Marathon Training – Week 14

Another week down! We are now less than a month from the marathon, so crazy! I signed up for the Broad Street Run this week. It’s a 10 mile race on May 6. I think it will be good to have a goal in mind for after the marathon.

This week was extremely exhausting. I worked until the wee hours of the morning, but I still managed to squeeze in 5 work outs. Here’s what I did:

Monday: Cross Training – I swam and biked. Both of these helped to loosen up my legs from the 18 miler.

Tuesday: Rest – 4 hours of sleep = no work out

Wednesday: Speed Work – This workout was a 1 mile warm up, 10×400 with 400 of RI in between each,  and a 1 mile cool down. I warmed up at a 10:03 pace. I did a walk/jog for my resting intervals. The pace of the 10 fast intervals were: 8:50, 8:26, 8:26, 8:11, 8:23, 8:07, 8:16, 9:08, 7:19, 8:12. I wanted to keep them all in the 8 minute range. When I didn’t get that for the 8th 400 I pushed really hard for the 9th. Then I cooled down with a mile run and some walking for a total for the day of 7.28 miles.

Thursday: Rest – 4 hours of sleep = no work out (again)

Friday: Tempo Run – This was 1 mile easy, 5 miles tempo. I ended up just doing what felt good. The splits: 9:10, 9:24, 9:24, 9:36, 10:13, 9:00. Then I cooled down for a total of 6.11 miles.

Saturday: Cross Training – I did the arc trainer for 15 minutes, the elliptical for 15 minutes and upper body strength for 20 minutes.

Sunday: Long Run – This was a step back week. Hooray! My schedule called for 10 miles. I considered doing more since I skipped a 13 miler the other week because of my neck. I set out on a 12 mile route, but when I got to 10 miles I was just ready to be done. So I walked the last 2 miles home. It felt great to just walk. I didn’t run with water and I was very thirsty around mile 7. Big mistake. I’m also feeling some foot pain that feels like this old injury. I’m a bit worried about that. The splits: 10:54, 10:52, 10:40, 10:53, 10:54, 10:37, 10:58, 11:02, 10:33, 10:31. Not my best, not my worst.

Total mileage: 25.39

Time for bed! Week 15 is going to be the most challenging yet! I’m nervous.

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 12

Oops. A bit late on this post. Had an insane week. Here’s a quick recap of last week since tonight is not really Friday for me, I have work tomorrow. Boo. I will try to do this week’s recap on Sunday after my 18 miler (!!!!!!!!!!!)

Monday: Cross Training – Elliptical and strength training. I don’t remember it exactly since it was a week and a half ago at this point. I’m sure it was great!

Tuesday: Speed Work – This workout was a 10 minute warm up, followed by 1k, 2k, 1k, 1k with 400s of RI in between, then cool down. (Also known as a 1 mile warm up, .6 of speed, .25 miles of rest, 1.2 miles of speed, .25 miles of rest, .6 of speed, .25 miles of rest, .6 of speed, .25 miles of rest and a 1 mile cool down.) This ended up being 7.34 miles with some cool down walking afterward too. I have no clue what the splits were for the speed because it was 5 in the morning and to figure out my watch just seemed like way too much work.

Wednesday: Rest – If I had known what was to come (foreshadowing!) I would not have taken this rest day. But at the time it felt good.

Thursday: Tempo Run – Soooo this was a 9 mile tempo run. Personally I think it’s kind of a big deal to run more than 8 miles on a weekday. I REALLY think it’s a big deal to run more than 8 miles on a weekday when you don’t get home from work until midnight and you have to leave for work again at 7:30. Yes, I know I am insane. This run was amazing. I ended up doing a 15k plus a cool down for a total of 10.07 miles. Yup I ran double digits all before work! The splits:

Mile 1:	11:50	??
Mile 2:	10:48
Mile 3:	10:34
Mile 4:	10:19
Mile 5:	10:42
Mile 6:	10:25
Mile 7:	10:24
Mile 8:	10:31
Mile 9:	9:49
Mile 10:	15:46	(.3 running, .7 walking)
.07 Miles:	1:14

I just noticed that the first mile was 11:50, I’m thinking maybe I didn’t really have satellite reception when I started. Oh well.

Friday: Cross Training – I decided to rush a bit in the morning and go to one of my favorite spinning classes. I was a tiny bit later to work than I should have been, but it was worth it.

Saturday: Rest – My back, neck and shoulders had been hurting a little since Wednesday. I thought it was from too much sitting at work, or maybe running, or maybe the massage I got last Sunday (maybe the guy hit a trigger point??) but on Saturday it started to be really painful. While I was at work I just kept hoping it would go away so I could do my long run of the week (13 miles).

Sunday: Long Run Rest – I woke up and I could hardly turn my head. I really, really wanted to run though. So I got dressed in my running gear. Shoved some Gus in my pocket and headed out the door. Right, good thinking Meliss, you can’t turn your head but you are going to go run for 2 hours, think again! I made it .59 miles (at a 10:35 pace…since that matters…) when I was about .3 miles away I turned around and ran towards the place where I got a massage last week instead. This story would have been a lot better if the place had actually been open at the time and I had literally ran right to a massage. But I had a half hour to kill so I walked home instead and dropped off my Gus. Then I went back to the massage place and got a massage, it helped a little, but I was still in a lot of pain.

To be continued in the Week 13 post…

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 11

This week was definitely a challenge. I really don’t recommend working 70+ hours a week and training for a marathon at the same time. You will have to give up sleep. God, I miss sleep.

But, as challenging as it was. This week was a success! As I write this post I am definitely on a runner’s high.

Here’s how the week went:

Monday: Cross Training – I hit the gym for some elliptical and lifting. It was standard. I wanted to get in another day of lifting at some point during the week but it didn’t happen. Oh, well there’s always this week!

Tuesday: Speed Work – This was a very complicated speed work day. Ordinarily I just plug in the intervals into my watch and head out. When my watch beeps I know it’s time to slow down. When it beeps again I know it’s time to get speedy. But today called for 1 mile warm up, 1 mile speed, quarter mile rest, 2 miles speed, half mile rest, half mile speed, quarter mile rest, half mile speed, quarter mile rest, 1 mile cool down. To avoid too much stopping and starting of my watch I modified it slightly. But it was still really annoying to have to mess with my watch so much. Here were the splits:

Total Mileage	Mile	Pace	Tempo
1	1 Mile	10:18	Warm up
2	1 Mile	9:19	Speed
2.25	.25 Miles	4:08	RI
3.25	1 Mile	9:04	Speed
3.5	.25 Miles	5:02	RI
4.5	1 Mile	9:12	Speed
4.75	.25 Miles	3:57	RI
5.25	.5 Miles	4:25	Speed
5.5	.25 Miles	4:54	RI
6	.5 Miles	4:29	Speed
6.25	.25 Miles	4:22	RI
7.25	1 Mile	11:59	Cool Down
7.95	.7 Miles	10:50	Cool Down

Nearly 8 miles before work? Not too shabby!

Wednesday: Rest – I really wanted to hit the gym, but I was beyond exhausted. Sleep won. At least I have a nice 15 minute walk to and from the car each day.

Thursday: Tempo Run – I was exhausted again, but I really wanted to get in another run. I didn’t push myself too hard because of how tired I was. It was supposed to be 2 easy miles, 3 tempo miles, 2 easy miles. I told myself after the first 5 miles that I could really take the last 2 miles extremely easy. I ended up splitting mile 6 into an even split of run/walk. Then I took one walking break during mile 7 for a .9/.1 ratio of running/walking. The splits:

Mile	Pace	Speed
Mile 1:	10:15	Easy
Mile 2:	10:32	Easy
Mile 3:	9:49	Tempo
Mile 4:	10:20	Tempo
Mile 5:	9:48	Tempo
Mile 6:	13:43	Easy
Mile 7:	10:29	Easy
.71 Miles	18:35	Cool Down

Friday: Cross Training – One good thing about my crazy work schedule is I get out at a very reasonable time on Friday’s. I was even able to make it to my favorite spinning class! It was just what I needed!

Saturday: Rest – I’m thinking 2 rest days are going to become the norm for a little while. It’s too much to wake up at 5 every single day. And Saturday’s are just too busy with work/errands/trying to have a tiny bit of a social life.

Sunday: Long Run – I am SO happy with today’s long run. Honestly, I had been dreading it. 16 miles is REALLY FREAKING FAR. But, I knew it had to be done if I really want to do the marathon (which I do!). For me running a half marathon is still really hard but I’ve done it before, so I am confident I can do it again. 14 miles is so close to a half marathon that the distance didn’t completely scare me. But 16 miles, that’s getting into a whole new territory. Well, I kicked some serious butt today if I do say so myself! Here are the splits:

Mile	Pace
Mile 1:	10:18
Mile 2:	10:34
Mile 3:	10:45
Mile 4:	10:45
Mile 5:	10:40
Mile 6:	11:13	(?)
Mile 7:	10:54
Mile 8:	11:21	(Gu)
Mile 9:	10:45
Mile 10:	10:21
Mile 11:	10:48
Mile 12:	10:45
Mile 13:	10:51	(Gu)
Mile 14:	10:48
Mile 15:	10:46
Mile 16:	10:43
Mile 17:	20:45	Cool Down
.4 Miles:	5:51	Cool Down

I’m not entirely sure what happened at mile 6. I think I might have lost satellite reception when I crossed over a bridge, because I felt like I was flying and then when my watch beeped to indicate that the mile was done and I saw it was 11+ I thought that was pretty weird. Oh well. I finished the 16 miles (without cool down) at a 10:46 pace. It took me 2:52:23 to do the 16 miles. This is right around where I would like to be on marathon day. I called mom when I was done with my run and she cooled down with me and then took me to lunch. Then as we were walking back to my apartment she had a brilliant idea that I go to the new massage place that opened around the corner from me. So I booked an appointment for later this afternoon. 70 hours of work in an uncomfy chair + 16 mile long run = time for a massage!

Hoping I make it through another crazy, insane week!

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 6

Oops I’m a little late recapping this week!

It was not the greatest week. Well, actually my first 2 runs were pretty great, but my long run was terrible. But, we will get to that.

Before I recap this week, I meant to mention this over the last couple of weeks. A few weeks ago was the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon, I heard a lot about it afterward, and it sounded like it was really poorly organized. The roads were overcrowded, they ran out of water, people were dropping like flies and there wasn’t enough medical attention, when the half marathon broke off from the full marathon there was apparently a lot of confusion, and…the real kicker…they ran out of medals!

Now I’m sure that not everyone had a terrible experience, and I’m hoping that this was just a fluke. But, since my marathon is a Rock n Roll marathon, I’m nervous now. I’m also nervous because they put a time limit on the course of 5 hours and 30 minutes. I’m confident that I can finish in less than this, but you never know if you have a bad day (see below, and here) and so this puts a bit of pressure on things. I’m going to have to stick to my training and hope for the best I guess!

Ok, now for the recap:

Monday: Speed Work – This weeks speed work called for a ten minute warm up, 1 mile fast with 3 minutes of resting intervals 3 times, then ten minutes cool down. My warm up mile was 10:12. My fast miles were 9:01, 8:45, 8:46. For the 3 minutes of rest I walked. My cool down was right around 10 minutes. I don’t have the exact split because when I set my watch up for intervals it turns off auto lap. With cool down it was 6.1 miles. It was a great run.

Tuesday: Cross Training – I didn’t sleep very well on Monday night and was so exhausted all day on Tuesday. I wanted to go to the gym, but could only manage 30 minutes on the elliptical and 10 push ups.

Wednesday: Tempo Run Cross Training Rest – I wanted to do my tempo run on Wednesday but it rained, then I was just going to cross train and run on Thursday, but I guess I was still pretty beat from no sleep a few nights before, so I got in bed and watched many episodes of How I Met Your Mother. There is one episode where one of the characters, Barney, decides to run a marathon the next day because he doesn’t think it’s hard. He says “step 1: you start running, step 2: there is no step 2!” Then he runs the marathon but gets stuck on the subway because he can’t get his legs to move.

Thursday: Tempo Run – This was 2 easy miles, 3 tempo miles, 2 easy miles. My splits: 10:35, 10:53, 9:25, 9:46, 9:04, 9:57, 10:01. Then I cooled down for a while for a total of 7.43 miles. Awesome.

Friday: Cross Training – I didn’t have work, so I went to the gym in the afternoon and watched episodes of How I Met Your Mother (obviously my new obsession) while I ellipticaled for 65 minutes. Then I did upper body weights for 25 minutes. I also foamed rolled my IT band because it had been bugging me a little bit the day before (foreshadowing!).

Saturday: Long Run Medium, Sucky Run – This was a step back week, where I run a little bit less on my long run. It was 10 miles. I was totally psyching myself out the first few miles, mentally I kept thinking that I couldn’t do it. This is especially weird because I did 7 miles FAST on Thursday. I convinced myself to keep going though. But then… I stopped at mile 6 to eat some grapes (I didn’t have any more Gus left and went back to my running roots and brought some fruit with me). I started to run again and it HURT, not “ok, you-can-push-through-this-hurt” but “if-you-keep-doing-this-you-will-regret-it-hurt”. So I decided to stop. I was 4 miles short, but I know I made the right call. I started to walk, but then I realized I was a good 5 miles from home. I always run out a little bit further before I turn around when I do out-and-back days, because I like to cool down with walking for a bit when I’m done my run. So I did what any 24 year old girl would do…I called my mommy! Mom drove out and picked me up and drove me home. Thanks mom! With the walking until mom got there I think it was around 7.5 miles, but my watch magically ate this run. I have no idea how that happened, but maybe it’s a good omen and it’s like the run never even happened! I was super bummed that I didn’t finish this run, and I’m more nervous than ever about my ability to do the marathon (gulp), but I know I did the right thing (for once!) and definitely prevented a real injury.

Sunday: Rest Walk – Mom, Vic, Aunt Joan and I (and later Aunt Nancy and Jamie) headed to the poconos (recap to come with week 7!) and we went for a walk on Sunday when we got here.

I’ve already done one run of week 7 as I write this and it went well and my IT band felt much better, but I’m still nervous for this weeks long run…We will see how that goes!

–Melissa

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Scavenger Hunt Race Recap

Alright, I know I haven’t blogged in almost a month. But I have been SO busy lately. I have been working a lot, but also trying to enjoy what little free time I do have. I made sure to celebrate finally passing my CPA exam(!!!!!) and I asked to have the weekend of October 1st off way in advance because I had lots of fun things planned! First I ran a scavenger hunt race with Becca, then I went to a fun dinner at El Vez and the Matt Nathanson concert with friends from college. It was a blast! Here’s the recap of the scavenger hunt race!

I woke up on Saturday morning around 9 and vegged out for the whole morning. Becca picked me up a little while later and we drove over to Northern Liberties where the race started. Becca and I wore crazy socks, but some other people had some really great costumes. My favorite was the 2 people dressed up as sharks.

At noon they told us we had to run to a near by parking lot and find a ping pong sized ball with our number on it and run back to get our list of clues. Everyone ran off to the parking lot to the area with all the balls. It wasn’t a large area but after a few minutes Becca and I were the only two left looking for our ball. It became quite apparent that there was no ball with our number on it! One of the race directors told us to go on ahead anyway.

We got our clues and quickly started trying to figure them out. Since we got a slow start we decided to run on ahead and figure out the clues on our way. They said we could take public transportation or use our feet. We didn’t know how far exactly we were from Center City so we hopped on the train.

Becca on the train

After a quick ride we made our first stop to Reading Terminal Market. We took a picture with a statute of Philbert the pig and did the YMCA with strangers.

YMCA!

Then we headed over to Love Park and took pictures with the wheel barrow.

Playing in Love Park

Becca holding the wheel barrow on one finger. Not my best work as a photographer...

After, we ran over to a Jimmy Johns for a napkin. Then we ran to a small park on 11th and Pine. We had to walk around a tree with a golf ball on a tee.

Walking with the ball on the tee

Next, we ran to another park past South Street and had to pass skittles from one bowl to another using straws. It was pretty funny! Then we had a few stops on South Street.

We found the squirrel

Then we headed to Old City and stopped at Betsy Ross’ house and the oldest residential street.

Our new friend was not very good at being in character.

Then we ran to Franklin Square and looked for a brick with the saying “Always Find Time to Play”.

Found it!

Then we headed back to Northern Liberties. Our last stop was throwing frisbees in a park and then we ran back to the finish line. They weren’t giving out awards for a couple hours so we decided to leave without finding out how we did. We got tee shirts and dog tags instead of finishers’ medals.

The race was a ton of fun and we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to run around outside! When we got home Becca mapped our route and said we ran about 7 miles! I would definitely do another race like this again!

Since then I’ve been closing down the gym pretty much every night because it’s the only time that I can make it there. Some noteworthy recent work outs include the night I ran 3 miles in 25 minutes and the morning I ran 7.5-8 miles (not completely sure of the distance because my watch broke).

Yes, I took a picture of my treadmill

I have a 10k in New York next weekend, and after my 8ish miles I feel ready!

I’ll try to post again before my race, but if not I’ll be back soon with a recap!

–Melissa

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Race For The Cure

For Mother’s Day, Mom, Vic and I ran the Race For the Cure! It’s a 5k race for Breast Cancer. Last night Vic asked me if I was nervous. I said no, and I think that is a very good sign for my future of running. Before Broad Street I was so anxious and felt like I had a lot of pressure to do well (i.e. run super fast). For this one, Vic and Mom were going to be setting the pace since we were running it together, so I knew it would just be a fun run for me.

Bib

I woke up this morning (on time!) and got ready for the race. I didn’t wear my Garmin or my iPod. It was very freeing! I ran about a half mile to meet Mom and Vic. Then we walked about a mile to the start of the race. We filled out “in celebration of” signs to pin to our back for aunt Joan. Yay aunt Joan! 🙂

Then we headed to the starting line of the race. After a little waiting, and some re-tying of our shoe laces we were off! The 1st mile flew by. We stopped for water after the first mile (this was the only water station on the course).

During mile 2 I high fived some of the cheer leaders on the course. Vic said, “this is why I hate running with her! she’s too perky” haha! Mile 2 seemed sort of long. I kept wondering where the mile marker would be! But, eventually we hit that too.

Mile 3 was pretty hilly but I cruised up those, which makes me feel like the past year of training is actually doing something! When we spotted the mile 3 marker in the distance I wanted to gun it til the end. But we were on a bridge and I was afraid if I suggested we run faster that Vic would push me off the bridge 😛 Before we knew it we crossed the finish line! The clock time was just over 34 minutes, but it took us a couple minutes to cross the start so I’d say we ran it in under an 11 minute mile pace. So proud of my Mom and Sis!

After, we walked about a mile back to Mom’s apartment. Then I ran another half mile back to my apartment to shower and change. Then I walked a half mile to Mom’s to cook her breakfast and then a half mile back. In total ~7 miles this morning. Woo!

This race was SO fun for me. I loved not feeling pressure and I was just able to run! I like running fast and would have sped up at the end for sure if I was running this alone, but it was nice to not feel like I had to sprint for 13.1 miles. Yikes! My next race (the mud run in June) is going to be with my best friend and my co worker and some of her friends, so I know that will be a fun pressure-free race too. This is what running should be all about!

Mom, Vic, & Me post Lehigh Valley Half Marathon 4/25/2010

Happy Mother’s Day!

–Melissa

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Saturday Seven

Hi! (I think I need to stop using alliterations for the titles of my posts…)

This week has been full of wonderful work outs. Wednesday was a random mid day spin during lunch. Thursday was a 38 minute run around the track at the gym (12 laps = 1 mile = hamster). Friday is usually my rest day these days but I had some extra time so I did the stair mill and arm weights. Then today I got in a 7 mile run.

It was yucky and rainy outside. I know this didn’t stop me from running outside in the past, but I wasn’t feeling it. So treadmill it was! I think Dad would like this picture:

I started at 6.0 and every mile I increased it by .1 until I got to 6 miles. For the last mile I played around with some intervals. I finished 7 miles in 1:07:34 then I cooled down until I hit 80 minutes for a total of 7.82 miles.

I’m beat, so that’s all I’ve got for today! Happy Saturday!

–Melissa

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Last Long Run Til Race #3!

I set out for my last long run before the half marathon late this morning. About 2.5 miles in my arches were killing me. Both of them, which is unusual. I stopped, ready to quit. My feet hurt and I was tired. Which was also unusual, because I bailed on my plans last night so I could go to bed instead (SO LAME!).

I gave myself a pep talk and was ready to finish my 6 miler. I told myself that if my feet hurt on race day that I wouldn’t quit and that I shouldn’t quit now either just because I was tired.

So off I went. I took some walking breaks when my feet were bugging me. I hit mile 6 and decided to add on a half mile to compensate for the walking breaks. Then I decided to just finish off the mile since I was feeling much better and it was such a gorgeous day. When I got to 7 miles I slowed to a walk and cooled down with .65 miles. Even with the walking breaks my splits were decent, especially mile 7, I didn’t even think I was going that fast!

Mile 1:	10:24
Mile 2:	10:24
Mile 3:	10:12
Mile 4:	11:35
Mile 5:	10:36
Mile 6:	10:38
Mile 7:	9:50
.065:	11:49

It makes me nervous that the run was really difficult for me at first. But race day adrenalin tends to help. Only 2 more cross training days, 2 more running days, and 2 more rest days til the race!

–Melissa

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Short post, long run!

Ooops, I forgot to write about my last run again. I’ve been pretty busy, so blogging has been on the back burner. And since my next exam is less than a week away I’m going to keep this short. Very short.

Saturday: did a 7 miler! Virtually pain free! This was my longest run since September 19!

Today: went to physical therapy. They said my foot feels a lot less rigid! Yay!!!!

One month til the race!

Tomorrow: I’ll do another run, and do a better recap of it. Promise!

–Melissa

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Sports Beans

I woke up at 6:30 and went right back to sleep. I did not feel like getting up at all. The weather was supposed to be nice and cool today so I figured I could go later. After studying a little this morning I finally headed out around 10. I haven’t run this late in the day in months! I think I like it better.

On my way out the door I tossed some Sports Beans in my Camelbak. I know I was literally just knocking the sugary things people eat for running fuel but Mom’s friend was so nice to think of me and gave me a pack to try out. There were a lot in the package but I only had 4 throughout my run. What did I think? Well, it was kind of like eating candy (they are really just glorified jelly beans) and I’m not sure how I feel about that while I’m running. I don’t think I ate enough to really feel an effect on my energy level (I didn’t want to mess up my tummy) but I think overall I liked them. I will definitely finish this pack on another run. Maybe I’ll get them again. But maybe I’ll just stick to fruit.

Sports Beans

Anyway, I wanted to do 7 miles today, and I ended up covering 7.51 including cool down, but I’d say only 6 (maybe slightly more) was running. The whole thing took me 1:29:37, so the amount of time I would like to run 9 miles in. But considering I walked for 1.5 of that I guess I can’t really complain. I ran the first 3 miles, and then the next 3 I walked for .3, .4, .3 (approximately I didn’t actually look at my watch, it might have been a little more or less), then I ran the 7th mile and a little bit more, and then cooled down til I got home. Splits:

Mile 1:	10:27
Mile 2:	10:28
Mile 3:	10:26
Mile 4:	12:52
Mile 5:	13:44
Mile 6:	11:57
Mile 7:	10:31
0.51	9:09

I wish I hadn’t walked, but my heart just isn’t in this. Also, around mile 5 I felt the skin on my toe starting to rub on my shoe. It’s not a full blown blister, but I’m going to have to be careful. 😯

36 years ago today Mom and Daddy went on their first date ❤ I wish I had a picture from their prom on my computer. It’s hilarious. But instead I’ll show you this one. I don’t know when it’s from, but I like it.

Dad and Mom

Off to study, 4 days til test time…yikes!

–Melissa

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