17.3 miles

After last week's embarrassing attempt at a 16 miler, I was dreading this week's 17 miles on the schedule.  I mulled over the disastrous long run, and decided that I must be doing something wrong with my training.  The road to a marathon shouldn't be this hard.  People enjoy the long runs.  I keep thinking about the email I had gotten from Flying Pig Marathon that said, "trust your training."  But now I was starting to doubt my training schedule.  The ramp up in miles was too difficult, and shouldn't I try to focus on getting the long runs in rather than try to increase in mileage for the other runs during the week as well?  Not that training for a half marathon should be anything like training for a marathon (they're very different beasts so I've been told many times), but last spring I was hitting longer and longer distances with ease and excitement.  This spring, the long runs seems to fail miserably.

This week, I decided to go back to what worked well last spring.  I decided to keep my mileage low during the week, nothing more than a 10k.  And well, to start drinking beer.

The beer thing is secondary, I'm sure.  But I remembered that there were two things I did a lot of last spring.  I ran a lot and I drank a lot.  And that worked very well for me.  So, I'm going to drink more beer.

I ran only twice since the 11 mile run.  A slow 4.5 mile run in which I tackled hills and decided to just explore a neighborhood.  I didn't want to run, but I thought I'd at least get a slow on in.  I ran again on Monday on the treadmill, doing intervals.  I would do 5 minutes at an 8:34 min/mile pace, slow to a walk for 2.5 minutes and repeat for 6 intervals total.   With a 1 mile warmup, it ended up being 6 miles.

Well, something worked better this week.  Despite the anxiety about this morning's long run, it felt much easier than last week's 11 mile.  I was hoping to go 30k, but I got started late this morning and a scheduled lunch date meant I had to cut it a bit short to only 17.3 miles.  I started slow, and got about 12.6 miles in 2:10.  I felt pretty good throughout most of it.  Only in the last couple of miles did I think, "I'm ready to stop running now."  Don't get me wrong.  I'm tired as all hell, and my muscles feel like dead weight, but it's a good kind of feeling, rather than a "I feel like I'm going to die".

I also bought new shoes the other day.  My first pair of running shoes were purchased at a New Balance outlet store and I knew nothing about how I ran or what I needed.  I just picked up a pair that looked pretty.  My next pair were purchased at Movin' Shoes, and this time, they at least looked at how I walked and whether I overpronated.  They recommended some shoes and I picked one out.  When I ran the Madison half marathon in them, my feet rubbed in them in all kinds of wrong way and I ended up with quite ugly blisters.  So back to Movin' Shoes.  This time, they recommended me to size up.  I tried on the Saucony Kinvara 2's and I just knew that these were my shoes.  Lightweight and for neutral feet.  I loved them. 

But 3 half marathons and nearly a year later, it's time to think about new ones.  I heard that the Kinvara 3's hadn't changed that much from the 2's so I purchased a pair at Movin' Shoes and thought I would love them too.  Nope, they rubbed my feet in the wrong way, and I started getting chafed and bleeding on my left ankle.  Back to Movin' Shoes.  After they were unsuccessful at tracking down a pair of Kinvara 2's for me, I walked out with a pair of Adidas Adizero Adios 2.  Also lightweight, but with a more significant heel to toe drop, they were incredibly incredibly ugly.  I had a choice between a motley yellow with pink accents or a bright neon pink with purple accents.  I went with the pink.  I ran my 17 miles in them today, and while the fit seemed fine (no blisters, or rubbed skin), I wished for a bit more cushioning at the midfoot.  By mile 14, the concrete road felt a bit much on my leg.  Maybe it's something I'll get used to, or maybe I'll take these back. 

Weekly mileage and that stupid 1/10 of a mile track.

Remember how throughout the half marathon last Saturday, I repeatedly told myself to run a smart race so that I could come back the next week and run my scheduled 16 mile training run?  Yeah, that didn't happen. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm still proud of how I did in the half marathon.  It was a PR and I felt like I could've gone for another 2 miles.  BUT, I was well rested for the half marathon.  I ran 6 miles 4 days before the half marathon and then didn't touch any running shoes until race day.  However, this week, I ran 8 miles on Tuesday, three days after the half marathon and then attempted the 16 miles on the 1/10 of a mile track at the SERF yesterday.

I started out the attempted 16 miler pretty well.  I was slow.  I stopped every 25 laps or where I thought a water stop might be on race day for a sip of water.  The first 5.5 miles went by easily that way.  The next 4 were harder.  At about mile 9.5, I stopped running on that damn track, and decided I'd finish on the treadmill.  But 2 miles later, I didn't think I could do another 4 miles.  I was feeling nauseous and had absolutely no motivation to keep pushing.  I was just done.

My longest long run to date is only 13 miles.  At least, my mileage for the week is 32.  I really wish I'd just kept jogging for another couple of miles after Saturday's race.  I'd feel better about how my training run went yesterday.

I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for a spring marathon.  Why didn't I sign up for one in June, or at least late May?  Didn't I anticipate that my period every month would result in a week with low mileage?  Or that there are many spring races that I want to do?  Why does this seem so much harder?   What am I doing trying to following a training schedule?  I didn't follow one for the half marathon and that worked out quite well.  I ran when my body said it was ready.  I didn't run when it told me it needed rest.  Now, things ache.  My right hip bothers me.  My left kneecap feels all loose and unstable.  I feel on the verge of serious injury.

At the forefront of my mind is the idea that I should perhaps switch races on May 5.  Do the half marathon instead of the full marathon.  I could try for another PR.  I think that's just my disappointment in my training thus far speaking.  Though I can't manage to get past 13 miles.  I could run 13 miles in two hours, and have a little less than 5 hours to walk the remaining 13 and still make the 7 hour cutoff.  Would I rather finish a marathon where I walked half or it and finish with an abysmal time or would I rather run a half marathon really well?  Would I feel as accomplished or as proud of my performance if I walked nearly half of a marathon?

Get Lucky Triple 7k (Half Marathon)

I had low expectations time wise for this half marathon.  I had been running at least one double digit run a week for the past month, and I didn't feel like my muscles were recovered enough for this.  I laid off on the Thursday 6 mile run that I had scheduled.  I knew I needed a couple more days.  While I still didn't reach my sub-2:00 goal, it was still a PR at 2:03:25.

At last year's Get Lucky Half Marathon, the weather at the start was a beautiful 60 degrees.  This year's temperatures at the start was a cold and chilly 22 degrees Fahrenheit.  I looked at the forecast for the whole week, and it seemed for a while that with Friday's high of 41, we might get at least into the mid or upper 30s for Saturday's race.  No such luck.  Friday never quite reached that high and instead had some snow in the evening.  The forecast for Saturday now read "26 degree high, with chance of snow in the AM."  I started wondering whether I should've sold my bib and let someone else run the race.

Awesome race swag:
hoodie instead of a T-shirt.

The Get Lucky event is two races in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis.  The 7k run is a loop that starts in Minneapolis, whereas the half marathon is an out and back course that starts and ends at the Ford Plant in St. Paul. I thought it was interesting that the start of the two events were actually 7 miles apart.  It actually worked out in my favor.  I was worried that this was going to be too big a race.  The website mentioned that they usually have about 12,000 people registered for this event. The 7k had about 10,000 people registered, and the half marathon 2700.  As it was, parts of the half marathon course were kind of narrow for the amount of people.

The other nice thing about the two separate races was that parking for the half marathon was super easy and free.  While one could opt for the paid parking in the Ford Plant, parking in the local residential neighborhood streets was just as easy.  I got there at about 7:10am and only parked a block away.

It was cold.  I had on 3 layers and planned to keep them all on during the race.  I also had my hat and my gloves.  After I gear checked an extra hoodie and pair of sweats for post-race, I started my warm-up with some easy jogging.  The warm-up actually kept my spirits up as I felt less cold once I started going.  I appreciated that the start line had nice large banners for estimated min/mile pace.  I lined up right before the 9:30 mile marker.  The pace teams also came out nice and early.

I decided right from the start that I wasn't going to try and keep with the 2:00 pace group.  I wasn't trying for a PR or goal.  I just wanted a good training run.  I wanted to run a smart race, one that I'll recover easily from and still be able to do my 16 mile training run 5 days later.  I told Ellie on Friday that I'm hoping for better than my worst half marathon time of 2:10, but I'd be happy with anything less than 2:20.  Throughout the race, I kept telling myself, "smart race, smart race, not a fast race." 

Fifty Furlong

I ran the 50 Furlong this past Saturday, with a slow slow time of 1:05:47.

I had an off week this past week.  I was in no mood to run and my body seemed to be telling me that it needed a break.  I was having a hard time recovering from my runs.  My legs felt constantly fatigued.  I ran 6 miles on Wednesday, and had plans to do 14 miles on Friday (with walk breaks) on Friday.  Unfortunately, I only got to mile 10 before I had to quit.  My legs were fatigued and though the walk breaks helped me get to 5 miles easily, the latter 5 were just as much a struggle as before.  Moreover, I ran it in my new shoes which were rubbing in all kinds of wrong places.  I knew I had rubbed through the skin on my heel by mile 6, but I kept going for 4 more before I decided to quit for good.  It was a rough 10 miles.

I had originally planned to do the 14 miles training run and skipping the 50 Furlong (or watching it as I ate a cheeseburger and drank a beer), but since I had only done 10 miles on Friday, I decided to run the 50 Furlong (in my old shoes, of course).  The temperature on Saturday was fairly warm in the upper 30s though there was quite a bit of headwind on the parts of the route back.

 The 50 Furlong is put on by the Hash House Harriers.  50 furlongs is the distance and it's 6.25 miles or roughly 10k.  It's a small race, at only about 50 people total.  Technically, it's a PR for me since it's the first race of that distance, but I'd be a bit embarrassed to list it as such.  I ran it very slowly, at about 10:30 min/mile.  I hadn't fully recovered from the 10 miles the day before, and I started to feel that fatigue by that first mile.  Moreover, the race course is SO incredibly hilly.  I ran the first couple of hills, but I had to walk up the rest of the hills.  The course was fantastic for training, but man, as a race, it was so mentally tough.  I feel like I've gotten soft with all my indoor running on flat tracks.  I need to get back on the road and run the rolling hills.  If only the weather would cooperate!

It's the Get Lucky half marathon this Saturday.  I'll do a couple of 10k loops around the Arboretum this week, but I'll generally keep it light.  I think one double digit run a week is sufficient.  Hopefully, I get right back onto my training schedule next week.  

Long runs and walk breaks

Yesterday's 12 mile long run went okay.  Lately, I've been doing all my runs at the SERF on their tiny little .10 mile track.  I used to never have the patience to run more than 4 miles on the track, but with some earphones and streaming Pandora, it's now enjoyable and preferable in fact to the icy, snowy roads through the Arboretum.  Snow, I'm SO over you.

What's also nice about the track at the Serf is that 9.5 laps is a mile, which gives me a nice way to pace through my shorter runs.  A lap a minute makes for 9:30 min/miles.  Looking back on my race results from last year, that's about the pace I ran Black Earth, and roughly the pace for the Madison Mini.  It feels like the right pace for me.  Of course, I have no hopes of actually keeping this pace for the full marathon.  But one can dream. 

Yesterday, I did the first 6 miles at roughly 9:30 min/mile, but the next 6 miles was much more of a struggle and my pace fell by the wayside.  Clearly, I'm still not pacing as well as I need to be for the long runs.  Also starting around mile 6, my big toe and little toe on the left foot was really REALLY bothering me.  I was feeling blisters forming on both, and I start to limp a bit through my run.  I thought about quitting early, but I soldiered on.  Afterward, I examine the foot, and the little toe was actually blister free, but the big toe has a blister/callus.  I think it's still deciding which it wants to be.

I'm supposed to do a 14 mile long run next week, but I'm a bit concerned at this point.  My foot is telling me that I need some recovery time, and my body is starting to feel the fatigue.  But I can't afford at this point to slow the training. So I started reading around online about training plans.  One thing that struck me in particular is Jeff Galloway's style of training for a marathon, i.e. incorporating walk breaks into the long runs and on race day.  He suggests lots of walk breaks early and at a ratio of about 3:1 for a a 10 minute pace.  The theory is that the walk breaks paces you better early in the race/long runs, gives you recovery time during the run and lets you keep to a strong pace at the end.  Some 3:30 marathoners swear by walk breaks.

A ratio of 3 minutes run to 1 minute of walking seems incredibly incredibly slow.  But I don't know.  I might try this for the 14 miler and see how it goes.  Normally, I'd take the week off before a big race, but I don't have the luxury with the marathon, so I need a better and faster way to recover.  I'm thinking that I might not stick to the 3:1 ratio, but do more of a 4:1 ratio.