Bonus miles

Last week training went fairly well. The heat is definitely slowing me down but I'm trying not to worry too much. I keep telling myself that training in the heat is about perceived effort and not necessarily pace.....meaning that everything feels harder in the summer so I can slow my pace some and still have the same heart rate (effort) when its hot out compared to a faster run in the cold.

So here's how my week was broken down:

Monday: 4.07 mile recovery run on the treadmill. I've been doing more of my recovery runs on the TM to beat the heat....even slow running when its hot jacks my HR up so its not a true "recovery."

Tuesday: 8 mile tempo run with 4 miles at LT pace. Here's where the effort vs. pace came into play big time. It was 88 degrees when I headed out for this run at 7:30pm. It was the first time I ran in shorts and just a sports bra since it was so hot. My pace for the LT miles was about 20 seconds/mile slower than what I was running over the winter, but my HR was right where it should be. After I was finished, I put my hands on my hips as I was cooling down and my hands actually slipped off my body because I was so drenched with sweat....gross!!

Wednesday: Rest!

Thursday: 10 mile general aerobic run. I ran on the Newton Hills for the first time in about 2 months. Overall I felt pretty good for not having run on hills in a while. My water boy (aka Bryan) was out for a bike ride so he would swing past me every couple miles to give me a drink :)

Friday: 75 minute vinyasa style yoga class

Saturday: 4.1 mile recovery run

Sunday: 16 mile long run. It was great to meet up with Janette and John for this run as it was hot and I was dragging. Going to the beach the day before a long run probably isn't the best idea (not enough water or food). John was setting the pace and Janette and I were just holding on for the ride! It was about 80 degrees for this run and about mile 14 I started feeling pretty bad.....lightheaded and actually cold. I took a gu to get some sugar and slowed down a bit to finish. Given the temps, it turned out to be a pretty good run. I just need to be better about hydrating and eating properly the day before my long runs!

So the title of this blog is "Bonus Miles".....where did that come from you ask? Even though I am an engineer with a MS degree, apparently I can not add properly. I had written in my training schedule that the weekly mileage was 40. After inputting my runs into my online training log, I realized I had actually run 42.17 miles!! 2 bonus miles...nice :)

Taking the girl out of the city

This past weekend Bryan and I went up to NH to get out of the city and get into some fresh air. You may not think of me as a camper, but I actually really like it.....especially when there are toilets down the path! We camped out on Saturday night and then hiked Mt. Moosilauke (4800 feet). Here are some pictures to prove that I do camp and hike :)

Okay....so the little one didn't come on the hike, but he loves the backpacks :)

First Official Week of Training

Last week was my first official week of training for the Hartford Marathon. I plan to follow a modified Pfitzinger program that will be 15 weeks peaking around 60-65 MPW. During my time off from training, I looked back on my last training cycle and determined things that worked well and things that I thought I could improve upon. That's where I came up with my current schedule......more emphasis on my weaknesses (lactate threshold) and less emphasis on my strengths (VO2 max).

So this first week of training was still sort of a transition.....moderate miles with no real quality work. I had to shift things around a bit (its only week 1 and I'm already changing my plan!) due to the 4th of July holiday and weekend plans.

Monday: 3.5 mile recovery + 75 minutes of yoga
Tuesday: 7.85 mile general aerobic
Wednesday: 50 minute bike ride
Thursday: 5.1 mile recovery
Friday: 13 mile medium long run
Saturday: 4.4 mile recovery

I did my long run with John on Friday since we had the day off. It was cooler, but still extremely humid. It was on okay run....I covered the distance and my pace wasn't too bad given the conditions. It was sort of a role reversal though....usually I am the one chatting his ear off while he silently listens. This time I was the one huffing and puffing while John was yapping away :)

Total Weekly Miles = 34

Has anyone seen my endurance??

Hello....endurance....are you out there?? I think I need to take out a missing persons report because my endurance is gone....missing!! It's both amazing and frustrating that we spend months at a time building up our endurance and training to run 26.2 miles. Days, weeks, months are dedicated to making us stronger and faster.....then in a matter of 4 weeks, its gone...poof!

I haven't run any real distances since VT a month ago so this weekend I decided to get in a 10 miler before officially starting to train. I set out on Sunday morning by myself and was greeted by humid but overcast skies which cleared up halfway into my run to make for some hot and sunny conditions. I couldn't believe how hard this run felt.....I mean, I eat 10 mile runs for breakfast and I was slugging along during this one at a pace I am almost ashamed to write??? What happened to all those months of training I did this winter?

Granted I probably wasn't properly hydrated or fueled. My diet on Friday consisted of a margarita and chips after work followed by a "platter of fried goodies" and beer while watching the Sox game........on Saturday more strawberries than any one person should consume (we went strawberry picking) and then out to dinner with friends where I had a burger with a glass of wine and some baklava. Not exactly proper running nutrition!!

So if you see my endurance wondering around aimlessly, please be so kind as to return it ASAP. It's probably hiding somewhere along with my speed, which I could also use back :)