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!