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. 

Week 1 of training

This is my official first week of Marine Corp Marathon training. I am coming off of vacation and crappy eating for a week so I need to get some solid miles under my belt to stop feeling post vacay flabby. The week prior to vacation I logged a 30 mile week and it felt awesome!  I am looking forward to some higher mileage weeks and getting back into some solid strength training. 

I have decided to follow a #runkeeper plan for training. I would love to hear people who have followed any of the run keeper marathon training plans and get their opinions. 

Oops....I Just Realized I Haven't Blogged in 2 Weeks

Time flys when you are having fun. I am not even sure where the last two weeks have gone. A good bit has gone on since May 4. From what I can remember I had a good running week that first week. The sinus/cold mess finally started to clear and I could breath well enough to run again.   That was also the week the hubs and I celebrated our ten year anniversary. Talk about where has the time gone!!!!  We had a mini vacay to the beach. It was just the two of us. We have not gone away, just us, since the kiddo's arrived. We had some much needed quality time with each other. Here is where we started in 2004 

And here we are 10 years later

I have done some shorter 2-3 mile runs this week and a hill workout. I have been working a stretch of 4 twelve hr shifts in a row, so that prevents much distance running. 

I have also added insanity back into my routine. I hate that workout but, last time I did it I turned out my fastest times to date in 5k's and half marathons. I really think it is a great workout for core strengthening. I am going to give it a month and see what I get. 

We are going back to the beach this weekend and I will be running in a 10 k there on Saturday. I am really excited!  

This Weeks Wrap Up

I have had a very productive week with my workouts and thst is a great feeling. Wednesday was a hill workout. I had to do it on my treadmill before getting the boys ready and off to school. I did 7 hill repeats of 40 seconds at a 7% incline. After each climb I would jog for 2 minutes at recovery pace. Total was 2.5 miles. Thursday was a mixed tempo run, and I had to do this on the treadmill as well for the same reasons. I did a two minute warm up followed by 6 minutes at marathon pace, 4 minutes at half marathon pace, and two minutes at long run pace. I did this twice for a total of 3 ish miles. I accidentally knocked the emergency stop key out so it cleared out my miles and time. Friday was a rest day and my first day off of work in what seems to be forever. I spent the majority of the day doing laundry, vacuuming, mopping, and grocery shopping. That doesn't sound like much of a rest day to me 😃. Today I did another 5k. It was at the Govenor's Frog Jump in Springfield, SC.  The rain held off for the race and, I was appreciative of that. I finished 2nd overall female and scored another nice trophy.  I finished in 25:52 on a certified course. Last weeks course was not certified so I think that was were the fast time came from last week. My splits were pretty much identical. It was a fun race and the girl who best me was super fast! 

I would love some ideas on what to do with my trophy collection. 

What are recommended incline setting for hill workouts?  

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?

Charleston Marathon.....The Rest of the Story.

So, after giving myself a few days to reflect and remember my first marathon, I have decided to give my full review of the entire process.
My friend Nikki and I left for Charleston, SC around 2p.m. on Friday and made the drive down.  It is only about an hour and half from home.  We arrived in Charleston and went straight to the expo (after a short pit stop at Dick's so I could get a "fanny pack" to store my race fuel).  The expo was sort of a cluster to say the least.  We walked in and there was a line wrapping all the way around the inside of the gym with nobody readily on hand pointing us in the direction we needed to be.  Finally, we figured it out and were in the line to get our bibs, then on to another line to purchase shuttle tickets, then on to another line to collect the race bag, then on to another line to get the race shirt.
The race shirt.....COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH BETTER.  Seriously, it looks like they took a picture of some random people running and ironed it on a shirt.  The shirt is really nice itself and I like the fact there was a ladies cut instead of the unisex sloppy looking ones that most races offer.
After leaving the expo we headed over to the La Quinta and checked in quickly and unloaded our bags. After that it was a quick trip to King St. for a taste of retail therapy before dinner.  We had 8:00 reservations at Bocci's which is an Italian restaurant that was recommended to me by a friend.  It was nice and authentic.  I had spaghetti and meatballs and Nikki and I split a side of sauteed spinach and roasted potatoes.  We were back at our hotel shortly after 9 and got all supplies ready for the next morning.  Nice little thunderstorm with hail came through so, we were glad we were already in for the night.  We both slept great.  I logged more sound hours of sleep that night than I have in what seems to be forever and Nikki said she slept great too.  I think we didn't know how to act not having to sleep with one eye and both ears open listening out for toddlers all night.
So, we woke up race morning around 5:45 ran down to the lobby for some pre-race fuel.  We headed over to the start line around 7:10 and was in our parking spot at 7:15.  We stayed in the car until 7:25 then headed over to make a quick bathroom stop before lining up.  The bathroom line was ridiculous but moved along until we were at the door leading into the actual bathroom.  It came to a halt.  At 7:57 I was 2nd in line.  At this point I didn't feel the need to panic.  My chip wasn't going to start until I crossed the start line and I wanted to start with an empty bladder.  We got out of the bathrooms and over to the start line in plenty of time to get in the pack around the pacer groups we needed to be near.  I think it was 8:05 when I his start on my Garmin.
The first few miles were beautiful but, freezing.  We ran along the battery for a few miles and then made a left onto King St and ran all the way down it.  Nikki was doing the half marathon, so we split off between mile 9 and 10.  I felt great at 13.1 and continued to feel great despite the 18 mph head wind that was blowing me backwards at times.  I felt great on through mile 22.  I would say around mile 23 I felt things start to tighten and my pace slow down.  I kept a pace that I felt comfortable in and a pace that I knew I could maintain and not risk a no finish.  This was my first so I had nothing to beat myself against.  I finished in 4:45.  I had in my head I want to do closer to 4:30 but, with the wind it just wasn't possible.  No matter what my time was, I am happy and can now call myself a marathoner!
Now, looking back, I have decided that running a marathon is comparable to child birth.  You forget anything negative about the process and you do it all over again.  I have now registered for my 2nd marathon.  Rock N Roll Raleigh........HERE I COME!!!!

T Minus 12 Days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ready or not, here I come.  I am 12 days out from my first marathon.  I have in some sort of way been preparing my mind and/or body for this for over a year.  Charleston Marathon I am on my way!
I am not going to lie and say that I am as ready as I will ever be, because I am not.  I could have trained more but, I am a wife and mother first.  Life happens and logging all of the runs that my plan called for just didn't happen.  I do not think I will finish in near the time that I initially set out to do but, I am confident that I WILL FINISH and I WILL HAVE FUN.  At this point I will say that I believe this will not be my first and last marathon.  I have enjoyed my training for the most part.  The training I did was a plan that I downloaded from Marathon Nation .  I felt like the plan was totally doable and didn't take me away from my family for hours on end.  I will say that I have had to tweak the plan the last month or so due to life =) .
In the last month, I have teamed up with a long time friend for runs.  She is doing the half marathon of this race.  She has really done a great job!  I am not sure if we have enjoyed our running together in itself, or 2 + hours of adult conversation the most.  Now, we are looking forward to a little retail therapy along with our marathon weekend.

Any advice for my final 12 days?

Anyone else running the Charleston Marathon?

I Need Words of Wisdom

20.01 flipping miles I ran today. This is the longest mileage I am to run withmy marathon training plan. During my last mile, I was pretty sure that I was going to die. My calf muscles were tight, quads hurt, and cramps in my hip flexors. I am looking for suggestions in what do do in the next 4 weeks to make sure I cross the finish line in my inaugural 26.2.  

I Need A New Watch

Where do the weekends go?  It was an unexpected busy weekend.  The brother-in-law and sister-in-law along with their kids came and spent Saturday and Sunday with us. I always love when they come but, great goodness the messes that occur when there are 4 kids ages 5 and under in one house for the weekend. I kid you not, every toy in Clayton's room was in the middle of his floor.

Before they came Saturday, I did a 4 mile run at about a 9:15 min/mile pace with six sets of a strides at the end. When I got done I was picking around with Jody in the yard and was proving to him that I could hold a plank longer than he could. I took my gps watch off so I could see the timer and I have no idea where my watch is now. So, I guess I am now in the market for a new watch. 

Yesterday was my long run and was supposed to be 16 miles. I started around 3:15 and went up and down every (safe) street in town two or three times. Somewhere around mile nine the gps signal on my phone went out so, I lost track of my mileage and pace. Isn't it odd how that just so happened on a day when I didn't have my watch?  To the best of my figuring I think my run was 14.7 miles at an average of 10:23 min/mile pace. Not the sixteen I was shooting for but, dang technology issues got the best of me. 

Any suggestions on watches?

How do you make adjustment when technology fails?

A Little PR today

I took it to the track today and had very surprising and unexpected results. With my warm up and cool down I did 4 miles in around 32 minutes. In that I did my fastest 5k to date. 

Pretty proud but it still doesn't make me look forward to track work and running without music.  I absolutely despise running with no music which I find odd. There are probably days if not full weeks that go by sometimes that I don't have the radio on iny car. So why can I drive

with no music and totally enjoy it but, can't stand to run without music. Also, I am trying this 30 day plank challenge I have been seeing posted everywhere. I am starting on day 9. I really need to work on core strength so figure this is one way to do it. 

On another note I DVR'd the NYC marathon in hopes that one day I could watch it. Well, that day is today. My husband only has to work a night shift about twice a year and tonight is one of those nights. That means the tv is ALL MINE. I never dreamed that one day I would have control of the remote and would choose to watch people run!!  My how things can change. 

How do you cope running without music?

Do you plank for core strength?

How has running changed your life or daily routine?

Constant State of Paranoia

I have been living in a constant state of paranoia since this past Thursday night. Colton had a stomach bug that night. He was pitiful and I felt helpless.  Thank goodness he quickly bounced back to himself. I spent all day Friday disinfecting our home. If I could reach it, it got wiped with pin-sol or Sani-wipes. I even took the cushion covers off my couch and washed them.  I mopped and even wiped down baseboards. Seriously, you could have licked my floors they were so clean. I also spent lots of time washing my hands to try to prevent th spread of this bug. 

Saturday came along and I just didn't feel right all morning. I am thinking Iust be getting what Colton had. I was supposed to go watch my beloved #Gamecocks play but, just could not get it in gear to get ready and go.  After a while of thinking about it, I decided that I was subconsciously depressed. Saturday would have been my moms 65 birthday and it was also the 7th anniversary of my grandmother's funeral. So, after deciding that this was my problem, I began to feel better.

Sunday, I had a long run planned with a local that I found out is training for the same marathon as me. I am beyond excited to have found a potential running partner!  I was so excited to have someone to run with that I feared all day long that I was going to get hit by the stomach bug before we could go run. Well, I didn't get sick so I started to think and hope that the rest of us had dodged the bug. 

Monday was fine. We all did our Monday things. However, after we got settled for the evening, Clayton started vomiting. Boo!!  Thank goodness again, he didn't have it as bad as Colton and he also bounced back to himself within just a few hours.  

So , as I sit her tonight I keep thinking my stomach doesn't feel exactly right. Am I getting sick now?  Is it just in my head? 

I did manage to get quick tempo in tonight.  It was on the dreadmill but, it was a run. I did 2 sets of 6 minutes marathon pace, 4 minutes half marathon pace, and 2 minutes long run pace.  

Hopefully, I can out run the illness.

On the bright side, my house is pretty near spotless. If Jody and I can manage to stay well, I shouldn't have much cleaning left to do before our family Thanksgiving. 

I Stay So Hungry....

I can't believe I am up this late on a week night. I better get use to it though. I have accepted a new position where I will be working some nights. I have worked nights in the past so, I know I will manage. I  really excited about my job opportunity but, a little nervous about starting somewhere new and learning the ins and outs of the position.  It will be fine and I will manage.

On a running note, I had to get my run in on the #dreadmill. I just wasn't in the mood to do anything except get my boys and come home when I got off work. Supper ended up taking way longer to prepare than I expected and next thing I knew it was 8:00 and the boys still needed to have a bath.  Got that done and pulled out the treadmill and got my tempo running on. I did 2 sets of 6 minutes at marathon pace 6 minutes at half pace and 2 minutes long run pace. At least I got to watch some duck dynasty. 

My burning question for this post is about #runner nutrition. Do you follow some sort of written plan?  Have a nutritionist? Don't care cause you can eat what you want and not gain weight?  I have been so hungry lately and I almost consider myself bing eating. I cant even but Nutella anymore for my kids because I end up eating it befor they get any. So, what do you suggest to get my appetite under control?

Unchartered Territory

Yesterday marked the beginning of unchartered running miles on my long runs. Until yesterday, I had never ran more than the half marathon distance. I did a total of 14.13 miles in 2:30. Yes, it was sllllllllllow paced but, I did it!  The first eight miles were all my long run pace (10:50-11:00 min/miles) and the last 6 were alternating between half marathon pace (8:57-9:03 min/miles) and long run pace.  I felt great during the run except my hip flexors knew exactly when they had hit mileage they had never seen before.  

When I got back home I was greeted by this little monkey....

Every time he see's me in my running clothes he says in the cutest little tone "Been runnin mama?  Your shirt wet?" and inspects my shirt for sweat.  I guess he is staying on top of making sure that I am giving it my all during every run. 

Besides having a first run greater than 13.1 miles, I also experimented with my first ice bath. I should have probably researched that a little more before trying it ⛄️.  I figured I would be pretty sore today so I decided to do the ice bath to keep that to a minimum and to hopefully keep the ole IT band from giving me too much of a problem. Today I am not sore and no IT band pain.  Coincidence? Luck? Who knows, I am just glad I feel as good as I do. 

After settling down from all if that, I settled down with these.....

Next thing I knew, the bag was empty...oops. 

So, what are your tips on not overeating after a long run? 

Ice bath or not?

How do you feel after finishing miles never done before?

Accountability

Well, the weather pattern is doing its typical thing here in the south. Perfect day 2 days ago and then yesterday and today have been hot. 

Here are my stats from yesterday's mid week long run. I couldn't fit my splits on the screen. They weren't exactly where they should have been anyway (I am putting blame on the heat). 

Today should be a fairly easy interval of 2 x's 1 mile at threshold pace. I read in someone else's blog (now I can't remember who it was to give them credit) where they post there training schedule on there blog and it helps hold them accountable. I thought that was a great idea. I wouldn't want to disappoint somebody who may accidentally trip over my blog by not running the distance I was supposed to run for that particular day/week. 😃. 

So what holds you accountable to your workouts?

Shoe Transition

I had a great 4 mile tempo run yesterday afternoon.  Conditions were perfect!  Today is my midweek long run.  I will be doing 8 miles with a mix of long run pace and tempo pace.
Today will also be my longest run to date wearing my Newton Energy's.  I feel like I have been transitioning into them rather well.  I do seem to notice the lugs more on the left foot than the right and I am not sure if that means anything or not.  I would like to hear opinions on this shoe if anyone has anything to offer up.  I am coming into these from the Mizuno Wave Precision 13.  I have loved the Precision 13!!!!
 I seem to not get more than 300 miles out of any running shoe. For the woman in me this is a good thing because I get to get new shoes more often.  For my bank account this is not such a good thing!!  My clue to needing new shoes is when I start noticing IT Band issues.  I am really hoping the Newton's will help train me to be a midfoot striker and hopefully this will decrease the ITBS flare ups.  In the mean time it is me and the foam roller.  

Takes on Newton Energy?

Takes on Mizuno Precision 13?

ITBS remedies?

The Weather is Here...

Finally, it is my favorite time of year to run.  The southern humidity is finally tolerable.  To me there is nothing worse than running when it is humid.  I have heard some people say that it is harder for them to run in the cold but, for me it is humidity.  I am hoping that I will start seeing an improvement on my vDOT with the weather cool down.
This week is week 14 of my 24 week marathon training plan.  When I was trying to decide on a training plan, I went with one from Marathon Nation.  The plan determines your paces by periodically testing your vDOT.  Most of the training runs consist of you running at different paces (long run pace, marathon pace, 1/2 pace, threshold) and builds up your endurance of running on tired muscles.  According to my current vDOT I am looking at about a 4:25-4:30 marathon finish.
Now, the hard part is learning to better manage my time.  I will always welcome any tips from you veteran mother runner's.

How do you manage your time between your career, being a wife, mother, and runner?

Has anyone done the Marathon Nation training?  If so, what did you think?