This week started our tapering process, which I feel we've been waiting for for quite some time now... I know my body was more than ready for this week to start! Every morning when I woke up during this week, I would feel pretty broken and worn out..but I knew this was normal and expected during the last few weeks of marathon training.
Our pace times were a bit slower this week, and during the runs, my legs felt pretty heavy the entire time. Our long run for Saturday was 12 miles. It was weird waking up early Saturday morning and being relieve to only be running 12 miles.. ONLY 12 MILES?!?!? I know, crazy! Even though I was excited to only be running 12 miles, the run itself was pretty brutal. The sun came out pretty early, humidity was pretty high, and by the time we were done running, it was already 80 degrees (@ 9am).
My main goal for the next few weeks is to just stay healthy and keep eating and training right. Although I feel pretty worn down right now, I know come race day, I will feel like a new person! This training has flown by! I can't believe we are down to the last few weeks and then it's GO TIME!!!
Quote of the Week...
Running Pictures!
When I first got the crazy notion of running a full marathon, I knew that running 20 miles for the longest run during training was going to ultimately happen at some point. I jokingly called this week "Hell Week" because it was the most miles I had ever ran in one week in my entire running experience. 5 miles on Tuesday, 10 miles on Thursday, and the dreaded 20 miles on Saturday. 35 miles in one week. Most people don't run 35 miles in their entire life! I knew going into this week, I had to remain focused and mentally ready to take on the miles and gain the confidence I needed to know I could finish a full marathon in less than 4 weeks.
Jeremy and I joked all week and and asked each other over and over "Why are we doing this again?" I think humor and laughing is the approach we've always used to get through the tough weeks. If we can't laugh about going out and spending our Saturday running for more than 3 hours, then what can you laugh at right? The week of course flew by, and Saturday was here before we knew it. We had planned to meet at 6 am so we could get an early start. The weather had other plans for us unfortunately. I had coursed out a run from Belton all the way through Peculiar and into Harrisonville- totaling 20 miles of almost all black-top. We decided to do something a little different this time, and instead of looping around or going out 10 miles and coming back, we decided to park his Truck in Harrisonville and drive back to our starting location in Belton where my car was parked. Since Saturday's cold wind and rain caused us to cancel, we knew that we had to rely on Sunday's break in weather to get the run in.
Woke up Sunday morning to rain, and by about 11 am, I texted Jeremy and told him that we just needed to get the run over with despite the rain. He agreed. Somehow we ended up having the rain completely stop during our entire run! I couldn't believe it. The weather we've had to deal with for our training has been less than ideal. The course was pretty flat with some gradual hills. We kept under a 9 minute mile pace until about mile 14-17 where we both agreed we kinda hit a wall and our shoulders were heavy, our form was getting sloppy, and of course we were getting pretty tired. We ended up finishing our 20 mile run in 3:09- about a 9:20 minute mile pace. I was more than happy with this time and felt that if we could go out on a whim and run 20 miles, just think how well we are going to do come race day. Running and finishing the 20 mile run gave us both a sense of real confidence that while we knew would still have 6.2 miles to go in San Diego, by making it this far, another 6.2 miles, while mentally tough, will be achievable.
Due to the weekend weather, I think we both thought that our sand vb games would be canceled for that evening, but with the rain stopping early on Sunday, volleyball was still on! We got back to Belton around 4:00 and had to each rush home, eat, shower, and change, and turn around to go play vb. At first, I wasn't ideal on playing, but after getting out there and stretching and constantly moving, I think it was the best thing we could've done. While our legs felt heavy, we played really well!
Now that HELL WEEK is over, I am looking forward to the tapering process and continuing to mentally prepare to finish my first marathon. I am looking forward to the day, the afternoon of June 6th, where I can officially be called a true "marathon runner."
Something I thought I would never do in my life would be to get a tattoo anywhere on my body. I thought this for my entire 29 years, until I wondered about what would be a better way to permanently brand my marathon training experience, than to get some INK!? This was something I thought long and hard about, and decided that I wanted to choose a tattoo that of course had "26.2" somewhere on it, was colorful, feminine, and small. After going back and forth on where to have the tattoo placed, I decided that what better place to get a running tattoo than on my foot right? So, I've been looking through a lot of different designs that I can make my own. At this point I am still debating, but think I'll have it figured out before I get it done after my marathon on June 6th. That's right, the day of my marathon! Crazy! I figure I'll probably be numb from the neck down anyways after running 26.2 miles, so no better time than on the actual day!
For this week's running I felt a little broken at times... I think my body is ready for tapering...and unfortunately, I haven't even ran the longest run of this training yet! The dreaded 20 mile run will be next weekend. This week, our long run went back down to 14 miles....and it was pretty brutal. The wind was pretty strong and I was just not feeling it physically...UGH! WE still managed to finish in a 9:04 pace, which I'm always happy with! The days are just flying by now...I'm getting so excited for June 6th to be here!!
Next week is what I will call the HELL WEEK of marathon training. We will run 5 miles on Tuesday, 10 miles on Thursday, and 20 miles on Saturday. The most miles I will ever ran in one week in my entire time as a runner. Just trying to stay healthy these last few weeks is my main goal. NO rushing the pace if I'm just not feeling it. It's not worth it at this point. We've come too far during this training to risk injury. Looking forward to another week and starting the tapering process!
I can remember when I use to go out for a 3 or 4 mile run and think "Geez, this is going to be rough"... and now, 13 weeks into marathon training, and it's like I think to myself, it's only 8 or 9 miles for a Thursday morning run, no biggie. It's so weird how my body has adapted to the longer mileage and how going out for a 9 mile run at 5:30 am before work feels like just another run!
It's that strong feeling that makes me confident that I can finish 26.2 miles. It's going to be the biggest mental challenge of my entire life so far...but I have come too far and put in way too much time to not finish, so mentally, I think that determination will get me through! :)
This week we bumped the mileage on Thursdays to 9 miles. 4 miles for Tuesday, 9 for Thursday, and 18 for Saturday... going into this week, it was hard to wrap my mind around 18 miles...and how much ground that would cover. Jeremy and I decided that we wanted to go somewhere new or just out of Belton/Raymore to run our 18 miles. I put him in charge of charting out a course for us down by the Ward Parkway/State Line area. We started at the same place we did for the "Rock the Parkway" half marathon and headed out! The course was a very scenic one! Lots of gorgeous flowers in the perfectly manicured lawns off the mansions off of Ward Parkway. We did a loop around the gorgeous Loose Park on the soft running trail, and then headed towards State Line. The last 5 miles or so were a little hilly, but not bad at all. The course was beautiful and while 18 miles is A LOT of ground to cover, I am so glad we did it in a different area! We ended up finishing in 2 hours 43 minutes, a 9:05 minute mile pace. We were VERY happy with that!
I knew going into this week that the 18 mile run would be my last in these running shoes. My usual time in shoes are about 3 months- but with the mileage we'd been doing, I knew it was way past time. Around mile 2 of the run, I started feeling my Achilles tendon pretty good on my right side and after the run, it was SO SORE! Luckily, with the great advice from my running partner, :) I iced it really good and wore my new running shoes for support and later that night felt good as new!
Can't wait to break in the new shoes next week and look forward to that last 4 weeks of training!
