Boston Training Week 3

Step back week? Hmmm. Seems early for one of those.

Sunday - 3.3 miles. In Lisbon.

Monday - Rest. Unless lots of walking around the Lisbon airport is exercise. I think it counts.

Tuesday - 4.5 miles. Somewhere in the Atlantic. On Christmas morning.

Wednesday - 3.5 miles.

Thursday - Upper body strength training and squats. Glad I brought a resistance band. Also walked about 2 miles.

Friday - 6K race. Normally I could run in the low 7s no problem. I didn't really have a time goal, other than to try to run around an 8 minute pace. Check.

Saturday - Rest. Maybe walking. My non-injured foot was hurting a bit.

Total Miles: I am on vacation. No math involved.

Boston Training Week 2

Another week, another recap.

Sunday - Yoga podcast for an hour.

Monday - 3.2 mile run on the treadmill. Also did core work, pushups, and foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday - 3.2 mile run outside. In the dark. Busted out more reflective gear than I have needed in a long time. Pace was about 30 seconds per mile slower than usual, but whatever. I didn't have a planned pace and ran at whatever pace was comfortable, plus I had to keep starting and stopping to cross streets.

Wednesday - Rest. Ankle was not too happy, plus I was super tired.

Thursday - 35 minutes on the bike. Ankle felt better, so that was good.

Friday - 7 miles total. 4.5 miles running, the rest walking.

Saturday - No idea. Maybe running. Most likely nothing.

Total miles: 13.4 as of Friday.

2012 in Review

2012 was not a terribly good running year. A mid-year injury that is tricky to treat will do that to you. I'm going to close out the year with around 850 miles. Most of those miles were in the first half of 2012.

2012 was pretty stellar in just about every other way.

1. Ran a BQ. Two, actually. Within 4 weeks of each other.

2. Moved to Washington, DC. I am not completely sold on DC, but I don't hate it. Clearly, if you read ahead to #6.

3. Finally live in the same place as my husband. Isn't that what married people are supposed to do? ;-)

4. Got a job. I really really really like it. It is one of those jobs where when I tell people what I do, everyone says that is a perfect job for you.

5. Got a promotion. And yes, I really really like my job not only because of the promotion.

6. In the process of buying a house (!?!). Welcome to being an adult.

7. I am going to have an amazing Christmas vacation.

The Holy Grail of Marathons

I am registered for the 2013 Boston Marathon.

I had to wait until registration was open to all runners who qualified and hope that being 4 minutes under the qualifying time was enough to get in. It was. I never really worried about this, based on the time margin in last year's registration and the tougher standards this year, plus a warm spring and a warmer-than-usual 2012 Boston Marathon where fewer runners requalified.

I was really on the fence about Boston. On the one hand, I took a calculated risk in assuming I'd be able to build a base back up and train properly. But on the other hand, I registered because I am not sure I will ever qualify again. Most runners have to work really hard for a BQ. I am just not sure I want to or will be able to commit to that kind of training again. You train for the opportunity to attempt a BQ. There is no guarantee that you will get a BQ because anything can happen on race day.

I have a long way to go. I am back on the treadmill and back on the road. That's a step in the right direction. I have to be *really* careful about running outside, specifically about running on hills. The area where I live is hilly. Hills contributed to my tendonitis issue. For now, I am mostly on the treadmill. Yet the Boston Marathon is hilly. Hello, Catch-22.

I will tell you one thing. I am finally excited about Boston.

Marathon Training Week 1

Oh hai. I am supposed to start training for the Boston Marathon this week. I should probably lay out a training plan.

I used some version of Hal Higdon's marathon training plans for all of my marathons. Novice 1 got me though my first 2 marathons. Intermediate 1 got me through my third, and then got me 2 BQs in my fourth and fifth by training slightly faster and farther.

I really like the intermediate plans and don't think the novice plans have enough miles, but I am just not ready for 5 days a week of running. There is a lot that is going to be different this time around. I am coming back from an injury. I have no running base worth speaking of.  I can't just jump into a training plan like I usually do. I need to do more cross-training. At this point, I don't know if my body can handle 3 days in a row of running. I don't *need* to run a fast marathon, and quite honestly I am not sure that I want to.

So I think I am going to use Novice 1 with some modifications. Novice 1 has 2 rest days and 1 cross-training day. I am going to replace one of the rest days with yoga. Seems like a good mix of mileage I can handle (hopefully), cross-training, and rest. Surprisingly, I looked up the plan on Friday and found I was on track mileage-wise. Huh. Funny how that worked out.

My general plan for the week is this:

Sunday - yoga, Monday - easy run, Tuesday - sorta long run, Wednesday - cross-train and strength training, Thursday - rest, Friday - easy run or maybe a pace run every few weeks, Saturday - long run. Plus shorter strength training sessions throughout the week wherever they fit best.

Here's what I did this week:

Sunday - Yoga podcast for an hour. That one sequence of poses is still kicking my butt. Less so than usual, though, so that's good.

Monday - 3.5 miles total. 2.5 miles running at 6.7 mph/9:00 minute pace, the rest walking at 4.3 mph/14:00 minute pace. It was the first run in a long time where not only did my ankle not hurt at all (not even in the beginning) but it actually felt good. Maybe this Boston Marathon business isn't so crazy after all.

Tuesday - 35 minutes on the bike. Shifted cross-training and running days because I ran late on Monday and would have to run early on Tuesday. Didn't want to run too many miles in a 24-hour span.

Wednesday - 3.5 miles total on the treadmill. 3 running, .5 walking.

Thursday - Rest.

Friday - 3.5 miles total on the treadmill. 3 running, .5 walking. Also did upper body strength training, clamshell planks, and foam rolling.

Saturday - About 7.2 miles in Rock Creek Park. Ran 3.5 miles, then fast walked/ran 2.7 miles, then took of my Garmin and walked about another mile to cool down. 

Total miles: 12 running, 17.7 total

Working It

This was my last week before I "officially" start training for the Boston Marathon. Or rather, this is 18 weeks out from the Boston Marathon and I should start training. Hmmm. I am nowhere near ready to jump into a marathon training plan. But we'll see where this goes over the next few weeks.

Sunday - Yoga podcast for an hour. Same one as I have been doing on and off for the last few weeks. It is still kicking my butt with one sequence of poses.

Monday - Upper body strength training, clamshells, planks, and core work.

Tuesday - About 3 miles total, including 1.7 miles running. Outside. In a running skirt and tank top. In December. Note to self: lunchtime workouts where you need to take a shower afterwards are no bueno. Oh, but it was worth it to run outside in beautiful weather.

Wednesday - Rest.

Thursday - 2.8 miles on the treadmill, including 2 miles running. It's been taking about a mile for things to loosen up, but after that it's been pretty good.

Friday - Upper body strength training, pushups, clamshells, and squats.

Saturday - 4.5 miles in Rock Creek Park. Half running, half walking. Pace was on the high end of my pre-injury normal pace (although it still felt hard ... waaaay out of running shape) but faster than what I have been doing. Progress. Patience, self. Slow progress is good. I have missed long runs in Rock Creek Park so very very much. I never get over how quiet and peaceful it is along the creek. I love the sound of running water.

Total miles: 5.95

November Mileage Summary

I have not done one of these in a long time.

Mileage Total: 4.5
Average Distance: .9 mile
Average Speed: 9:05/6.6 mph

Yep, you read that right. I ran a grand total of 4.5 miles in November. 2 miles total in about a week (.5, .5 and 1 mile), then 2.5 miles the following week. I was going to try .5 mile a few times, then increase by .25 mile if everything felt OK. Well, I accidentally jumped from .5 to 1 mile and everything felt OK.

I have lost a lot of endurance. That first time I ran .5 mile at a 9:00 pace was hard. Sure, I tried to keep my cardio up by biking. And then I got discouraged, tried to see if total rest would help, and did more strength training. I am essentially starting from a base of zero (nowhere close to my usual 20-25 miles a week), but I haven't lost my running knowledge. I am going to need it if I am going to make it to the finish line in Boston.

Working It

Base building is here. Base for what?

The Boston Marathon.

Yep, I'm in. I signed up back in September because I wasn't sure I was ever going to qualify again and I still had enough time to get my ankle better.  

I have never gone into marathon training without a base. My training plans were either a step down or pretty what I would run normally (at least in the early weeks). To be honest, I am probably going to go into Boston undertrained. But now is the time to take it slow. The last thing I want to do is injure myself again.

On the plus side, I stopped doing all of the stretches, exercises, and other things that I thought were helping my ankle. Nothing happened when I stopped. So that is a good sign. I need be very careful and see what happens over the next few weeks.

Sunday - Rest. Traveling got in the way of exercise. That usually doesn't happen.

Monday - Core work and clamshell planks in the AM. 3.1 miles on the treadmill in the PM. That included 1.25 

miles running (9 minute pace/6.7 mph) and the rest walking fast (just under 14 minute pace/4.3 mph).

Tuesday - Upper body strength training, planks, clamshell planks, and balance  exercises.

Wednesday - 3.1 miles on the treadmill with 1.25 miles running. Same speeds as Monday.

Thursday - Rest.

Friday - 30 minutes on the stationary bike.

Saturday - 3.4 miles on the treadmill with 1.5 miles running. Same speeds as Monday and Wednesday. Also did pushups and squats.

Total miles: 4