Category Archives: Marathon Training

Two Months!

Posted on by

0

Exactly two months from today is the Chicago Marathon!

This dawned on me last week and today (actually tomorrow) marks my first official day of training. I had plans on beginning training with an awesome workout today but I’ve been sick in bed the past two days and decided it would be best to let my body fully recover before I start making crazy demands of it.

Last week I was able to get in three quality workouts– two runs and two good strength sessions. An article from Runner’s World that I read this summer suggests that when overcoming IT band issues, strengthening exercises are as beneficial, if not more, than solely running. My injury allowed me a lot of time to think of areas that I need to improve if I want to continue running:

  • Strengthening weak muscle groups (GLUTES, hamstrings, quads, core). Yes my legs are strong but those are my biggest weak spots. It’s silly that I will spend 2-4 hours any given Saturday but wouldn’t justify devoting 30 minutes to work out my weaker muscle groups
  • Stretching…sometimes I just get too lazy to stretch adequately. I can try to push it off and blame being busy, etc. but this is really something I need to make a priority

This is an awesome workout that I found off of Pinterest of all places, it looked easy enough on paper, but I hadn’t actually thought out the workout before I did it. The first day I did just ONE set of this workout and was walking funny for three days. I have a new goal of being able to do the entire workout, all three sets, without stopping.

Genius me just realized I did 50 each of the lunges. Maybe that’s why I was so sore…

Other things I am going to be working on–

  • Actually following my training schedule! I will not lie, it has been hard motivating myself to get out to run/to the gym since being out of a routine for most of the summer. With my plan in place and cooler temperatures this week, I’m hoping that will make it much easier to kick myself into gear.
  • Keeping my goal in perspective–I want to finish Chicago and Kansas City and do both well.
  • Not getting discouraged–a 6 week break from consistent running bogged me down, but it’s what my body needed. I am just hoping and praying that since my body had become very accustomed to higher mileage, that it won’t go totally bazooka on me in the next few weeks.

This week’s training includes:

Wednesday- 5-6 miles, easy
Thursday- Cross train + Strength Train
Friday- Rest or Zumba
Saturday- 10 miles

I’ve also been working on some fun shirt ideas to raise money for Girls on the Run/Chicago fundraising efforts…keep your eyes peeled!!! If you or anyone you know wants to donate, send them HERE!!!

I’ll have a report come this weekend on how training actually went ;)

The Tragic 10 and Thumbs Up

Posted on by

3

Tragic is just being dramatic. I liked how it sounded. Read on.

This is a post that I don’t really want to write, but I will try to stay optimistic.

Yesterday morning I was really looking forward to my 10 mile long run–my first long run of my training plan for the Chicago Marathon this October. Also my first double digit run in nearly three weeks, since taking some time off after the Med City Marathon and the Hospital Hill Half. We had a round of storms on Wednesday night which really cooled things down, into the mid-60′s, and I was excited about running and enjoying the outdoors.

I stepped outside of my house around 6:30am to a light drizzle, and I was thankful for it. I’m not a fan of cold rain running, but yesterday’s mist was just perfect. It made me feel like I was back in Portland, and the smell of rain and greenery was so refreshing. I needed this run.

Nearly twenty minutes in and I was already drenched, I couldn’t tell if it was from the rain or my sweat, but I was loving it. I’ll admit that I was nervous to go on this run, since my few runs since Hospital Hill were less than stellar, but I kept my pace and everything was just fantastic.

Shortly after mile 3.5, I had to stop at a stop light and as soon as it turned green and I began running again, I had a shooting pain in my knee and my knee totally locked up–I thought I was going to fall over because my leg was literally not moving. This was pain so bad that I came to tears, then limped, and had no idea what was wrong. This pain was a more intense version of the little ticks of pain I experienced a couple of weeks ago and then last week, in which I ran only once each week because of the knee pain.

I’m not kidding, if I had my phone on me I would have called my mom and had her come pick me up, I felt like a baby. After a short walk break the pain would subside, and I would run a little ways again, with more of a stabbing pain in my knee, but it was moving. I was bound and determined to get these 10 miles in (because I’m too stubborn) despite the pain I had. Then I cried some more, out of pain, frustration, and a bit of uncertainty as to what was wrong with me. Negativity was really getting to me…I imagined everything possible that could go wrong before I snapped myself out of it. I alternated cussing at my knee and praying that it would be healed. At least I come by it honestly.

After mile 7 the excruciating pain returned that caused my knee to lock and again, I nearly fell over because my leg decided to stop working, then I cried. I walked and I cried and I limped and I limp-jogged. Then there were sprinklers. It was still raining, mind you. Seven sprinklers. I figured that nothing else could possibly go wrong for the morning and I was already drenched so I happy danced my butt through every single sprinkler. Not many people get to say that they have played in sprinklers by 8am.

About 3/4 of a mile away from home my knee gave me a final ‘F-you’ and I cried. Yes, I cried three times in 10 miles. I think that’s a new record. And I basically stared at the ground as I walked the rest of the way home. Upon my return I examined myself to find my knee was swollen and bruised, much like my heart (HA HA isn’t that funny…I had to lighten it up a bit).

I saw my doctor this morning and had an X-ray done, and will have an MRI at the beginning of the next week. She said there’s a chance it could be a meniscal tear but we will just have to wait and see. I was super bummed most of yesterday and some of today about it, but I have had to readjust my thoughts and put stuff in perspective.

I want to be able to run for a long time. I ran a marathon 2.5 weeks after having a surgery and kidney infection. God heals. I’m ready to take whatever this is that’s messing up my knee and get it fixed…so I can keep doing what I love. I had to remind myself to just take everything in stride. When stuff gets tough…just give it a thumbs up.

Three’s All Around

Posted on by

3

This weekend will be my third our of four consecutive racing weekends! This little accidental series started off running with cows with my friend Kelsey from Tennessee

Last weekend was our season-end Girls on the Run 5k which I got to run with one of the awesome girls I coach

And this third weekend will be spent running my third marathon! Oye.

It didn’t really click until last Thursday while I was logging my last ‘long’ run, a 10-miler, in preparation for this race. I use the term preparation loosely. I’ve been doing a lot of running–lots of half marathons. Even fast (for me) ones!

My attempt at a 22-miler in between weekends of halfs was an epic fail and it left me slightly discouraged about my ‘training.’ Thankfully I have great runner friends who reminded me that I had run two consecutive half marathons the weekend before, and they picked me up and helped me dust off after that discouraging bump. I have managed to keep my weekly mileage where I want it at 25-35 miles per week, but also got a little workout crazy the last couple of weeks. I spent too much time running, on the stairmaster, Zumba-ing and weight lifting. Last weekend I was really feeling the effects of over-training and not giving my body enough rest, so that was a goal I made for myself at the beginning of this week. At the very least, I want to go into this marathon with rested legs.

I’m feeling very relaxed about this weekend, which is a good sign. I felt like this before Running with the Cows (in which I PR’d) and also felt super relaxed before skydiving. I’m just super excited that everything for this weekend has come together and that I’m going into this marathon healthy and well!

Yesterday I was thinking about how blessed I am to have this opportunity, and how amazing it is that God sustains us through it all. At the beginning of this year I made a goal to run four marathons in four states, only two of which I have had to pay for. My travel plans have been effortless and literally fell together, and it’s almost as though as a result of my willingness to dream, God is saying, “Hey, here you go, I gotcha girl…” All our job to do is believe!

Here’s to marathon #3 this Sunday in Rochester, Minnesota. Third time’s a charm!

The 22 Mile Run That Wasn’t

Posted on by

2

Oh hi, remember me? It feels like it has been way too long since I have been on this side of the blog. Needless to say, this week has been absolutely crazy. Between work, coaching, finals, and trying to get my workouts in…I feel like a hamster on a revolving wheel.

Conveniently, I am also three weeks out from my next marathon, which naturally, is when the longest long run of a marathon training plan takes place. So between the aforementioned chaos, I was needing to fit in a 22 mile run somewhere this week. That day was today. Because I literally had no other day or time available to do so. Also, summer is upon us here in the midwest and afternoon highs have been in the 90′s for the majority of the week.

I continue.

Getting my run in today meant being up at 5am, greeted with a lightning show, thunder, and big, fat raindrops. I had no way of stalling my run, so I booked it to the gym to do this long run. Before I left the house, I started to download Mean Girls on my iPhone to watch while running and made sure that my iPod was charged to keep me occupied for the four hours I was to spend on the ‘mill.

The first six miles went by pretty well, despite getting a weird stomachache/barfy feeling after mile five. I continued, the next six miles were not well. Mentally, things were getting tough. I tried positive reinforcement to no avail, was sweating like a sumo wrestler on a summer day in Louisiana, and the rain was starting to clear which made me mad that I wasn’t running outside. Ultimately I just could not pull my crap together. My heart wasn’t in this.

One promise I made to myself about a year ago was this:

If there was ever a moment that I didn’t absolutely love what I was doing, then I needed to take a step back, look some things over, and remind myself of why I was doing what I was doing. 

I cranked three more miles out and was done. I wasn’t going to put myself through those other seven miles because it would have gotten me nothing and nowhere. To console my feeling of defeat, I climbed for thirty minutes on the stair master and called it a morning. My skirt was dripping sweat, my thighs had chaffed so much they were bleeding, and I needed to refresh my love of running.

Today was a combination of things that I’m well aware of– stress, not getting enough sleep, and my eating has been sub-par (for me) the past week. I also accepted the fact that I need a break. One of the first signs of over-training is not being able to complete a workout, and while I don’t believe I’m over-training, I realized I have spent the past nine months either training for marathons, maintaining mileage, or racing. I accept that I am feeling just a little burnt out. I absolutely love running, but I have to take some of the stress and pressure away, because those don’t equate to enjoying running for me.

I still love running; in fact, I’m looking forward to a trail run I’ve planned early next week…no watch, no route, no goal pace, just me and the trails. After Med City I’ll be taking near a month off of being on a consistent running schedule and I’m going to be honest, I haven’t felt a release that great in a while. My body needs the break mentally, physically and emotionally. This rest will do me good because when I start training for Chicago I want to give it all I’ve got!

Even though today was the ‘run that wasn’t,’ it was a learning experience and reality check. I must say, I’m blessed and it’s pretty amazing that I was so disappointed with ‘only running fifteen miles…’ WHO says that??

That’s when I finally got my crap together.