And what did we get Marshall for Christmas? A pad of paper and some new crayons. He had so many gifts from all of our families and we try hard to keep things as minimal as possible (which is nearly impossible with a 18 month old.) When he’s a little older, we’ll step up the game a little bit, but the kid doesn’t need anything and beyond that, he doesn’t care.  

We had a great Christmas and I wanted to put some cutie pictures up but this post isn’t about Christmas really, it’s about running. Are you really surprised?

I had an intense addiction to running last week. The addiction is always there, but last week I was more obsessed than usual.

I ran 60 miles, which is only the second time I’ve run that many in one week. The other time was my peak week of Shamrock training in the spring. That’s a crap ton of miles for me. I naturally land around 40 if I had to guess. 

This is what the week looked like:

Monday AM 12 Mile Progression Run starting @ 8:20, finishing @ 6:30. Last 30 minutes pretty hard.

Total: 12 Miles

Tuesday AM–  7 Miles, Recovery @8:34, PM  3.6 Miles, Recovery @ ? No watch (running dog)  

Total: 10.6 Miles

Wednesday AM 12 Miles Easy @7:30-8:30, PM 3.5 Miles, Recovery, no watch, running the dog. 

Total: 15.5 Miles

Thursday  AM  5.5 Miles Recovery @ 8:20 PM 2 Miles Recovery, No watch, running the dog.

Total: 7.5 Miles

Friday AM 12.2 @ 7:20-8:20 w/ incline work. 35 minutes- 80 minutes alternate 2.0 inline at 7:41 pace for 2.5 min, back down to .5 incline for 2.5 min @ 7:30, cool down 10 minutes

Total: 12.2 Miles

Saturday – 3.5 Recovery Run , No watch, running the dog

Total: 3.5 Miles

Sunday – Rest me. Body needs it, mind didn’t want it. Addiction.

Week Total: 60 Miles

I thought I might have done a 10 miler on Sunday, but I really just didn’t want to run or workout or anything. So I didn’t. And to be honest, I felt anxious about it. And that’s not really ok, but there could be worse things.

Glenn ALWAYS tells me to be careful and not to ramp back up too quick. He is also the same person who plants the seed that if I ran higher mileage weeks, I’d probably be a lot faster. Plant that seed and I run with it. 

I’ve been back at it for 7 weeks now– the week before last I ran 50 miles (8 more than I had planned) which was a pretty big jump from the week before and this week I ran 60, another pretty big jump.

A general rule to follow is to not up your mileage by much more than 10% each week & after Glenn’s hamstring injury last spring, he is particularly adamant about it.

I told him, I know my body and wouldn’t run more than I can handle or do more than I can handle. Honestly I’ve only done that a couple times in my life- one being the other weekend in Crown Point when I ran 12 miles way to fast up and down some stupid hills. Thankfully I’ve never been prone to running related injuries, I hope that streak continues. 

BUT, he also tells me I need to be following a plan. Right now though, I’m enjoying making things up as I go and just running as much as I want when I want.

So that puts as at Christmas morning, which was pretty quiet for us, since both of my sisters weren’t in town. My parents have a pretty nice home gym so, as soon as my mom finished rowing- Glenn hopped on the bike & I hoped on the treadmill. They are storing the Boston Marathon treadmill that my sister won at their house until she has space for it- and man it is freaking nice. 

I ran a big handful of sections of the Boston course on the treadmill- the incline just moves as you go- even descends which is crazy. And the whole time there is a video of the course like you are in the race. This treadmill is insane- better than the treadmills at the gym. I was originally going to run outside- but was itching to try this treadmill and ended up doing 18 miles. My original plan was 17, but then I had started the last section of the marathon and it would have ended at 18.2, so I couldn’t get myself to stop. Then I almost said heck with it and ran on in for 20, but dang I’m glad I didn’t, because once again, I did overdo it a bit and felt pretty ick last night. I probably ran a little too fast and a little too far. 

Since the Treadmill is so new- my parents hadn’t put the ledge on it which would hold my kindle, and their TV wasn’t loud enough to hear, and I didn’t have my headphones- so I basically ran the whole 18 just watching the video of the marathon course. This was fine for the day but after once or twice, it would get boring. 

 I love starting a holiday with a good workout. 

How as your Christmas? 

Do you start your holidays with a workout?

Yesterday, I swam 2750 yards and ran 8 miles. This was the longest swim I’ve ever done by 500 yards, it was quite the accomplishment in my book. I felt really good and actually felt like I could just swim forever. I’m not sure how far I could have gone if I would have just kept going. I have some pretty stellar endurance (for me) with the swimming these days, (considering 500 yards was where I started 8 weeks ago) but I’m still super slow. I think I brought up my swim to Glenn 4-5 times over the course of the day yesterday… he just didn’t seem excited enough so I kept reminding him how far I swam. I would compare it to how it might feel to run 10 miles for the first time? Not sure really, but it’s fun to make the comparison.

The 8 miles were at an easy pace, but they felt hard. It was after my swim, pretty hot out and I was strollering it. When I finished the run, I was feeling pretty beat. I had my first big moment of feeling discouraged about the upcoming 70.3 race. I’m not concerned that I can complete it, I know I’ve been putting the work in to do that and will continue to do so. But, it’s like I was dreading the moments of misery during the race. You know when you have those moments during workouts and races and you really wonder what the heck you are doing and why you are putting yourself through it?

I know at some point on the bike, I will feel a little hopeless and crappy and I don’t know when, but I’m guessing it might be around mile 20, when I still have a long way to go but am getting to be right smack dab in the middle. 

The run will be hard, I’d like to run sub 8 minute pace, but I’m really just throwing that out there, I’ve never run 13.1 miles after swimming 1.2 and biking 56. I’ve ran between 7:15-8:15 pace for all of the brick runs that I’ve done but they were only 4 miles. I know there will be moments of the “misery” feeling on the run, but I also know there will be moments of victory as well. I don’t want to crawl to the finish line. I will have to force myself not to go out all crazy miles 3-7 after I’m warmed up on the run. That is just asking for disaster for the last 6.

Reminiscing on past marathons, I think the worst I’ve ever felt was in Chicago 2010. (Boston, 2009 is a close 2nd, another story for another day). We ran Chicago a week after getting back from our bike trip to New York. I had the cardiovascular endurance to run 26.2, but my legs weren’t recovered from the trip and I didn’t have but maybe one 16 miler under my melt in my “training”.  This wasn’t a race that I was going for a PR at, but I didn’t expect it to be so tough at the end. (A lot of the reason it was so tough at the end is because I stupidly went out too hard, thinking I was stronger than I was.) This might have been my worst second half split of any marathon. 

I remember literally crying around mile 22 when I felt hopeless and I was shuffling. Literally shuffling. I never once walked, but that was one slow shuffle. There were moments in the race where I stupidly ran 7:20 pace (around mile 8? You know how you feel really good at mile 8?) and moments where my pace dipped down to 11:00 pace.  Every marathon since then, I think back to how I felt then and tell myself, “you don’t feel as bad as you did in Chicago, so buck up and keep moving to the finish line.” 

So I will remember Chicago, when it hurts on the run in Muncie. I will keep it in my back pocket like I always do and remind myself, that I’ve been in the “HURT” before and I can push through it.

I did not like the feeling I had after that 8 miles yesterday one bit. The feeling made me want to crawl under a hole and forget about the whole 70.3 all together. It almost felt like a minor moment of panic. That would be quitting and I really hate quitting. Although it hurts A LOT workouts and races at times; the moments of victory make it all worth it.

And when I have moments of BLAH in training or after a bad workout, I know it’s always important to remember how crushing a new goal makes you feel.  It’s easy to think “why the heck am I doing this” but once you’ve crossed one finish line, you get addicted, you want that feeling again. To me, the finish line makes me feel, strong and happy… and ready to do it all over again.

What I love about the sport is, you are competing against yourself, it’s you and the run, you and the bike and what I’m most excited about for this triathlon thing is, no matter what time I do for my upcoming sprint tri and ultimately the half Ironman is, it’s my first and it will be my new PR. No matter what I do, I will have finished something brand new to me. Do I want to do well? Yes. Do I think I will be as fast at triathlon as I am at just running? No. Do I have major improvements to make in all three disciplines? Yes. And I’m excited to see what I can do. I’ll have to remind myself over and over again in the race to focus on what I’m doing right then, do not get bothered by people swimming or biking past me. Now, once the run starts, I’m ok with being a little more bothered by people passing me. I’m hoping that will be my turn to pass. 

Oh and PS- my first triathlon – (sprint) will be June 15th at Eagle Creek. Anyone doing it?

Run Pace: Easy Pace – 7:36 – 8:09

Repeat Race  – 6:15 – 6:30

Steady State – 7:00 – 7:30

I need to get signed up for a couple of shorter distance triathlons before Muncie... which is slowly creeping up on us. Today when I was running after the bike, I was picturing the race and thinking about how happy I would be once I get the run. It will hurt, but I’ll be happy to be in familiar territory.

I wouldn’t say I’m 100% looking forward to my swim tomorrow- but sometimes it’s really nice to just swim. It is so easy on the body compared to running. It’s probably going to take me awhile to swim 40 laps, but I’ll get there.

Also- I think I’ve decided to drop Giest half next weekend. I’m hungry for a half PR and could squeeze one in, but not the monster one that I REALLY want because my body is tired in a way it’s not used to with all the biking and swimming.

If you want to be a faster runner, you need to run more and run faster in your training. My speed in training has been fine, but I’ve been running a lot less miles. I think I’ll race a half while I’m in training for my fall marathon (whatever that may be.) I need to remind myself how badly I wanted to focus on something other than running toward the end of my Shamrock training. And as Glenn says- it’s important not to have too many goals at once. The chances of excelling how you want to in both is less likely than if you just focus on one. So, I’m choosing the 70.3. I know I won’t place in my age group and I might be one of the last people out of the water, but I’m doing it because it’s new territory for me and I want to do something different. And, because I can.