Training Week 6: Growing stronger!

Week 6's schedule looked like this:

Monday: 4 easy miles
Tuesday: 5 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 4.5 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Friday: Cross train 60 minutes
Saturday: 13 miles long
Sunday: Rest or 60 minutes cross train

Hard to believe that this week marks 1/3 of the way done with training! It's gone by so fast. I never thought I would be running 30+ miles a week, 9 miles on a regular week day. After this is all over, a half-marathon is going to seem like a breeze. Maybe I should find one to sign up for just to prove it to myself :)

This week also went pretty much as planned except for Thursday. I came home after work on Thursday knowing I should have just hauled my ass to the gym and done my workout, but I made the mistake of sitting down on the couch.  Once I did that I realized how completely exhausted I was. I could have fallen asleep right there at 4:30 in the afternoon. Between work and all this training I was just plain tired. So my body made the decision for me (I guess my brain chose to accept it even though it didn't have to) that I would not be doing a tempo run that day. Thankfully, I went to bed nice and early and woke up on Friday morning feeling completely refreshed and ready to tackle the day. So I did. I even decided I would make up that workout I didn't do on Thursday. After work I went straight to the gym and ran 7.5 out of the possible 8.5 miles. I felt really good.

Saturday our team met in Wellesley again for a big run - 13 miles, the halfway marker of this journey.  Unfortunately Saturday was also in the single digits (we're talking it was 6° when I arrived in Wellesley at 8:00 am). I knew this was going to be a long, cold run, but I was ready to tackle it. We didn't have a clinic this week so after we all warmed up together we headed out into the frigid New England morning. I started off listening to The Kite Runner, which I had purchased on Audible to try something new rather than listen to music for 2+ hours straight. I figured if I could listen to podcasts with no issue, an audiobook should be the same. And I had always wanted to read The Kite Runner, but never picked it up in the bookstore. I didn't listen for long though, as I was quickly approached by one of my team mates, Tim, who soon fell into stride with me. Tim was my savior for this run. I realized I made a big mistake by running as intensely as I had the day before and my legs were tired and heavy not long after we started. But Tim helped me to take my mind of things as we chatted for the entirety of the 13 miles.  This year will be Tim's 8th time running the Boston Marathon for Children's. I was in complete awe as Tim told me he'd never been a runner and had actually bandit run his first Boston Marathon. (Bandit running is when you don't officially register for the race and you just jump in on the course. All races don't allow bandits, but some are more strict than others. Boston has become particularly strict in the wake of the Marathon bombings in 2013). It was great getting to chat with Tim on everything from running, to his daughter, to cars, and the Pats. He really helped me get through the run and I was supremely grateful for that.

One of the greatest things about training where we do is the sheer amount of runners out on a Saturday morning, even on a single digit Saturday morning. We often run into other charity teams as we're out, especially when we're on Comm Ave. We've even run into some high school cross country teams out for a morning run.  Everyone is super friendly and will offer you a friendly wave or even some water from the water station they're running. We were lucky this week to have Ali who works for Children's Hospital Trust (which handles the marathon runners) manning our water station. It was so nice of her to support us like that, especially on such a cold day. The other cool thing is Ali now works with one of my former coworkers, Shannon, who was my cube buddy. We chatted a minute about how much I love and miss Shannon and her fantastic sense of humor. In the end, the run didn't end up being that bad and I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself when I finally walked through the door of the church hall we practice out of.

Today, my legs are surprisingly not as sore as I thought they'd be. It's definitely from all the miles I've racked up over the past 6 weeks. My legs are really growing stronger!  I completed 33.5 out of a possible 34.5 miles this week!

Training Week 5: Back on Track

Week 5's training schedule:

Monday - 4 easy miles

Tuesday - 5 lassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Wednesday - Rest

Thursday - 4.5 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Friday - 60 min cross train

Saturday - 11 miles long

Sunday - Rest or 60 min cross train 

This week was infinitely better than the two previous weeks. After suffering through nearly 2 weeks of being sick, I was finally able to get back on track and complete all my workouts this week on their scheduled days. 

I even tried to get crafty this week and tried to do some yoga on Friday. I was feeling pretty sore after having already run 21.5 miles between Monday and Thursday and since I'm still a really bad stretcher I thought maybe some yoga might help to loosen my tight hamstrings. So I perused OnDemand until I found a video called Yoga for Runners. I thought, perfect, this is exactly what I need. 

I started the video (which was only 17 minutes long) and began with some deep breathing followed by a flow that had me going up and down and up and down. Problem was, my legs were so tight and tired that I just wanted to hold the stretching positions forever and not move. But I forced myself to keep going, trying to keep up with the annoying man in the video. When the 17 minutes were over, I was more frustrated than calm and just as tight as I was before. So I decided to try a different video that was geared more toward yoga beginners.  I turned it on and... it was the same guy. Annoyed, I ditched the yoga and decided to just focus on stretching for while. I really need to start stretching more after I finish my workouts. 

Saturday's long run was the best I've felt in weeks. We had a short clinic beforehand where our coaches introduced us to gels, goos, gummies, beans - a whole plethora of "food" items meant to give your body necessary electrolytes and carbs it needs for running long distances.  I've used the Gu brand gels before and find that, while they don't taste bad, the texture can be hard to swallow while you're running. I had some gummies with me to try during the run that day. Our coaches explained to us that for someone who has been training for a marathon, the body can go about 18 miles or so without fuel. If you're running a marathon though, there's still 8.2 miles you need to cover and if you're trying to do that on an empty tank it probably won't go well. Gatorade and these energy supplements can help cover the gaps and get you through to the end. I'll definitely need to start trying more of these products to see which one I like the best and will want to use for race day.

It was fairly cold for our team run, and it had snowed just about an inch on Thursday so many people decided that wasn't worth shoveling. This was a pain in the butt though since running over the snow allows it to accumulate on the bottom of your sneakers and throws off your gait.  To top it off, my iPhone decided it was too cold to function and stopped working about half an hour into my run.  Thankfully, my coach Sarah caught up with me and we chatted about the Serial podcasts for a while (we both finished them, we both needed something new to listen to). 

I had extra motivation to finish this run a bit quicker than normal as Jack and I had tickets to the Patriots vs Ravens playoff game that afternoon. I spontaneously decided to bid on a pair of tickets on eBay earlier in the week and surprisingly had won. I was pretty excited and I thought Jack was going to pee his pants he was so happy.  I pushed through the run and finished at 11:00, exactly when I thought I would. I stretched briefly (I know, I should stretch more) and hightailed it out of Wellesley to Ashland to meet up with Jack. My phone unfroze about halfway to his house thankfully and I was able to let him know I was coming. I got to his place and immediately jumped in the shower (which was great, because my clothes were so sweaty I was freeeeezing). The forecast called for temperatures in the twenties dropping down to the teens so I had come prepared with as many layers as I thought I could fit on my body. I started with a pair of long underwear bottoms and a turtle neck base-layer running shirt. Added a pair of fuzzy running spandex and a long sleeve shirt. I took the rest of my layers with me and decided to bundle up in the car so I would't sweat on the way there. We made it to Foxboro in great time since we took all backroads. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on parking (which ended up being okay in the end since we got out faster than if we were in one of the Pats big lots) and loaded up with the rest of our layers.  I added a pair of fuzzy sweatpants and a pair of windbreaker pants, a fleece sweatshirt and my winter jacket. 3 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of gloves, 2 scarves, a hat, and a whole lot of hand warmers later we trekked off to Lot 10 to meet up with Jack's friends from high school for a tailgate party.  After devouring the sandwich Jack got for me, we enjoyed hanging out with his friends for a while before eventually making our way to the stadium for the game. Our seats were not that bad - top level, but row 12 (rather than the last row where we sat in 2012), and on the 35 yard line visitors side. It was such a great game to be at one that people keep saying will go down in Pats history.  I managed to make it through without freezing and we only had to wait about 45 minutes from the time we got to the car to the time we left the lot.  

All in all a great week with 32.5 out of a possible 32.5 miles completed. 

Training Week 4: Happy New Years: The battle between me and my lungs.

Week 4's training schedule looked like this:

Monday: 3 easy miles with hills
Tuesday: 4 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 4.5 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Friday: 60 minutes cross training
Saturday: 10 mi long
Sunday: Rest or 45 min cross training

Well, this week was not good. Not good at all. I was hit with the cold from hell and was sicker than I've been in years. My body was angry and just said no. I was tired, achy, coughy, sneezy, stuffy... you name it, I was feeling it.

It didn't start out so bad on Monday when I decided I was feeling good enough to do my 8 mi long from the Saturday before. So I went out after work and did my 8 mi. It wasn't stellar, but it wasn't awful either. I went to bed that night, got up the next morning and felt like I had been run over by a truck.  Since I had taken Wed-Fri off from work (actually, I took Wed off and we were given Thurs and Fri, New Years Day and the day after New Years day), and I had an important meeting with one of my volunteers that afternoon I rallied and went into the office. I spent all day sipping tea and clutching my tissues thankful my meeting was at 3 o'clock so I could just go home after that. Once I got home I completely crashed and spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch with more tea and tissues.

Wednesday was New Year's Eve and Carolyn, Jack, and I had tickets to go to the Celtics game.  My body was really telling me not to go, but hopping that the large dose of Mucinex I had taken would help, we hopped into the car and drove into Boston. The game was good and the Celtics actually ended up winning (big shock!). We were up in the nosebleed seats, but we had a good time anyway.  After the game we got some hot chocolate and coffee from Dunkin Donuts since it was quite chilly outside and we walked to Scollay Square, the restaurant we made a reservation at. We were waiting on my friend Chantha to join us. He lives in Chelsea but works as a flight attendant for Jet Blue, so he was coming home from a trip that day. After waiting for a while outside the restaurant, which was right next door to the State House, we decided to go in and get some appetizers while waiting for him. Finally Chantha arrived and we all enjoyed a delicious lunch.  We all thought the food was pretty good, though portions were a bit small. Maybe dinner had bigger plates. After we finished eating we walked down to Boston Common to see the ice sculptures. It was very cold and a bit windy, but there were a ton of people out celebrating First Night. After watching an interesting skating show on the duck pond, we decided it was time we head home since we were all pretty cold. Once we got home, I unfortunately crashed again. My body just wasn't having it.  Jack and I were supposed to make an appearance at a friends party, but I was so sick I just couldn't move. It was not a very exciting New Year's eve for us, nor for Carolyn, whose friends had backed out on their plans. We unenthusiastically rang in the New Year and all went off to bed. Needless to say, there was no exercising on Wednesday.

Thursday was New Year's day and Dad and I had been signed up to run the First Run in Lowell for a few weeks. Before getting sick I had been really looking forward to it as I have heard good things about the race. Once I got sick though I was a little hesitant to run, but decided to give it a try, especially since I dropped down from the 10K to the 5K.  The run was cold, but I managed to make it through the 5K without feeling too bad and got a decent time too. The best part was that my knee didn't hurt at all and I plowed past a lot of people going up the one hill (small hill) on the course. After I finished I went in to get a drink at the Elks where the race was being held, and then waited for Dad, Cassie, Uncle Brian, and Auntie Joyce to finish their 10Ks.  Everyone did well though we all complained about the cold.  After the race we all headed over to Uncle Jim's and Aunt Kathy's for New Year's Day brunch.  I changed my clothes and enjoyed some food and after about half an hour I...crashed again. My poor body just wasn't ready to run again quite yet. Mom took me to get some more medicine from Walgreens and after we stocked up I rested for the rest of the day. As you may guess, I took the hint this time and decided there would be no running on Friday and unfortunately Saturday too. I was sad to miss my second team run in a row, but after emailing my coaches, they said it was better to rest up now than hold on to the cold for weeks to come. I knew they were right, but I was still bummed to miss it.

Today, Sunday, I was able to get an easy slow and painful 3.2 miles in, but I thankfully did not crash hard afterwards. Hopefully I'm REALLY on the mend this time and next week will be better. Unfortunately I only completed a meager 14.3 out of 29.5 possible miles this week.