boston training: week 3

i wish i could say this weeks training was all rainbows and butterflies... well, id say 75% of it was pretty darn good. the other 25%, not so much. the plague hit this house hard. awful, awful, awful. nothing worse than watching your child when theyre sick, and then not feeling good yourself (and ty too...) it just wasnt fun. still isnt (im still sick, hens boogers are out of control, ty isnt sleeping well... will we ever feel normal again?!). today i am opening windows, disinfecting EVERYTHING, and getting this damn sickness the F out of this house! and please dont come back!

i didnt hit all my runs or paces this week, but im not worried one bit. my body needed the rest and recovery to get rid of this crap and ill come back next week strong. still 12 weeks to go, one or two runs isnt gonna ruin me.

on sunday i ran a 10k right here in my town (literally a quarter mile from my house). it was the first annual robert burns 10k, put on by a few crow members! the turnout was fantastic and the weather wasnt terrible... chilly (low 20s with real feel in the low teens with wind), but the roads were dry for the most part and we didnt get any of the snow that the rest of the east coast got (thank god!) so that helped.

i had no idea what to expect out of this race due to the fact that i knew i wasnt in racing shape and also hadnt run much outside (let alone run fast outside). the prize for 1st female was $300, but i knew there was a woman coming who averages in the high 6s for her 10k pace, so i decided to use this as my marathon pace run and get a good quality outdoor run in for the week. i warmed up for 2 miles on the treadmill and did 1 mile at MP (since my run was 10 with 7 @ mp), and then ran up to the race.

of course when the gun went off the competitive side in me was lit and with a downhill start my paces were reading in the low 7s. whoooooooa, back it off. there had also been a few women to pass me right at the beginning so i tried to just settle into a comfortable 730ish pace and see how i felt.

overall i actually felt pretty good. i kept having to clear out my nose and felt like i was going to hack up a lung, but it really didnt hinder me much. it was good that i knew the course because i knew what was coming (hills, ugh) and didnt push my pace too hard in the first 3 miles. right at the 3 mile mark there was a steep quarter mile hill. there was a girl up ahead of me and i felt i could pass her, but waited a little bit so as not to waste too much energy (i did that last spring and paid dearly for it at the end). shortly after passing her i saw sarah cheering up ahead and she screamed at me that i was 3rd female. what?! no way. fuuuuuuck. i mean cool, but that meant that i had to keep that girl from passing me back haha. time to turn it up i guess. sarah was also hoping that i would win her something... all i wanted was a donut!

mile 4 to 5 was downhill and my time showed (7:10. oops). but i had definitely gained a good lead on the girl i had passed so that helped me mentally. when i got to the mile 5 sign i was happily surprised because for some reason i thought i still had 2 miles left to go and now realized i only had 1! i dont know how that happens but whatever, i was psyched. sadly the last mile is basically an uphill climb, but i didnt stop and pushed along (thinking i might throw up. cool). 

as i came around the corner to the finish i could hear the bagpiper playing (so awesome!) and pushed it to the finish. 3rd female, yay! i stood there with sarah for a minute thinking i was going to throw up and then cheering for people coming in. eventually i realized that i hadnt left the finish chute and still had my bib tag. whoops. i was worried that i was going to screw everything up but the timer came and told me it was fine and he had recorded me. didnt want to lose my chance to win donuts! (this whole 21 day fix thing had me craving donuts bad, if you couldnt tell).

i felt this was a very well executed 10k, other than the random 7:10 mile thrown in there, and i felt great (only 1 minute off my 10k PR). i ran a cool down after to get 10 miles in for the day then headed inside for awards and donuts! they really had donuts! it was amazing. (actually i ate a banana and then had the race directors and a few friends over to the house where i had bought holy donuts and we drank beers and whiskey and had moose stew and a kale & sweet potato salad. but anyway, donuts. yup).

barf.

seriously. dont do that in mile 5, yucky.

so overall the week ended up about 6 miles short but i was happy with the marathon pace/10k run. my 4x1200s werent spectacular... didnt come close to what my 5k paces should be, but i did that on purpose because i didnt feel i needed to burn myself out when i wasnt feeling good to start with. hoping to get outside more this week since the weather will be up in the 40s (heat wave!). sadly sarah and i had zero runs together. boooooooo.

week 3

4x1200- (goal pace: 5:12-5:20) 5:37,5:32, 5:33, 5:29- knew i wasnt 100% because of my cold. i went out conservatively (knowing the last time i did speedwork i went out too fast and bonked) and pushed it when i could

7 @ MP- (goal pace: 7:49-8:01) ran 1st MP mile on the TM- 7:59, then raced the 10k race- 7:30, 7:38, 7:38, 7:42, 7:10. 7:33. shouldnt be racing a lot during this training program, but i am glad i went out and did it.

long run- nope. oh well.

and in other super awesome news... hoka released their odyssey 2s earlier than i had thought! one of the hoka guys had told me at a race expo in the fall that they werent going to release them until boston expo (well thats not helpful). but recently the odyssey 1s went on sale and there have been limited colors and sizes... and then one day, up popped this gem! of course i will (hopefully) be wearing hot pink shoes for boston! im nervous about the tongue change (whhhhyyyyyy) but we'll see. i have more days to try them out than there is left until the actual race, so ill give them a shot. 

week 3 done... 82 days!

boston training: week 2

seems crazy how fast week 2 flew by. the runs are short but you dont get much rest... just always feel like youre running (which you are). ive been able to balance getting enough sleep, figuring out when to get my runs done to be effective with the next one... i just really love (to hate) this plan. or hate to love. whatever it is.

thought this summed up marathon training pretty well this week

as a follow up to last weeks post (the last post on here... ya know, all my blogs i write these days and all)... im still eating healthy... added a piece of chocolate here and there... but got some really important and interesting information from a good friend and needed to adjust things a little. basically its no surprise i dropped weight so fast last week like i did. not only was i finally not just throwing random junk food in my body, but i definitely wasnt feeding my body what it needed. i started out using the 1200-1499 calorie charts and was shockingly surprised when i started using the "my fitness pal" app what my calorie needs were without exercise...

holy smokes.

add in a mega workout and add 900 more calories to that! i dont even know if i have that much food in my house!! crazy but necessary, and ive been working hard to try to meet the demands. yes, yes. its a terrible thing to need to eat more. but really, when youre not feeling hungry yet know you have to eat (and need to fuel, not just eat a pizza or donut.... mmmm donuts)... its not the easiest thing to do. i added tailwind back in with my harder runs this week and have slowly added back in small amounts of black coffee. im still feeling much more awake and energized throughout the day and sleeping much better (and feeling rested).

one of my most favorite breakfasts is steel cut oats and a poached egg on top. this pic was before i realized that it was actually 2 eggs that were a serving of protein. oops. i never said i had any sort of nutritional degree. but anyway, yummy. basic and easy and filling.

my other go to breakfasts have been whole wheat english muffins or waffles with peanut butter and various fruits on them. this morning was a banana and a sprinkle of chocolate chips. 

my brother and his fiance were home from chicago this week and we went to eat at a place in portland i had never heard of called "local sprouts". DE. LISH. omg. and i should have bought both of these. might still go back. you only live once, right? and vegan or organic or whatever... thats healthy, right?

im sure its not news to anyone but pats are in the playoffs. ty and i havent been drinking since we started the healthy(er) eating but i craved just one beer for the game. this is what he came back from the store with. really? that might last me a year at this rate. 

 and for whatever reason any patriots thing i have ever bought and worn during a game they have lost... but this hat must be lucky. yay!

"whole grains" means healthy. in my opinion. (also, delicious). calories! eye on the prize.

(also really good when accompanied by mint chocolate chip gelato. dont ask questions)

alright, so anyway. my runs. basically this week came and went and i did the runs and some were good and some sucked. im gonna assume that will be how it goes every week for the most part. the tempo run was by far the most awful... id be pretty embarrassed if i went out and attempted a 5k race right now i think. my "goal paces" are fast, and i know this. im hoping to build up the strength and get closer to them as the workouts go along, but i also realize that these speedwork workouts as a whole arent the entire package and that im training to run 26.2 miles. not a fast 5k. so yeah, this workout was not good and ill be slowing my paces next week to ensure i dont die. again.

sarah and i were able to get back outside again this week (goal to run together outside at least once a week... so far 100%!). luckily we didnt have to ice skate this run and went nice and easy for 7 miles along the snowy roads. im looking forward to having some tuesdays and thursdays off of work coming up soon so that i can attend the local spin class some more.

i switched my long run and easy 6 this week due to work conflict, which ended up working out in my favor because hens sick, im sick, we barely slept last night, and my long run yesterday was actually really good (and im glad i didnt have to do it today because it wouldnt have happened).

weekly goal to up plank time

since most of my runs are on the TM this cycle, ive experimented with different ifit courses. my marathon pace runs have all been on the boston course to help with some hill work and road memory. this was a fun surprise to see at the finish line!

when alarms start with 3, iHeart radio is basically awful. unless youre into old school jayz and missy elliott. get your freak on? no thanks. ive added some new songs to the trusty old ipod and listen to a lot of pandora. currently my two faves are :

swoon.

not a running song for most people. but man. her voice.

("hello" drives me batty. but this song, this version... on repeat. daily)

ok... the breakdown of the week...

week 2

5x1ks- (goal pace 4:12-4:18)- 4:22, 4:23, 4:32, 4:27, 4:27 (2mi warm up, 400m recovery, 1mi cool down). i basically went all out for the first two, which ended up being too fast and burnt me right out from the start. suffered thru the final 3 and barely give myself credit for even doing them at all. awful. i know im not at my tip top 5k speed pace yet, and im ok with that. need to slow that down for next weeks 1200s or it might be a real crash and burn workout.
6 @MP- (goal pace 7:49-8:01)- 8:02, 8:02, 7:59, 8:02, 7:52, 7:55 (2 mi warm up, 1mi cool down). very happy again with this workout.
long run- (goal pace 8:29-8:42)- ran 8:42 in an 8/4 split long run

rest day- nailed it. i actually did absolutely nothing that day. and it was glorious.

im already feeling sick (runny nose, coughing, sinus junk) and im not sure ill feel much better tomorrow. hens been throwing up and omg if i get that... i dont even want to think about it. ugh. heres to hoping week 3 starts (and goes) as well as 1 and 2. reserved our hotel rooms today... NINETY. freaking. DAYS!

boston training: week 1

week one of boston training is done! and i survived! it wasnt terrible, but going from running 20 miles a week (or less!) to over 40 hurts just a little bit. the #alarmsthatstartwith3 are back in action once again, ready or not. marathon training has been, is, and probably always will be a beast. but this one is different. very, very different. anyone want to guess how many times ill cry during this training cycle? because im sure it will be a lot. so far ive cried once virtually turning right onto hereford on my treadmill during a MP workout. im gonna be a hot sweaty mess on april 18th, thats for damn sure.

but im ready and going to push hard for the next 14 weeks. i worked so hard to get myself a spot inside the barricades. i belong on the bus. hanging out in hopkinton. i need to keep reminding myself that because its been such a long journey its easy to forget. there are going to be ups and downs, good days and bad. but im keeping my mind on the ultimate goal... crossing that finish line and becoming a boston marathoner!

i decided to use hansons marathon method plan again for this cycle. i was impressed with how strong i felt during the training as well as my execution for mdi marathon, and i thought it would be a good plan for me for boston (fingers crossed). its an interesting plan compared to the other plans ive used in the past (hal higdon and pete pfitzinger). the longest run is 16 miles. theres only one rest day. there are ways to modify the plan, but i feel that it works well with my schedule- with work, with henry, with life. it feels like a lot of running (all the running!), but the workouts are over quickly, the paces vary to help with recovery... i just feel like it works for me (and id definitely recommend it).

its so clean and pretty!

usually the plan is 18 weeks long but i still felt i needed more recovery after my fall running/racing, so i didnt start until this past week. i did some speed work in december to prepare (which felt like crap, shocking), but come january 6th i was ready to dive right in. and on that first day i decided to already switch up two of the days that week because of my schedule. whatever works as long as it all gets done, right? not really, theres a method behind all the madness. but it happened to work for this week. its also weird to have a marathon on a monday so thats why my weeks are going from wednesday to tuesday (long runs on tuesdays- hens at day care and i wont be working).

week 1

6x800s- (goal pace 3:30)- 3:39, 3:35, 3:31, 3:33, 3:29, 3:26 (2mi warm up, 400m recovery, 1mi cool down)
6 @MP- (goal pace 7:49-8:01)- 8:02, 7:58, 8:00, 8:02, 7:59, 7:48 (2 mi warm up, 1mi cool down)
long run- (goal pace 8:29-8:42)- 8:30 avg pace

yay for one week done!

lots of leg selfies to come

along with starting training last week, i also started some mega clean(er) eating and stopped drinking coffee. HUGE changes. huge. but man, what a difference. its almost disgusting to even think about how i ate and drank before... 

when i actually sat down and thought about what i ate on a daily basis, i knew i needed to make a change. the majority of what i ate was brown or white. i was always eating, or at least thinking i was always hungry (and then eating more). i was falling asleep by 8pm, sleeping for 9 hours and not feeling rested. constantly drinking coffee... were talking a pot a day, at least. usually with peppermint mocha creamer. yum.

its not rocket science that putting healthier things into my body would make me feel better, but by day 3 i felt amazing. i could stay up until 930pm! it was like a whole new world. the first day wasnt the greatest- huge headache to the point i thought i was going to be sick (probably shouldnt have quit coffee cold turkey, but i did. oh well)... but i dont even really want coffee anymore (who am i?!). i dont miss my half a bud light at night. i kinda do still want some chocolate sometimes but im not dying (and valentines day is coming up, might have to splurge for the brownie batter donut from dunkin donuts!). however, i ate a "kind" bar at work on monday and paid. for. it. big time. barf. it was very unkind to my insides. 

basically im eating off of the 21 day fix program, minus the whatever dvds they say you need to do (never) and i didnt buy the book or the tupperware (i swear if we have more tupperware in this house i might flip out! i hate tupperware). when i calculated out the calorie count i should be doing i was under the lowest thing they offered so i am doing to lowest one. however, im not using this as a weight loss thing, and with the addition of miles during training, i know ill need to adjust the amounts of foods i eat so i dont crash. but after 7 days i lost 4lbs. junk weight, tone me up! i actually cant really stand to lose any more weight, so ill adjust accordingly. i thought it was going to be so hard and awful and quit really quickly, but i dragged ty along for this fun and spent a few hours planning and shopping and preparing... and now its all pretty easy. were on day 10 and feeling great. no surprise.

buuuuut a donut would taste sooooo gooooood

no sprinkles, but lots of color

after the issues with the kind bar, im assuming going back to my old way of eating isnt going to be easy on my body (not that i want to eat that way ever again!). it was the initial step that was difficult, but my body loves it. i never realized that falling asleep during the day, never feeling rested, drinking coffee all day,etc- how much of that was related to my eating habits. i always said "i run so much, i can eat whatever i want"... and i did just that. whatever i wanted, whenever i wanted, however much i wanted. and i never felt satisfied. i cant imagine how much of my running suffered from this as well.

anyway, i think thats all for this week. in terms of boston- one week down, 14 to go! im headed to boston at the end of this month to visit with friends and hit up marathon sports... my poor, poor wallet!