Marine Corp Marathon Training Weeks 5 and 6

I feel much better about my week 5 and 6 training than I did in weeks 3 and 4.  Things seemed to really align for me to manage to get the majority of my mileage done.
Sunday of week 5, I eased into increasing my mileage by splitting my long run into 2 separate runs.  I did 6 miles that morning and then 6.63 that evening for a total of 12.63.
Tuesday was a tempo day.  I did a 1 mile warm up with 2 miles tempo and then a half mile cool down.  This run was done on the treadmill, unfortunately.
Thursday was an easy run of 3.2 miles.
Saturday I did 4 miles of negative splits in the pouring rain.  This was one of the best feeling runs I have had in a long time.  The rain kept me cool and refreshed.  Average pace for this run was 9:23.

Total mileage for week 5 = 23.33 miles
Week 6 started with a 13 mile long run on Sunday.  I started my run at 6 am and got almost 3 miles in before I met up with a couple of friends who were doing 10 miles.  As refreshing as my Saturday run was, this one was the opposite.  I am pretty positive I have never sweated like I did.  The humidity was 100% which is common here this time of year.  When I got done, I squeezed out my hair and there was a puddle left on the ground below me.  I could have easily pee'd my pants and nobody would have known ;-) .
Monday was a rest day and the last day of summer break for my boys.  We decided to pack up and go spend the day at the beach.  We went to Hunting Island which is a state park and the beach is totally undeveloped.  We had a great time and found over 20 sand dollars.  I wanted to climb up into the lighthouse (just so I could count the stair climbing as a workout) but, we ran out of time.  Here is a pic of the lighthouse from the beach (photo credits: huntingisland.com)
We had a great family day to wrap up the summer.  Here are the boy's enjoying the beach....

Tuesday marked the first day of K3 for Colton and K5 for Clayton.  They are going to the same school that I went to.  It looks exactly like it did when I was there.  I know their teachers very well, and know that I will never once have to worry about them while they are there.

After I dropped them off I went for an easy 4 mile run and finished it off with 6 x strides for a total of 4.6 miles.
Wednesday, was another rest day and I also went and worked at my part-time job for a few hours while the boys were in school.
Thursday, after I dropped them off, I headed over to the track for some speed work.  Did a 1 mile warm up and 3 x 1 mile at a 7:45 ish pace and finished with a 1 mile cool down.  This was as fast as I have run in a long time.  Could it be that my body is finally adapting to the heat and humidity that summer brings?!?!?!?
Friday, was a hot 5 miles of negative splits.

Weekly total = 26 miles

Marine Corp Marathon Training Week 3 and 4

I will be straight up honest about week 3 and 4 of Marine Corp Marathon training........they pretty much didn't happen. I had good intentions, but sometimes that little guy sitting on my shoulder wins out.

On Tuesday of week 3 I did a 4 mile slow run and finished up with some strides. Had a total of 4.4 miles. I ran across the lake in my town and saw this guy...

I am pretty sure this is the same guy that I have been watching grow over the past couple of years. 

Thursday of week 3 I did a 3.5 mile run and I don't remember much about it 😁. 

I had really good intentions of running 4 miles Saturday morning but never got around to it. It was my oldest child's birthday so, I found it to be way more important to hang out with him that morning and then I was busy getting things in line for his party.

I can't believe that I now have a 6 year old.  If I was a betting person, I would bet that he will be voted class clown for his Sr. superlatives (his mama was 😳😜).  

Again, I had intentions to sneak in a few miles after the party but, a chance came up for me and all of my sister-in-laws to go out for some girl time and there was no way I was turning that down. 

I love these girls and we had a blast...

Sunday was full of good intentions as well but, after staying out later than I am use to the night before I wanted to sleep a little longer Sunday morning before getting ready for church.  

Week 4 pretty much just didn't happen. My work schedule was crazy. I work 12 hour shifts and only had one day off between Monday and the next Saturday. That one day off was spent doing major cleaning. 

Week 5 has been going much smoother so be on the lookout for the recap coming soon. 

Weekly Update

This update will be short and sweet because I have done pretty much no workouts!!!  I am pretty sure I have the never ending cough.  I have been through bottles of cough med's and have done nebulizer treatments.  It sucks.  I feel good otherwise but, just not good enough to be able to breath and run much at the same time.  I haven't really pushed it too much because I don't want to over do it and risk not being at 100% for that much longer.  

I did do another 5 K last Saturday and gave it my all.  I felt like I had half of a lung and was about to cough it up.  I ended up finishing in 26:52.  A minute slower than the previous week but, considering the circumstances I am pleased.  I was second in my age division and I think maybe 20th overall.  

Sunday, I packed up to go to the beach for a few days with my little ones.  We had a nice day on the beach Monday and got to spend some quality time with some friends.  We ended up cutting the trip short because there were supposed to be some heavy storms coming through and I decided I would rather be inland.  It was nice while it lasted though.

Wednesday, I did get a short hill workout in for a total of 4 miles with my buddy Nikki.  We did a mile warm up, then 10 hill repeats, followed by 2 miles slow pace.  I coughed most of the time but, was just happy to get some running in.  I did about an hour of strength training Friday and a slooooooow 3 miles Saturday.  Hopefully I am on the mend and can start picking the pace back up in the next few days. 

MCM Class of 2014

Guess who will be running with the Marines.........

It's me!!!!!!!!!!!  

Who would have ever thought that my name would have been drawn?  I certainly didn't. I am super excited. This will be the first of I hope many "big time" marathons for me.  

I have spent a lot of my day looking at flights and hotels. I would love to hear any suggestions near the start or finish that will not break the bank.  Also, I would love to hear from others who are running the MCM.  I  going to definitely need a crew to hold me accountable for training through the southern summer heat. I usually back down on mileage and intensity during the summer but, that's not going to be an option this summer. Well, I would love to hear from others. 

Where should I stay for the MCM?

Who else made it in?

Tips for hard training during the summer?