Week 3
Intro: My midweek training increases just slightly this week. Because I’m moving on Saturday morning to my new apartment (!!!), I’m going to have to juggle my training schedule a little bit; I’m planning on moving my long run to Friday.
My main goal for this week is diet-based. I’m known for having a sweet tooth. I mean, my niece calls me the “Chocolate Queen,” and, when the waiter asks if we have room for dessert after dinner, all eyes turn to me. In lieu of my upcoming move, I’ve been “stress-baking” to cope; it’s a serious problem. I tend to over-do the spoons upon spoons of batter and frosting “to make sure it tastes okay.” I haven’t gained weight (yet), but the sugar over-load is starting to make me feel sluggish. I don’t want to sacrifice my training for a Rolo Cupcake (although, really, it’s a Rolo Cupcake—this was clearly a tough decision). I never thought I’d say these words, but, unless its wrapper is in the form of a banana peel, I’m not going to have sweets for the week to see how it feels.
Monday: 3 miles, weights, 30 minutes of yoga.
Good news: I found my headphones.
Bad news:…I found my headphones.
I was really enjoying the connection I was making with running when I didn’t have fast-paced music blaring in my ears. That being said, there are some days when I can only entertain myself so much before driving myself insane—for those days, thank you, Pandora radio.
In the evening, I did weights, along with half an hour of yoga, with an emphasis on improving leg strength and balance.
Tuesday: 6 miles.
Today’s mileage was increased from five to six miles, and it felt great. I was more than ready for it, and it’s nice, after nearly a month of predictable weekly workouts, to see progress.
I mentioned last week that I contacted a running group in my new hometown. I’ve been added to their Facebook group, so I get to see all of their workout plans, group runs, etc. I’m so excited to become a member of this group that I almost forgot I haven’t had dessert in two days (egad…I remember now). I haven’t been a part of a team since high school, which was eight years ago--when did I get so old? Regardless, I’m super excited to meet people and to join these runners on something they call “Moe’s Monday”. Running…and Moe’s?! It’s like these are my running soulmates…
Wednesday: 3 miles, abs.
As much as I wanted to run more than three miles today, I had to remind myself of the importance of following the plan, conserving energy for the hard weekend workouts, and increasing mileage slowly because, if I get injured, I won’t be able to run at all.
I decided to make today’s run interesting, so I ran a mile loop, with two large, steep hills. I slowly increased my pace, running each mile faster than the previous one, dropping nearly 40 seconds per mile from the first mile to the third.
Thursday: 75 minutes of yoga.
I did yoga this morning to prepare for my mileage increase tomorrow. I also went to the doctor to get a basic physical to ensure that I was safe to run a marathon, as well as to check the sore spot on my hip. He checked for heart murmurs, breathing, etc.
I got the spot on my hip about three months ago when I basically ate cement on a run. It was just at sunrise, and I was admiring the view (embarrassing, yes). I wasn’t paying any attention and literally wiped out on the sidewalk. I even slid a foot or two on my side—hence, my hip. A true runner, I finished my workout before realizing that I was covered in blood and scratches. Needless to say, the fall left an odd looking mark on my hip that never healed properly. According to the doctor, this spot is a result of bone damage from the cement scraping from my skin to my bone—gross, right? On a positive note, it won’t affect my training or my life at all! And it “may” go away in the “far, far” future, which is code for “I’m stuck with it forever.”
Friday: 12.5 miles.
I feel like I spend my entire long run having philosophical thoughts and things that I want to share with you on this journal, but, as soon as I get home, I forget them. I could have solved the mysteries of life for all I know.
I decided to try something new today because a trend has been developing in my longer runs. I make it to about 9 miles, the remaining miles are pure death, and then I almost faint when I’m done. The solution seems obvious, but it took me months to figure it out: water and SNACKS! I never bring food with me when I’m training for half-marathons, but pretty soon my mileage is going to be well beyond that of a half-marathon. I’m glad that I’m incorporating them in my training now because it gives me the opportunity to experiment with different types of food, how much to eat, and at how many intervals. For today, I brought almonds, walnuts, and chocolate covered pomegranates.
I started eating my snacks at 5.5 miles and ate every 2 miles until the 10th mile. I limited it to three almonds and one chocolate covered pomegranate at each interval, which may seem fairly regimented, but I want to ease into eating while running. I took a sip of Gatorade diluted with water at every mile or so. I have to say that it was a huge success. I didn’t feel the same drop in energy that I usually do when I reach the double digits in miles; if anything, I felt more energized. In the future, I think that I will definitely bring almonds and walnuts again, but I may replace the chocolate covered pomegranates with something simpler (and less likely to cause cramps), like M&Ms.
I was only supposed to run 12 miles today, but I ended up running 12.5, which, although just by half a mile more, is the most I’ve ever run outside of a half-marathon.
Saturday: 5.5 miles.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the best workouts are often the ones that you try to skip. I woke up this morning and was literally falling asleep while eating my cereal, although it probably didn’t help that I was eating breakfast in bed—pure laziness. I then tried to come up with every reason that I shouldn’t run. They weren’t good enough.
As I left the house, I had it decided that I would run four miles to recover from yesterday’s long run. At the start of the week, I’d hoped to run a total of 30 miles this week, and, although four miles would leave me a mile and a half short of that goal, I settled with it; it was comfortable. And then I approached a stoplight. I knew that if I turned left, I would complete my four-mile run, but, if I turned right, it would be exactly five and a half. I spent the next 30 seconds talking myself out of running the extra mileage, saying things like, “You had a hard run yesterday” and “four miles will be plenty for today.” Again the excuses weren’t good enough. It was just a mile and a half extra, anyway. So I turned right, ran 5.5 miles, and reached my goal of 30 miles.
And, on a personal level, this was my last run in this area for a long time because I’m moving to a new city and apartment today. I was able to watch every phase of sunrise. I’ve lived here for six years, so it was a really personal, and emotional, experience. I thought back to all of the runs I’ve done on this route, from training for cross-country in high school to working on my first half-marathon in college and then now, post-graduation, training for my first marathon. There have been many runs here that I thought would never end and many times that I complained about running the same boring route, but, as I ran it today, I realized that I’m really going to miss it.
Sunday: Rest.
Total: 30 miles.
Conclusion: I put a lot of energy into this week’s runs, and I’m ending it feeling optimistic about the future of my training. I definitely intend to continue incorporating liquids and small snacks into my long runs. I also think that, at this point for me, yoga is the best choice of cross-training. As much as I enjoy spinning, it leaves me lacking in the energy I need for my long runs.
I did pretty well on my vow to cut back on sweets. I did break it last night for a night out to get ice cream with the family. What was interesting is that ordinarily I can eat ice cream without any issue. Eating ice cream after a week without sweets, however, had me feeling lethargic and dehydrated this morning.
Next week is a step-back week as far as the long run is concerned, and my legs are ready for a little bit of recovery.