friday, and overworked my legs in practicing my choreography (I got the job!), and then my plan called for a speed workout on Saturday, so by Sunday my legs were really sore. I had aimed to do 12 of the 16 miles at GMP (8:10) but I just didn't have it in me, and I had to scale it back. The weather was beautiful over the weekend as well - both Saturday and Sunday's runs were done in sub 70 temps. It felt GLORIOUS.

This week has been fine as well. I hit the track today for the first time in a while to do 800s. Holy shit guys, 800s are HARD. And it didn't help that I didn't get to the track until almost noon (read: HOT). I did 5x800 with 400 recovery in between. The first two 800s were around 3:35, and then I forgot to time the third one (doh), and then 4 was 3:43, and the final one was 3:37. I feel like I could do better, but considering I haven't run on the track in months, I'll take it.

I am so stoked that cooler temperatures are finally within sight. I am over the dog days of summer.

Darla even got into running last week! She is decidedly not a runner dog - we've tried many times. But she did go out and do a 2.5 mile run/walk with me on Sunday night! I am a proud mama.

Strugglin'

That's what I'm doing. The last week of marathon training has been a total struggle, and I feel like a failure.

Exactly like I felt here. Defeated. Failing.

I have yet to be able to get my mileage over 45 miles for a week, and with only 9 weeks left until the marathon, that really, really worries me. I'm starting to think I'm just not cut out to run marathons. I'm also really starting to think that my goal of a BQ is just not possible. How the hell am I going to maintain a 8:12 pace or less if I can't even make it more than 12-13 miles at a time without wilting?

My longest run to date has been 15 miles. I missed my 18 miler due to the foot injury, and then this past weekend we only made it 13 miles before I threw in the towel (it was supposed to be 20-yikes). We were out of town in CT and it was mega hilly there, and it was super humid. I never felt like at any point in that run that I ever reached a 'groove' and the entire 2 hours felt like an enormous struggle. Also, it feels ultra pathetic that it took me over 2 hours to run 13 miles. A 9:23 pace should be easy. And at 13 miles I had to just stop. This all does not bode well for the actual marathon.

I'm thinking I'm feeling really defeated by this training program (Pfitzinger). It seems like no matter how hard I try, I can't ever consistently hit all the mileage/speed goals. My legs are constantly sore, and my average pace has slipped further every week. I don't really know what to do. I think a large part of this problem is training in the peak of the summer, when the heat and humidity are inescapable. Also, running more than 5 days a week seems to just kill me. Last week the plan called for 3 of those 5 days to be in the double digits, which meant for me there wasn't enough time for my body to recover in between for me to be able to successfully tackle the next one.

I'm not even sure what the point of all this is - if you are still reading, thank for listen to me bitch and moan. :) I think I'll try to read a few more blogs and get some inspiration back (like Kris's amazing mileage!).

A post wherein I whine a lot

So I haven't posted in over a week. Sue me. :)

Truth be told, I don't have much to say. I am at the point in training where the mileage is increasing, and combined with brutal August temperatures and humidity, I am pretty miserable. I wonder daily why I'm doing this to myself.

Also, I briefly injured myself over the weekend. I made the classic mistake of switching shoes mid-training. I bought a pair of Brooks Green Silence on a killer deal - marked down to $49 and I had like $21 reward dollars, so they were uber cheap. I was really excited about how they fit and felt, so much so that I laced them up the day after I bought them and took them out for 5 miles of speedwork. Friends, don't make the dumb mistakes that I do. These shoes are moderately minimal, with an 8mm heel to toe drop. The shoes I do most of my training in, the New Balance 890 and the Nike Pegasus, both have a 12mm drop (although I swear the New Balance shoes feel lower than that).

So cute. So dangerous.

I loved how light they were, and how the upper fit my bony, thin, narrow foot so well. I declared the run a huge success and packed them in my suitcase to head to an out-of-town wedding. Saturday morning I woke up in VA with a slight pain in my right foot, specifcially on the outside edge of my foot, almost directly below my ankle. It wasn't terrible, and anyone who runs a lot knows that little aches and pains are just part of the game. I am not a hypochondriac so I got up, laced up my shoes, and went for a quick 2 mile run before we had to hit the road again to get to the wedding site.

My foot got progressively more sore throughout the day, but I had cocktail attire to wear, and I was not going to show up to the wedding in flats. So I put on my very sensible 2.5" Easy Spirit peep toes (don't laugh, they are cute AND comfy) and partied the night away.

Who doesn't love a good wedding photobooth? Torture shoes not pictured

By the time we got back to our hotel room my foot hurt pretty bad. I got some ice and iced it for a while and went to sleep. I woke up at 5am and tried to get out of bed, forgetting about my foot, and doubled over in pain. From my awesome google skills, I determined that I angered some tendons in my foot:

The lower arrow marks the spot of OWWWWW

The peroneus brevis and/or the peroneus longus, to be exact. We spent almost all of Sunday driving (11 hours, FU thunderstorms!) back to MA. And I spent the day limping in and out of gas stations on the ball of my foot. I got cups of ice along the way and put my foot on ice for quite a lot of the ride. I got home and wrapped it up, kept it elevated, and took Aleve for the better part of 2 days. By day 4, 95% of my pain was gone. It was nothing short of miraculous.

RICE works, ya'll

So this all meant that I had to totally skip last weekend's long run - 18 miles. It also meant that I missed Tuesday's 7 miles as well. And now that I am able to play catch-up, it is hotter than an MFer outside and it's like 99% humidity. Not exactly ideal. Which makes me a super angry person. Oh, and did I mention that I'm supposed to do 20 miles this weekend? FML.

Marathon training in August sucks. Why am I doing this again?

On a not-complaining note: I have become an absolute Olympics junkie. I love all of it. Even synchronized swimming and table tennis. It also means that we've been staying up until midnight watching it, making it impossible to get up early to run. So I guess I'm to blame for most of my misery.

So the lesson here is apparently:

1) never switch shoes mid-training, and
2) stop staying up so damn late.

Learn from my mistakes!