Thankful Thursday: Race Photos That Don't Suck!

How in the heck do I choose????  Anyone want to vote?

#racereport: 2014 Detroit Marathon

In case you missed yesterday's blog post - Spoiler Alert - I set a huge PR on Sunday in the Detroit Marathon!!! But, let's back the bus up a little first.  Marathons are long and this report might be too :)

Expo - I was shocked at how big the expo was.  Tons of vendors that you needed to snake through to get to packet pickup (an annoyance).  I got suckered in right away by the race merchandise.  If the expo is selling pint glasses and magnets, you must buy them.  It's the law. I actually worried that buying these things would jinx me (like wearing the shirt before the race) but I bought them anyway.

That glass worked great for my celebratory beer.

Sadly, I did not buy the 2014 Corvette Stingray, nor did I stand in line to sit in it.  Very cool that they had the car on display though since it was this year's featured USA muscle car on our medals :)

Isn't she pretty?!? 

Pre-Race:  I drove down Saturday morning, stopping for lunch at a Red Robin on the way (grilled BBQ chicken sandwich as a lettuce wrap and fries with tons of RR salt, plus a very nice pumpkin porter) and then hit the expo.  I backtracked to the Courtyard by Marriott in Dearborn, but it was only about 20-25 minutes from downtown and a nice, quiet and newly renovated (or at least some of the rooms were) place.  There was an Olive Garden right around the corner for dinner (chicken marsala with most of the sauce scraped off, roasted potatoes and salad, plus lots of water).  Early bed around 8:30 with my friend, Ambien.  The alarm went off at 4 am but I was awake around 3:30.  I had time to get ready and eat my 2 pieces of Udi bread with butter and jelly and have some coffee.  TMI alert - my coffee never really kicked in but it turned out ok.

My friend, Molly, and her husband were staying at the same hotel and she rode into Detroit with me so Mark didn't need to be there so early.  I had pre-booked parking through ParkWhiz for a lot on the race list of spots and we left at 5am, so we figured "no problem" getting there. WRONG.  Streets were already closed at 5:20 and we got very lost trying to find the place we'd paid for already. We were both pretty unhappy about being told the roads would not close until 6 to find them closed at 5:20.  Not cool, Detroit.  Not cool.  Luckily, some wrong turns and driving around barriers got us to the MGM Grand parking structure. AWESOME parking. I'd park there next time.  We walked the 1/2 mile or so straight shot to the starting line, found gear check and hit the portapotties.  There were TONS of them. We also ducked into a People Mover station for awhile to stay warm.  It was freezing out - about 35* and I was glad for my throwaway old PJ bottoms and hoodie.  I ended up keeping my arm warmers on the entire race because it never got much warmer than the mid 40s and the wind would pick up here and there.

International race! 

I was very glad to have Molly with me before the race started because she kept me calm. We walked up and down the starting line to stay warm, but first had to take a selfie :)  We split about 30 min before the start so she could get into her uber-fast pace corral.

Cheese!

Because this race goes into Canada and I didn't want ginormous roaming charges for broadcasting data, I decided early on that my phone would be in airplane mode for this race.  I used my phone for my intervals (Runmeter) and music.  On a training run I learned that taking photos would cause Runmeter to stop, so I started everything about 15 min before the gun and then tucked my phone into my fuel belt.  I just listened to my music and the music at the start line.  I was getting pumped with everyone around me but it felt weird to not take a starting line photo.

A woman sang the Canadian and then US National Anthems, which was very moving, and then the handcycles (the winner set a record of 1:09:48!) and elites were off. There was a countdown clock for the wave starts and  I was in corral K (but inadvertently put myself in J because I couldn't see the signs) so it was about 16 minutes before I made it to the start.

Race strategy: (this is more for me so I don't forget - remember to do what works for you.) Stopped drinking water about 1 hour before the start. Chia bar 30 minutes before the gun (turned out 45 min before I started).  5 minute runs/ 30 sec walk breaks starting around mile 1.5.  Salted caramel gu at the first walk break in miles 5, 9, 13, 17, 20, 24 (this last one I took early - around mile 23).  Nuun in my 2 bottles and sips of water at aid stations.  (There was a panic the night before when I read border patrol could stop you and ask you to dump your bottles but no one got pulled out for that. Wearing your bib on your back was a huge no-no as I saw a girl get pulled out and yelled at to move her bib to the front.) I refilled my bottles with water when the Nuun ran out just after the 1/2 way point.  I wore a pace bracelet and it was a lifesaver.  I knew exactly what pace I needed to be at each mile marker to stay on goal pace.  I wasn't sure what would happen with my Garmin in the tunnel.

Race goal:  I never really talked here (or anywhere) what my race goal was going to be, partly because I didn't want to have to explain if I failed. Lack of confidence, much? A few people knew that I set a Fellow Flowers Declare It Day goal back in February to run a sub-5 marathon at Detroit, but then I didn't talk about it again. My PR from Grand Rapids in 2011 was 5:27:15.  My training had been going quite well so I knew baring any disasters that a PR was within reach.  I wanted much more than "just" a PR, though.  I wanted to beat that by 30 minutes.  This made my super-secret HUGE goal as 4:57.  I wore my Fellow Flowers turquoise Believe flower on my hat and painted my nails turquoise to remind myself to believe it would happen. I also wrote "you are stronger than you think", "keep moving forward" and "own this race" on my hands.

Miles 1-8: The start was quite crowded and there were areas that were pretty congested because the almost 4000 marathoners and 12000 international half marathoners started at the same time.  I hit the Ambassador Bridge just as the sun was rising over Windsor, ON and it was breathtaking.  I hated that my phone/camera was tucked away.  Running over the bridge was fun but didn't like having to slow down with the number of people. I had decided to keep my hoodie at least through the bridge and I'm proud to say my old purple hoodie is now Canadian :)  I tossed it right after the Canadian flag at the top of the bridge. The crowd support in Canada was awesome and even the border patrol guys were really cool, cheering and high-5ing runners.  We hit the Windsor Tunnel around mile 7 and I realized I was FLYING through the tunnel.  Didn't know the first half of the underwater mile was downhill but duh, how else are you going to get under a river?!?  I struggled to reign it in and when I hit the incline to come back out, I lost what little time I'd gained.
Splits: 10:56, 10:48, 11:44, 10:53, 10:52, 10:51, 10:51, 12:06 (probably long with the tunnel)

Picture from Molly

Miles 9-19: I don't have much to report here.  Lots of cool neighborhoods and some straight boring sections.  The crowds really thinned out after the international half marathon runners left us at mile 13.  I picked up the pace here because the crowds were great.  I kept up with my intervals and fueling strategy and it felt really good.  There were even some neighborhoods where people were handing out beer (I didn't not take any) and the party atmosphere was really fun.
Splits: 9:46 (I think this mile was short because of the tunnel), 11:21, 10:57, 10:52, 10:53, 10:34, 10:51, 10:54, 11:06, 10:56, 11:05

Miles 20-26.2: Mile 20 took us over the MacArthur Bridge and out onto Belle Isle.  It was nice to know where I was again because unless I was on the bridge, in Canada, in the tunnel or on the island I had no clue :)  I could feel myself starting to fade, but I knew based on my pace band that I was a good 6 minutes ahead of my ultimate goal time, which was reassuring.  I still didn't want to slow down as much as I did, but my calves were starting to cramp and so was my left ankle.  I'd never had my ankle cramp before.  Maybe if I'd put more Nuun in my bottles it would've been better.  Hard to say.  On the way back over the bridge I met up with a first time marathoner (their bibs were green) who was really struggling. I tried to give her a pep talk and get her running again. I'm hoping she finished.  Knowing I only had about 4 miles to go after the island spurred me on but my legs were really feeling trashed.  I started counting down the run intervals.  It helped knowing after each 5 minutes I could walk for a few seconds and then regroup.  The last few miles are along the Riverwalk, which provided some nice scenery, but also a lot of turns and a headwind.  So many people were doing the death march at that point that I passed a lot of them on my run intervals. I saw my friend Maureen cheering at mile 25 and that was a nice boost.  I didn't know she'd be there.  The end of mile 26 is up a hill and I'm sad that my body said "walk" and I did.  I should have straight run the last 1.26 but I had nothing left to give going up the hill.  I at least tried to push it a bit on the last .2 but looking at the splits it's pretty clear I was done.
Splits: 11:22, 11:14, 11:28, 11:34, 11:10, 11:36, 12:53, 3:19 (11:50 pace for last .28 on my Garmin)

Seeing the race clock and knowing I'd completely crushed my PR and my huge goal left me finishing with tears in my eyes.  I was crying when the volunteer hung my medal around my neck and when another gave me a shiny blanket.  I snapped a selfie and then wandered aimlessly trying to keep my legs from cramping up completely. I wanted to sit down so badly but I knew I'd never get up again.  I got a banana, water and chocolate milk but didn't have any of it for quite a while.  A really nice guy took my picture at the finisher backdrop and I repaid the favor for him.


After getting my sweatshirt from gear check, I tossed my blanket (mistake) and headed to the afterparty area.  I got a nice post-race massage but passed on the $8 crappy Redd's Apple Ale.  I also didn't feel like eating so I didn't visit the food trucks but I hear the hot dogs were amazing.  Instead I made the slow trek back to my van.  At one intersection, I was literally shaking from being so cold and a very nice guy (a first time marathoner) took off his space blanket and wrapped it around me.  Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.

I'm absolutely thrilled with how this race turned out.  It was a little hard not having anyone physically with me at the finish line, but based on the texts, tweets and facebook messages that came through when I turned my phone back on, I had so many people cheering me on from all over the country and your support meant the world to me.  It was disappointing to fall off so much in the last 6 miles and especially the last mile since I'd been doing great pulling out strong finishes, but in the end it didn't matter.  I crushed my goal and that felt amazing.

2612/3993 overall, 965/1740 women, 134/258 AG

Takeaways: If you put in the work - you will get paid.  I think the training plan my friend and I came up with was a definite winner.  (I'll talk about it in a future blog post.)  Having a cold temperature and light breeze certainly helped make this my race, as did the use of that pace bracelet!  I would most definitely consider running this one again - although maybe only the international half next time.  26.2 miles is a long way but sometimes it takes training for and executing a race of that distance to believe how strong you really are.

Hate the color but love the back of the shirt - it's all the landmarks we passed.

Thank you first and foremost to God for giving me the ability to run and keeping me healthy through training and the race. Thank you to my family for putting up with long training runs, fend-for-yourself nights, and me sleeping in on Sundays because it was my only day off.   Thank you to my friends who helped me come up with a training plan that worked and gave me results (even when I didn't believe it was possible to run the prescribed paces).   Thank you to all of you.  Everyone who has read, commented, encouraged me here or on Daily Mile/Facebook/Twitter.   Each and every one of you helped make Sunday a success for me and for that, I am forever grateful.

Motivation Monday: YES, YOU can run a marathon!

Spoiler Alert: HUGE PR!

If I can train for and finish 26.2 miles with a nearly 35 min PR and blow my goal time out of the water, so can YOU!  More on this later when I have time to write a real race report.

What's your big, scary goal? Make it a reality.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday & a Weigh-in

Good advice from Marathon Don on the GR Marathon blog today.

My friend, Beki, posted this on FB yesterday.  Anyone else relate?

Looks like I'm right where I was a year ago. *sigh*

This made me smile. The Oatmeal rocks.

I hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday!

Training Tuesday: Next Stop, the Detroit Marathon!

It's kind of hard to believe that I'm running my 2nd full marathon in less than a week!  The training is done (except for 2 more short runs this week) and I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Monday: RUN 3.2 watchless miles in the crisp, fall air.

Tuesday: A 60 minute massage.  Dude. She beat me up so I'm totally counting it.  I had DOMS for about 2 days.

Wednesday: RUN 4 mile progressive at a 9:37 pace.  Where the heck is this speed coming from?

Thursday: BIKE 20 minutes.  STRETCH/STRENGTH 25 minutes.

Friday: NADA

Saturday: RUN 12 miles in 2:09:xx (10:45 pace). I ran the first 8 with about an 11 m/m pace and then the last 4 with paces around 10 m/m.  Crazy awesome 32* run and just what I needed going into race week.!  Now, if the temperature can be in the mid to high 30s next Sunday, I'll be thrilled.

Sunday: NADA (maybe some rolling and such)

To paraphrase Forrest, taper is as taper does.  I've had the usual sniffles, sore throat, aches, pains, etc. I've freaked out over my car not starting on Sunday - it now has a new battery after it left me stranded at the grocery store.  I'm trying not to go stir-crazy and make my loves ones crazy in the process.  So far, I'd say I haven't done a very good job on that front.

But, as for the running piece?  I'm ready.

Fitness Friday: goals

I haven't posted here what my Detroit Marathon goal happens to be.  I don't know if I will.  Maybe that is fear - if I don't hit it, then I have to come back here and tell everyone I failed.  

In any case, the goal is a big one.  At least for me it is.  This race is going way beyond "finish".  I've worked harder for this race than probably any other race.  I'm hoping I put enough money in the bank for it to accrue some serious interest.  I want a big check next week Sunday.

source

I set my marathon goal way back on February 1st when I got together with a bunch of girlfriends for the Fellow Flowers Declare It Day.  At the time, I may have posted something about it, so if you really want to know, you can dig :)

I made a plan - 22 weeks of official marathon training, plus rebuilding my miles after the winter.  I did 5 20 mile training runs (I think that's 4 more than for my first marathon). Speed work.  Tempo runs and intervals. When things got in the way, I moved days around.  I rarely missed a run.

I got to work - Since Declare It Day, I've run 670 miles (and I'll run at least another 15-20 before race day).  I've biked over 400 miles.  I've even swam and lifted.  Stretched and Rolled.  I definitely put in the work.

Stick to it?  Yah, see above.

All that's left is to reach the goal on October 19th.  I'm excited and I'm ready to cash my check.

To my friends running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday - have a great race, enjoy the miles and KICK ASSPHALT!

#TTT Three Things Thursday: random thoughts

1.  I'm having a very hard focusing lately.  Chalk it up to taper crazies or just having too much going on in my life or sleeping like poop.  Speaking of poop - I think my stomach already thinks it's race day. Sorry, TMI and keeping it real.

2.  Saw a video on Facebook from the Detroit Marathon page this morning and had a mini freakout.  I can't get the video to post but you can watch it here. Then I went searching youtube for more course videos and I found this one.



It's long, like a marathon, but shows the entire course.

3.  I'm wearing heels today, because what else would someone with foot problems do 10 days before her goal marathon?

At least I look cute :)  Also - I really need to clean that mirror.

Happy Thursday, people!

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon T - 2 weeks!

I read a post yesterday on Women's Running written by one of my running/blog heroines, Dorothy Beal from Mile Posts.  In the post, she discussed how so many runners - pros and mere mortals alike - doubt their fitness during taper.  I was just discussing with one of my friends how 12 days now, I'm going to find out if I worked hard enough.  I'm notorious for questioning my abilities and doubting my ability to reach my goal, so seeing this post pop up in my Facebook feed on Monday was so timely.  You can read the entire post here.

Dorothy likened training for a marathon to banking.  She said, "The money is in the bank.  It's time to cash the check."  All of your workouts leading up to race day are deposits into your account and on race day, you get to withdraw all you've saved.  If you go nuts in the week or two leading up to your race and try to overtax the system with extra ATM deposits, you're going to find your ATM machine "out of service" for a couple weeks.  Not what you need.

I think I've done a pretty good job this time around "managing my money" (at least where marathon training is concerned - actual cash is an entirely different post).  I've run a ton of miles - easy, speed and long.  Strength trained more this time around than every before.  Cross trained.  It's almost time to cash that check.

I'm almost done writing these Training Tuesday updates.  Last week was my last "long" week before taper.  I finished my 5th 20 miler on Saturday and I'm hoping I worked out some of the kinks.  The money is in the bank, baby.  Just a few more small deposits and it's time to cash that check.

Monday 9-29-14 RUN 2.25 miles (11 m/m pace) then YOGA for 60 minutes. I actually ran TO yoga.  Who the eff am I???

Tuesday 9-30-14 BIKE 12 miles (15.6 mph) with squats and lunges every 3 miles.

Wednesday 10-1-14 RUN 7.25 miles of intervals (10:27 ave).

Thursday 10-2-14 WALK 2 miles of fresh air.

Friday 10-3-14 STRENGTH mostly stretching and rolling, some glute work.

Saturday 10-4-14 RUN 20 miles in 3:57:37 (11:52 pace).  3 bathroom stops killed my average pace, but I ended with 3 very fast miles to at least get in under 4 hours.

Sunday 10-5-14 RECOVER and REST

Motivation Monday: taper time!

Let the taper madness begin!

#TBT: My First Marathon - Grand Rapids 2011

In a little over 2 weeks, I'm going to be running my second marathon, so I took a walk down memory lane this morning and decided to share it with you.

My kids ran the finish with me :)

My friend Judi gave me my medal and lots of hugs while we both cried.

This race made me a marathoner.

You can read my full race report here.  There's even some video of me running and crossing the finish line, which was kind of interesting to watch (hello straight robot legs!).  It makes me wonder what I look like now as I run since I think my running style has changed a lot over the past 3 years.  I know I'm faster - at least most days :)

I'm going to miss having that escort down the finishing shoot in Detroit.

What are you remembering today?

ps-congrats to Corey, Nicole and Ginger who won some cool Breast Cancer Awareness headbands and sweatbands in my giveaway!  Check your emails, ladies :)

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon T - 3 weeks!

Oh my word - less than 3 weeks to go and I'm going to be running THIS!

I have one more week of hard running and then it's taper time (although since I don't do well with an extended taper and I haven't been running 4-5 days per week, it won't be quite like a "normal" taper).  This past week went fairly well, with my 4th 20 miler completed.  I think when I trained for Grand Rapids a few years ago, I only did one 20 miler.  Hopefully, all the longer runs this time will pay off on October 19th.  I'm planning to run a couple hills this week to get ready for that bridge at mile 3 and tunnel going into mile 8.

Training this week included:

Monday 9/22/14 - STRENGTH in the form of a 40 minute tabata workout

Tuesday 9/23/14 - RUN 5 easy plus strides watchless in about 57 min (10:57 ave pace)

Wednesday 9/24/14 - STRENGTH 30 minutes

Thursday 9/25/14 - RUN 6 mile tempo in the dark in 1:01:25 (10:14 ave pace)

Friday 9/26/14 - REST

Saturday 9/27/14 - RUN 20 miles in 3:49:10 (11:27 ave pace)

Sunday 9/28/14 - REST and EATING ALL THE THINGS

I really need to work on those eating all the things days.  Just because I run 20 miles does not entitle me to stuff my face and drink all the beer.  The scale so rudely reminded me of that Monday morning.

Anyone who reads this running a fall marathon?  How has your training been going?

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon 1 month to go!

It occurred to me as I was running Sunday's half marathon that my full was 4 weeks from that day.  GULP!  I'm definitely feeling confident one second and completely panicked the next, which sounds about right for marathon training.

This week went pretty well.  I wish I could say my foot feels fine all the time but it doesn't.  I'm just dealing with it and accepting it is going to hurt to run.  It is what it is.

Monday 9-15-14 BIKE 11 miles in 44 minutes (14.8 mph) - I put the bike back on the basement trainer and I can really tell I've lost all my biking mojo.  Guess that's what running does :)

Tuesday 9-16-14 RUN 4 miles plus 4 strides (ave 10:43 pace) And "easy peasy" run as I titled in on DM.

Wednesday 9-17-14 Just 30 min of stretching and rolling mostly.

Thursday 9-18-14 RUN 6 mile with 4 at tempo.  "Couldn't hit the prescribed tempo paces but I averaged a 9:59 pace, so I'll take it.

Friday 9-19-14 Zip.Zilch.Zero. - Drove to Detroit to set up for the Detroit Women's Expo, so if carrying boxes and lifting suitcases counts, then a did a tiny bit.

Saturday 9-20-14 Again, a big, fat zero.  But, I was on my feet for a lot of the expo so there's that.

Sunday 9-21-14 RUN 13.1 miles in 1:77:44 (10:30 pace).  I ran a beautiful negative split and had a great time at the race.  This was half number 13 and ended up being my 3rd fastest.  Not too shabby for a training run.  Full race report will be coming!

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon week 16

Week 16 was a pretty decent week.  I managed to get in 4 runs this week and came within 3 minutes of my 10 mile PR on Sunday at the Bridge Run.

I struggled a bit to hit paces this week but for the most part, I made it.  I did not get enough strength work but on at least a few days I did my Kinetic Revolution workouts.  I need a kick in the ass to get the tabata going again.

I don't really feel like listing everything out this week so basically I had 4 runs: 7 miles at 10:43, 6 mile tempo at 10:15 ave (tempo miles were around 9:45), 6 miles easy at 10:59, and the 10 mile race at 10:24.  Rest day on Saturday and strength work on Tues and Thurs.

This coming weekend I'm running the Detroit Women's Half and working the expo for Another Mother Runner.  I can't wait!

What's on your plate for this week?

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon week 15

I had a pretty decent week, with the beginning starting rocky but an incredible long run on Saturday.  The good definitely provided redemption for the past couple weeks of crappy runs.

Monday 9/1/14 RUN - 7 miles (5 easy, 2 medium) - I wussed out and used a friend's TM because I was sick of the humidity. This wasn't a great run (averaged 11:07) but I got through it.

Tuesday 9/2/14 STRENGTH-ish - Saw my chiro for a very sore ankle and he diagnosed more glute/hip issues.  It's crazy how something that doesn't even hurt results in pain somewhere else.  I now have a bunch of exercises I can't really do right and I spend time doing those instead of the TABATA I was supposed to do.

Wednesday 9/3/14 RUN - 7 miles (averaged 11:07 again - at least I'm consistent???). This was supposed to be a progressive and it sorta was but then it wasn't.

Thursday 9/4/14 STRENGTH - stretching, rolling and a few pushups.  I"ve started doing Kintetic Revolution 30 day challenge based on a friend's recommendation.  It takes a lot longer than I wish it did, but hopefully it will start fixing some of my strength and flexibility issues.

Friday 9/5/14 STRETCHING more KR.

Saturday 9/6/14 RUN I crushed my 16 mile run with a 10:58 average pace.  Switched my intervals to 5 min run/:30 walk and it was perfect.  Helped the weather cooperated, too.

Sunday 9/7/14 WALK and STRETCH - I've loved my Sunday morning active recovery walks.  No watch, just a meandering walk to sbux and home.

This coming week's schedule is a little goofy because I'm running a 10 mile race on Sunday.  I need to make an effort to get more actual strength training in, too, instead of just KR.

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon Week 14

This past week was kind of a bust.  I significantly underestimated what a toll getting one stupid wisdom tooth removed would have on my body.  It wasn't the pain so much as it was not eating or drinking enough to fuel workouts.  I tried to run on Saturday after having my procedure on Wednesday afternoon and it was a disaster.  Lesson learned too little too late.

Now, I'm back to work as of today, so my runs are moving from early mornings to after school.  I'm hoping the heat and humidity don't have too much of an impact because I'm at the point in this plan where I need to start kicking it up a notch.

Not much to recap for this week - I tried to run my 16 miler on Monday but only made it 4 miles.  Lifted on Tuesday.  Ran a decent interval run on Wednesday at the gym.  Did nothing Thursday or Friday.  Had a horrible 3 mile run on Saturday and then walked 4 miles on Sunday.

Let's hope this week is better.

Now for a little funny - I had a great spam comment last week and thought it would be fun to share.  Enjoy the stupidity of a spambot.

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon week 13

Well, this past week I celebrated a birthday and my 2nd 20 miler of this training cycle.  I've now done more 20s for this marathon than I did for my last. Maybe the ones I still have in the next 9 weeks will pay off on race day.

Monday 8-11-14 RUN 3.1 miles easy in 34 min (11:00 m/m pace).  Took a long time to work the kinks out from the relay. I don't think I felt right until the 3rd mile and even that one was kind of rocky.

Tuesday 8-12-14 LIFT 40 min total body tabata workout. I didn't want to do anything on Tuesday but I made myself get out my home gym equipment and at least do something.

Wednesday 8-13-14 RUN 6 mile temp with goal of 4 at 9:49 pace.  I nailed this workout and averaged a 9:59 for the entire run.

Thursday 8-14-14 LIFT 30 min arms and abs only.  I woke up stupidly sore and decided the 90 min heavy lifting on the schedule was not going to happen.  Really just phoned this one in and probably shouldn't have even counted it.

Friday 8-15-14 Happy Birthday to Me.  I ran 20 miles in 3 hrs and 47 min.  Didn't hit my goal (I really need to get under 3:45 at the 20 mile mark) but overall it was a good run.  I was reminded that I'm not supposed to be hitting goal pace yet anyway, so I'm trying not to stress about still being so slow with the intervals.  Even so, I think the 5:1 is the way to go and will be the method I use for the race.  I'm very close to goal pace now with the intervals and hopefully I can up the speed a touch on race day and still hit my goal.

Saturday 8-16-14 REST.  I earned it.  What I didn't earn was all I ate on Saturday.  This is why people get fat while marathon training.  You burn a bazillion calories one day and don't feel like eating but then the next day when you burn zero calories, you eat all the things.

Sunday 8-17-14 WALK. I walked about 3 miles in the morning.  Needed to stretch my legs.  My ankles were both feeling kind of wonky.

Overall, this was a decent week.  I really need to work on getting back into lifting.  I like the new tabata workouts so I shouldn't have any excuses.

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon Week 12

This was supposed to be a step-back week but I got hurt on Monday, didn't work out Tuesday or Wednesday, and had my relay this weekend, so the training got a little messed up.

Monday 8-4-14: RUN 6 miles in 1:08:xx (11:20 pace).  A really awful run and then my hass flared. up.

Tuesday 8-5-14: NADA

Wednesday 8-6-14: NADA

Thursday 8-7-14: STRENGTH just a 20 min arms and abs tabata session.

Friday 8-8-14: RUN (relay leg 1) 6.34 miles in 1:07:xx (10:32 pace)

Saturday 8-9-14: RUN (relay leg 2) 7.05 miles in 1:18 (11:05 pace).  RUN (relay leg 3) 4.3 miles in 44 min (10:15 pace)

Sunday 8-10-14: WALK about 4.5 miles

Now I'm ready to get back at regular marathon training.  Sadly, I had kind of a crappy run Monday morning and then a bunch of dental work Monday afternoon.  Hopefully I'm not too derailed.

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon Week 11

Wow - where does the time go?  Here it is already August and I'm about half way through my training for the Detroit Marathon.  I'd say, overall, the training is going well.  The biggest thing I'm noticing is that I seem to be recovering from long runs much quicker this time around.  Maybe it's the intervals or maybe it's just that I'm in better running shape.  Probably doesn't really matter at this point. I was mildly bummed to finish out July about 3 miles short of 100 miles, but since I knew I had a 16 mile training run on August 1st, I resisted going out on July 31st just for the purpose of hitting that number.  Pretty mature of me, don't you think?

Monday 7/28/14 - RUN 2 miles at a 10:17 pace on the indoor track.  LIFTING 80 minutes.

Tuesday 7/29/14 - REST (actually, lots of walking in Chicago)

Wednesday 7/30/14 - RUN 6 miles with 4 at tempo. Averaged a 10:03 pace overall and a 9:48 for the tempo miles.  Not too shabby.

Thursday 7/31/14 - LIFTING 90 minutes.  Went horribly.

Friday 8/1/14 - LONG RUN - since I had plans all weekend, I moved my 16 miler to Friday morning.  I had a very rocky start but finished strong for a negative split and 11:20 overall average pace.  Somehow I even managed a 10 m/m for mile 16.  I'm pretty sure it's the horse to the barn phenomenon.

Saturday 8/2/14 - REST

Sunday 8/3/14 - WALK 5 miles.  I didn't need to head back out of town as early as I expected, so I got in a nice 90 minute walk.

This coming weekend is my 2nd 200 mile relay.  Team Screaming Thunderboxes will be running full throttle up and down the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail 200 Mile Relay.  We have a twitter account and you can follow us here to watch all the craziness unfold!

Training Tuesday: Detroit Marathon week 10

As far as workouts go, this week was both awful and amazing.  It just went to prove that one bad workout doesn't need to affect the next one.  I need to hold onto that, because I'm sure I'll need that little tidbit of information later.

Monday 7-21-14 LIFT 90 minutes. I'm almost to the end of July and this lifting program. I really hope coach mixes it up again for August.

Tuesday 7-22-14 RUN 3 miles easy (10:58 pace).  This run felt like my legs were running through mud.

Wednesday 7-23-14 LIFT 90 minutes. Bad workout and got called out for bitching about it. #tribelove #justtrollin.  Then BIKE 9 miles at a snails pace with a local bike group.  I won't do that again. I hate biking around that many people and in traffic.

Thursday 7-24-14 RUN 6 miles with 3x1600.  It was a blessedly cool morning and I nailed this run.  Averaged a 10:02 overall and a 9:34 on the miles (just shy of the 9:18 goal).

Friday 7-25-14 REST

Saturday 7-26-14 RUN long 20 miles!  I averaged an 11:18 pace using a 5 minute run / 1 minute walk interval.  I felt great through about 18 miles and it was a great redemption after how I felt running in Chicago the week before.  It occurred to me right before the run that this is only the 4th time I've run this far.

Sunday 7-27-14 REST and RECOVERY.  I woke up feeling really good.  Only some aches in my achilles and back.  The rest of me felt pretty darn good.

Looking forward to my step-back week and "only" 16 miles on my next long run.

Detroit Marathon Training Week 9 and a winner!

First off, a quick "THANK YOU" to everyone who entered my "Run the D" giveaway for an entry to the Detroit Women's Half Marathon and 5k.  Rafflecopter did it's thing and we have a winner!  Congratulations to Patti W - can't wait to hear how your race goes!

Now onto the training recap portion of this program.

After a pretty miserable week 8, I really stepped things up for week 9.  Looking back at my DailyMile stats, this is the most miles I've run in a week in longer than the bar graph goes back and if I hit all my runs for the rest of the month, I will come in with just under 100 miles.  I'm not even sure I ever hit that in a month on my first round of marathon training.

It's no wonder I'm tired and feeling a little stressed by the whole thing.

My workouts went pretty well this week and were capped off my a long run/race that was quite memorable.

Monday 7-14-14 RUN 3.1 in just under 31 min (9:51 pace).  This was supposed to be an easy run but my legs decided otherwise and I pushed the pace a little.

Tuesday 7-15-14 LIFTING

Wednesday 7-16-14 RUN TEMPO 6 miles 60 min and change (10:02 pace).  The 4 tempo miles were more of a progression run and the only reason I hit the average goal pace was because of the last mile.  It was really quite cool outside, so I'm disappointed I didn't run faster.

Thursday 7-17-14 LIFTING

Friday 7-18-14 RUN (a bonus workout). I was feeling antsy so I did 2 miles plus 1/2 mile of strides (ave 9:44 pace).

Saturday 7-19-14 REST but it really wasn't because I walked around an expo and then downtown Chicago for hours.

Sunday 7-20-14 RUN 18.23 miles in 3:32:xx (11:36 ave pace). I ran the first 5 miles as a warm up to the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon.  It was hot, humid, and kind of sucky but a good way to get in a supported training run.  You can read the race report here.

I'm feeling pretty decent since the long run on Sunday.  Even Monday morning I felt good enough to go lift for 90 minutes.  It's nice to see I'm recovering fairly quickly from these longer runs.  Now, if it would just cool off some so I could actually hit my long run paces, I'd appreciate it.  It's not looking good for my 20 miler on Saturday - in fact, storms are in the forecast so there is a chance I may be doing 20 miles on a treadmill (or multiple treadmills because of the stupid gym rules about how long you can use a machine).  Pray for a dry, cool Saturday morning.  Or at least no lightening.