15 mile weekend!

Let's get all excited about a 15 mile weekend and pretend it wasn't suppose to be one 18 mile long run on Saturday : ) So I was feeling very BLAH or as Jeremy described it.... flat! I was so mentally disconnected from running from Friday night until the time I took off Saturday morning. We immediatley decided to call it 12 as a mid-taper weekend. That was a great idea since there were belly issues, chafing and wind to follow : ) 12 miles were completed well under marathon pace and that is all the matters. I was hoping to knock out 6 miles or so on Sunday but well I have a family and they are more important than running. BUT I did meet up with a runner in my neighborhood to run a few miles.

We decided to run a 5K for speed. UMMM..... he is like a 7:15-7:30 pace runner! Whose not??? ME! But I did my best to keep up and was holding my own around 7:30 to 7:45. We even did the "Big hills on the back of Boone" and I was doing my best to RUN hard the whole hill! Since 5K season is coming and I might do a couple this summer I had been curious where I would be at. Well I knocked out a 23:30 on a hilly course, with a full belly and no speed training for months! Guess I still "got it"! It felt great to push myself that hard and have that I am going to die feeling for the first time in a long time. I think 3 really fast miles will become a more regular part of my life again.

Hope you are having a great week and training hard!

Greased Feet = Greased Lightning

This weekend we had 17 miles on schedule and I was not looking forward to it. I had log a lot of miles (25 miles before the run started), rolled my ankle (while walking) and had an upset stomach for a few days. The last 2 long runs had been slowish and I just knew this 17 miles was going to stink! But I was just telling myself 3 longs runs to taper and then see what happens in Atlanta. Weather was pretty good for a long run; chilly but not too cold. We started off strong and all miles were between 8:56-9:07! This long run was looking like a good 9:09ish finish. The first 10 miles were going to be just the two of us and then David would join us for the last 7 miles. We finished the first 10 miles at a 8:57 pace so I knew we could keep the 9:09 even if we slowed down. I kept running strong and was determined to keep it as fast as possible. I was able to finish the 17 miles with an average of 8:53! That is the best long run (over 15 miles) that I have ever had!

Where did that come from??? Who knows but I wish I could repeat that for the next 2 weekends and then have some of that show up when I am in Atlanta. Just when you think sub 4 is out the door... you get a little tease that it might still be possible one day. I did "grease" my feet for the first time in a while. Maybe that is the trick ; )

Where did 42 miles come from this week...

Monday: 5 mile run in the a.m. and 2 mile run with kids

Tuesday: 2 mile run with kids and ZUMBA

Wednesday: 5.5 mile run in a.m. and 2 mile run with kids

Thursday: 6 mile run in the a.m.

Friday: 2 mile run with kids

I was teaching a "running class" and was able to log in some extra miles with my class. But I am counting them as miles since the big kids were fast and the little kids were exhausting to chase down and herd : )

Hoping to keep my miles at 40 miles or above for the next 2 weeks before I taper for Atlanta on March 18th.

Monday: 4-6 miles with Sarah

Tuesday: 6 miles

Wednesday: 4-6 miles with Sarah

Thursday: 6 miles

That is the plan for the week and would put me 38 to 42 miles for the week!

Less than Ideal

This morning it was 25 degrees and windy making the wind chill of 11 degrees. Needless to say it was less than ideal conditions for a 16 mile run but it had to happen. Which ended up being great conditions for our run. We were forced to slow our pace down because the roads were slick from the dusting of snow. Granted we always want close to a 9:09 pace but we were happy with closer to a 9:30 pace today. There were lots of turns and slowing down to keep off icy spots. It was nice to have a long run where you enjoyed running the whole time and end feeling you could actually run 10 more miles! Three more long runs and then a little taper and then 26.2 in ATL! So excited!!!!

Here is to another week full of 5:00 a.m. runs!

Changing it Up!

I am feeling really blah about running, my fitness and my weight. I am at my normal weight that is what I weigh when I am not working out. But HELLO I am training for a marathon so I should be at that other smaller number that I really like but my thighs and butt have decided to thicken up. I guess running 30+ miles a week will bulk up your leg/butt muscles : (

I decided to change some things up in attempt to improve my overall fitness and maybe shed 3 pounds in the process! Seriously I have pants that won't zip! So I knew I needed to make sure I was getting in plenty of weekday runs and add in cross training. I have a hard time fitting in both in one day but I realized if I would crawl out of bed in the a.m. I could possibly squeeze in some cross training in the p.m. So here is how my week went...

Monday: 5 a.m. run with S.W. (4 miles her pace; 1 mile my pace)

Tuesday: 1 hour Zumba after school, 2 mile run treadmill and some cross training "moves"

Wednesday: 5 a.m. run with S.W (4 miles her pace, 2 miles my pace)

Thursday: 5 a.m. run with S.B (4 miles her pace, 2 miles my pace)

I was too tired from the new 5 a.m. wake up time to get in any kind of working out in the p.m. but I am hoping as I adjust to the new schedule I might be able to pull off some push ups or something in the p.m.

Pretty good, huh? My weekday runs are not as fast since I am running with other people BUT I am running more days and getting in more miles. If we start at 5 am that leaves me with some time run 1-3 miles on my own so I am going to push those out and get it some below marathon pace runs. Hopefully I will still be able to hold my 9:09 pace on Saturdays. I am going to attempt ZUMBA some more so that I am getting in an extra workout somedays and some of the Zumba moves are good toning moves.

I think changing it up will cure my BLAH feeling! Anyone else out there have luck with changing it up??

Long Run... Positively Awesome!

This week's long was positively awesome in the fact I perfected the POSITIVE split... oh wait you are suppose to run a negative split : ( As soon as our long run started I knew it was going to be a slow and painful 16 miles. We kept the average around 9:15 for the first 8-10 miles which is great since our marathon goal pace is 9:09 or better. However, we were both sore and struggling. We decided to cut it to 15 miles since Jeremy was happy with any type of long run (he was fresh off a Hawaiian vacation) and that would be an increase for me. We managed to get ourselves back to where we started and were happy to have completed a long run even if it was 1 mile short. I was thrilled that I went on and ran the last mile since I ran right past my house.

I am not sure why my legs were so tired and heavy since my last weeks miles were low. I was short on time a couple times last week and had some issues since it was my "lady week". I am hoping our attempt at #2 for 16 miles will go wonderful next week. There are fewer and fewer weeks before I tackle 26.2 in Georgia and then I have Derby in April.

Sorry the shoe picture was so big but it did a good job of showing off how pretty they are! They are so pretty I am still not wearing them all the time because I don't want to get them wet and muddy. Plus I am hoping they will be my shoe for both marathons so I am going to try to keep their miles low for a few more weeks before I wear them exclusively. They are SO pretty! So pretty that it looks like the next time I buy a pair I will have to pay $5 more.

New Shoes!!!

Yea for the new awesome bright blue and pink Pegasus 28 running shoes!!! They feel great and I am hoping they will keep me motivated. January was great with 124.5 miles for the month. I am even making plans to get up at 5:00 am to run two days a week.