Last week was great....cool temperatures that were great for running. Then Friday rolls around and it of course heats back up just in time for my second 20 mile training run on Saturday - great :(
I ran with John and Paul again for the first 13 miles and then continued on for another 7. We started early at 7:15am to beat the heat. We ran through Newton and back up the Comm Ave hills from the Boston course. I have definitely lost some of my endurance on those hills! I also ran into Bryan's uncle who is a big runner.....he was coming down Heartbreak Hill (lucky him!) just as I was about to start up it.
The last 7 miles were really hot and sticky. I again ran through the sprinkler at Boston College....well I actually stood in it for a minute! Other than the heat, I actually felt pretty good. I finished stronger and with more energy that I had for the 1st 20 miler of this training so that's a good thing.
So now I have one more 20 mile training run in a couple weeks. I am really hoping that the weather cooperates a little better for that one! Who knows....this could just be God's way of preparing me for a hot and humid marathon day....I sure hope not!!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Not to rub it in, but.....
Thursday night Bryan and I ran in the 4th race of the "Have fun, Run, and Be Fit" summer series. Its a 4.2 mile race around the river followed by a BBQ and party. I was scheduled to run 12 miles with 7 at tempo pace that day so I went down to the river early to get some miles in before the race. Unfortunately, the traffic was not cooperating with me and I by the time I got there I only had about 45 minutes before the race. So I settled for a 4.5 mile run with 1.5 miles at my lactate threshold pace.
I met up with Bryan and we lined up with ~900 other runners. Its a really slow start which is always a little frustrating, but I kept reminding myself that this was a Tempo run for marathon training. Overall I was feeling pretty good so with about 1 mile to go, I picked up my pace a bit. I missed a PR by about 30 seconds, but I was happy with the run given my pre-race miles. My gun time was 32:15 (7:40 pace).
Now if you remember back to an earlier blog entry I said one of my summer goals was to beat Bryan in one of these races......well - I DID!! He finished 35 seconds behind me :) As I gloat about my victory, he reminds me that he hadn't run in about two weeks (Do I hear the violin playing in the background?)
So we have set the last race in the series to be the showdown.....no excuses.....no pre-run miles.....winner takes all! Bryan better get training because I won't be holding anything back :)
I met up with Bryan and we lined up with ~900 other runners. Its a really slow start which is always a little frustrating, but I kept reminding myself that this was a Tempo run for marathon training. Overall I was feeling pretty good so with about 1 mile to go, I picked up my pace a bit. I missed a PR by about 30 seconds, but I was happy with the run given my pre-race miles. My gun time was 32:15 (7:40 pace).
Now if you remember back to an earlier blog entry I said one of my summer goals was to beat Bryan in one of these races......well - I DID!! He finished 35 seconds behind me :) As I gloat about my victory, he reminds me that he hadn't run in about two weeks (Do I hear the violin playing in the background?)
So we have set the last race in the series to be the showdown.....no excuses.....no pre-run miles.....winner takes all! Bryan better get training because I won't be holding anything back :)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
A lot of catching up to do!
So I realized that its been a long time since I last wrote! Life has been getting in the way, but my training is still going well. Here's an update as to how my runs the past two weeks have been.....
Saturday, 8/10: My first "Marathon Specific Training Run." Most long runs are significantly slower than planned marathon pace (primarily to prevent injury), but there are two long runs in my training that the majority of the miles are run at race pace. For this one, I warmed up for 2 miles at an easy pace, then ran 12 miles trying to stay around an 8:20-8:30 min/mile pace, followed by a mile cool down. I was in Philly at my parent's house for the weekend so I ran on a trail that was nice and shady. Luckily the weather was on the cooler side for August so I didn't have to battle the heat. The race pace miles felt good once I settled into them.....a few of the miles in the middle were a little too fast hitting 8:08 and 8:09 min/mile...oopps! Overall I was really happy with the run :)
On Sunday my Dad's side of the family got together for my Grandpa's 90th birthday party!! It was great to see everyone (all 30 something of us!) and my Grandpa seemed to enjoy his day.
Last week was a step-back week. Although I am feeling pretty good with all the miles, I have been dealing with some shin splints over the last week. Nothing too bad, but I didn't want them getting worse. I decided to take the recovery week really easy.....I cut out a couple runs and went bike riding/spin class to crosstrain. I also iced, foam rolled, and rested my shins as much as possible. My fear was that if I kept running on them they would get worse. It's really just the first couple steps that they are tight and then they usually don't bother me. I just can't stop running once I get started or they ache a little....it makes running through intersections a little tricky :)
Saturday 8/18: Happy Birthday to me!! I did my 14 mile long run on Friday so I wouldn't have to get up early on my birthday. Bryan surprised me with a new bike and I was excited to get out there an try it out. We rode down to the river and around for a while until........I took a curb a little too ambitiously and fell :( I hit my left elbow and took a nice chunk out of it. Poor Bryan felt so bad! But I was fine and I learned my lesson....stay away from the curb at the Mass Pike Bridge!!!!! We finished my birthday with dinner with friends.....all in all not a bad way to spend my first day at 27 :)
So this week I am back into the training. I have to switch my schedule up a little because I have a 4.2 mile race with Bryan on Thursday that I plan to incorporate into my tempo run. The weather has actually been much cooler the past few days.....I even saw my breath when I was out for my run early this morning! Of course its supposed to warm back up to the high 80's and low 90's just in time for my next 20 mile run this weekend.....just my luck!
Weekly Totals:
8/5 - 8/11: 47.1 miles
8/12 - 8/18: 26.1 miles (recovery week)
Saturday, 8/10: My first "Marathon Specific Training Run." Most long runs are significantly slower than planned marathon pace (primarily to prevent injury), but there are two long runs in my training that the majority of the miles are run at race pace. For this one, I warmed up for 2 miles at an easy pace, then ran 12 miles trying to stay around an 8:20-8:30 min/mile pace, followed by a mile cool down. I was in Philly at my parent's house for the weekend so I ran on a trail that was nice and shady. Luckily the weather was on the cooler side for August so I didn't have to battle the heat. The race pace miles felt good once I settled into them.....a few of the miles in the middle were a little too fast hitting 8:08 and 8:09 min/mile...oopps! Overall I was really happy with the run :)
On Sunday my Dad's side of the family got together for my Grandpa's 90th birthday party!! It was great to see everyone (all 30 something of us!) and my Grandpa seemed to enjoy his day.
Last week was a step-back week. Although I am feeling pretty good with all the miles, I have been dealing with some shin splints over the last week. Nothing too bad, but I didn't want them getting worse. I decided to take the recovery week really easy.....I cut out a couple runs and went bike riding/spin class to crosstrain. I also iced, foam rolled, and rested my shins as much as possible. My fear was that if I kept running on them they would get worse. It's really just the first couple steps that they are tight and then they usually don't bother me. I just can't stop running once I get started or they ache a little....it makes running through intersections a little tricky :)
Saturday 8/18: Happy Birthday to me!! I did my 14 mile long run on Friday so I wouldn't have to get up early on my birthday. Bryan surprised me with a new bike and I was excited to get out there an try it out. We rode down to the river and around for a while until........I took a curb a little too ambitiously and fell :( I hit my left elbow and took a nice chunk out of it. Poor Bryan felt so bad! But I was fine and I learned my lesson....stay away from the curb at the Mass Pike Bridge!!!!! We finished my birthday with dinner with friends.....all in all not a bad way to spend my first day at 27 :)
So this week I am back into the training. I have to switch my schedule up a little because I have a 4.2 mile race with Bryan on Thursday that I plan to incorporate into my tempo run. The weather has actually been much cooler the past few days.....I even saw my breath when I was out for my run early this morning! Of course its supposed to warm back up to the high 80's and low 90's just in time for my next 20 mile run this weekend.....just my luck!
Weekly Totals:
8/5 - 8/11: 47.1 miles
8/12 - 8/18: 26.1 miles (recovery week)
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Days like yesterday make me smile
Tuesday I had a 14 mile medium-long run scheduled (the longest mid-week run I have done) so of course the weather was forecasting 90 degrees with high humidity. I contemplated moving the run to Wednesday, but the forecast looked equally as brutal. Unfortunately 14 miles is too much for me to fit in the morning without getting up at 4am so I was forced to run after work.
I have this little desktop weather thing on my work computer that tells you the temperature outside. All day I kept my eye on it waiting for it to jump up into the upper 80's. To my surprise it never did!! I guess the front shifted or stalled or something because by 5pm for my run it was a comfortable (but still humid) 75 degrees.....I couldn't have been more excited! Its always nice when you go into a run thinking it's going to be miserable and it turns out much better than expected.
My 14 miles felt great. I averaged ~9:00 min/mile for the first 7 miles then picked it up to ~8:40 min/mile for the next 5 and 8:20 min/mile for the last 2 (average pace for 14 miles was 8:44). Overall, I was very pleased with the run and actually had to hold myself back some early on.....I know I shouldn't push too hard since I did 20 miles only 3 days before this and I have a marathon pace run this weekend.
I have this little desktop weather thing on my work computer that tells you the temperature outside. All day I kept my eye on it waiting for it to jump up into the upper 80's. To my surprise it never did!! I guess the front shifted or stalled or something because by 5pm for my run it was a comfortable (but still humid) 75 degrees.....I couldn't have been more excited! Its always nice when you go into a run thinking it's going to be miserable and it turns out much better than expected.
My 14 miles felt great. I averaged ~9:00 min/mile for the first 7 miles then picked it up to ~8:40 min/mile for the next 5 and 8:20 min/mile for the last 2 (average pace for 14 miles was 8:44). Overall, I was very pleased with the run and actually had to hold myself back some early on.....I know I shouldn't push too hard since I did 20 miles only 3 days before this and I have a marathon pace run this weekend.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
A hot 20 mile run
Saturday was my first 20 mile run in my training for Hartford. I met up with one of my training friends from Team BMC and his co-worker who are both training for the Chicago Marathon. They were planning to run 16 miles so it was great to join them and have someone to chat with.
We started early since it was supposed to get up to 85 degrees by mid morning and be oppressively humid-yuck! There was not a cloud in the sky which made it a beautiful day...just not for running 20 miles with the sun beating down on us! We made sure to take plenty of water breaks and our route kept us in the shade as much as possible. Miles 8-10 were pretty exposed and I remember thinking how the heck am I going to run another 10 miles in this weather?!?! We just kept reminding each other how easy it will feel to run in cooler, more ideal conditions.
We got back to our starting point covering 16 miles so I said goodbye to John and Paul. Bryan was nice enough to come meet me for the last 4 miles and he brought cold water with him. Those last miles were tough...the sun was high and strong and we were running uphill. There was a sprinkler watering flowers at Boston College so I ran through that a couple times to cool down :)
We finished back at Marathon Sports where I had met my friends. I hobbled over to the Seven-Eleven for some Gatorade and 3 bags of ice. That was the best tasting Gatorade I have ever had! I caught my reflection in the mirror and it looked like I had just gone for a swim, not a run!! I got home and filled the bath with cold water and my ice bags and jumped in to soak my sore legs.
I finished the day with some shopping (new running shoes and a pair of jeans) and then went to the movies and out for ice cream. I'm feeling pretty good today....my shins and hips are a little sore, but hopefully the new shoes will take care of that. Today was cooler and not as humid....we went blueberry picking and to Ikea for a little more shopping. Overall a great weekend!
Total miles for the week: 52.5!
We started early since it was supposed to get up to 85 degrees by mid morning and be oppressively humid-yuck! There was not a cloud in the sky which made it a beautiful day...just not for running 20 miles with the sun beating down on us! We made sure to take plenty of water breaks and our route kept us in the shade as much as possible. Miles 8-10 were pretty exposed and I remember thinking how the heck am I going to run another 10 miles in this weather?!?! We just kept reminding each other how easy it will feel to run in cooler, more ideal conditions.
We got back to our starting point covering 16 miles so I said goodbye to John and Paul. Bryan was nice enough to come meet me for the last 4 miles and he brought cold water with him. Those last miles were tough...the sun was high and strong and we were running uphill. There was a sprinkler watering flowers at Boston College so I ran through that a couple times to cool down :)
We finished back at Marathon Sports where I had met my friends. I hobbled over to the Seven-Eleven for some Gatorade and 3 bags of ice. That was the best tasting Gatorade I have ever had! I caught my reflection in the mirror and it looked like I had just gone for a swim, not a run!! I got home and filled the bath with cold water and my ice bags and jumped in to soak my sore legs.
I finished the day with some shopping (new running shoes and a pair of jeans) and then went to the movies and out for ice cream. I'm feeling pretty good today....my shins and hips are a little sore, but hopefully the new shoes will take care of that. Today was cooler and not as humid....we went blueberry picking and to Ikea for a little more shopping. Overall a great weekend!
Total miles for the week: 52.5!
My 1,000th mile this year!!
This past week Bryan and I were on vacation in Martha's Vineyard. This was the second summer we have gone out there and we loved it. The weather was perfect -- sunny and hot! We had a great time relaxing at the beach, riding bikes around the island, and enjoying our time together. And of course, I was happy to be able to fit in my runs :)
On Monday, we headed out together for a 6 mile recovery run. I thought Bryan would turn around early, but he was feeling good so he ran the entire time with me. I was so happy to have his company and proud of him for going the whole 6 miles....he hasn't run that far since our half marathon last September.
Then on Tuesday morning, I headed out for a 10.5 mile run. The 4th mile was my 1,000th mile of 2007!!! I can't believe my legs have taken me so far in 7 months time. Before this year I don't think I had run more than 1,000 miles in my life! It amazes me that just a year and a half ago I was probably running 50 miles in a month (if that) and now I am running 50 miles in a week.....crazy!
I can't wait to see how many more miles I can log before the end of the year!
On Monday, we headed out together for a 6 mile recovery run. I thought Bryan would turn around early, but he was feeling good so he ran the entire time with me. I was so happy to have his company and proud of him for going the whole 6 miles....he hasn't run that far since our half marathon last September.
Then on Tuesday morning, I headed out for a 10.5 mile run. The 4th mile was my 1,000th mile of 2007!!! I can't believe my legs have taken me so far in 7 months time. Before this year I don't think I had run more than 1,000 miles in my life! It amazes me that just a year and a half ago I was probably running 50 miles in a month (if that) and now I am running 50 miles in a week.....crazy!
I can't wait to see how many more miles I can log before the end of the year!
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